Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Being inspired: a race plan

This song has nothing to do with racing. It came on as I was typing up this post. Enjoy!

INSPIRATION


I am not easily inspired by people. In fact, since I started triathlon, only one person has inspired me to be something greater than I am.

ONE....in 10 years.

And, it was only recently.

You probably already know who it is.

It was her entire race report, from training to fueling to race day. Probably most importantly, race day.

I know tons of people who do Ironman. I know people who do sprints and olys.

I have NEVER been around someone who was willing to give SO MUCH to make her dream come true. It was a level of dedication, no excuses attitude that I was absolutely drawn to.

I fond myself wanting to be just like her.

Given the chaos that is her life right now, there is NO reason for me to EVER miss a workout or not give it everything I have, every day.

That's what great coaches do. They lead by example. Great coaches inspire athletes to BE better than athletes ever dreamed possible.

With this in mind, I started formulating my race plan with Liz.

A few months back, I read some research that demonstrated that we should keep our goals a secret, don't share them with anyone. The reason for this is that the "risk" of sharing goals is emotionally so big for us that simply sharing them gives us a false sense of accomplishment.

Interesting, huh? And 100% true for me. With that in mind, I won't be sharing my goals anymore. Of course, I'll tell you after the fact.

My race this coming weekend:

I have a plan in place. It's unlike any plan that I've done before. I feel great about my swim, especially after last week where I held a 1:22 pace for 12 minutes at the end of a 1.2 mile swim. I was thrilled. My swim coach was beyond happy, especially when I told him he was in my head the entire second half: STRETCH, Tea. What are you doing, Tea? Pull, Pull, REACH.

For the bike, my goals are pretty simple. Simple but never easy. Hold 95-100% threshold for 45-50 minutes.

On the run, I'm breaking away from old plans. I'm trying something new. A new approach to racing off the bike. I'm really excited to get out there.

As Liz told me today: You've met your inner BEAST. GET OUT THERE. BE AN ANIMAL.