Friday, January 29, 2010

Humble Pie

I think most triathletes have an image of themselves as athletes (some more accurate than others, lol). My image of myself is that I am a swimmer who can hold her own on the bike and tries as hard as she can not to get passed by everyone on the run.

So it can feel a bit disconcerting when your image of yourself is challenged. And there was no better way for me to challenge it than to bring in an ex-collegiate swimmer to put me in my place.

One of my athletes had the day off work today so I invited her to come swim with Nalani and me... and since my mom is here to watch Moana, we were going for a ride immediately after the swim.

Um, Karen left us in the dust today in the pool. Oh, you didn't know there could be dust in a pool? Well, there can be. And I was in it all morning. Holy craaaap that girl is fast. And there I was beating myself up for being so slow but then I'd get to the wall and look at my watch and see that I was actually swimming faster than usual. In fact, the splits I did today would have made me proud this past summer when I thought I was swimming well. But I find it hard to be proud of myself when I'm doing everything I can to not get lapped by one of my athletes. Yes. Lapped. In a long course pool. It didn't actually happen, but it was darn close.

Humble Pie. I was served a big piece of that this morning. So much for being a swimmer. So I then changed my mindset to one of a cyclist...

Don't worry, dear blog friends. I finished the workout today with my ego still intact. I took Karen out to some short steep hills where we did repeats. Stand up. Sit down. Sprint sprint SPRINT! And you guessed it, I puked up that humble pie all over Karen and made her eat it (niiice coach I am, huh?).

Anyway, now I'm all confused about my Triathlete self-image... today I felt like a cyclist who could hold her own on the swim and would try to not get passed by everyone on the run. Hmmmm.

12 comments:

Scott said...

How about Wife/Mom/Athlete that happens to be a great swimmer, damn fine cyclist, and distance runner? SS

Lisa T said...

I usually just hope everyone else isn't done with the race before I get out of the water!

KMB said...

Michelle, nothing limits us more than our own image of ourselves and a true "win" comes when we beat ourselves and not the other competition. Not like you needed to know that :) Always remember we're human beings, not human doings.

Jennifer P said...

I am your camp -- but need to work harder on that not get passed on the bike. It was definately humbling before I got my road bike to be top 3 out of the water (we have small races) and then get pulverized on the bike. At one race my husband actually thought I got hit by a car because I was 2nd last in from the bike. A bike upgrade has only minimally improved that.!

GetBackJoJo said...

Michelle, don't kid yourself. Sure there are a few Andy Potts and Julie Dibens out there, but compared to the rest of us, you are a STUD swimmer, and don't forget it. I consider myself a swimmer, and you swim circles around me!
Of course, you are also a stud biker, I will add.

X-Country2 said...

If that first Scott comment is your Scott, awwwwwww, you two are too cute. :o)

Angela said...

Seems like it goes in cycles. We all need our pie piece every now and then though...that's what makes us work harder.

Regina said...

Ok, A) your husband rocks! Mine doesn't even read my blog let alone leave such a lovely comment. B) That was quite the picture you painted with the puking of humble pie, etc.(more vomit for me..sigh) C) I am a triathlete just trying to find her way and maybe not embarrass myself in the process!

I need bigger hills here. Manhattan is too flat.

DR said...

um yeah...i think you are way too hard on yourself. you just won a marathon swim a few months ago! you rock!

just out of curiousity -- i read in your blog that you were a competitive diver? did you swim competitively too? or do all divers just have a good feel for the water?

Ange said...

ok...love that your hubby wrote that. :)
YOu can feel so great in the water and those college girls come along and LOOKOUT! I swam with some recently and it was kind of disturbing. Iknow what you mean...

Ordinarylife said...

When people ask me what section I am good at I say none, but I really suck at cycling.

Other than that I just hope not to be last too often.

jessithompson said...

sweet comment from the hubs. <3