Racing is as much about being mentally prepared as it is about being physically prepared. Putting in the training miles is only one part of the thousand piece puzzle. If you aren’t ready for the mental challenge of tactical racing or the challenge of hitting and pushing through the wall your performance will certainly be compromised.
On a recent team day with work we did a session based around the five ways to wellbeing. These same five ways were an important part of Mal Law’s High Five-0 challenge (which I participated in back in February) with each day being dedicated to one of the five ways. Reflecting on how important holistic wellbeing is on living a happy, healthy life got me thinking about how important it is for me to consider these five ways to wellbeing as every day and particularly going into a race.
Connect: my family have always been my biggest supporters and can be relied on to lend an ear as I tend to talk about upcoming races a lot partly out of excitement and sometimes out of nervousness. Orienteering, mountain biking and more recently trail running are all places where my family connects, we have taken so many great trips around New Zealand as a family to compete in events. I am also connecting with more trail runners the more I race and it is always nice to line up at the start with people you know and respect.
A relatively old family photo – these four are so important to me
Be Active: This is a pretty obvious one if you think about physical activity – running is such a great way for me to alleviate stress. I usually run alone in the morning and it gives me time to think – people often ask me what I think about when I’m running and I always find that a difficult question to answer because I think about everything – it will vary depending on my mood, what is going on for me that week and even with the weather. Importantly, being active is not only about keeping the body moving but also the brain. I love to learn – my six and a bit years at university definitely makes that clear – I love keeping my brain active by reading widely and listening to podcasts (Stuff You Should Know is one of my favourites).
This is my favourite kind of way to be active (Photo Cred: photos4sale.co.nz)
Take Notice: I want to be hitting a race in the best possible form and I have learnt how to listen to my body closely to know whether I am doing the right things to set myself up for success. Something as little as knowing when to ease up on training run because my calves are a little tight can mean the difference between my tired calves recovering before race day and thrashing them to the point of injury. One of the beauties of being a trail runner is the stunning places you get to train and race. I do make sure that I take the time to look up once in a while during a race and fully appreciate how lucky I am to be in the position I am.
While I race I do make sure that I look up occasionally and take in the often stunning surroundings (Photo credit: photos4sale.co.nz)
Give: I love the trail running and orienteering communities – everyone is so friendly and willing to give their time and others so that they can see others succeed. Giving can come in so many forms, whether it is volunteering as a marshal in a race, setting an orienteering course, giving someone a hand up a tricky section of track or even just giving a fellow racer some words of encouragement when they look like they are struggling.
Some of the North West Orienteering Club at Nationals 2013 – this group are always so willing to give time and encouragement
Keep Learning: I have come such a long way since I started running. I have gone from jogging for 40 minutes at a constant pace with no warm up or warm down and no stretching to now understanding the benefits of intervals and hill training, to knowing that stretching is so important. Learning keeps running and training exciting for me – if I read or hear from another runner that they tried a new shoe or new type of training I am willing to try it and I have learned pretty quickly that something which may work for someone else might be disastrous for me. Constant learning keeps not only running but life exciting!
University is just one place I learn things – I have learnt so many life lessons outside of formal education
Next week will be a race report from Routeburn – I’m so nervous, mostly because I haven’t run this race before and it is hard to know what to expect. I tramped the trail back in January when there wasn’t any snow on the track which is a HUGE contrast to what the track is like now, a massive dump of snow last week meant that a third of the Routeburn was closed – it should make things interesting!
Me standing up above Routeburn Flats in Jan – I imagine this is a different scene now
Kat Tales 