Mental Madness

Staying with my plan to rest on the days I work and train on my days off, I hadn't worked out for the past two days.  I went bike shopping two days ago and got a little overwhelmed.  I don't know how I'm possibly going to afford a bike to have by race day with all that I have going this year.  I may end up renting one for my first race but at this point, I don't know.

This kind of made me push away from wanting to train.  I woke up this morning in a funk.  I had planned on getting up and running when I woke up since it has been record high temperatures here in Sioux Falls this week but I just couldn't find the motivation.  Honestly, I sat around all day and wasted a great day.

I think this is what I do.  I think this is what a lot of people do.  I try to find a reason to not accomplish a goal instead of finding a way to overcome the obstacle.  It's simple to take the easy way out and say, "I can't afford a bike right now, I'll do it next year when I'm not so busy."  Whatever the excuse is, at some point it has to stop.

While sitting around today I thought about this and came to the conclusion that no matter what, I was going to finish this race.  Not only that, I am going to finish in the top 25%.  That's all there is to it. Done. Finished. End of story.  NO MORE EXCUSES!!!

So, after a rough day mentally, we went to the gym tonight and had an AMAZING workout.  I rode the bike as hard as I could for the full distance that will be in the race, 12.5 miles, just to see how fast I could do it.  Here's the results!!  Not bad I figured, considering I still have right at 4 months until race day.

After an intense workout, Carri and I came home and cooked dinner together.  A good mix of salad greens with chicken and home made bacon bits (gotta splurge a little while I can), yellow, red, and orange bell peppers, cucumber, carrots, onion, and tomato. I could eat like that every day.  More than likely, as the race gets closer and closer, it will be a good mix between that and pastas for carbohydrates.

Days like today are going to happen.  99% of us aren't able to set a goal and every single day attack them head on.  We have struggles in life, things happen, we get discouraged.  There's always going to be something; a bike that you can't afford, family coming to town, work getting in the way, etc... Whatever it is, there is a way to overcome it!  If you truly want to achieve a goal, the only thing that can stop you is you.  I am slowly learning that this triathlon is just as much, if not more, mental as it is physical.  At the end of the day, it comes down to asking ourselves, "How much do I want it?"  For me, there's no more excuses to fail in this improbable madness.