Toughman Half

I'm settling back into the great commonwealth of Virginia after another great trip to Connecticut and NY. I was lucky to see many of the TARGETRAINING family during my short visit and want to extend my thanks to everyone for the incredible support I received both before and after the Westchester Toughman. I have to admit I was feeling a bit of pressure to podium and maybe even win, and it seemed like everyone else was more confident in me that I was in myself! I knew I had put a lot of hard work into training and that competition makes you perform better, but I had no idea that I was able to race as well as I did. So here are a few lessons I learned this weekend...
1. Don't doubt your coach, they know what they're doing! Dom has done a great job with me and I can't thank him enough!
2. Don't doubt yourself; during the tough moments you have to dig deep and keep your head on straight. Mental toughness is 90% of the race- your physical strength is affected so much by your mental state that if you want something bad enough you can make it happen. You are capable of more than you think!
3. Embrace the support and encouragement of your family, friends and teammates and take their confidence in you seriously.
4. Know your strengths and use them! I managed to increase the gap to my nearest competitor by turning on the speed when the run course ventured off-road. I knew that I could discourage the competition behind me if she saw me pulling away at that moment and wasn't so confident on the loose ground to pick it up and continue the chase.

So thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement, I couldn't imagine any better momentum, confidence and excitement to take into my next big race- Xterra National Championships only 10 days away!