Pre-Race Day Jitters!

If you've ever done a "first" race before you understand the jitters it can bring. 

The first time doing anything can be a little nerve wrecking right!?  I remember my first race and how I was nervous just about the unknown.  Oh how glad I am to now have dozens of races under my belt.  However, that doesn't always stop my nerves!  Today it's a good nervous.  It's just enough to get me all pumped up but not enough to keep me in the bathroom all day (haha!). 

You see, tomorrow I will be embarking on yet another adventure on my Ironman journey!  It's really just the second step, but I'm moving in the right direction.  Tomorrow I will be doing an Olympic Triathlon.  Just having the word Olympic in there sounds impressive doesn't it?  No, I am not trying to qualify to be in the Olympics.  I may have the heart, but I'm really not that good!

So an Olympic Tri is double the distance of a Sprint Tri.  Sprint's are all I've done up till now.  I'm pretty excited about putting another notch on my racing belt. 

Olympic Distance:
1 Mile Swim
24 Mile Bike (this varies depending on the course)
6.2 mile run (10K)

So this week I've really taken it easy on working out.  Which, as you might suspect is very hard for me.  I like to push myself, I like to sweat and I like to do it everyday!  :)  It's been kind of nice to be honest.  Not having that pressure of working out.  None the less, it's been weird!  I just want to make sure I have a fresh body and a fresh mind tomorrow.

Speaking of your mind... so much of training and racing is mental (well working out in general).  I can guarantee you (and I mean this wholeheartedly) that EVERY SINGLE PERSON I know could do a Sprint Tri.  If you can will your mind to do it, you can do it.  Now I'm not saying there isn't something to training.  There is.  It would be foolish of me to not train and show up on race day saying "But my mind said I could do it".  Now we don't want injuries or anything... But I have seen first hand the power of the mind.

I've said it before, and I don't want to beat a dead horse (where did that saying come from anyways!?!) but if you have already convinced yourself you can't do something, you can't.  You might as well give up before you even try. 

Now I'm not saying there aren't going to be discouraging days.  There absolutely will be.  I have had many training days that just don't feel right, or I'm not up to par.  But those days keep me going and shooting for the really good days.  The good days may seem few and far between when you first start out.  Then as you get your mind focused, and your nutrition in line your good days start becoming more and more frequent.  Then when you do have those bad days, it just makes you mad and you want to try harder instead of give up!

I feel like sometimes I'm a broken record.  Saying the same thing to the same people.  But I hope not.  I hope someone new is reading this for the first time and for the first time in a long time you are finally convinced that you CAN do it (start exercising, run your first race, run your first marathon or triathlon).  I may not know you personally, but I do already know you can do it. 

So I'm headed out on a light run to calm my nerves!  I can do this... I can do this... I can do this!  :)

I pretty much just want to encourage you to continue to pursue your dreams.  Don't let your mind tell you that you can't do something.  You absolutely can!

The Journey Is the Reward

We are all on a journey.  We can't predict this journey.  Although we can set our own course, we must be prepared for it to change.

While we really don't know what is going to happen on this journey, there are two things you can be sure of...

1. Your journey will not look like anyone else's.

2. Your journey can (and probably will) change along the way.

I decided 5 years ago that someday I would do the Ironman.  Someday really felt like a million years away at that time.  And in the grand scheme of things, and all that life has thrown me, a million years is a pretty accurate description. 

But here I am, at 30, feeling like it's closer than ever!  When I say close, I still mean probably 2 years away.  But I've got a date set and I am finally working towards my goals of getting to that 140.6 mile distance than I ever have before!

This got me thinking... After it's all said and done this goal will have taken me 7 years of my short 30 year life to accomplish.  Wow, that's an incredibly long time.  But you know what???  I could not have rushed it or I would have missed out on this journey of reaching that goal. 

I definitely am a goal setter.  I function best when I have set these goals.  I think some of that is my competitive nature in that I feel accomplished when I have set a goal and complete it.  Because of my natural desire to challenge myself I have learned to enjoy the journey of reaching my goals.  I think you could ask any runner that half the "fun" of training (any distance race) is the journey to get there.  How much less sweet would my first marathon have been if I had rushed through training and just showed up on race day?  Well for one that would have totally sucked and I probably would have died (literally! haha!).  But I would have missed those hours of training, and learning about my body and my nutrition. 

You see we live in a world that is all about instant gratification.  We want what we want and we want it NOW!  I am totally like that.  Ask my husband.  When I decide something I want to do it that very second.  It is so very hard to wait.  Sometimes I don't think I'm very good at being patient! However, patience is the most powerful weapon that I can carry with me in my journey of life.

When you set a goal to lose weight you don't want it taking months, we want the weight off right now.  If you are impatient and wish time to fly by, it's likely that you will struggle with reaching goals. Accumulation of hard work leads to great performances. Life, work, sports...even if you work hard but are impatient you will find yourself trying to take short-cuts or too many risks to try to progress too quickly.

When people want results yesterday, it's no surprise that something that can be accomplished quickly is much more fulfilling than something that takes time to achieve. 

Some progress is better than no progress. But if you have a goal and don't see extreme results in a week or two, how long will it take you to forget your goal and move on to another method to see if "that way" will be faster. Bouncing around from attempt after attempt is nothing more than feeling defeated by a challenge without realizing your true potential to achieve success.

There are no short cuts in life.  I've learned that over the 5 years it's taken me to get to the place I am. I would not go back and choose to skip it for anything. I love the journey!  Despite that it sometimes can get sticky and slow I have learned the true value of patience.  Hard work in both sport and life will pay off but you can't expect results tomorrow if you haven't put in the time to learn lessons, to overcome obstacles, to feel defeat and perhaps, become someone who you never imagined you could be.

So that's where I am at!  Anticipating the journey of the Ironman!  I don't want to rush it!  I don't know if it will be the only one I do, or if I'll be crazy enough to do more.  So rather than rush the next 2 years I'm going to be patient with my progress, learn all that I can, pick myself up when I fall down, and hopefully I will be able to encourage others along the way to be patient in their journey.

The Journey really is the reward!