Whatever sport you choose to do, success isn’t just based on strength. You can be the fastest person in the world, but if you don’t have the mental edge (to handle both the successes and challenges), others will pass you by. In this week leading up to Chicago, I’ve been struggling with, and unfortunately losing sleep over, some of the mental aspects.
The short version of mental battle was this — Chicago is not only PT Mid-East Regionals, but also the last race of the season. In other words, my last chance to strengthen my 2016 resume, on which a couple of 2017 items are dependent on. The hang-up was being concerned that if I fell flat on my ass (aka multiple flats like at Pleasant Prairie), and it derails what I’d like to have happen next year.
Earlier this morning as I was relaxing and having a beer, I finally got perspective on everything. Two different, but convergent views on the entire situation —
1) In 2015, an overwhelming majority of the support / help I had was grassroots. Even though there were some struggles (see ITU Chicago swim), there was still talent seen there, enough to get the additional help and support I’ve had in 2016.
2) While I want everything to continue moving forward, if catastrophe struck on Sunday, resulting in a step backwards, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Yes, I want to keep things moving forward, but I believe that even a step backwards could be corrected because of how I was able to progress in 2015.
So the bottom line here is that I plan to succeed overall on Sunday and get redemption in the water (aiming to cut about 24 minutes off ITU swim). But I also know that if something goes wrong, it’s not going to be the end of the world. There’s a lot that I can’t control, so I’m just going to put the effort out there and have fun.
And while this will be my last triathlon of the year, that doesn’t mean I just go into hibernation until March of 2017. There will be a lot in the works to keep moving things forward WELL before the 2017 triathlon season starts.
If you want to track my progress on Sunday, use the Race App and enter bib 4055.