Hey guys, hope things go well.
Life doesn’t always go smoothly and as well as we plan, but I think this is the most interesting part of being a human.
Everyone has different kinds of dreams and hopes, which they hope one day will turn into a reality.
Unfortunately, time is the cost of everything in the life, and it helps us to be motivated to chase the targets we are aiming for. At the same time something’s can be unpredictable. This can be bad or be good for everyone. Sometimes it comes at the right time and in a form of luck and sometimes it comes in the wrong way for example an accident.
It is the same to all the athletes, especially to those who treat their sport as there profession. As an athlete a lot of preparation is done before the race -both physically and mentally. But sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you do before the event something unpredictable could happen before or during the race.
I am an example of this that you never know what is around the corner. I have had a great block of training over the last couple of months feeling very positive. I performed in some China and oversea races and built up my confidence prior to the Asian Championships, which is one of my biggest races in the year. Also I thought I am the only one that can score the points for the triathlon department. 2 weeks before the Asian Champs, I had another Asian Cup in China which didn’t go very well at all and already I couldn’t feel relax anymore, when the big day was getting closer, the more nervous I felt. Especially I am one of the oldest and experienced triathlete in the team. I started to put unnecessary pressure on myself.
The event arrived and I came 12th,which I was devastated about. I had a very average result and was extremely disappointed. After the race, I could not understand why I missed the swim pack again, and couldn’t chase the main pack on the bike, I didn’t even think about the run off bike, as my mind was going down hill as I was already out of the race.
I suffered in the heat all the way to the finish line, and it was a 10km run. When I finished the race I was asking myself a lot of questions and had so many doubts in my mind. At that time, I know that I disappointed so many people, my coaches, and also myself.
Time went very quick after the Asian Champs. As soon as I arrived in HK I decided to take a short break to the UK as mentally and physicallyI needed a break from the last 5 months of racing and training. Unluckily, I caught a virus just before I went to the UK.After several numbers of tests, the doctors found that my Anti EBV result was quite high and I would need to test it again in a few weeks time.
After my short trip, I was still not feeling relaxed I felt like I was carrying rocks on my shoulder. I got back into full training and tried to focus. I was training hard and working on my business – TEAM SEC. Both went well and a few of the athletes I am managing got signed up with some big sponsors. I am really happy for them and proud of myself that I can be a good manager and a not bad athlete at the same time.
During the new training block, I did some crazy sessions. For example some long open water swims from point to point at Shek O – 4.5-5k continues tempo pace swim, then off to bike for 3hours including some steep hills repeats, 3x(6mins tempo, 5mins steady) with short recovery time. Then with a steady run about an hour before dinner. Another example of a training day would be a long hard swim set at 7am, long 2.5-3k warm up then another 3k main set with high intensity or threshold workout, follow by a standard track run set 6-8x1k short rest repeats with some speedy 200m. In the afternoon, it was an easy recovery ride to finish off the day. I also was hitting the gym in this period, twice per week after swim or run training.
After I’ve been doing this new training for over a month, I started to feel the benefits.
The Hong Kong Triathlon Sprint Championships, was my first race since the Asian Champs, I was quite worried about doubting and feeling insure about my performance. During the first couple of hundred meters in the swim there was a lot of pushing and shoving. I didn’t have the best swim and missed the main pack. At the transition stage I had some minor errors but which still cost be valuable time. I had to time trial during the 20km bike on my own, it was a tough one but I had to push. After the bike I must have been quite exhausted but my feelings didn’t even come into it. I just keep pushing all the way on the 5km run and felt strong. Luckily I came 1st overall with a good fast finish. My teammates Tim came 2nd; Perry and Hilda both came 2nd in the junior event. So to summarize that week overall was hard with a good solid race, I was happy and started to think good things will come along.
The following week of training was a bit up and down as my blood test results didn’t go well – my Anti- EBV level went up 4 times higher than my previous reading (a possibility of having Nasopharyngeal carcinoma), which meant I needed to go to hospital for a biopsy to make sure that I am in good health, it took 2 days of poking and prodding and it was killing me.
In the end I was discharged with a negative result. I am fine but learnt that it is really important to listen to my body. My coach got me to run the 6x1km repeats as a celebration of good health, I struggled during the set but I was still able to hold a 3’07/km pace under 32c heat. It was good and really I enjoyed every minute of it to get back out there.
It was generally a really tough training week but after a good race I got invited by Revolution-Asia to do a race on Sunday, which meant 2 races in 2 weeks. It was a 4km run, 540m swim, 4km run. It was a short hilly course in hot and humid conditions. The event was very well organized with great support from the westerns. I had a good time and good race coming 1st and my teammates Tim Law came 3rd overall. We really enjoyed the event and it was a lot of fun!
Good things are really coming along!
The whole team and myself are off to Japan this week. Yes, 3 races in 3 weeks, and this is the main one – Japan Garmagori ITU Asian Cup. Its going to be a tough race in tough conditions. I am looking forward to this one and I think I will do well this time. I feel different going into this race with less pressure and I know I have done the work to produce me a good result. I am so ready to make good things happen now!
What I realized over these couple of months is – Live the life, like the last. Even if things do not go as smooth as you plan, keep trying, and don’t give up, keep believing in yourself, good things will come along.
Quote of the month – DON’T LET SMALL MINDS CONVINCE YOU THAT YOUR DREAMS ARE TOO BIG.
Catch ya next time.
Ivanov