The spring racing season is getting started! Did you get in a good winter of training? Are you looking forward to flying through your races this spring?
Just be careful to set your expectations correctly.
Sometimes, when people have a real good stretch of training, they get to thinking how easy their races are going to be. They then run their first race, realize it’s not easy, their minds go to bad places and the good race that could have been doesn’t happen.
The thing to remember is that a race is supposed to be a 100% effort. If you’re in great shape, wonderful, you’ll run that much faster but it’s still going to be hard. No matter what shape you’re in, 100% effort is incredibly hard.
The problem with expecting a race to be easy is that, when the going gets tough, you’re not prepared for it. You’re caught off guard, you start thinking that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Then, things just spiral out of control.
It’s supposed to be incredibly hard. It’s a race. No matter what shape you’re in, go in expecting the difficulty. When it comes, embrace it. The difficulty means you’re running it properly.