I have come a long way from where I started with regards to training and racing. In my first race, I was so scared to swim in water over my head that I grabbed onto a kayak about 100m from the finish in a 400m race. In my last race, I swam 2.4 miles in the Indian Ocean! Yes, the water (and things that live in it) still makes me nervous, but I have learned to face my fear and anxiety to deal with it.
I am very proud of my accomplishments in getting faster, stronger, and gaining more race experience. A lingering issue with me is my lack of confidence, which I feel holds me back. In the past, I always said to myself "You don't know if you can finish this, so stay conservative and do what you can." Now I know that I can go the distance and I want to get faster.
I am stealing some statements from "Cultivating Your Desire to Succeed" from Active.com. This helped me to articulate what I want to mentally train for this year:
Believing that I can achieve my goal to finish and PR at Ironman St. George 2011.
Believing that I have what it takes to try.
Believing that I can bring everything I have within me to a moment that requires it.
One thing that has never been a factor in my mental race preparations is my diabetes. I don't ignore it, but I believe in my ability to control any issues that might arise during a race (which is normally--nothing). I have pulled out of races with low blood sugar, so what. People pull out of races due to a whole host of other reasons.
Wish me luck. This will definitely be more challenging than a 20 mile run or 100 mile bike ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment