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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Pre TRI thoughts...

While going through my "One day in time" memories on Facebook I came across a post from 2011 (not even a year after I'd joined Weight Watchers and obviously still very obese) where I said that I was thinking of completing a triathlon.  At the time I didn't even know how to swim so that was quite the proclamation.

My inspiration to always be active
Last year as I cheered on my friend, Diane, as she biked past me like a mad woman I began to wonder if this was something that I could do.  However, since I still didn't know how to swim I put it out of my mind.  A few months later, during my half marathon from Napa to Sonoma I started having some significant ankle/foot pain.  When I visited the podiatrist I was told that I most likely had a stress fracture and running/biking were off my activity calendar.  Coach B advised me to take up pool running and Diane suggested I check out the pool at Centegra Health because with a doctor's note I could join for cheap... So I did.  That's when I met a swim instructor and this whole dream of a triathlon came back full force.

I have absolutely loved the training, though admittedly I didn't follow the plan I had exactly but more as a guideline.  Some of the terminology I wasn't familiar with and felt embarrassed to ask anyone.  A few days before the race I'm kind of cursing myself on that choice, in case you were wondering.

I'm nervous about the race.  I mean, I'm not nervous about drowning (I can swim now!) and I'm not nervous about the distance.  What I'm scared about... the thing I'm always scared about before a race is that I'll disappoint someone.  That I won't swim or bike fast enough and that I'll stop to walk during the run.  I thought that by not really talking/blogging about my race (if you've read this blog for any length of time you might remember that I used to blab about every detail of training and my pre-race goals, etc...) that I wouldn't feel like this because this race would be JUST FOR ME.

The truth of the matter is that I don't want to care about how long it takes me to cross the finish line.  How do I make my brain and my heart actually believe that?

3 comments:

  1. This is kind of something I wrote about yesterday- other people's expectations of me. But honestly, do people really have expectations of me? And if they do, what does that matter to me? For you, this is your race- start to finish. This is not a relay and someone is actually waiting at some point along the course for you. This is all you baby. You will never disappoint anyone, and you know that. And you know that you will conquer this tri so just try your best to get out of your head and enjoy the race. You are going to be so happy if you do :)

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  2. Does it make it any less of a tri if you are slower? Are you covering less distance than the first place finisher? Your goal is to do a tri. That is so impressive Jen! No matter what, the fact that you've wanted to do this, trained to do this, and are DOING this is something so amazing!

    Plus with this one you are setting your time, learning the process, and giving yourself a marker to crush in the future! Give it your best and your brain and heart will catch up with the rest of us who are just in awe of your accomplishments!

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  3. You certainly shouldn't worry about disappointing anyone. You've proven over and over again that you are a rockstar! Now you just have to believe in yourself!

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