Today I rode for 3 hours in very cold weather. I had to bundle up with heavy gloves, tights, head band and booties. There was a chance I could get rained on so I brought my cell phone in case I had to call my wife to pick me up but luckily the rain stayed away. At first I had to talk myself into the ride but as I went along I started thinking about the great fitness I was gaining with this solo ride and found good motivation. I called some friends before the ride to see if they wanted to join me. But all had ridden Saturday so I had to do it all alone.
Training alone seems to be the norm for me lately. I have to coordinate my training with my wife. And she coordinates her schedule around the kids and me at the same time. This means I have to be flexible and train when a window opens up. This is definitely not ideal for scheduling training with someone else. As a single child doing things with my friends was an important aspect of my life. I also work on the computer all the time so I needed that human interaction and I found it in my athletic activities. But over the years I also learned to train alone and found many benefits to training by myself.
Triathlons are races and although the professionals and some age groupers do race tight against each other. For the most part the race is against the clock and the elements. Pacing thus becomes the most important issue. I find that the best way to learn pace is by training alone. Training alone forces you to look within to find the right pace and it also forces you to concentrate. These are two aspects that will come in handy on race day.
I always encourage my athletes to do long swims on their own. Long swims are perhaps the most difficult to do on your own. All you do is stare at the black line on the bottom of the pool forever. What can be more boring? But if you can master this aspect of training and live to tell about it you will be very tough mentally. Mind over matter right?