Sunday, April 22, 2018

Dreams and Accountability


It’s a week before race day.  This coming week I have to do some of my most difficult training – the part between the ears.  Last Thursday I had my regular call with my coach.  We actually never talked about how the workouts were going.  We did spend the entire time working on what’s going on in my head.  We started out with an exercise on accountability based on me making the comment that the previous night I didn’t get to bed when I wanted to and thus didn’t quite get the amount of sleep I was planning on (9 hrs).  We played out an exercise on what the consequences could be of that decision—basically not achieving the dream/goal I have had for many months.  Then we flipped to the other side—what was so important that I was willing to potentially sacrifice my dreams for?  Obviously you see where this is going.  Those little decisions that we make every day because of –well whatever—sometimes it’s a good reason, most of the time it’s not.  I’ve now made a promise to be accountable—just until next Saturday at this point—for 6 more days, my dream is my priority.

This of course gets you thinking about a whole lot of other things.  We all will not hesitate to tell others—follow your dreams—if you focus and work hard you can achieve them.   So now I find myself with a dream—I have focused and worked hard—but in my head you have that little voice saying – how important is that dream compared to some other things that are happening around us?  Do you put that dream at risk to help a friend without realizing it?  Did you discount the importance/priority of that dream?  That it can happen even if you don’t give it your all?  At the same time—it is still the dream.
6 days of accountability to that dream…….
So now the work I have to do is between the ears from now until Saturday.  The training has gone really well (thanks Chris for doing a great job of getting me into the best shape of my life).  On paper it says my body is capable of putting in a performance that gets me where I want to be (OK—here it is in writing—I want to win my AG and get that slot to Kona).  Now my head needs to believe it and continue to believe it through about 11 hours next Saturday.  I struggle-I see amazing ladies that put in those incredible performances—do I belong in that group?  Do I deserve to be part of that group?  My friends can believe, my husband can believe, my coach can believe – now I (need to) believe.

3 comments:

  1. Believe it Sue. You deserve to be there on top of the podium. Good luck and thank you for sharing your thoughts. Go get it done.

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  2. HEY! I've only trained and observed you for 20 years. Rest assured: YOU BELONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Douglas Handler

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  3. Keep the faith Sue - these are those super tough pre-race mental days. I know Bagg well and you well enough to know...you're READY! All the best for a fantastic day in Texas!!

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