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Monday, August 27, 2007

Why Can't I Vomit?



Yesterday I took part in Skeese Greets Women's Triathlon. It was a sprint tri down at the Texas Ski ranch. My goals for the race were to clock a PR on that course and to puke at the end of the race. I accomplished neither.


This whole puke thing may sound crazy but for me the idea of pushing myself that hard seems almost as illusive as getting a slot to Kona. I just can't seem to push myself past my comfort zone. At the end of yesterday's race I got the usual comments, "You looked good." ... I don't want to look good, I want to look like crud!! One of these days I want someone to come up to me after a race and say, "Wow, I could really tell you were pushing yourself to your limits."


So what's the secret? I want to know why my friend Mike T. was able to cross the line at Couple's Tri without the energy to even make it to a trash can before he lost everything in his stomach.


When will it be my turn to join the group of people who can push themselves so hard that they puke at the end? Instead I am still among the chickens... the ones who back off when they start to hurt, or when they reach loose chip seal.


Oh yes... I am also a chicken on the bike. One of the roads on the course got a nice new layer of chip seal the other day. I was scared to death when I hit that section of the course. Lucky for me, I got my first power meter the other day and I was able to look at it afterwards to see how lame I actually am. My power dropped significantly and my speed decreased by 5 mph.


What's the consensus... am I a wimp or is there some secret I haven't discovered yet? What is that token of knowledge that allows us to push past our fears and reach those superhuman states? Where is the switch that you hit to tell yourself to go harder instead of staying in your comfort zone?

2 comments:

OHF said...

in my sixteen years of distance running, i have only ever vomited once on the run: the finish line of the 2006 boston marathon. "hey, if you're gonna pick one place to vomit in your life..."

i vomited not of effort, but because i drank way too much HEED in athlete's village. i ran for 3 hours with stomach cramps. that not guts--that's miscalculation. mich, i don't think you necessarily want any part of that.

Mich said...

doesn't count... I want to reach the point where I've pushed myself past my limits, then I'll know I went as hard as I could during the race. Until then I'll just keep asking if I should've gone harder