Pushing Through A Bit of Disappointment

It's sorta funny to follow up my past two posts with the current state of my training. I've been focused with my triathlon specific training now for a good 3 months and I was making great, steady progress up til' about 3 weeks ago. I think my initial sickness back then is now affecting my current performance and I'm just not hitting the numbers or the hours I'm supposed to be and it's a lil' disappointing.

While I'd like to attempt to blame my sub par performances on potential outside variables such as the wind, my shoes, not reading my GARMIN correctly, yada, yada, yada, I know the numbers don't lie. And the numbers are telling me I'm not at the pace or power I should be. hmph. And I have my big Lavaman Triathlon in ~2.5 weeks.

So it's interesting to just sit with some disappointment. And I don't want to beat myself up, or have a pity party, but I do want to allow myself to be okay with sitting with the disappointment for the moment.

Because it's these very moments that allow me to take that disappointment and push through it to the other side, and see the light again. So I'm not going to sit with it too long. In fact, I'm hoping by the time I've finished this post, and I get my 8 hrs of sleep, I'll wake up tomorrow morning ready to roll on the other side. Wish me luck. 

How do you all deal with training disappointment?
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Comments

Jill said…
Well, if you've been following my lung fungus infection and know my training was nil for almost 4-weeks (well, anything worthy that is), I can tell you I've been ridden with disappointment and self-doubt for Boston. It totally blows that something that is US is affecting the outcome vs something like mother nature or the likes. I'm trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I'm fortunate enough to just be going, that I still need to put in the work to honor the race, and what happens happens. It's not easy and I will go to the start line with a heavy heart, but I'll be there. And so will you! I wish nothing but the best for you....maybe all our forced tapering is going to produce awesome results, who knows, but just go out there Anne Marie and give it your all, you can't feel better about that!!

I'm rooting for you, girl!!!
March 11, 2010 at 9:59 PM
Unknown said…
It's a horrible feeling, I'm not good at dealing with it myself.. do you perhaps need a bit of rest? overtraining can make your performance drop.. I wish I had some better ideas or advice for you.

Try not to get too down about it though, I know you can do it!
March 12, 2010 at 2:55 AM
Teamarcia said…
As you well know I've been going thru alot of it recently. Yes I wallowed for a bit but then I reminded myself what a privilege it is to be able to do this at all at any pace. I'm still slower than I wanna be but I'm so damn happy to be running at all. Remember the joy tris bring you, at any pace. Hugs.
March 12, 2010 at 5:11 AM
Anne said…
I like the idea of just allowing the disappointment to have its moment...and then pushing through and making the necessary changes or accepting what is and moving on. Hope you're indeed feeling better this morning! We're here to cheer you on :)
March 12, 2010 at 5:30 AM
Heidi Austin, PT, DPT said…
i feel like the disappointment is all part of the game unfortunately. sometimes R and R will do a body good as hard as it is to actually take time off. but once your better...sometimes our bodies surprise us :) think positive!
March 12, 2010 at 5:33 AM
Laura said…
I totally feel you here! I've just emerged from a sinus infection, bronchitis, and pnuemonia! Talk about pile it all on right? As a result of losing all the miles that I needed to train for my 1/2 I chose to pull out...and I thought long and hard about it. Normally I would beat myself up...kick myself around...and then beat myself up again! Somehow I got a strange sense of relief with the decision...Yes I would like to be there and be doing it...but it's wasn't right for me...I hope that you can go and have fun...Enjoy the day! As my coach keeps pointing out to me that's what it's all about!
March 12, 2010 at 5:40 AM
Julie said…
Hi Anne Marie,
Of course I have had training disappointments and Lord knows I will in the future:( I get down on myself for not performing the way that I know I am capable of. I can have one awesome run where everything is perfect and then have one that sucks! I just move on and figure no one is perfect:)

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!!
March 12, 2010 at 5:53 AM
justme said…
i trained for a half marathon 2 years ago and i won't go into the dets but something happened during my training that kept me from 2 weeks of training. i still did the half but it was upsetting to know i didn't get my full potential. i just set my expectations lower.
March 12, 2010 at 6:02 AM
Alicia said…
Like this post because it's good to see that other side of training sometimes. It's easy to read blogs and think everyone is always going strong in training all the time. It's just not true. We all go through the slumps, if you will. Both physical and mental.

I like your attitude! Allowing yourself to feel the disappointment is healthy. Hope you were able to get right back to it this morning!
March 12, 2010 at 7:30 AM
kelliscakes said…
I love your blog!!! I am so excited that I found this through athleta! you are an inspiration and great motivator! I know this will be a place that I stop by often while I am training for my half!!! Thank you!
March 12, 2010 at 8:30 AM
Big Daddy Diesel said…
We all hit the some downs along the way, yes we didnt hit our phsyical goals like we wanted, BUT what people tend to forget is the mental training we are consistantly going through, this will help you in the long run
March 12, 2010 at 8:57 AM
misszippy said…
Hopefully it won't impact your race performance...everyone has bad training periods. I too am having a bit of one and boy, it does play with your head. My runs this week have felt really bad and I'm worried I'm not recovering well from two 1/2s so close together. So I'm taking it easy and will hopefully come out ok on the other side. You will too!
March 12, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Velma said…
I do not deal with this well (and I am dealing with some back issues now). I wouldn't beat myself up and know you will be in Hawaii soon. You never know what a day will bring.
March 12, 2010 at 9:12 AM
Babbs said…
As you read in my most recent blog, I tend to kick my own a$$. A was just explaining to someone else that my fear of failure often drowns out my competitive spirit! Thanks so much for your motivation- it helps a lot! And yes, we do have a lot in common!! But, I could never complete a triathalon (think brick- that's me in the water) so I envious and excited to hear about your success at the Lavaman Tri!
March 12, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Mary Weaver said…
Great post. We all love to focus on the grand successes, but it takes guts to blog about the disappointments. I think you're wise to sit with it for at least a little while and experience the emotions without judgment. It's something I had to do recently with a crushing disappointment in another area of life. Once you've had your "sit," can you then approach the situation very objectively and look at your training, recovery, and nutrition, and think about whether anything needs to be changed? One of my favorite fitness gurus, Tom Venuto, would probably say that this is a result, not a failure. I hope you're already feeling better--and recognizing that your best performances are still out there waiting for you. :) Thanks for commenting on my blog, by the way.
March 12, 2010 at 5:56 PM
Hannah said…
My current disappointment is my "injury". Rest is hard. I am finally mentally just CRAVING a run. Patience is difficult, but I keep reminding myself that every thing that happens (good or bad) is all part of the bigger picture. Working hard on taking it in stride and being thankful for the learning experience!

Hope the sleep helped! Sending you a hug.
March 12, 2010 at 6:23 PM
Unknown said…
Interestingly, I was just reading an article this morning about runs not going our way, nor training. It was encouraging in that we are on cycles with training and there will be times when we are not at our strongest both mentally and physically. I realized that I tend to get disappointed right away too but after a day or night of rest(like you), I tend to lump the hard times as the "training process" rather than the product. I know we've blogged about this before but it does help me see that where I'm going and what I want to achieve is more important than a day by day evaluation of how I'm getting there. Not sure if this all makes sense but I hope it helps a little. Also, I'm learning to be kinder to myself throughout this process...
hope you're feeling great this weekend!
March 13, 2010 at 9:45 AM
RunToTheFinish said…
oddly one of the things that gets me through is knowing that bad days make me appreciate the good ones all the more. I then find something good.. I mean I got out there, or because of injury I focused on something else and worked in a way I might not have
March 14, 2010 at 4:41 AM
Megan said…
I'm not good with disappointent. I dwell longer than I should. I wallow. I'm working on it. Trying to shake it off and make forward faster.
March 16, 2010 at 9:43 AM
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