Every once in a while, I’ll have a race that doesn’t go as planned. This race this past weekend was one of those.
I woke up late for the race.
I didn’t have directions to it.
My bike got stuck in 2nd gear for half the race.
I didn’t run a decent pace at all.
At the end, I crossed the finish line, looked at the time and shook my head in disgust.
I was disappointed.
I was disappointed that my time was slower than I wanted it to be.
I was disappointed that I wasn’t in as good as shape as I should have been.
I was disappointed that my $150 bike is beginning to have outlasted its usefulness.
Then I realized.
I’d done this race faster than a lot of other races.
I went out and did this race on an impulse.
I finished this race and wasn’t half dead (unlike some races).
I would have never been disappointed with this outcome last year.
Regrouping and Reframing
Last year.
Last year, I didn’t even know it if it was possible to something like a triathlon. Now I’m disappointed that I didn’t do as well as I should have.
Being disappointed can be a good thing. Being disappointed every now and then means you’ve raised the bar. Being disappointed means it’s no longer good enough to “just” do what you’ve done before. Just finishing some of the races isn’t the goal anymore. It’s getting a PR, placing in your age group. Doing a longer distance than you’ve ever done before. It means you’ve conquered things that used to be impossible and made them sure things. Now you’re moving beyond those sure things and into something unknown again. Being disappointed means you’re growing.
Last year I was happy to get past the swim portion of a sprint triathlon and not drown. This year, I’m running a half-ironman and running sprint triathlons on a whim.
Past actions are never an excuse for future apathy. It doesn’t mean you should stop pushing your limits and going further than you’ve gone before. You should keep going further. I’m in decent shape, but I’m not really where I want to be and there isn’t really a good excuse other than I need to train more. That’s not acceptable and I’m going to do it and keep getting better. But, it is encouraging to know that even when I am disappointed in how I do, the long term trend of the path I’m on is generally going in the right direction. I just need to keep going.
So right now, it’s time for a long run.
What about you? Everyone gets disappointed at some point. What are ou working towards and what are you disappointed in? How are you getting better in spite of your disappointment?
Always good to step back and get some perspective.
Dude, Joel, I totally sync with this post. I have run 5ks under 17min and half marathons in not but a few minutes more than an hour and a quarter but now I have gotten off the bike from my tour to find 3 miles tough to do at less than 7min/mi pace. I was discouraged, especially with the Portland 26.2 coming up in October. Today, I found my steam again. I ran a solid 8mi in little over an hour, but it was more than just the running that was better. I realized I really should find satisfaction at being in the beginning of a challenge, one of getting my running legs back, rather than sulking in disappointment at not being able to run a mile better than 6.5 minutes without my legs and chest screaming–after all I am a PE teacher and Personal Trainer, I encourage people through the joys of the small steps forward all the time, it is time to live my own medicine.
Thanks for the notes Joel.
Jason
Breaking in new running shoes can be disappointing! It killed my time by 20% yesterday and forced me to walk on a couple occasions. Guess I need to break them in some more. I’ll wear the old ones for my half marathon on Saturday.
There is a Seinfeld episode about a runner waking up late for a race, first thing I thought of! How many alarms did you have set?
Only 1! It was sort of an impromptu race after all. I’ll be smarter this week :).
Joel
Well said my friend and exactly the message I needed to here. If you’ve kept up with my adventures as of late, you know that in the last few weeks i’ve lost almost everything I had in terms income streams. I lost a job and our sponsor for BlogcastFM. But amazingly enough, it has caused me to set the bar much higher. It put my back against the wall and forced me to start thinking about what’s possible and how this might actually all be a good thing. Without a doubt, I’ve been disappointed by how it’s all turned out, but I’m realizing it’s time to shift focus.
I’ve been following your story close Sri. It’s been crazy to see how things have gone, but if you think over the last 6 months or so, how disappointed can you really be with getting to work & live in Costa Rica for all that time? Sad that it’s over, perhaps, but it’s time for a new chapter :). Good luck!
Well said Joel, but you forgot to mention getting passed up by girls during your race. Ha.
*shhh* 🙂
Being disappointed can be a good thing. Being disappointed every now and then means you’ve raised the bar. Being disappointed means it’s no longer good enough to “just” do what you’ve done before.
I am going to tatoo that on my forehead in mirror writing so I can read it from inside my head.
Pics or it didn’t happen! 🙂
I agree with Srinivas great timing with this post. I feel like I’m always disappointed with myself, so it’s good to be given a different perspective on what that means as far as growing as a person.
I laughed when you said you were happy to get past the swim portion of the sprint triathlon without drowning.
I’d like to try a sprint triathlon one of these days and it’s the swim portion that most worries me. But as you said there’s nothing like conquering what used to seem impossible.
Thanks for the insight.
The swim is actually the easiest part, if you can get through it. The part no one is ever prepared for is the run after the bike :).
Joel,
Disappointments? Sure . . . always a few of those:)
The past year there’s been several family deaths. Lots of plans that seemed so important were put on hold. But spending time with family was definitely a priority and I’m glad I was able to do it.
Also, have had an achilles problem that keeps me from training as much as I’d like. Have been doing some rehab that I think will help me be stronger and more flexible in the long run but for now I have to slow down.
But . . . while other things were disappointing, I decided to do something positive. So after being inspired by your efforts at WDS, I recently started taking skydiving lessons 🙂 Today I made the 7th jump in the program and officially “graduated” so now I can free fall by myself! And on the first jump I had problems with my goggles too. Maybe it’s contagious!
So life is good in spite of the disappointments and setbacks.
Kurt
WOAH. That’s awesome. Definitely something I”m aiming to do here eventually. When do you do your first solo fall? Good luck whenever you do! Hopefully it won’t be your last!
Will probably do it in the next few days . . . the program is called Accelerated Free Fall (AFF). Something you might want to consider especially since you’ve already done tandem. . . but you’ve already got lots going on too 🙂 Here’s a wiki info link . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_freefall
I’ve seen it before. Definitely on the list!
Love this.