AH HELL YEA!
What a day!
WOW!
Recently (on the training front), I've had a couple of issues that really hit my confidence:
First, that horrible OW swim.
Second, making the switch to a tt bike.
Third....ok, this was not a HIT to my confidence, at.all. Setting my 5:52 goal and then running into problems....well, that hurt a bit.
More than anything, I needed a day where I could reassure myself that I CAN DO THIS. I WILL DO THIS.
Today was the day for making that happen.
Lemme spell it out for you.
TODAY WAS A FREAKING CONFIDENCE BOOSTER.
Here's the synopsis: After last week's horrible ow swim, I was SO scared to do the 1 mile swim today. Let me rephrase that, I WAS SCARED SHITLESS. Today's swim was a *race* at Boulder Res. Btw, I assumed it was an out and back. I thought, if I struggle, I will just turn around and head back.
I almost threw up when I saw it was a loop.
A BIG FAT WIDE CIRCLE LOOP.
Understand the sittyation?
Alot of the people are afraid of the swim. I get that. But, the swim is my best event. BEST. If I f*ck this up.....well...nothing really happens.
I took a few minutes in an empty part of the water and started *meditating* and saying my catch phrases that help calm me down. My HR was really high, so I needed to calm down.
My favorite phrase and Yes, I know it's a little weird, but I just kept saying "Panic is a vulture on your shoulder. Panic is a vulture on your shoulder."
It's sort of sing-song....maybe it's NOT going be on Barney, but you gotta do what works for you.
I lined up at the VERY back on the far right. Everyone took off, and I took a deep breath and just started swimming. After a few strokes, I felt like I was just swimming in a pool. I went very easy, VERY easy. When I got out of the water, my watch said 43 min exactly.....which for me is very slow.
But today was not measured by speed, it was measured in confidence. I gained a ton today.
No matter how afraid of something I am, I know that I will get right back up there and make it right.
Now, I can go into my next ow swim and pick up the pace without fear of freaking out.
Then it was time for the bike.
Again, I was nervous about riding my tt bike on this course. Would I be strong enough? Could I do the hills?
WOW! That elevation map makes the course look so hard, but it is very fast, very easy. Ok, maybe not VERY easy, but WAAAAAYYYY easier than where I ride regularly. When I finished, all I thought was "I am going to KILL it on the bike!" I'm going back out a few more times, but I feel pretty confident that I will break 3 hours on the bike.
Maybe I can do this afterall.