Lightbulb moment...kinda long....

[rocknrollgirl]

Yesterday I went back up to the race venue to train. I met a girl that lives up there, and we rode the race course together. That in itself is worthy of a thread on its own. Hey Tattiefritter, I met a girl to ride with!!!!

ANYWAY, after we were done, I was finishing up in the parking lot and I started chatting to another female mt biker, getting ready to start out. We talked for close to an hour. She is training for the same race. ( thankfully not in my age group). She is an ex-adventure racer, IM triathlete, Xterra racer. As we chatted along, we talked about my training, and the race, and training in general, and life, and the "tudes" that you sometimes encounter at races.
She was funny, and smart and had a great attitude about racing.

On the way home, I had a long time in the car to replay the conversation in my head, and I had a small epiphany, for lack of a better term.

I am a competitive racer. I want to do well. But race day is fraught with things that are completely out of your control, and the day often times does not go as planned. You need to stay focused on that goal...BUT
when you really get down to the core of it, it is monumentally important not too forget to look back along the way, and see how far you have come. That is what this part of the journey should be about. Who am I as an athlete?

One year ago, I ran a 10 min mile, this week I ran two sub 8's.

Last November I had not been in the pool in 20 years. I set a time goal for myself, by June, 1000 yards in under 20 mins. This week I did it in 18.

Yesterday I climbed a hill, a very long, technical hill on my mt bike. At the top, there were two dudes. They looked up and said "did you make it?". I gasped Yep, did you? Nope....they did not.

I can set a goal, I can see it through. I can stick to it through rain, and snow and sore muscles, and deadlines, and sore throats. I am tougher than I give myself credit for. I am stronger, and healthier, and more centered.

My race day may not go as planned, in fact, it probably won't. Maybe it will be better, maybe not. But what is really important is that I was able to set a goal for MYSELF and see it through.

And that is pretty darn sweet.

[Tri Girl]

My race day may not go as planned, in fact, it probably won't. Maybe it will be better, maybe not. But what is really important is that I was able to set a goal for MYSELF and see it through.

And that is pretty darn sweet.

You are sooooo right! Thanks for the reminder to not forget the journey and how we arrived at race day to begin with!!
Thanks for sharing your epiphany!!! (and awesome job on the long, technical hill)

[colby]

I love those encounters where the mirror is put up for you and you get a chance to shine in the moment. It's so easy to remember our failures, our disappointments, the hard training days, and think only the places you want to go but haven't been yet. When someone or something comes up that makes you stop for a second, it sure is a good feeling.

A couple of weeks ago a woman in an online group (totally unrelated to anything athletic) was saying she hopes to run 4 miles by the end of summer, but can barely run 1 mile yet. I told her, if I went from not running a mile to running a marathon just over a year later, you CAN get to 4 miles. Her response was, "wow." That really made me stop and think. All I think of is how slow my marathon was, how slow I run regularly, how slow I ride, how slow my transitions are, all of the people that are faster... but you know what? I've come a long way. I tried on my wetsuit today, I had my husband zip me up. I said "does it look funny?" and he said, very matter of factly, "no, you look like a triathlete." Damn straight.

Congratulations on reaching your goals and setting new ones. Thanks for sharing your moment with us. You rock.

[KSH]

Ah... that is so true RnR girl.

I think it's so easy for us to lose focus on our own personal accomplishments... when we are surrounded by people who do so much more.

We forget, that what we do on a weekly basis is more than most Americans do on a yearly basis. Of course, it's easy to lose sight of that, when the only people you socialize with are amazing athletes.

It also sucks how a bad race can erase everything good we did to get there. Hey, I have bad training days, and I am sure as heck going to have bad racing days.

Personally, my attitude this year is that I'm going to out there and just have fun. I have trained, I put in the time... my body knows what to do.

Stressing out or getting "serious" on race day doesn't change anything. Well, actually, it just makes me stressed out and miserable.

Before the duathlon, I just "let it go". And you know what, I got sleep the night before... AND I did exactly as I would have done if I had stressed about it. During the race, I just told myself, "Hey, you do this in training all the time. Just run and do what you can do."

Anyhoo... I'm not sure if I was "on topic" with my reply... but your post did make me think those thoughts.

Yesterday I climbed a hill, a very long, technical hill on my mt bike. At the top, there were two dudes. They looked up and said "did you make it?". I gasped Yep, did you? Nope....they did not.

That's great! Congratulations!

A couple of weeks ago, at a bike rally... I took a little bit of pride when my boyfriend had to stop and rest going up a steep hill and I just pedaled on by. I might be slower, but I can take a hill.

[tattiefritter]

Hey Tattiefritter, I met a girl to ride with!!!!

Excellent, its a completely different experience riding with the girlies, a very good counterpoint to always riding with the boys. Hope you enjoy it, I know I still do.

I learned a long time ago (during stressful university exams actually) that things will be as they are on the day, I can prepare as best I can and as long as I have done my preparation I can only give it my best shot on the day. My first 10K I didn't really allow myself to dwell on it at all until I was on the start line, I just did what I had to do to get there and then I allowed myself a bit of a think to get the adrenalin going a bit and that was it. If I allow myself to think of things too much I get all tied up in knots.

[MINIskirt]

when you really get down to the core of it, it is monumentally important not too forget to look back along the way, and see how far you have come. That is what this part of the journey should be about. Who am I as an athlete?

I couldn't agree more. I started out walking long distances as training for a charity walk that I did. Then I just kept going. Walking turned to running. I've now completed 5 (albiet slow) half marathons, with another one this year. I also made the decision about 5 months ago to jump into triathlons.

Last year when I first started running, it was a struggle to get in a 13:30 minute mile. Now I can run a mile in under 10 minutes. I ran 3.5 miles yesterday at a 10:25 minute pace. I'm still not quite where I want to be, and sometimes that bums me out, but I just try to remember how far I've come and then I'm just amazed