Things must come to an end and 2011 did....with good results. As for my first Pro season, I look back on it as a success with many things learned. We are now a few weeks into 2012 and a new season to soon be upon us. Looking back at all the races from 2011 I learned how to race mentally and physically. I made plenty of mistakes and learned from every single one. The most important aspect to evaluating racing is looking at both sides, your mistake and your triumphs. Two races stick out most in my mind when I think about triumphs, The Dino Tri, and the LA Tri.
The Dino Tri held in Utah, had a smaller pro field but strong none the less. I walked into the race knowing if I raced my own race and things go well, I would be in contention for the win. When I am being chased I race inspired....I race if my life depends on it.....so, I put myself in that spot right from the gun. I began the swim with a huge effort and a minute plus led out of the water. Swim went great. From the beginning my plan was to negative split the bike. Stay relaxed for the first ten or so miles and crush the remaining sixteen into transition. I did, and it went well, had over a two minute led going into the run. I gave everything on the swim and the bike and expected to be fighting on the run. The run course was a two lap course and I knew if I had a :60 second gap going into the second lap that I would win regardless of how I was feeling/running because I could see the finish, I wasn't willing to lose at that point. To be honest the last lap was hell and could not wait to just lay down. My lead was cemented as I went on to the track and had the urge to walk. The race director said over the loud speaker that "if I finish at the pace I was running I would break the course record", so I sprinted. Needless to say the run went well enough to hold my place and Win the 2011 Dino Tri. I explained all of that to tell you this. Every race I had done prior to the Dino Tri it was about who was there, what they were doing and how I should race them. For this race I decided to do the opposite, race my own race. People often say, "oh, Im gonna race my own race" ya well, racing your own race is a decision to not look at anyone else, not look at the time and simply put your head down and go. I feel that people often don't fully make that choice, a self made decision to look within. I recommend this to everyone, your best performance will only come out of that simply decision, yet hard to implement choice. Race Within.
The second race that comes to mind is the LA Tri. Like the Dino Tri, in the LA race I decided to race within. I made the choice to not worry about anyone else, put my head down and finish the drill, so to speak. As you might of read from the LA Tri blog post the swim went great coming out of the water with Greg Bennett and Cameron Dye. The bike went steady considering the lack of cycling going into the race......... then the run, where I learned more about myself in a positive manor than any other race, ever. The run for me this entire past year as been my weakness. Although this race I didn't run super fast, I ran smart. Coming into the transition I was with Brian Rhodes. We ran step for step for the first two miles feeling the urge to leave the other behind. With 7th place out of reach for both of us at this point it was going to be a fight for eighth. We had a few back and forth efforts but at mile 3 I made a surge that Rhodes decided not to stay with. Once I got a large enough gap I settled into my pace to finish the race with 8th place in the bag. Rhodes was just steps behind at the finish line with both of us exhausted mentally and physically. Once again, I tell you all that, for this: Dig deep and find what motivates you to be better or different or faster or smarter and so on. Use that motivation to do what you want and do it. A key to success, is being able to harness whatever motivation you have and put it in one direction. That's when you will succeed.
I look forward to this coming year and exploring everything that comes my way! Never stop learning.
thank you for reading
-Broski
