This was a week of transitions ending with the 2nd Healthy Giraffe event. I’ll use the event for the Nutrition focus this week with transitions filling in the Performance and Mind elements.
Nutrition
The 2nd Healthy Giraffe event was really fun. What a great group of people to share a Saturday night. Read the blog and hopefully I’ll see you at Dr. Michael Greger’s event in Ocala February 25. Check out the Events page for more information.
Performance and the Mind
The highs and low of competition. After a HUGE high achieving my run goal for the season last Saturday, I found myself lacking motivation as the week started with my last run race of the season upcoming, the Gasparilla 5k, on February 24. It makes sense losing motivation after securing the prize of season, but of course nobody likes being demotivated. I’m sure on race day I’ll be ready to go but the razor edge focus I had going into the Best Damn Race had dulled.
Transitions
With the goal behind me, I now have the opportunity to amplify triathlon training without worrying about being fully rested for Gasparilla. I completed a few good cycling trainer rides during the week and then a reboot of motivation occurred on Thursday.
That came in the way of a swim assessment by a coach who I had heard about for some time in the circles around Tampa Bay. The description I heard about him was pretty accurate after my first interaction in that he was very direct, will push very hard and provide the coaching that will improve performance if I do what he tells me to do.
After he had an chance to see the numerous opportunities of development in my skill level, I asked him if I could improve enough to swim well at Triathlon Nationals in August and he had the absolute perfect answer. He confidently responded, “that is totally up to you.” That is all I needed to hear. I walked out of facility so motivated and confident with his coaching and my commitment to work that I’ll be able to do some damage this fall.
Lots of hard days ahead…..so cool!
I then returned on Saturday to complete some drill work he provided and sure enough it was while there was a swim meet going on. It’s really interesting how the mind works. As confident as I feel at a run race or on my bike doing hard workouts and in races, I found myself really out of my element at this swim meet. In the lane next to me were girls with a label on their swim cap that read, “University of Florida Swim Club.”
I was moving along like a turtle completing the drills struggling to move, breathing hard, and lacking confidence. I gained a comfort level somewhere along the way just knowing, it’s part of the process and like anything, good hard consistent work will pay off in the end.
Embrace swimming…
– Add Health to Your Life
The Healthy Giraffe 
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