Strength in tough places

So I have had a bit of writers block and did not post last week..and I was away, it was the Canada Day long weekend.  I asked some friends for ideas and they gave me some that I will use in the next few weeks.  As usually happens, a topic presented itself to me via a friend or in this case friends.  

We train for a long time for our events, days and weeks, sometimes months and they can be good days or really bad days.  We need to have the bad training days so we know what to do if things go wrong in a race and to show us how strong we are.  We have tough days but we are tougher or they make us tougher. Sometimes it does not seem that way but when we are in the middle of it, sometimes it is hard to see lessons we need to learn.  We sometimes want to give up when things get tough but what is that old saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". Sometimes we get tough quickly, sometimes it takes a few days but we usually realize we can keep going and get through it. This is a sign of strength.

Another sign of strength is knowing when to give up, sometimes we are injured or get injured during a race and we need to stop and not continue.  Sometimes we have equipment malfunctions and do not get to finish, which happened to me on my first Sprint Tri.  All our training and hard work for this one day and it does not turn out the way we planned.  We can have a pity party or we can find the silver lining in the clouds, there is always one, even if we do not see it at the time.  I know after my DNF, I cried for a minute, got mad and then immediately said, I would be back to do another Tri, as soon as possible.  I could have given up but the though did not even enter my mind, I trained too hard to give up and I did great on the other 2 legs of my tri. My new coach had to stop her race today after she felt a muscle pop in her calf.  This was not her goal race and she knew not to push it.  Instead of having a pity party she immediately went into cheerleader mode for her fiancee who was still racing, that is strength. 

So I have a new coach, I though long and hard before getting one again but I know I found a good match.  I was clear on what I wanted and needed and was able to find someone who is willing to provide me with that.  I am stronger, I can now stand up for myself, I may not know everything but I do know what I need and I refuse accept less.  This was my first week on my new training plan, it was tough but I could do it, all of it, even the tough parts and I surprised myself....I am getting stronger.