Ok, so the title is a little strong, I wasn’t feeling that bad, but after my ill (literally ill!) form a few weeks ago, I think it really hit me. Mentally. I felt out of the game. I thought I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t in a great place thinking about my tri!
So… Feeling better, the following Saturday, I decided to do my own sprint. At 6am it was 20 degrees and the sun was already beating down on me, so was feeling great…although a little apprehensive given I still had a bit of the flu in me!
I set off for my swim (600m). Did it well and in good time.
Got to the van, donned my bike shoes and helmet and set off on the bike. 20km done and nearly two litres of water downed, I got back to the van and set off on my run. The sweat was pouring!
I came off the bike feeling pretty good about how I was doing, but heading out on the run, the first kilometre was really tough. Mental games were at play with me thinking that maybe I’ll just do 2km and turn around. I got a km out and thought I could head back and no one would know. I fought it… And kept going. The turning point at 2.5km felt pretty good. I realised that all my bike to run sessions start off like this, but once I get going, I find a rhythm and keep going. Before I knew it, I was back at my van, drinking more water, chomping down on a few bananas and on my way home!
Sometimes life throws hurdles at you and they can be really difficult to overcome. The only way of overcoming mine, was to face it head on, get out there and stomp it. Stomp it I evidentially did as I beat my own time for a shorter sprint tri I completed in May of this year!
Life was feeling great again and although feeling a bit behind on my training schedule, I feel ready to attack this again. The flu is nearly gone and I’m ready to train harder and ready to realise that failing is ok (health wise or not!) and that you can overcome those little demons in your head!
Now… Back to training!