Never let your head talk you out of a good workout!

So yesterday I had a recovery WOD to do following the race on Sunday and as Ariel says "if Max says to do it - you do it" - I did not want to do this WOD at all but I did it and was glad that I did when I had finished.

Today I had 5km Run TT - what is Max thinking? I've just done my first Olympic Distance Tri for nearly 2 years and 2 days later he's giving me a 5km TT!!!

So it was with some reluctance that I got up to do this session (remember Max says to do it) - I took a gel while still in bed and drank some water about 1/2hr or so before doing this session - I want to get into the habit of having something before and during run sessions to help me adjust to taking food when running.

I chose the same route that I last did this 5km TT on and again the wind was kind to me - it was pretty light - did a warm up and some pose drills then could put the start off no longer.

I checked my km splits (something I tend not to do as it puts me off) and I was hugely disappointed with the 1st km way slower than I thought I was running (even into the wind) and the 2nd km was no better - now this is where my head came into play - I knew that my previous 5km time in January was around 22.20 and I was hoping to be near this time but with the pace I was running this was way beyond reach - I very nearly gave up trying to run faster as my head was saying what's the point in trying you've blown any chance you had of getting near that time - then I remembered my affirmation "Every race/training session is an opportunity to excel and learn from" so I thought sod it I'll just run the best I can for the last 3km and see how I do.

This was so the right decision - my last 5km run on 20th Jan was 22mins 18secs today I ran 21mins 52secs - woo hoo - I am really pleased.

So lesson learnt - never think you have "failed" mid-way training or racing - you don't know what you are capable of until you have finished and a poor start does not necessarily mean a poor finish!