After a short lived sadness last week (see previous post), I reflected on my slogan: You have a choice in your thoughts and actions, so do your best to choose positive ones. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the mayhem of busy schedules, poor weather (cancelled races), psycho ex-girlfriend stalkers (actually funny in my case, but I couldn't resist), but thinking about those things with negative energy is simply fruitless. Life does not stop; rather it’s a constant string of moments that we GET to choose to use as we see fit-I believe it’s the manner in which we use these moments that shape our lives and happiness.
As I mentioned in my last post, I had plans for a banner training week in preparation for the Hy-Vee OLY distance race on the 22nd. As the flooding conditions continued to deteriorate in Des Moines last week, race directors made the call Wednesday evening to move the race and have a Duathlon (10Kr-40Kb-5Kr). I’ve mentioned before what I think about duathlons, so I immediately started looking at race calendars to find an alternate playground. With the HyVee Triathlon now out of the picture, my next KEY race is the Lifetime Fitness race July 12th. I worked with my coach and we came up with a great plan to optimize preparation for that day. I would continue to train hard through the week (monster Track session on Thursday), but jump into an OLY race on Saturday. I finagled my way in, so I had every intention to MAKE IT COUNT.
I couldn’t wait to race again. It was a beautiful day and the friendly faces were plentiful on Saturday morning. I arrived early, but gregarious chatty Cathy was in overdrive, and before I knew it, transition was closing (I think I was the last one out as I scrambled to get things organized). It was a great race: Swim was pretty uneventful, the bike was super fun, and the run was my highlight. My total time was 2:08:30, which I think is a PR for OLY distance.
I was worried I’d have no legs after my tough speed workout on Thursday, but I pulled off a great run, and negative split the out and back! I broke the course record and finished 5th overall including the men. My Nirvana!! A bunch of us went back out on the course to watch the half Iron distance race that was happening at the same time.
It was great to cheer on so many people-many of whom where making their half iron debut-Extraordinary camaraderie all around. If interested, Kate Monster (AKA FUN Girl) posted a more detailed Race report with photos... Thanks Kate for all the kind comments.
Making the most of our time requires that we make the most of our gifts, constantly striving to bring out our very best each and every day. I hope you choose to use all your gifts in positive ways- Make it Count :-)
