But I also hear statements like the following from athletes who are not comfortable with change.
"I eat good."
"My workouts are good."
Why be good when you can be great?
Last week we had our athlete Kaley in town for 2 days. Kaley traveled to us from the DC area and she is a developing triathlete athlete who is a super speedy swimmer and is very strong on the bike. However, she hasn't been able to master the bike/run combo to her potential so she made a trip to us to update her bike position on her tri and road bike and to work on bike handling skills.
The first day of Kaley's trip was dedicated to Karel fitting her on two bikes (road and triathlon). This process took all afternoon. The second day we ventured outside for 2 hours and focused on terrain management and mastering basic bike handling skills for safer, smarter and stronger riding on hilly terrain. We started off on gentle rollers and wide turns to practice shifting, standing and interacting with the bike. We then rode up and over Paris Mountain to practice climbing, descending, tight turns, body position and proper gear shifting. The end of the ride took us through the punchy hills, twists turns and technical terrain on the backside of Paris Mountain. Although we only covered 30 miles in 2 hours, we covered almost 2000 feet of elevation to help Kaley take her skills from good enough to even better.
But this trip was not all about Kaley. I was so excited to have Kaley in town because she is a great swimmer. Since we both come from a similar swim background, I was really looking forward to having her push me in the pool. Although I have a great swim partner in town (Kristen), Kaley is just a bit faster than me so I knew I would need to work extra hard to keep up for her.
Wow - I have not been that tired in such a long time. I also haven't swam that fast in a very long time. For such a long time, I had been trying to break 36 seconds in a 50. And then with Kaley pushing me, I was coming in around 34 seconds. I knew I had it in me but I wasn't willing to let myself suffer that much on my own. Not only did I realize that I had more in me that I was not giving during the faster/all out sets but I also need to eat a bit more after the swims to ensure that I was recovering well from these really intense swim workouts on Thursday and Friday.
I believe that every athlete has somewhere in their life and/or training where improvements can be made. Sure, things may be good but I bet they could be even better. Just like Kaley could have settled for her good skills and I could continue to settle for good enough in the water, we all have more in us that we are capable of.....If we are willing to take the necessary steps to go from good to great.
Consider the following examples:
-You don't eat before your workouts but you feel like you have good workouts. What if you ate before and had even better workouts?
-You don't do mobility before your workouts but you feel you have good workouts. What if you did mobility and had even better workouts?
-You sleep ok and you eat low carb and you feel like you have good workouts. What if eating more carbs could help you sleep better and you could have better workouts?
Perhaps it's fear of the unknown, fear of failure, not having the right tools or being a bit stubborn, when you choose to settle for less than what you are capable of, you are limiting yourself and restricting your own potential.
Take a moment and ask yourself if you have been settling on being average instead of taking the steps to become the best possible version of yourself.
If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting the same results. Raise your standards for yourself.
Don't let good enough be good enough.
