#failureisnotfinal

Tough phases do come in life but some of us forget that there is a day after a dreadful night .  Obstacles are very much essential in one’s life. A successful person may not be happy always .To realize the actual bliss of success one should experience failure to. The alternating occurrence  of both success and failure in life is important . Success and failure are co-depended. Firstly to be successful in life you should be ready to accept failures to, as we all know failures are the stepping stones to success. All those great people whom we praise today have gone through a lot of failure/failures but they never gave up, by each failure they found out more about  what they were involved in .Obstacles come , patience and a never give up attitude is must to attain success in one’s life .Success isn’t always a sudden result sometimes it is a gradual process. There is nothing wrong with failure ,anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Success and failure are not simplistic concepts. Success and failure are not automatically 'good' and 'bad' respectively. Success and failure are the result of the interplay between ability, effort, luck, help and a host of other circumstances. Once you stop wasting your opportunities ,vast chance for success come into scene. Never let go opportunities because the same doesn’t knock your door twice , and for opportunities to come knocking firstly you got to work hard . Success is not an idle man’s cup of coffee, and the path towards it is never a bed of roses there will be thorns ,you got to have a splendid optimistic attitude to accomplish triumph in life .

So... shit happens

Long story short, my exam performance for one of my exams at Edinburgh was unusually subpar for one of the courses I took. I knew that as soon as I took it, it was no surprise, I just had a bad exam. Seeing as that was my only grade for the course, I did not pass. So I’ll be going back to Edinburgh to resit the exam in a couple of weeks (thank god that’s an option). It took me a long time to accept it and not feel like a total failure, but I figured it’s important to share because I too am human and am far from perfect, and I mean it’s all part of the process.

I am now a week out from my first Triathlon of the season - Grand Rapids, MI (Olympic distance) - which puts me 12 weeks out from the Chicago Tri and my attempt at breaking 2:30:00. Since I used a 12-week training program last year, this first tri has always been meant to show me where I'm at with my training. We'll talk about some of the other reasons later, but for now, let's take stock and reflect on the product of the last 12 weeks.

My original plan called for completing the GR Tri this coming weekend in 2:45:00 on the high end, and definitely under 3:00:00 on the low end. The remaining 11 weeks would then be tailored towards speed work and getting my body in shape for Chicago. As it stands, 3hrs is my only goal, and I'll be pushing the pace to reach it.

Whatever swim progress I thought I was making has been squandered by 2 full build weeks out of the water due to overtraining, and imperfect technique that showed up only once I started swimming in open water. My mile-swim time is somehow 3mins slower than it was before Chicago last year, and I have yet to do any long runs even totalling the 10km I'm expected to run at the end of Sunday's triathlon. So yea, I am going into the weekend with less confidence of hitting 3hrs than even Chicago last year.

That being said, I feel...ok. I've raced a tri before, so I have a better idea of what to expect. I'm counting on a better run leg now that I have a nutrition plan that works for me, which means I should start that phase of the run with more energy and fewer/zero cramps. I also have a better sense of when/how hard/how far to push myself in a race. So I actually think I'm better prepared going into this race.

Where does that leave us? Well, I'm proud of the work I've put in towards this race. Along the way, I've learned a lot about myself and my body, it's limitations, and how to train effectively for future races. And I'm keen to see what kind of performance I put out on Sunday! When I've felt like giving up, I've been guided by this quote:

"It's alright to miss your goals. It's not alright to quit beforehand."