How To Get Fast--at least if you are Mary.

I should qualify this whole post by admitting that what follows are things I believe have made me faster. One thing I've learned in the last six months since I started working with athletes is that each individual is remarkably different, and what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. I think I always believed every athlete was different, but I underestimated just how much. Each athlete has such a different set of qualities in terms of experience, physiology, psychology--the mix can be tough to figure out and it makes posts like How To Get Fast seems sort of arbitrary and pointless.

Still, I feel like writing this post.

There are some things we always look to and believe will make us fast. The track would be a great example. When we think of getting fast, we think of the track. Speed work. right? Well, yes, the track is definitely a speed lover's tool. In this post, though, I want to focus less on actual workouts and more on aspects of learning to be fast that are separate from specific ways of training--like training the aerobic system to the nth degree for 10 of the 12 months of the year, or doing ten trillion 800s on the track year round (both of which seem to work if done correctly, strangely enough).

I also want to say that there are different types of fast. I'm talking about getting faster when racing. It may seem stupid to point that out, but one can get faster when training and still not be faster when racing. Also, getting faster at IM is much different than getting faster at the 5K. Still, they have some things in common, and I'm going to talk about a few things that have made me faster at all distances.

1. Race Experience
I think this may be the number one thing that has made me faster over the years. The reasons are many--but really it comes down to this: the more you race, the better you get at racing. It's such a simple truth. People can talk to you up the wazoo about pacing, pain, nutrition while you race, but the truth is that you won't really figure that shit out unless you actually race--and not just a few times a year. This is easy with things like road racing. You can squeeze a ton of little road races throughout the year if you want. Each distance has its own little rules that you must figure out for you. It's harder with triathlon. Unless you do strictly sprints,  you can't race every single weekend all summer. And if you want to succeed at IM, you can't just do 10 of them in a row to get it right. (Although I actually know some people who are somehow able to do this!)  It took me two half iron-man races to sort of understand how to race one--and it wasn't until my fourth that I really nailed the race. With Ironman I totally DO NOT have it figured out yet. I've only done one, and my inexperience definitely got me on my first.

When athletes spend all of their time training and very little time actually racing I think they are at a speed disadvantage come race day. Experience  = greater speed. At least this has been true for me.

2. Psychology.
I know sport psych is talked about a lot in our sport. You need to replace negative thoughts with positive and affirming thoughts--when racing, when training, when just hanging around. I think this is especially tough for women. We are socialized to self-deprecate. Self deprecation puts those around us at ease; it lets others know we are tactful, graceful and modest.
Unfortunately, however, if you deprecate in life, you will deprecate in your head. And if you deprecate in your head, you will bring yourself down.And if you bring yourself down, if you believe your own deprecation, you won't get faster.
It's not easy to be confident for many of us. A starting point, at least for me, has been to be arrogant on a humorous level. Playing the part has actually really helped me to believe that I am strong, attractive, and able to win (or at least place well :) Is it awkward and strange to announce --hey, I'm hot! Is it childish to shout I kicked her ass! Probably.
But really--who gives a shit--especially if in the end it makes you stronger and faster to believe it? If it makes you feel good to believe it?
We all want to be liked and to be seen as the epitome of grace and modesty (at least if we are female). In the end, though, I know I'd rather be strong than liked. I'd rather be fast than liked. I'd rather be full of vim, humor and abrasive crass-ness than liked. 
And you know what? I think I'm better liked as a result! Not by all... certainly not. But I'm a more interesting and colorful person when I am playing at being the brash, know-it-all, confident coach than when being the humble, simpering, sweet little girl of my youth. (I know that many of you who have known me forever will argue that I was never actually simpering or sweet. Leave me to my own historical fictions...;)

3.  Okay. I admit I sort of went off there. Anyway, the next thing that has made me faster is learning to deal with pain. This is sort of combination of one and two, actually. Racing has exposed me to pain and taught me to deal with it. Psychology has allowed me to welcome--sometimes even invite pain--into my workouts.  If you can't deal with pain--if you can't welcome it--then you just don't get faster. You have to believe it's okay to feel a lot of pain, and then you can start to push beyond it. One of the reasons I like to do a little hard work year round (harder aerobic efforts like tempo or fartlek stuff on the run or strength work on the bike) is because I am closer to pain than if I maintain just zone 1/2 work for much of the winter months. I find that if I go three or four workouts in a row without experiencing real pain, then it shocks me when I do experience it. That shock slows me down because it frightens me.  If I don't feel pain for months, I get positively stopped by it when I do experience it.

4. Taking Risks. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In the end, I believe taking risks in my training and in my racing has made me faster. Sometimes you just have to test limits to see if the limit is really there or not. If it is? Okay. If it's not? Damn good thing I checked, huh?

5. Fueling. I need to eat. I need to eat frequently and quite a bit--especially for a little person. I also need to fuel well when I'm training. This is just something I've learned about myself over the years. When I'm training I sometimes try to stretch out what I need so that my body can better learn to use its available fuel  in the form of fat). (I do this frequently when doing strictly aerobic training.) Most of the time, though, I try to give my body the fuel it needs to perform well. I believe the cumulative effect of this has gotten me faster.

6. Form.
For me this is true especially when swimming, but also when running. If I am focused on my form, I just go faster. If I focus on going faster, I go more slowly.

7.  Weight. I think I have a magic range at which I am my fastest. I used to believe the lighter the better. I dont' think so now. It took me years to find the right place. It's also taken me years to alter my body compostion for the better. Both of these things have helped me to go faster.

I'm interested in what you think has made you go faster.
Tell me.