No good very bad day
Yesterday I was participating in an 8 hour mountain bike race. I was aiming to do 11 laps (improving on my 10 laps from last race last September). After lap 1 my back started to hurt. By lap 6 it was so excruciating that I had to get off my bike twice during the lap to stretch. I had to stop. I felt really bad about stopping. In biking a lot of people talk about suffering through pain and keeping pushing through as being the ultimate in a good racer and touch rider. I can push through lots of types of pain, but these back spasms were just crippling. I have another race next weekend and need to be back at my best and shake this off. I've had two disappointing races in a row over the last two weeks. How do you refocus from failure?
1 comment:
That is a no good, very bad day. I think there's a difference between pushing through fatigue or aching muscles or a sprained joint, and having your body actually fight against you. Perhaps you could set yourself the goal of having a better race than this weekend rather than getting to the end of a pre-determined distance (just while your back is acting up)? Or developing strategies that let you finish the race even if at the expense of an ideal time?
As to re-focusing after failure, honestly I've found that I have to let myself be thoroughly disappointed before I can move on. Not for long but enough that when I focus on the next goal I've dealth with the feelings accompanying the last.
I hope the above isn't garbled rubbish, and that you're feeling better all ready.
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