My Pavlov Theory

This weekend my dad and I are going to compete participate in an Olympic Distance Triathlon in open water.  I haven’t swam in open water since 2008 and I hadn’t swam a mile straight until this week.  So needless to say this should be interesting.  I keep telling myself “I am not racing this! This is only part of my training!”  I’m just making sure my base training is where it should be as I just officially started my Ironman training this month.  So I shouldn’t be nervous or worried about how slow I might be but I am.  THIS IS NOT A RACE!  That’s what I keep trying to tell myself but my brain isn’t listening. 

Here is my theory, I much like Pavlov’s dogs, have been trained to have a very specific reaction when I hear the starting gun go off because I hope to get a reward at the end.  So as I am warming up and waiting to start I keep repeating “this is not a race, this is not a race”

Then BANG, gun goes off and all of a sudden it’s a flurry of arms, legs, snot, and spit as I rabidly try to remember what it’s like to swim in open water.  Somehow the fact that I didn’t train enough to actually race this evaporates from my mind and I manage to convince myself in the 20 minutes of swimming that it takes for me to get my heart rate back under control that I have a chance to place in my age group!  Forget the fact that my age group is full of people who were track stars, collegiate swimmers, nationals winners, and have been training hard since March, I am all of a sudden super human and forget the training plan!  

What goes on in my head....if I win

But all I can say is “Oh Well” I at least have heart right?  The thing is that the Olympic distance has always been my kryptonite it’s that weird in between distance, not short enough to leave it all out there and not worry about reserves but not long enough to just try and finish.  The last time I did this distance I was severely dehydrated and had my bathing suite sun burn mark left on me for about 3 years after.  Every time I’ve tried to enter this distance since then it has been cancelled.  So here it is, I’ll try my  best to remember what I’m there to accomplish.  So my goals for this race are to be smart, stay hydrated, and finish somewhere in the 3 ½ hr mark without puking or getting sunburned.  How does that sound?

How about you?  When you hear that start gun go off do you always react the same no matter what your goals for the race were?