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Going Out of Your Comfort Zone

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mul21
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Post  Schuey Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:32 pm

I thought this blog post by Ty Mccandless was pretty good. Here is how he started the post:

Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone

As I struggled to think of a title of this blog post, I came across a card my college coach gave me before I left for Colorado to start this adventure. On the front was a quote from Neale Donald Walsch that said Life Begins at the End of your Comfort Zone. This quote accurately describes my race in Duluth this past weekend. I walked away after running 26.2 miles in a 13 second personal best (2:17:09) feeling disappointed yet very proud of myself.

Here is the link to the whole post: http://tylermccandless.com/2011/06/21/life-begins-at-the-end-of-your-comfort-zone/

I really found myself noting my head as I read his post. Not that I will ever be in the position of trying to win a marathon but I can totally relate and understand going out of my comfort zone. I have more to say about this but I figure I will let whoever wants to read this post and then give there thoughts on the post.

Then I would like to open the debate about going "out of our comfort zones" Think that this would be a great topic to debate and discuss. I hope all feel the same way.
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Post  mul21 Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:47 pm

I don't know, I think he made a not so well thought out decision. If you trained for a 2:15 marathon, you go out at that pace and see what's left in the tank the last 10K. I understand getting out of your comfort zone, but that's something that should be experienced in training so you do feel comfortable on race day. He would have finished in the money I would bet had he run his race and he also might be able to say he's a 2:15 marathoner now.

I know from experience that it's hard to not get caught up in the excitement of a big race, but that's one of the reasons that distance running is so much of a mental/discipline game as well as the physical side of being in good enough shape to run the race you want to. I admire the chutzpah (sp?), but he probably picked a poor time/place to go for it in my opinion.
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Post  Diego Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:55 pm

Foolish is most apt here. The time for a prolonged spurt is never in the the first half of the race. He could have bided his time and picked it up in the second half. He knew that and is rationalizing now, which is not one of the most mature defense mechanisms. Now in his next race, we'll see if he has learned anything.


Moving out of your comfort zone has a time and a place. He picked the wrong one.

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Post  Schuey Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:06 pm

Interesting take so far, I didn't take it that way. I will admit that yes he did train for a 2:15 but just because he goes out at that pace doesn't mean he runs 2:15. I like the risk he took to see what would happen. Sure he founded, he ended up out of the money. But still I think it was a great learning lesson and lesson that we all can learn from. Sure you could say the lesson is don't do that and I understand that but also I think that it shows that sometimes when your racing you have to risks and see what happens. I still have some more thoughts on this.
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Post  mul21 Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:14 pm

Schuey wrote:Interesting take so far, I didn't take it that way. I will admit that yes he did train for a 2:15 but just because he goes out at that pace doesn't mean he runs 2:15. I like the risk he took to see what would happen. Sure he founded, he ended up out of the money. But still I think it was a great learning lesson and lesson that we all can learn from. Sure you could say the lesson is don't do that and I understand that but also I think that it shows that sometimes when your racing you have to risks and see what happens. I still have some more thoughts on this.

In a lot of race situations, especially 5K and under, I'd agree with you, but the marathon is just too long of a race to try to go out that much faster than you trained for and have any prayer of holding it. I've surprised myself in an 800, a mile and a 2 mile, but it's just tough to hang on when you're not physically prepared for that pace in the marathon.
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Post  Dave-O Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:17 pm

The key here is this quote: This marathon was a great opportunity to take a risk.

And he's right. He already had his Olympic Trials Qualifier, and regardless of what happened, he'd be starting training for Houston in another month or so. There was no better time for him to take a calculated risk. If he runs 2:13, suddenly he can set his sights on a 2:11 or so and a top 10 placing at the trials. If he ran 2:15, well, then that jump to 2:11 seems much more unlikely. This was a good time to test the limits of his body.

If prior to this race his PR was 2:19:01, then yes, it would have been the most moronic decision possible.
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Post  Schuey Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:20 pm

Sure I understand what your say Jim but like he said he didn't go much faster then what he was planning. And the whole reason he picked this race was to learn to compete in the marathon. I think that he knew he could stay in his comfort zone and hit his 2:15, ok great. It looks like he made the choice to push his fitness and step out of his comfort zone and see what would happen and see what he could learn about himself as a runner.

Now if this was a goal race for him I would completely understand that it would have been a stupid move to make. From the sounds of it this was not a goal race, well at least that is what he is saying in his post.
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Post  John Kilpatrick Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:23 pm

I don't think he made a bad decision at all - I admire him going for it. Heck, Prefontaine basically became a hero b/c he ran "stupidly". From what I know he learned his lesson and may well of kicked butt at the next Olympics, but part of the charm was he always sent for it. I've read comments about Ryan Hall going out too fast, but it is his race. Something I think we can all relate to is wanting to push ourselves to our limits and hopefully redefine them as we go. I know there is something to racing smart too, but if I've learned anything at all, there are no one size fits all approaches to training or racing. As he said, he's not in it for the money and wasn't too bummed out about his result (or "failure", although a 13 s PR is also a good thing) - made him hungrier. I can relate! Hopefully, he'll come back stronger for it...

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Post  mul21 Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:26 pm

I still think the time and place to take the risk is much later in the race. He didn't have anything to lose by doing what he did, but he could have been much smarter about how he took the risk. Who's to say he doesn't have a tone of gas left in the tank because of the tailwind at the 16-18 mile mark and he drops the pace then. Again, I admire the courage to do it, I'm just not a fan of the execution or the seeming lack of strategy as it was a spur of the moment decision.
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Post  Schuey Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:30 pm

mul21 wrote:He went out a ton faster than he planned:

Tyler McCandless wrote:It wasn’t a stupid decision like going out in 2:08 marathon pace, but still a significant risk.

I don't understand Jim. He said he didn't go out a 2:08 pace which would be stupid but he was taking a big risk.

Tyler McCandless wrote: made a choice to stay with them early even though it was a little faster than I had originally planned.
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Post  mul21 Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:41 pm

Schuey wrote:
mul21 wrote:He went out a ton faster than he planned:

Tyler McCandless wrote:It wasn’t a stupid decision like going out in 2:08 marathon pace, but still a significant risk.

I don't understand Jim. He said he didn't go out a 2:08 pace which would be stupid but he was taking a big risk.

Tyler McCandless wrote: made a choice to stay with them early even though it was a little faster than I had originally planned.

Yeah, I misread that. That's why it's not there anymore! lol!
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Post  Schuey Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:49 pm

mul21 wrote:
Schuey wrote:
mul21 wrote:He went out a ton faster than he planned:

Tyler McCandless wrote:It wasn’t a stupid decision like going out in 2:08 marathon pace, but still a significant risk.

I don't understand Jim. He said he didn't go out a 2:08 pace which would be stupid but he was taking a big risk.

Tyler McCandless wrote: made a choice to stay with them early even though it was a little faster than I had originally planned.

Yeah, I misread that. That's why it's not there anymore! lol!

Alright I give you that. I thought I was have one of my Dead flashbacks of I thought I saw that post but I don't see that post anymore.
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Post  Matt W Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:03 am

Dave-O wrote:The key here is this quote: This marathon was a great opportunity to take a risk.

And he's right. He already had his Olympic Trials Qualifier, and regardless of what happened, he'd be starting training for Houston in another month or so. There was no better time for him to take a calculated risk. If he runs 2:13, suddenly he can set his sights on a 2:11 or so and a top 10 placing at the trials. If he ran 2:15, well, then that jump to 2:11 seems much more unlikely. This was a good time to test the limits of his body.

If prior to this race his PR was 2:19:01, then yes, it would have been the most moronic decision possible.

I agree with Dave. From the sound of the report, it sounded to me like he wanted to learn to compete in the marathon and not just time trial himself to a PR. Sometimes you take risks in races to find out what will happen so that you can make the necessary adjustments to really nail the race that's important to you. It's a lot less risky to play around with race strategy in a 5K because you can come back the next week and race again. He risked a blow up because he felt the potential reward outweighed the risk. It bit him a little bit here, but maybe he learned something and will have a breakthrough race next time. I don't advocate what he did as a sound strategy every time, but I don't disagree with taking a calculated risk every now and then if you feel it could pay off for you down the road.
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