Why a Bad Race is a Good Thing

So after a few days, I've had some time to reflect on my triathlon effort on Sunday.  I have to say that I'm glad that I have the opportunity to evaluate things from this perspective.  Having such a bad experience in the swim allows me to reflect on why it was so bad....and it boils down to 2 things:

TRAINING

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

I knew going into this race that I had not trained as much as I should have.  As a matter of fact, I knew that I was slacking on the swimming which has never been my strength.  Until about a month ago, I was slacking on the running so I switched my focus from the swim to the run.  I realized very quickly after getting into that cold water on Sunday that I should have made an effort to balance both.

Training for a triathlon really means that you are training for 3 sports.  The reality of my life is that I don't have the luxury of a ton of free time.  So that means that inevitably some portion of my training is going to suffer.  Now, I feel pretty good about the fact that I can still participate in triathlons with this limited training, but I also need to understand the effect it will have on my overall performance in the races.

On the subject of mental toughness, I think I both failed and succeeded on Sunday.  The failure came in the swim.  I allowed myself to get to the panic stage which in turn caused me to take SO much more time in the water than I should have.  Granted, the conditions were tough, but I probably could have managed the conditions much better if I had stopped panicking and just taken a moment to try to calm myself down.  Based on the fact that I was one of the last out of the water, and I know I wasn't one of the worst swimmers there, it's clear that there was a failure on my part to control my reaction to the environment.

HOWEVER, I am not taking anything away from my mental toughness when it came to sticking with it and not quitting.  I could have very easily asked for help and been taken out of the water on the jetski.  Several other people did that, and I don't fault a single one of them for that decision.  But for me, it was not the right decision.  I knew that I could finish the swim and I set my mind on doing just that.  I am fully aware that this displays an incredible amount of mental toughness.  So for that part of it, I am very proud.

A bad race on Sunday leads to quite a bit of reflection and in the end, a re-dedication to training.  I will still have a challenge to find time in my schedule to train.  However, I now realize that I cannot focus on one part of the sport while sacrificing another part. 

Next race - June 1st.  Rock Hall Olympic distance triathlon.  Here I come!!!