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The choice of races may be based on the destination or type of challenge, but a comparison with an expert helps.
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Competition may not be the main goal; the important thing is to enjoy the energy of the race and the sights.
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In endurance sports, slowing down and enjoying the journey becomes more relevant than time, partly because it allows you to enhance experiences and encounters.
Whenyou think about upcoming races to do, you may decide with the desire to visit a new city or because of the type of challenge they pose.
Sometimes, however, discussion with your coach or someone in the field and who knows you can help guide you.
For example, you might realize that it is not so much the destination that matters but the journey, and that is how you want to approach preparation, as happened to me in talking with my coach.
Initially I had thought about several races, both near and far, traditional or alternative, but without coming to any enlightenment. Because-let’s face it-it’s not true that all races are the same and one is as good as another, when you sign up you have to be enlightened, enamored, attracted in some way to the specific event. And personally I am convinced that if you have to toil for months at a time to achieve a goal, it must be worth it. Unless your only goal is the competition itself – absolutely legitimate and understandable, by the way. But this is not my case; on the contrary. I am not a fan of competitive racing, category podiums, having an opponent in front of me to defeat, the only thing I like about racing is the energy. But I don’t care much about the competition, I think that’s understood. And I’m not saying it’s wrong-I know that competition is good because it pushes you to go faster and faster. But – it may be age, fatigue or the need for different stimuli – I am not particularly attracted to going faster. Hence my need for an alternative was born.
If you don’t go faster you can go farther
In endurance sports, there are only two variables: time and distance. If you don’t want to lower the former, you can lengthen the latter. The equation is so easy I would say, isn’t it! And in this case your opponent is the same, in any condition and on any course: always just you. So we set out, in some ways ignoring the “time” factor, in favor of reaching a goal. Farther and farther away. The variable is just “where I want to get to today,” and the limit is mainly mental, related to the pure concept of endurance, where it is mainly the brain that gets you the farthest. The physical component is indispensable, don’t get me wrong: without sufficiently strong muscles, you won’t get anywhere. It’s just that energy is used differently, less explosively and more “enjoyably,” in some ways. Because the adrenaline rush of “violent” physical performance gives way to eyes that are filled with new sights, in places far from home. To be achieved by running, cycling, at times walking me – always and in any case – in constant motion. To do this requires training, with a different approach, but still consisting of the two main components we have been talking about for years: endurance and strength. From a certain point of view, the numbers – pace, speed, elevation gain, heart rate, power – matter less and are replaced by the speck sandwich you enjoy on the road, the dust on your shoes and wheels, the people you meet and the experiences you exchange. The mind, I said, plays a different role, especially since we are no longer talking about managing effort for a predetermined distance and time goal as it may be to run a half-marathon in an hour and forty minutes, to understand. And you no longer manage effort solely by managing distance in stretches-who hasn’t said to themselves, “come on you’ve passed the halfway point and, from now, it’s all downhill”? – but you feed your thoughts meter by meter, enjoying what you are doing and not worrying too much about being in line with the race (or training) strategy. With your eyes wide open enjoying what’s going on around you and, at best, thinking, “come on, the curve flattens out after that!” ;) I don’t know if it’s right for me but I want to try it because that’s what attracts me right now: slowing down, enjoying the scenery and having a different goal each time. It is basically just a different point of view. How about you, what do you think? Photo by Oktay Yildiz on Unsplash