Achieving Excellence

The other day I got out of bed, looked out the window, and saw huge snowflakes falling to the ground. My initial reaction was excitement, but I was a bit disappointed because it was going to make the intervals I planned for the day that much harder.

I met my coach at the ski hut ready to go at 9:30am. The snow wasn't letting up and the wind wasn't either. I strapped my skis on and began my warm up, plowing through 5 inches of fresh fallen snow. I was the only lone soul out on the trails. It was hard to get psyched for this workout when I could hardly see where I was going! After making a few loops, I put my head down and went for it. "It's conditions like this that make you tough. You never know when you'll have to race in dumping snow." These were all thoughts that ran through my head and were latter reiterated by my coach. "That's right," I thought. "This is only going to make me tougher." With that thought in my head, I began my first interval. Three minutes into the interval I had to take my glasses off, they were fogging up and they were covered with snow! The wind was blowing and snow was covering my face...I couldn't see a thing! As I skied along, I ran off the trail a few times, getting way off track. I squinted my eyes and even shut them on the downhills...that's when I caught a tip in the snow and did a nice face plant. Aaawww! After the fall, I was getting more and more frustrated. I was trying to go fast but I couldn't see a thing! I finished my interval and stopped to get a lactate reading from my coach. This would be the moment of truth, did I go hard enough? Sure enough, my lactate was within the correct range!

Despite plowing through 5 inches of snow, skiing down the hills blind, and falling on my face, I was able to execute the intervals as planned. I was relieved to be done with the workout! I kept my mind in the game and completed it just as well as I would have if it was solid tracks. Sometimes achieving excellence isn't just about performing well at races and getting good results, but it is also about making several small achievements along the way. I could have easily waited until the next day to do the intervals when it was clear and sunny, but I put my mind to the test. Ultimately, I felt like I achieved excellence and benefited greatly from such a tough and brutal workout.

And of course as I finished my cool down, the sun began to peek through the clouds.