Overcoming

I’ve been off work and off training for a few days this week.  Nothing serious, just a cold, but enough to cause me lost sleep, lack of energy, an awful lot of coughing & snot and the inability to do very much. I needed a little pause… 

So whilst idly scrolling, I came across this little video, posted by a previous Celtman participant on their Facebook page. I say participant rather than competitor because, as he says, 90% of us are just trying to get to the end.

Fair play to Leszek, he had a really tough experience, and has learnt from it to come out the other side; eventually. 

It got me thinking about how I will feel on Celtman Solo Point Five race day.  Could I find myself in the same position? Unlikely: I don’t have the speed or performance to have much of an ego in triathlon.  But I have been in that place in a different sport: feeling as a sea kayak coach that I should be able to perform in a particular way, and really beating myself up when that didn’t happen. So I know how it feels…

So what will be my ‘Leszek moment’?  For me it’s more likely to be the moments when I struggle to believe that I can do it: that I can complete each leg within the cut-off time, and thus complete the whole race. Almost the opposite experience to that film, but just as difficult to deal with.

But there’s one thing I do know: I can overcome. 

When I think back to all the challenges I’ve had to overcome just to get to the position I’m in now, they are many and varied.  Even coming to the point where I felt brave enough to press ‘Go’ on my Entry fee for the Solo Point Five came from overcoming life-long fitness & weight challenges.  Since then I’ve continued to deal with those challenges every day, and have coerced my body through six months of Plantar Fasciitis. Happily, I seem to be emerging from the other side of that, and have been able to adapt and continue training. 

I’ve had Covid, the flu, and a couple of colds: all occupational hazards when working  in healthcare but enough to interrupt both work and training.  And I’ve managed to pause when needed, try to play it smart, and pick up the training baton when it’s felt right again. 

So this latest cold won’t stop me: 10 weeks to go, and counting. I got back in the water tonight for a sea swim, and it felt fabulous after a few idle days. 

Neither will I let those creeping doubts stop me, when they try, as I know they will, to hijack my brain on the day.  

When they arrive I will know: I can overcome.