Putting the puzzle together

A year ago I sat down to plan out my 2012 racing season with the goal of an Ironman race in 2013. I completed Ironman Lake Placid in 2006 and then my life was too busy to be able to dedicate the time to training. It takes a commitment in time and effort to get yourself to the starting line. I knew I would not be able to give it the proper effort until now.

I originally had a different Iron distance race in mind, but as the year went on, I decided to return to Lake Placid to improve on my last performance there. Looking back, I didn't have the right pieces in place to make it really successful for me. I was still relatively new to the sport and didn't have a lot of distance fitness in the bank. I was able to complete the race, but I don't think it was a success. This time around I am starting to put the small pieces in place to lay the foundation for the bigger pieces.

The first thing is to look at yourself and really think about what it is you want from this process. Every one has a reason as to what motivates them to accept the challenge. This is important because as the training gets harder and things get put on the back burner for your training, you need to remember why you are doing this. I saw a great quote earlier today that sums it up for me:

"Our biggest challenge isn’t someone else. It’s the ache in your lungs. The burning in your legs. And that voice in your head that yells “CAN’T,” but you don’t listen. You just push harder. And then you hear that voice whisper, “can” and you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the person you really are."

Just remembering this makes the journey to the starting line a little bit easier...........