Friday 6 May 2011

You are what you think!

You may get what I mean straight away but it may be a bit early for some. The swimming group have not been at their best in the last couple of sessions and certainly my last one was tough.  So today our main set was 2 x 1,000m which is a fair distance but with UK 70.3 IM coming up I will need to do 1,900 m without a break so its a reasonable session.  One of the group had a bad session but explained "I knew I was going to be rubbish today", well they achieved their objective.  We all have bad days but the secret is trying to take something good from it - not always easy I know.
With a large number of them doing IM Switzerland in July the nerves are beginning to show and doubts creep in e.g. my swimming's isn't good enough, how will I manage the marathon etc.  This is completely natural and achieving an IM is not easy as so many things can go wrong in the build up and in the event.  But it's keeping the mental side together that will see you through it. 
Every time I go in the pool and the good swimmers glide by me I have a choice.  Curse them for being so good, curse me for being so bad or realise that we all have strengths and weaknesses.  The beauty / challenge of triathlon is that we test ourselves across three different disciplines and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't feel they are weaker in at least one area.  Therefore if you believe "you are what you think" lets put difficult challenges into perspective and enjoy them.  We are so privileged to be fit and healthy that even though it is physically and mentally tough, how good is it to be doing it?  Have a great day and take time out to smell the flowers which is being helped by a little shower here and there.