Last week when hanging up my race/event memorabilia…it prompted some fun memories. Some races I had kind of forgot about or realized I hadn’t thought about much.
This one race came to mind – it was my first outdoor triathlon. I had started riding a bike again about 6-8 weeks prior. Let’s just say, whoever coined the phrase “it’s like riding a bike” inferring that something is easy, was a liar. I was scared for my life on that first bike ride!
Adding to it, it was a bike I had borrowed. I did the race with that borrowed bike and barely knew how to shift it. A lot of that race was a lot harder than it needed to be because I didn’t know how to get out of a tough gear.
It was my first outdoor swim. I’d only ever swam in the pool. It was also my first swim ever in my wetsuit. All these things are almost cardinal no-no’s in the triathlon world. It is recommended that you swim outdoors and swim in your wetsuit (if you are choosing to wear one) prior to race day.
It was an unsettling experience for sure, but I just did anything to keep moving forward and I finished the swim. I also realized I hadn’t done enough practice with running after biking and I was surprised how heavy my legs felt on that initial run. I felt like I was running through mud!
In my book, I wrote about being willing to show up imperfectly…and this is an example of that. When it comes to health, fitness, and nutrition, I’d like to encourage you to show up imperfectly!
Some important takeways for you as you embrace your own wellness or fitness journey:
- don’t wait for conditions to be perfect to start…otherwise, you might never start. I didn’t buy my own bike till the beginning of 2018…the same year I did my first Half Ironman.
- recognize that you will struggle at times. No doubt I struggled on that swim, bike and run…but I focused on moving forward. One of my favorite sayings is “a smooth sea never made a sailor.” We don’t learn from experiences when they are easy. We learn when we grow through the challenges we face.
- we learn from our mistakes…mostly. I still did my Half Ironman swim the following year with no prior outdoor swims or experiences in my wetsuit. Let’s just say, I contemplated stripping my wetsuit off and leaving it in the lake! In the years that followed though, I did a lot more work in various bodies of water being comfortable with my wetsuit.
Through that initial experience, and through every experience after, I learned a little more each time what areas I needed to improve upon.
We are here to support you if you are willing to show up imperfectly.
It all starts with scheduling your free consultation.
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