This is a hard race report to write. Why? Because the results suck. I had a bad day. On top of all that it was provincials and I could have won my age category. It was an important day, though, because I learned that even the worst of days can be turned right side up with the right head space.

What happened? I got up in the morning feeling sick. I thought the 5am start was the reason I had trouble eating my breakfast. But on the warmup ride into Penticton, the waves of nausea started. Before the race, I sat in transition desperately trying not to puke. With the cool water of the swim, I started feeling better. But then, I puked as soon as I came out of the water. I took a really long T1, sipped some water, and then got on the bike. I felt terrible on the bike. It was horrible. I felt horrible.

Bronwyn came up beside me and said, “What’s up?” I felt like crying as I responded, “I’m having a bad day“. She said, “Follow me!” and with those few words my head changed from focussed negativity and self pity to, “OK, how am I going to get back into this. Follow Bronwyn, sip some water, sip some more water. Eat once you’re ready.” I was now in full on recovery management mode. By the time I hit the half way point on the bike, I was back. Not at full strength, but back. I jogged the run at a steady pace, and managed to cut my losses for the race.

What did I learn? Even a bad day at the races is still pretty damn good day. Why did it happen? WHO CARES!! The point is that when something goes wrong, figure out how to get over it. Don’t focus on what’s going wrong, focus on the solution. This said, I don’t think I’ll eat cereal with milk for breakfast on race day ever again. The trigger caused by Bronwyn’s, “follow me” proves that even when it’s physical – it’s all still mental.

swim 1.5km, 26:50
bike, T1, T2 1:21:51
run 10km, 49:38

bike stats from my computer
2:17:10, 63.1km, Peach ride + to/fro Summerland
Avg HR 142, Max 168
Avg Sp 27.6, Max 70.4
Avg Cd 92, Max 121
1201Kcal (4 gels, 1L gatorade = 700) – breakie barf