Last Monday, I came into work to find a sweet treat in my mailbox that one of my former students had left as a gift.
It was a homemade box, filled with homemade chocolate truffles. Each had a different type of sparkly sprinkle on top. They looked mouthwatering–especially for someone who loves chocolate as much as I do.
Was I really going to give these treats away?
“What are they?” he asked.
I explained that they were treats from one of my students, but that I couldn’t eat them, and I didn’t want to waste them. It was so very sweet of her to make them, but alas, I couldn’t have them.
“Well, okay. But, uh, why can’t you have them?” A most reasonable question, Ron.
“Today is X-day,” I replied, as if everyone knows what x-day is. Of course, Ron did not know what x-day was.
“Uh, what is x-day?” he asked. There he goes again, with the reasonable questions.
I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable at the prospect of having to explain it because I knew it was going to sound slightly ridiculous.
I paused. Ron waited.
“Starting today, everything I do is about Ironman,” I explained.
Okay, ridiculous is an understatement. I sounded like a lunatic, a cult member, a true believer who had imbibed waaaayyy too much Kool Aid.
And, yet, I continued.
“I’ve got 24 weeks until Ironman Mont Tremblant and focused training starts now,” I smiled, as if somehow this additional explanation helped me seem more reasonable, more sane.
“Um, okay . . . Thanks.” Ron eyed me with curiosity as he took the treats from my hands. He sniffed the box.
I’m guessing he was wondering if I had slipped some of the Kool Aid into the treats and was plotting to initiate him into the cult.
Yup, I was really giving those treats away. There they went, into Ron’s office. Goodbye, Treats! I’ll see you in September!
Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about becoming the athlete I need to be. Well, X-day is one of the things I knew I would have to do in order to achieve my goals. So, where did this idea of an X-day come from? It begins with John’s quest for Kona, which he began last year.
Throughout last season, John made several key changes as he prepared for Ironman Lake Placid in July, and then Ironman Cozumel in November. (John’s race report for his Kona-qualifying IM Cozumel can be found here.)
He stopped drinking alcohol and coffee.
He made tweaks to his nutrition to become a lean racing machine. While he never had a body fat test done, my guess is about 8% body fat. You could not pinch an inch anywhere on his body!
He went to bed at 8:30 p.m., and got up at 4:30 a.m.
He had double-session workouts almost every day.
Me? I did some of this. I trained hard, but not as hard as he did.
I ate healthy food, but I wasn’t quite as strict as John, who would eat vegetables for breakfast, freshly made veggie juice for lunch, and snack on whey protein shakes.
Let’s just say pieces of chocolate and the odd pretzel may have found it’s way into my mouth from time to time, as did glasses (or pitchers?) of beer and wine. What can I say? These items just simply lept into my mouth – I was defenseless.
I drank my coffee every morning. A whole pot of it.
Yes, I went to bed early, and got up early–most of the time.
Suffice to say, I did not live as strictly as John did in his quest to get that golden ticket to Kona.
“I read about this idea of an x-day,” He explained to me. “After that day, all of your choices are geared toward your A-priority race.”
(**Side Note: My apologies – we have combed the interwebs for this post he read about an x-day, and can’t find the original source. We think it came from either Gordo Byrn or Chris Lieto – but we can’t find it and he doesn’t remember exactly. If you know whose idea it is, please drop a line in the comments so I can properly link it here.)
At the time, I remember thinking, I love triathlon, but I need balance. I can’t have everything centered around this one day. Additionally, I figured I was so slow that it wouldn’t matter what I did.
And, here I am, a year later at my own x-day.
Last year, I managed to persuade myself into believing that I didn’t care about being fast in triathlon, and that Kona wasn’t a goal of mine.
Yeeaaah right.
Truth is, I have always been drawn to Kona. I was simply afraid to admit that because I was afraid of failure. Well, I’m still afraid of failure, but I’m more afraid of letting opportunity pass me by.
I want to qualify for the 2013 Ironman World Championships. In order to achieve this goal, I must be the type of athlete who does certain things to have the results I want.
John qualified for Kona on his third-ever Ironman. That seems pretty convincing to me. No, X-day was not the only reason he qualified, but it was a part of his success, particularly as it relates to his nutrition.
So, I set an x-day for myself. That day was March 5th, which was 24 weeks out from Ironman Mont Tremblant. All systems are focused on August 19, 2012. While my goal isn’t to qualify at this race, it is an important step in the plan to qualify. I have an aggressive time goal, that would require me to shave about 70 minutes off my best Ironman time so far.
Of course, turning down chocolate truffles and staying sober are not going to guarantee me a PR or a slot in the 2013 Ironman World Championships. Quality time spent training is still the most important ingredient–and my coach has got that part covered.
In addition to the hard work of training, I’m looking for every advantage I can get, and if X-day produces results, it’s worth the sacrifice.
Now, where is my glass of Kool Aid?
