Earlier today, I published a new race report on my website.  The report covers my experience at the 2018 Ironman 70.3 Ohio race.

It is an interesting report, because I did not have a great race.  I had a full out ‘panic attack’ in the water, which resulted in a very different kind of race, than I had hoped for.  What was interesting, was that it took me a while to acknowledge to myself, that what I experienced was indeed a ‘panic attack’.

During, and immediately after the race, I kept telling myself that what went wrong was physical.  I was feeling tired.  I got cramps. I started breathing too hard.  Eventually, I realized that these were symptoms; they were not the cause.  My problem was that I mentally spiraled out of control.

The most important thing is that I learned a lot from that day.  I had a very disappointing race, but it was just one race, just one day.  I detail some of what I learned, in the report.

After the race, my coach said something that has stuck with me to this day.  He said “It’s just a bad race.  We all have them.  It’s not like you are retiring from racing. Let it go”.  These simple words have helped me a lot… hopefully they can help you too.