"If you do the thing you fear...

The death of fear is certain."
Emerson.

One of my favorite quotes.

Today I had my least favorite training session. Yes in the pool- how did you guess??:)
I sometimes dread this session. It's really tough, and if I'm tired its even tougher. I often have to use a pull buoy just to complete the set without totally losing my form. But the problem is that I psyche myself out before I even start...

So today...I changed my attitude. I wanted the session to be a confidence boost before NZ-not demoralizing! So I've been listening to my "Success Mastery Academy" audio cds by Brian Tracy (best selling author and public speaker), and he made me think about why I don't like this session. It's the fear of failure. So I decided there was nothing to be afraid of. I would do the repeats as well as I could. I was confident that I could hit my desired splits.

And guess what? I did hit my splits. I did this session better than ever before. It's such a good feeling. Doing the thing you fear boosts self esteem and gives you confidence. It makes you like yourself. You keep doing the thing you fear, and your self esteem goes up and up and up! You like yourself more and more, you develop a bias for action and you become...UNSTOPPABLE!!

Brian makes me feel like I can take on the World!

Charlotte

Good friends

I have a really great friend, Tim Moore, who, whenever it gets near to an Ironman sends me something inspirational.
As an Ironman athlete himself he knows that come race day it's 80% mental! The work is done, it just comes down to giving yourself permission to perform on the day...

"All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible."

Orison Swett Marden
1850-1924, Author

It gives me goosebumps just reading this! and I get a wave of butterflies!
The support and encouragement I get from friends is amazing.
Thank you Tim. I really appreciate it.

Charlotte

Limited Edition Nike Lunar Racer!

These puppies look hot to trot and ready to canter!
They're being released this month in Australia in limited numbers in the pink and blue.
In one store only- Victory Sports.

I should be keeping my mouth shut- I only have the green ones, and will be very envious of seeing you all in the funky new colours.

But seriously, this is the shoe that I race Ironman in. I can't recommend them highly enough. They're really incredibly light. They're a neutral shoe, but they have enough support and structure for an Ironman. The aerospace foam in these lasts as long as any other racing flat, so don't think they won't wear well.

Charlotte

checking in...

Just checking in...
I'm in the thick of it with training for IM New Zealand, which is now just 2.5 weeks away! I'm in lock down:)
But just letting you know training is going really well. I've had no more meltdowns. I'm hitting PBs in the pool and on my run circuits. Confidence is building...

I went for a massage today with Helen. She was fantastic. She said all the right things- "this body is ready to race"- Love it! She said my muscles "cleaned" out really well- and she thinks its because I regularly take BioCeutical's "UltraMuscleze"- a high quality magnesium supplement- she's a big fan.
The massage felt great and I had a nice nap afterwards.
Later this afternoon I hit my 2km repeats with much improved range of motion. Very happy. Followed by a hot bath in Epsom Salts, very relaxing.

I'll sleep well tonight.

Charlotte

Happy 91st Grandad!

My Grandad Grainger turns 91 today.
He lives in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.
I love him to pieces.

Happy Birthday Grandad!

I have fond memories of my Grandad being really proud of my athletic achievements as a kid. You might laugh but I was actually a "swimmer" up to the age of 12.
I'm not sure if my Grandad ever saw me swim in a competition, because he lived so far away, but he made me feel good about being a good swimmer. He was proud and I liked that.

If he was staying in our house or vice versa, instead of saying "goodnight" at bedtime, he always said "see you on the splashboard", as in diving board. He still does to this day.

The good feelings associated with doing well in sports as a kid drew me back to competitive sport and triathlon, just before I turned 30!
I was probably heading for an early mid-life crisis. I hadn't found my passion in life and I felt like I was wasting my time in a dead end job that I didn't enjoy.
I wanted to be good at something again and have those good feelings back again...I think I took sport for granted as a kid, and didn't realize that it was in fact my passion.

Charlotte

First race of the year- Geelong 70.3

I'm sitting in an Internet cafe in Geelong town centre, it's called "KFC" and I'm surrounded by teenage punks!:)
I don't do KFC, so Kristian took one for the team and ate the chicken, so we got the Internet password- thank you Kristian!

So what happened today? I think I did 4:29, which if you look at that time in isolation is quite good. My goal was to think only of the swim and the bike. I knew with the strong field that if I didn't nail these then it would be all over. And I guess the fact that my legs had nothing for the run could be considered achieving this!

It's quite tricky coming to a race amid IM training. I wanted a good result- but not at the expense of my IM in 4 weeks time. So I was allowed a mini-taper, and I definitely felt well rested. I was also allowed to avoid Kristian's TP Therapy stand at the expo and the 43-degree heat for most of Saturday! Yes 43 degrees and a sand storm- the expo was a disaster! But we certainly can't complain, there have been bush fires all over the state this weekend with more than 100 lives lost and over 750 homes destroyed. It's so very sad, and hard to believe that people were experiencing absolute hell, running for their lives, just a few hundred kms away.

So I read this newsletter from Dan Kennedy(marketing guru and entrepreneur), on Friday. He has this quote on his office wall...

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up knowing, it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up knowing it must outwit and outrun (at least) the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you'd better start running.
It's very important in the circle of life to be a predator, not a food item on the menu. Predators are optimists. What do you call a pessimistic predator? – Hungry. Very hungry."

So my mantra for the day was "I am an optimistic Lion"! I decided I was a Lion not a gazelle since I race from behind:)

I'm happy that I swam as hard as I could; I think it was around 26/27 mins. I stopped my watch accidentally on the bike, so think it must have been low 2.30s. Which I think was quite all right. My legs didn't have the "zip" that I had hoped. I just think the accumulated tiredness and fatigue from training took its toll, I know I gave it my best. Onto the run I felt like my upper and lower body were all out of whack! My legs weren't keeping up with my arms:) The legs felt tight and I just didn't get into my usual rhythm. That was disappointing since I can usually rely on my run strength, even after a tough bike.

I haven't looked at the results yet, because I know it will only make me angry! There was a disgraceful amount of blatant drafting going on today. Instead of having a whinge here I'm going to have a chat to the race officials to see if there's something that can be done to improve the fairness of the women's Pro race.

Good news from New Zealand in my in box today- we get a 15-minute lead over the age group field at IM NZ. You don't know how happy this makes me.

Charlotte

What's It Like Being A Pro Triathlete's Spouse?

Check out Kristian's interview on Xtri...
Married to the Sport

He's back from San Diego and I am very happy!