I have heard it said that there are two kinds of cyclists: those who have crashed and those who will crash. Lately, I have been doing the crashing. So when Hank called me and told me to write this week’s blog, naturally I started writing on bike handling skills. Then I thought I should stick to something I know a little more about: overcoming adversity.

Most athletes will always tell you the way to improve is through training. This is an aspect of athletics that almost everybody understands intuitively, "I train properly and I will improve". Most often what happens next, is we train our bodies physically, but it seems like many people neglect preparing their mind. When dealing with mental preparation their are a few key aspects that we should focus on.

Developing a positive attitude and maintaining positive self-talk through adversity.

It's after Labor day and theoretically the weather should be getting cooler soon. For some of you, it's championship time. The fall is when Age Group nationals, Ironman World Champs, Ironman 70.3 champs and countless other season ending adventures take place. It's a time when the whole summer of racing comes to ahead and we should (in theory) be at our season's peak fitness. I get very excited about this time of year because the running season here in Florida begins to pick up.

"GUTS, A simple statement of character."

A few weeks ago, I had the privledge of spectating at the Escape from Fort Desoto Triathlon. I really love being out there cheering for the competitors when I'm not racing. Trying to motivate them to have fun while racing is my goal for being as loud and as silly as I can be. For a lot of the racers, this is their catharsis. It's the rare opportunity to go out and test themselves in an environment that can never really be duplicated anywhere else. They ask and get answers to, "Where is my fitness right now? How do I stack up against my competitors? Will I make it?!" And even sometimes, "Who am I?"