All the athlete buses were tricked out
This is part one of a two-part analysis of Worlds before I close the book on it and start focusing on New York Marathon! Feel free to post questions or comments in the comments section and I’ll do my best to reply.
Fake World
When I arrived in Daegu, South Korea, as far as I was concerned, time stopped and the rest of the world didn’t exist. Outside of my husband and immediate family, everyone else I knew was frozen in time. If a bill was due, it would be late, late fees and credit score be damned. “The Athlete Village” was my home, my six roommates were my homies, and the rest of the team and staff was my support crew as if they’d been there all along.
This is completely delusional of course.
First ones in the village. It would come alive in a couple days.
The village is just an apartment complex temporarily gated off, waiting to be sold off to Koreans as soon as we move out. The dining hall will turn into a parking garage. The administrative buildings and meeting rooms will turn into a school. The “Champions Plaza” and its daily cultural performances will be replaced by dog walkers and loitering teens, and the cement benches where athletes met their coaches to discuss race strategies will be used as props for skaters.
Zoila Gomez, Bridget Franek and I running the river path from the village.
As for my housemates, they are from all over the country, and many of us compete against one another for limited contracts and opportunities, none of which incentivize working together towards a common goal. But in our pseudo world of Daegu, we all got along great and learned a lot about each other. I’d even say some good friendships were forged. But in the real world, roommates Morgan Uceny, Jenn Rhines and Amy Hastings will go back to the mountains of Mammoth. Alice Schmidt will return to watering her plant in San Diego. Shalane Flanagan will ramp back up in Portland. And Bridget and I? Back to Track Town. We talked about reunions, but when push comes to shove, we’ll probably just go back to aiming the cross hairs right between the eyes.
Fake World paid off big time though. Fake World protected me from naysayers and negative energy, (you may be shocked to know that some people devote copious amounts of time publicly tearing down professional runners and putting weird comments on their facebooks). Fake World gave me time to imagine myself giving my best performance in an environment that I luckily slipped into last minute. And while I was hanging out there, something unexpected happened. I imagined myself winning a medal.
Since I went pro in 2003, I always wanted to believe I could medal on the world stage, but whenever I tried to picture it, it was too fuzzy to focus on…too slippery to hold onto. The power of belief is an incredible tool, and I do exercises all the time to create beliefs about myself that will help me achieve a goal, (check out the new project I’m about to release on the subject) but my mind won’t let me just believe any old thing just because I want to. While some beliefs come fairly quickly with a little disciplined practice, certain beliefs are hidden behind iron-gated doors with seven padlocks and a row of archers standing guard. A medal has always been one of those things and I’ve been tracking down the keys one at a time over the years.
The cameraderie at London made a big difference
But something changed after London. I don’t know if it was age or experience or euphoria, but I got a little glimpse behind the doors. Daegu would be hot. The world’s best would be doubling 10k/5k and the 5k was the second event of the two. The races would likely be tactical. The athletes with the fastest times don’t always win races like that. You can predict the result of a Diamond League race based on season bests almost to the T. But Championships are different. There is a difference between the “World’s Fastest” and the “World’s Best.” A lot of the “World’s Fastest” are dependent on rabbits to make the race happen for them. Suddenly in a championship race, there are no rabbits and it all comes down to the day and a bunch of factors out of your control. Being the “World’s Best” requires handling anything thrown at you, using your instincts well, having good luck, and managing the pressure and stress of the unknown.
Was I ever going to beat Vivian Cheruiyot? Probably not. But did I dream about it? Yes. Did I imagine scenarios where I won? Yes, about 35 of them, as well as scenarios for silver, bronze, a close 4th, etc. I imagined myself on the back of the lead pack of Africans with two laps to go, but in Fake World I was able to match the move and kick it home and pick off as many people as reality allowed on the day. However I also had a back up plan just in case I wasn’t firing at 100% on the day, or in case the race tactics were crazy fast, just to make sure that I didn’t have a stinker in the worst case scenario (like I did in Helsinki in 2005). Some people may think of this as giving yourself a way out, but its exactly the opposite. It helps me identify what I can and can’t control so I can use logic rather than emotion during the race.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Final thoughts on Worlds including “how not to tank a race” and putting the result in perspective. Please comment below with questions, experiences, etc. I love reading your thoughts.
This is so up my alley … the power of belief – in so many ways belief is EVERYTHING in life. I know it’s over quoted but I love the Henry Ford saying, “If you think you can or think you can’t … you’re right.”
I love your description of the iron doors and the archers … so strange that our own minds can bar us from fully expressing ourselves – especially strange to think, “Is my ‘mind’ something separate from ‘me’? Why would ‘I’ keep ‘me’ from winning a medal?!??!
So much of our daily life is shaped by thought! Good and bad. By the way … I like your approach – considering scenarios good and bad – I agree with you, it’s not giving yourself a way out – it’s part of being prepared and it doesn’t jinx you or mean that you are planning for defeat. It’s a professional approach to trial. It’s like the old driving school axiom: Expect the unexpected. Be ready for anything.
I think just the fact that you know all of this and that you do exercises to create beliefs about yourself means that you are on the path to achieving whatever you dream. It’s like Picky Bars … you’re injured, your friend is injured, people like the bars you make, you have the thought “This could be a business” – and instead of surrendering when the mountain of paperwork hurdles emerge you push through and make it happen. Life lived successfully in a nutshell!
I’m blathering here … you know all this. You were the Lauren Fleshman who said yes to all the dreams that took you from high school runner to college star to National frigging Champion – you were the little girl who plunged off a rock precipice like the big girls – right? I think I read that in one of your posts – so your mind or some healthy strong take-no-prisoners part of it has always understood that the power to shape your life starts with the power of thought. You’re like a highly skilled warrior who understands that there is always another level of skill and mastery to be obtained and that the source of that is mental focus and belief and practice.
You’re unstoppable!
Wow, thanks Michael!
I used to kind of poo poo the mental stuff when I was younger because it seemed so unscientific (I’m a human biologist) and fluffy. There is so much work to be done in the physical arena when it comes to improvement in sport that its easy to put the mental stuff on the backburner for when you “reach your max improvement from physical training.”
That’s kind of what I did, and the funny thing is, once I started working on the mental side of things, I was able to take my physical training up to entirely new levels. I wish I had given it more respect sooner in my career.
I love what you said about being a “highly skilled warrior who understands that there is always another level of skill and mastery to be obtained and that the source of that is mental focus and belief and practice.” That is what I aspire to be. The more you learn, the less you Know. Being open to an endless process of learning is huge.
Re the pooh-poohing of the mental side of things, I’m trained as an economist and I earn my living as a writer and editor. My skeptical, ever-analyzing mind is absolutely essential to the work I do. It therefore does not come naturally for me and others like me to turn that mind/brain off and to turn to something as “flakey” as affirmations and visualizations. This is despite my knowing from experience that visualization works!
Our guardians of our old ways, those big black birds that sit on our shoulder and try to make sure we don’t change (my version of your archers), scoff at the non-analytical and demand that we PROVE this weird stuff works. When I was younger, I listened to those guardians WAY too much! With any luck, we learn as we get older to laugh at the guardians (because they never go away), ignore what they say, and get on with learning new things and changing.
One of the many, many glories of this site is the way you capture key ideas in memorable phrases we can all draw on. Brain On/Brain Off is just the latest example. Keep on writing and running!
Great, I’m addicted to running hills, slowly, and now this blog. I hope at least a few youngsters who are still “on the bus” with you are getting all this. Keep the installments coming. Again, Thanks.
Hey thanks Andrew. If you don’t want to have to check back to see if there are new posts, you can always sign up for an email when there is something new (its on the top right corner of the page). Or RSS of course (which I still don’t know how to use properly). You probably already know that though :).
Fake World is an ingenious idea. It kind of reminds me of what I did to study for the boards – I got my mom to change my passwords for facebook,twitter, etc. and didn’t talk to any friends from med school as I knew hearing what they were doing would send me into orbit. For 6 weeks, I was shut off from the rest of the world. But, it worked.
I want to know more about those skills/tips/tricks you use to believe in yourself. I also have a question, as per usual. Do you ever have a goal that you fleetingly believe is possible (like you get butterflies thinking about it), but then for some reason, it goes away (meaning you then un-believe)? Ie – maybe you talk yourself down from believing in the goal with logic or let some bad races/workouts get to you or let comparison with others get to you and it sabotages that belief? Or do you think that if that belief goes away, it was probably not something you believed to begin with, anyways, and that fleeting feeling of “oh my gosh, this is actually possible” was fake? I know you spoke of those goals that are guarded with padlocks, but I think this is different…
Thanks Meggie. I just replied to your comment on Part 2 with something that I think applies to your questions here. Check it out.
You turned pro in 03? It was THAT long ago? Oh boy I’m getting old.
But you know what? I’m a major track and field fan. I started running track in 1970 at Watsonville HIgh California, (Section champs in 72!!) And I’ve been a major track fan ever since. (Met Pre at the US / USSR meet, Berkeley CA in 1971 [He autographed my Learner’s permit] and snuck into the 72 trials with my pal Dirk in Eugene) And it’s just cool seeing this new generation of runners beginning to tear it up on the International scene.
I’m am so amazed at the talent, determination, intelligence and positive way you and the rest of America’s young runners approach their profession with.
I know your best years are ahead of you young lady. Lili, my SO!, and I will be watching you and your future successes and let me tell you, we’ll be smiling big time when you get that medal on the world stage!
You have a good head on your shoulders kiddo. Go for it!
Thanks Carlos. 🙂 Turning 30 this month! Time keeps on ticking.
And yes, we really do have a special group of runners in America right now, and I’m lucky I get to meet them on the circuit.
What I like most about your recent posts is how well you’ve maintained perspective through a crazy few months while also continuing to dream big. As for visualization, I think you’re onto something. I loved how Desi Davila’s coaches set up a simulated “Boston start line” environment, mile markers, simulated course. Obviously, it worked well for her. So much of racing happens in our heads.
Thanks Julie! Sometimes it can be just as tough to be flexible with our goals when things make a dramatic turn for the better, just like its tough when they take a turn for the worse. Its easy to miss opportunities that weren’t previously on your radar, or to talk yourself out of the possibilities. I loved hearing about Desi’s Boston simulation as well. I want to give that a shot too.
Amazing what can happen if you believe. I always thought “well sure they won, they were born with bodies fast and strong enough to do olympic like shi#.” But in truth, the more stories I hear, it often comes down to who has enough guts and who really wants it more than anyone else. I guess those beliefs allow the body just enough power to push that much harder and out sprint/throw/jump the other guys. And I believe you want it, girl.
Love the pics of your teammates. Glad the fake world did you well.
Thanks Lauren!
You know, there is also an aspect of the belief stuff that is cumulative. Of course on the day of the race you have to have the guts and you have to want it more than anyone else, but its hard to force that if you haven’t practiced over time. You have certain beliefs about yourself right now that can be mistaken as truths when in reality, our beliefs are fluid and changeable. Think about the Muhammad Ali quote: “It’s the repitition of affirmations that leads to belief and once belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
I view it like a cycle. Thoughts–> Beliefs–> Actions—> Identity–> Thoughts…
Change your thoughts and it changes the things you are willing to try to do, which changes your perception of who you are through those experiences, which leads to different thoughts and beliefs about yourself.
Loved the piece…and so sorry to hear about the “haters”. Hey…how about a t-shirt for guys too?!
I need to get on that! Figured I’d better start with what I know works for me. What do you think would be a cool idea for a men’s line? Instead of flowers, what could be the theme that is used to make the affirmations cryptic for men?
I have a question! In your Flotrack interview you talk about how the Africans really work together out there on the track, and how you wish Americans could do something similar. And as you say here, the U.S. pro community is so competitive here. Did you talk about the idea of working together in races, especially on the world stage with your roomies or others, and what were the thoughts?
You know, I thought about it, and maybe the other women did as well, but its not really something we could have thrown in there last minute at the World Champs. In the end I figured it was something that we need to have on our radar earlier in the season and foster those relationships better over time so that it is genuine and real. When you are doing your own thing all year and never interacting, it would be a mistake to suddenly try to arrange a race plan around one another. It just wouldn’t have happened this time. Do you have any ideas on how this can be different in the future?
This kind of reminds me of USA Gymnastics pre- and post- 2000 Olympics. The US went from the best team in the world in 1996 to not so hot by 1999. They instituted national team training camps and a national team coordinator. The entire national team goes once a month to the Karolyi Ranch in Houston to train together. The focus shifted from individual gymnasts and their coaches to a unit working together to achieve greatness for the US. Since that time, the US has medaled in the team competition in every Olympics and Worlds since 2001 and produced the last 2 Olympic All-Around Champions (ie the most prestigious title in women’s gymnastics).
I don’t know the first thing about track, so I don’t know if training together is feasible. But, I agree its something you have to commit to as a team beforehand and would probably have to practice racing/working together to get the balance right (ie kind of like how playing with a doubles partner in tennis takes a while to work out the kinks but after you play with someone long enough its like you know exactly what theyre going to do and your brains and feet are connected). This might be hard for runners considering people may switch events and/or you don’t know who is going to be on a particular team. It’d be interesting to see how it worked though – if it was implemented amongst USA runners to work together.
Here in Canada, a number of sports had National Training Centres and national training camps for years, and I think there is a really strong argument for them in both team and individual sports. So I agree that something like the Karolyi Ranch can be a really good idea.
I just think you have to be very careful about the coaching principles in play at such centres (and in any coaching environment for that matter). I am leery, shall we say, about Karolyi’s coaching methods.
We focus a lot in the training of Canadian coaches on athlete-centred coaching, and while it’s a lot wussier and on the surface lass successful than Karolyi’s own methods, I am far more comfortable with the athlete-centred approach.
Canada’s flameout with Ben Johnson in 1988 is a glorious case study of what can happen when winning is all that matters and you turn a blind eye to the ethics of the coaching behind the winning.
That is true. I guess my main point was how USA Gymnastics created a semi-centralized system that emphasized the team over the individual. Not only have the ended up with great team results, but also great individual results. Now, have they put up a lot of injured athletes in major championships (eg: Bross and Sacramone with stress fractures at last year’s worlds, Kupets with a stress fracture at the 2004 Olympics, people getting injured in training camps leading up to championships) – yes, they have. A big criticism of the current Karolyi regime is that they training camp system leading up to major championships is basically a game of survivor. So, while I don’t think that’d be productive for runners, maybe some sort of top-down approach at create training camps or venues for athletes to work together would lend itself to the athletes working together in major races.
Right, I guess I should have couched it in terms of future World’s/Olympics, not for this time around. I guess you even seemed a bit surprised that they were working against you? If I got the wrong impression, please tell me, that’s fine–it’s been a few days since I watched the interview. I have no awesome ideas, though Meggie’s is definitely one. I guess I also didn’t realize this is something you’d have to really practice/form relationships for. Do you know if the Africans plan it/practice for it? (Is that a dumb question? I know nothing about track, except for what you’ve talked about on this blog or has been brought up on Flotrack…) The whole idea of those kind of tactics fascinates me, anyway.
Thanks for having this forum! I look forward to Part 2.
Hey Tiffany,
Interesting discussion…the gymnastics and Canadian examples made me think. I don’t think it would take much to develop camaraderie among the distance women. Simply by interacting with one another, like having a similar training base in Europe during the summer season would make a lot of difference.
A few years back, I stayed in the same town as a lot of distance women, including Kim Smith and Roisin McGettigan and several other women. I had never trained with those women before, but suddenly we were staying in dorms for weeks on end and meeting up for coffee and morning runs and heading to the track workouts at the same times even though we had different specific workouts. We cooked some meals together and walked into town to get a glass of wine or gelato now and then. An overall respect and friendship grew that persists even now. Kim and I have shared training tips and go to one another now and then for tips or advice. Roisin and I counted on one another for mental training advice and tips and ended up creating a mind/body training diary together after eight years on the circuit (its available on http://www.believeiam.com as of three days ago!)
Its so much easier for athletes from different nations to help one another in our sport because there is nothing to lose really. It is dangerous to work with other American athletes because our financial livelihood depends on our contracts, and our contracts pit us against one another with limited room at the top of the podium.
If I work together with two Irish women, an Australian and a German and we all improve, everyone wins. We only race one another a couple times a year. But Americans are evaluated based on how they compete against one another, so its a barrier to working together.
I think it would help if USATF sponsored a training base for the endurance athletes in Europe for the competition season so that we had the opportunity to interact and develop relationships and respect for one another. In many cases, that would naturally bloom into cooperation. As it is now, we Americans stay in all corners of Europe in little tiny pockets because that is the best model for looking out for your own people in a highly competitive environment.
Thanks for the discussion Tiffany, Meggie and Louise. Any other opinions and ideas are more than welcome as well.
God I love this blogpost! “Fake World,” sounds better than “Real World,” in many ways! Especially the part about being shielded – positively protected – from negative energy — camaraderie and positive energy.
Maybe “Fake World” is a step towards “More Ideal World,” and we can each cultivate our own virtual mobile “Positive World.”
I found running to be a very philosophical sport. I remember my first day of training solo…after my first season of cross country in high school. I was about 300 meters into the run, was about to take a right up into the hills and forests, and thought “geez, I’m going to be doing this for 30-40 minutes, what am I going to do with my mind…I’ll guess I just think about stuff and try and figure out people and the world…”
Okay, I was 14.
Your lovely post here reminds me of very private and positive world that running almost always is. Solo runs…a journey with an arc in and of themselves..from warming up…to cooling down and all the thoughts, focus, runners high, insights, whatever it is for you that day… And group runs, and the sense of camaraderie (when we aren’t hammering our friends on a tempo).
Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience here and reminding the running community…in your observations…that it is and can always be a community, and a lovely, “fake” positive one at that!
Lovely comments Elias. Thanks.
Hey Lauren!!
I love your website and the positive attitude and outlook on life you stand for!! Congrats on your race! You’re such an inspiration. I’m a competitive hs runner for my girls varsity team and you remind me daily to nurish my body and treat it kindly.
I was wondering if you could answer a question.
I’ve been gradualy upping my milage and haven’t had shin splints for a couple of months until now. They are starting to come back. Besides taking time off are there any preventitive measures or treatments you know of that work? Do you just have to take the prime season time off and rest? I’d love to hear your thoughts!!
Thanks a ton,
keep on being so cool 🙂
Melissa
Hi Melissa. Thanks for the comments!
I had shin splint problems in high school and I went to see a physical therapist. She had me do a ton of painful lower leg strengthening exercises against resistance, working the ankles and shins (front and both sides of each shin) and also calf raises. She explained to me that my shin splints were the result of either lack of strength in those muscles for the amount of pounding I was doing, or an imbalance of strength from medial to lateral, or front to back on the lower legs. I didn’t have to take complete rest, but I had to back off a bit, do my exercises (which hurt super bad), ice every day, and be more mindful about landing with my foot under me instead of heal striking in front of me (which jars your shins and overworks the muscle on the front of it).
I did a quick search for some videos with exercises if you don’t have access to a physical therapist…check some of these out http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=exercises+for+shin+splints+youtube.
Also, here is a video on midfoot striking. http://youtu.be/-gQek-3qvJw Its just something to work toward over time, and starting with just a couple laps on grass is a good idea to get the feel for it.
Good luck!
Thanks SO much Lauren! I really appreciate you taking time to read my comment and respond! The advice is super helpful too 🙂
Melissa
Such great writing and ability to express the way the mind works. Learning to play the game of winning is an ongoing process and you obviously embrace it! The first time I broke 15:50 (many moons ago now) was the first time my belief that I could do it outwieighed the belief that I couldn’t. Reading your journal is wonderful and it’s cool to boot!
Thanks Lucy! 15:50 is legit girl. What made the difference in that race? Why were you suddenly able to believe? Did you get advice from a coach that helped or come to a realization somehow? Did you use any tricks or techniques?
Great question. You are so smart! I had a great coach, one who believed in me probably more than I believed in myself for a while. That night, I was ready and prepared (1. can’t do anything without that part in place). And then halfway through the race, I was behind 4 fast Mexicans who were running as a team, and something just clicked. I was always gutsy and gritty and that night I decided that I was going to stick with these other women, that I was every bit as good as they were and I deserved to be there. Took a huge amount of self belief. (2. you have to know you belong). They outkicked me in the end but I got my PR (3. it isn’t always about winning!).
Have fun!
I love reading your blog, it is very entertaining, as is your whole website and yoru descriptions are so real and vivid. I think I could have learned a few things from you and your ability to know what is important when I was really racing. You writing allows the reader to feel as though they are there. I also just ordered picky bars yesterday (to Canada) mainly because your website is so great and I’m sure they taste great. I’ll start pushing them at my track club here and with the kids I coach. I’m friends with some of the girls you run against and now I have someone new to also cheer for!!
I would love to order a t shirt but am not a big fan of the v-neck, is a regular t in the cards?
Looking forward to part 2 of “fake world”!
Hi Krestena, thanks for posting. And thanks for trying Picky Bars. I hope you and your track club enjoy them. If you like them, you can apply for a Picky Team if you are ordering them in larger amounts in the future (saves some $). The V-Neck is the only T we currently have, but we have some scoop neck tanks that are very lovely and high quality eco friendly fabrics. A scoop T will be in the works for the next round.
Let me know how the team likes the bars!
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