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This is the unfortunate realty for many.
With the next few months very uncertain, Ironman® has elected to cancel or postpone a TON of it’s races, they’re even going so far as to offer virtual races on a newly developed app.
Times are weird, and COVID-19 is cancelling Ironman® races, marathons, schools, professional sports, the luxury of going to your friends house, and so much more.
I won’t stand on a soap box and talk about social distancing, instead, here are some thoughts on what to do if your Ironman® got cancelled.
If you’ve been working your butt off for months, now’s not the time to just quit.
Sure, be mad, frustrated, angry – maybe even take a week off – but then get back after it.
Re-devise your plan on how to attack your new race day (whether a new race or your new race date) and even scale back the volume for a little.
Use this as a recovery phase to repair your body, clear your mind, and think about how awesome your finish line story will be when you can tell people you overcame a pandemic to get there.
Got any nagging injuries? Yeah, of course you do.
Ironman® training puts a toll on the body. There’s no way around that really.
The successful trainees are those that can mitigate injury and work through discomfort – especially through the peak phases of training.
With your race timeline likely extended though, take this time to really care for that injury.
Take the time off, rest it, extra stretching, whatever you normally wouldn’t have done because “I have to get these workouts in or I’ll run out of time!” – do now.
It would be super easy to click on all the Instagram ads offering ice cream delivery (they’re not just targeting me, right?) and go nuts on poor quality food.
Because who cares right?
Wrong.
If you’re still training, and you’re still trying to recover, keep fueling your body accordingly.
Just like everything mentioned above, it’s ok to have a short term “I just don’t care” series of moments, but keep that long goal in mind.
You’ve been given a gift of more time.
More time to prepare, more time to focus on the little things, more time to really dial everything in.
Take a second and write down how all this new time can be put to good use. What NEW goals can you now accomplish with this time?
What other additional focuses can you add to your training with this additional time?
Keep yourself focused on the path, the journey, and deploy gratitude in a time where you mentally need it most.
There’s a lot of negativity out there right now.
Tons.
But it doesn’t have to live between your ears.
Nope.
Plenty of people will hunker down, let their fitness deteriorate, overwhelm themselves with anxiety & fear.
But not you – you’re going to be an Ironman® one day remember?
You have an immense power to motivate, inspire, and lead a community of folks on the fringe.
Show them, your friends, your family, your loved ones, that you can still be active, healthy, and in ever pursuit of a goal.
I get it – I’m oversimplifying, and it’s totally reasonable that you’re feeling:
I understand.
Know that there is still plenty of good in defining a training plan for an Ironman® in the first place, if you’re hoping to get started.
If you’re not sure what to do & you’re looking for help from a coach on how to get through this – just email me (josh@joshmuskin.com) & we can talk about what’s best for you in your current situation.
Keep that chin up!
Until next time.