First, let me say that *anyone* who completes a triathlon, ever, has tons of respect from me! I can only imagine the bike, and can't imagine myself ever being in a competitive swim or run!! And to do them all on the same day - you are amazing!!

That said, I also have a similar worry about training in the coming bike season. With this new health condition, I don't know yet what my exertion tolerance will be this mountain biking season. I'll be returning to a race that I won the last time I raced it, and I know that I have little chance of winning it this year - partly because the race has grown and will have many more competitors, and because I really don't know how hard I can train, or how hard I can ride this year.

This is tough. It wasn't until I got pretty decent and fairly fast (keeping up with the fast guys on the friendly weekly ride, beating the medium fast guys on a regular basis and in some races), that I realized that I really am competitive. Knowing that this is going to be a tough adjustment this year, I've been trying to change my mindset already.

I do gentle yoga every morning - the kind where I listen to my body, not the kind where I push myself to do arm balances, etc, like I used to. I try to imagine enjoying the race, not so much racing it. I don't know if this will help or not, but I sure hope it does. Having the race to train for will help keep me working pretty hard at exercise, so I don't want to drop the racing.

Tell me how it goes for you, and what works for you. We're still at least a month or more away from any mountain bike rides, and I won't really know how my competitiveness is feeling until I get on the trail with some other riders.

Good luck and remember that you are in it for the fun!

Hugs and happy butterflies,
~T~