Ha!  I’m reading the title and imagining people thinking, “what the hell is he talking about?”  Well, let me begin by bringing up Hawaii.  I qualified for IM Hawaii for the first time this year at IM Louisville and couldn’t believe it.  Six weeks later I was racing in the biggest race of my life.  A race I had watched for decades on TV.  It was an incredible experience. 

Yet, I didn’t have my best performance.  I swam the slowest time ever in an IM.  I biked the 2nd slowest and ran the 3rd slowest.  What happened?  Was it a poor tapering plan? Did I not have a good training plan going in?  Was the six weeks from IM Louisville too short?  Did I not learn enough from others who have done the race?  I went through every question I could create, and still don’t know the answer.  I was a disappointed.

But as I analyzed my race over the next four weeks, I realized that I did quite well in many respects.  I’ve never ran the race before and actually didn’t know a lot of the run or swim course.  I lost my GPS during the swim and, thus, my only way to accurately determine pace and time both on the bike and run.  I was beaten down by the heat and started the run mentally tired - knowing that I was behind my goals.  By mile 10, all I wanted to do was walk...but I didn’t.  And I finished.

When you watch Tiger Woods in an interview after a bad day, listen closely to what he says.  Often he’ll talk as if he did just fine that day.  He turns his negative performance into lessons and highlights the positives.  He finds joy in disappointment.

Something to think about...