Did every race go as you had hoped?
Did you have any injury setbacks?
Take a step back and remember
"one should not feel that they have failed if they do not post a personal best time, fail to finish the event, or even simply don't show up for the event"
Victor Pete of Balanced Training Solutions Tuscon Arizona, shares these words of motivation -
"Whether you are training for a triathlon race, a 10k, or a century ride it seems to always help to have a deadline. Those that I train are primarily age group athletes who are excited about improving their fitness and greatly enjoy physically challenging themselves. Some of them enter races and some of them simply train for races and ultimately end up not racing.
I feel that both are totally okay. The race in and of itself is not the end goal for most and probably really shouldn't be unless you are a sponsored professional athlete. The end goal of registering for a race is to get you into the best shape of your life. If registering for an event helps motivate you to train then you have already won.
Of course, most want to finish the event but one should not feel that they have failed if they do not post a personal best time, fail to finish the event, or even simply don't show up for the event. I like to say that the event is more like a celebration of all the hard work you have done up to that point. If the event causes so much anxiety that you would rather not go then that is totally fine if your main goal was to improve your fitness levels, lose weight, feel more confident and so on. The event has already served its purpose.
What you really want to look at is the fact that the event caused sufficient anxiety to get you out of bed for your training. A deadline is often a great motivator especially when you are thinking about long-term goals. If that is the case for you then the registration fee was well worth the cost. Also, you are not a failure or any less of a person if you did not finish the race or failed to show up. Don't beat yourself up over this, rise above the hype of it all, enjoy your training, and by all means go ahead and register for another event if it makes your training take on more of a purpose."
Excellent points here. I have always found over the years that whether I was seriously competing or not, committing to an event and putting it on the calendar helps motivate and focus training. Without goals or events to work towards..., it's too easy to "bail out" of training. Exercise is something we all need for our physical, psychological, and emotional SELF, and by not getting enough "doses" during the week, we can enter several downward spirals that adversely affect all three components. So put an event on the calendar, commit to it with a friend or relative, and you'll be much better off by taking this journey!
ReplyDeleteCoach Todd Parker