Got a fucking puncture didn’t I. Rolling through a crit race that I was PROPER enjoying, smashing a few turns on the front, seeing how fast I could get round the corners without flying off or using the brakes… and then it came, a little wobble, I looked down, uh oh, that does NOT look healthy…MAKE IT TO THE GRASS STEVIE, MAKE IT TO THE GRASS…and off I wobbled. Bums. But it wasn’t an A race, just a bit of Tuesday evening fun and at least it wasn’t raining. I then proceeded to change the puncture like an absolute noob, so there was at least a learning experience there.
P is for Puncture.
But P is also for “perspective”.
Obviously I was annoyed at missing out on the opportunity to squeeze another point or so from the race and keep climbing my way through cat 4 (no mean feat in women’s racing round here, but that’s a story for another day…), but it’s important to use PERSPECTIVE in these situations; I’d stayed upright, the half of the race I had done had gone spiffingly and I’d had a great time. Equally, not an important race, more of a training exercise. And the real perspective came when I checked out the results of the day’s Giro stage and found the winner, one Biniam Girmay had ended up putting himself out of contention for the remaining race after popping his own celebratory cork into his eye…
P is also for “prioritisation”. The past two weeks have been awesome. I’ve been riding a high, feeling refreshed ahead of another race this weekend and of course, ahead of the A race in Canada. We’ve had a puncture and a badly twisted ankle in the past seven days, but it takes more than a few tears to keep me away! The past few weeks have been about prioritising recovery and keeping stress levels low. That’s meant saying no to a few work commitments, a few “opportunities” (inverted commas because they were stressors disguised as something positive – they could almost be renamed distractions…back to that last P word…) and making sure that I adapt life and schedules to keep myself mentally and physically in tip top condition. It’s meant ensuring I’m eating to hunger and listening to what my body is telling me it needs. It also means that sometimes I have to be cruel to be kind. There’s favours I have to turn down, I can’t help everybody if I want to achieve my own goals. It’s about prioritising those goals right now and understanding there might be short term sacrifices, but that’s what I signed up for! That makes it easy because I have the burning desire to give this racing thing my best shot.
So two Ps to think about today; perspective and prioritisation.
What could you achieve if you had the right perspective on your life or circumstances?
What could you achieve if you REALLY PRIORITISED your goals. REALLY made them your number one focus?
Obviously I wish you rarely have to encounter any of the first P word.
And let’s not forget the last P word: POTTER. If you need help, you know who to call…