photo credit: Pörrö
When Did Getting Faster Become A Problem?
I have been getting a lot of offline emails, PMs and notes about incredible fitness gains our Endurance Nation athletes have made over the last four months. We’ve spent the better part of four months reviewing, testing, and tracking data that showed — on paper — that we got faster. But with Spring upon us more and more of our folks are getting outside and riding/running with their training partners from last year. And the EN difference shows. Here’s a sample letter:
“Just wanted to let you guys know that your @#$^ works! My buddies and I snuck in a two-hour ride on Saturday since the weather was nice, and I could tell right away that something was different. Riding my regular numbers I constantly found myself on the front; and when it was time to do some hard work/intervals, no one could hang on to my wheel. First time ever that I was the one flipping it to come back and find folks!!!! I didn’t want to post this to the forum since I don’t want to come across as a jerk…”
Don’t want to be a jerk….Don’t want to offend anyone…Don’t want to seem cocky…the list of excuses goes on and on.
I will say this only once, so please pay attention:
IT IS OKAY TO BE FAST. IT IS OKAY TO BE FASTER THAN OTHER PEOPLE.
This is a funny problem, I think, especially because triathletes are renown for purchasing crazy equipment and gear in the name of speed. The same folks who wouldn’t think twice about dropping $400 on an aero helmet or $2000 on race wheels are suddenly searching for a way to downplay their hard-earned fitness accomplishments. If anything, this is what you should be the most proud of. You don’t need to rub it in other people’s faces, but you can feel good about what you have managed to build.
Accepting Your New Identity
Once you realize that you are faster, you almost have to redefine where you fit into your local training hierarchy. While few athletes ever figure out how to use their training devices, or bother to review the data, EVERYONE knows exactly how much faster/slower they are than everyone else in their training circle. So while you can wordsmith yourself into a corner after the ride, every single person on that ride nows exactly how strong you were and where they/their fitness stand in relation to you/your fitness.
I say YOU since the group will pretty quickly adapt, it’s the individual who usually has the hardest time making the transition. There might be some friction or tough love from your peers (Slow down up there!!!), but at the end of the day a faster you means a faster group. Which leads me to how you can think about handling this new fitness.
Strength & Humility
With great power comes great responsibility. You can use this new fitness selfishly, and nuke your group workouts every time just because you can ride off the front. Or you can lead from the front by using your strength to organize a well-run group ride (watch a video example). You can use your fitness to drive a group ride just slightly faster than usual. Or bridge slower folks back up to the group. Or by encouraging folks slightly slower than you that they too can get faster with some quality training; maybe you can share some tips or listen to their stories and offer some advice from your experience.
There are many ways to spin your gains into a positive. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide the path you want to follow. But know that I am proud of you for what you have accomplished, your training partners are proud (even though they might not say it) and I think you should be proud too. Now stop reading and start training!
Patrick
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