Lessons from The Bear

In 8th grade my English teacher assigned my class to read "The Bear" by William Faulkner. That's how my literary love affair with Faulkner started, only to end with "The Sound and the Fury". Anyhoo, what I remember from the book was a lesson the main character learned while hunting a bear: that it was okay it be scared, but one should never be afraid. The lesson was more just semantics, but distinguishing between apprehension from an anticipated fear or established phobia vs. that fight or flight feeling when in a dangerous situation. One is mental and can limit or even paralyze us. The latter is instinctual.

William Faulkner once said,"A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid." I say: A triathlete must teach herself that the most limiting of all things is to be afraid.

So last year at IMLP, I waited 2 minutes after the cannon to start the swim because I was afraid of getting pummelled in the water. After getting pummelled in the water, losing 2 minutes, and missing out on drafting opportunities, I vowed that I would never do that again. Now I stand at the very front of all the swim starts. I'm no super swimmer, but at least I'm fearless of the swim start.
From now until Musselman, I'm going to find every opportunity to ride and run in the heat---the hotter, the better. Now that I know what heat exhaustion feels like, I don't want to start freaking out when my vision becomes blurred or I'm swerving on the road. I want to quickly figure it out and address the problem without drama.

Next week, I'll derive a triathlon lesson from a John Steinbeck novel...