For twenty weeks I had been training for the Port Tauranga Half Ironman. Once I set the goal for myself, I was totally dedicated to the training programme I’d devised for myself. Then 5 weeks before the actual event I hit a snag, I got injured - not a serious injury - just a ligament strain that meant I couldn’t run or cycle for what turned out to be almost 4 weeks.

The experience for me was devastating, however. It should come as no surprise that I had invested a lot emotionally into the event, but I definitely learned a good lesson about the importance of preparing mentally as well as physically for something like this. Particularly people like me! I decided, you see, to pull out of the race.

Essentially, since I find putting myself up for events like this quite tough (I’m a bit excessively sensitive to the possibility of looking foolish), I need to learn to prepare myself better for that side of things. Though it’s quite hard to find events nearby leading up to January, it would have done me a lot of good to have entered into lesser events as part of my training. Not just for the physical preparation, and for the purpose of learning about the technical aspects of racing (like transitions, swimming in competition, all sorts of crazy rules of etiquette etc) but also to prove to myself that I can participate in these things without being embarrassed or ridiculed.

What now?

I think I’ll set some individual challenges up around here. Things I can do and measure and improve on. Run up Mt Roy? Cycle to Queenstown over the Crown Range. Those are worthy goals.. Shall I do them on my birthday week?

Yes.