There are 3 months left. 3 months from Saturday until the big day. So today I decided to look at where I am. And how I'm doing. And is it working. A good friend gave me Macca's book for my bday. In it he talks about being able to recognize when things aren't working during an ironman and being able to change on the fly. Several friends who just completed Lake Placid said the same thing.
What is working? The swim and the run. I'm feeling ok with these. I'm slow. I'm steady. I'm not afraid of either of them. I'm not going to get any faster in 3 months but I can continue to gain confidence and peace.
What's not working? The bike. The nutrition and my stamina. I can work this out. I'm getting help. What else? My energy level. Once again. I've made some changes so I don't feel so exhausted. So beat down.
Final words. I started putting goals in my head. Breaking the day down. And I've stopped myself now from doing this. This is my first ironman. This is my second year doing tris. I still have not completed a half ironman. A week from Saturday is my first tri this year. I put way too much pressure on myself in life for everything I do. And I think it's a better idea to have my main goal be "to finish" and let the cards fall where they may.
We are all competitive and not necessarily with others, but with ourselves. We strive to be better, stronger & faster. It's what attracts us to racing, like moths to a flame. Then I read this article and it kind of changed my perspective a bit. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to train with the goal of improving, but when I don't see any improvement, I'm going to refer back to this article. I'm not doing an IM, and as I've heard other IM finishers say, "enjoy the day, you only do your 1st Ironman once".
ReplyDeleteAn excerpt from the article "“Get an awesome finish line photo and bank that memory. The timing chip can sort the rest out later.” - Chrissie Wellington
Here's the link to the article - http://lavamagazine.com/features/mind-games-so-you-want-to-get-faster#axzz1ThTDVoZb
Relax and take it all in. You're going to do great. Your only goal should be to cross that finish line. I'm going to do my best to cheer you on and get you that awesome race photo.
Thanks Dave. That quote is worth it's weight in Gold. It helps a lot.
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