Competing….

I have been thinking a lot about this in the past few weeks, especially after watching the very talented kids in the state of Wisconsin compete in the WIAA State Track and Field Meet.    “The most important thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else–it has to be yours. That is all that will justify the hard work needed to achieve success. Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who is truly your best competition.”
—Peggy Fleming Jenkins

Peggy Fleming sums it up for me.  I do truly love this sport of triathlon.  I am a bit of a type “A” personality and I am constantly looking for new challenges and a way to do what I do to the best of my ability, both athletically and professionally.  Because of my intense desire to do well, I have often been misunderstood as self-centered and only wanting to be better than other people.  I find this frustrating and unfortunate, as I show as much passion for other people’s successes and achievement of their goals, as I do my own.  As indicated in the quote above, hard work is necessary.  To get out there each day, and do the workout to get the best out of yourself, you must work hard.  As a matter of fact, I had to remind myself of that over and over again this past Saturday.  I had an extremely busy week which entailed a lot of time on my feet.  So the Saturday morning 2:15 minute run in pea soup-like heat and humidity, was less than an ideal workout.  After 1 hour in, I had a real mental talk with myself reminding my body and brain that there will be times when your legs feel fatigued and your body feels tired.  It took me about 30 minutes to convince myself that I should not always have to feel great in a workout for it to be working.  I am pretty sure that after 2.4 miles of swimming and 6 + hours on my bike, my legs will not feel great to start a marathon.

So with a refreshed mental state (and a nice chat with Maggie- thanks girl) this week’s workouts, although not all feeling “great,” have had great results.  Because you see, I am truly my best competition.