No Shame

I had something of a revelation a few weeks ago...again, been meaning to blog about it.

Anyway it dawned on me that in general I consider myself to be pretty hard on myself about things. There is always that general fear of failure/embarrassment in the back of my mind...except during training. I have reached this place that I call "No Shame" and it has become my training mantra (and I have pounded it ad nauseum onto some of training partners as well)

So here is my list of things that I was worried about and how my mantra helped me overcome it:

1. I was worried that I would be last in training:

• On those days I am last...I am still miles ahead of the person sitting at home on their couch watching TV...so No Shame

2. I was worried that I would look silly in front of people:

• Again, regardless of what dumb thing I do...still miles of ahead of the person on the couch.
• I realized that when you try something new, something totally out of your comfort zone, you are going to make mistakes.
  
• Everyone in my rookie training group has done something silly/mortifying in their mind. And yet we are still out there...so No Shame.

3. I was worried that I would fall with when I bought clipless pedals:

• I did fall, and I landed on my rear. So did 5 other people in my bike group that day, we checked to make sure everyone was okay, we all laughed, brushed one another off, and got back on the bike...so No Shame.

4. I was worried that I would be the only one who didn't know what on earth I was doing:

• I'm not, most of group is made up of rookies who have never done this before. The most humbling part is even though you are good at the run, someone in the group is kicking your bum at swim practice, or bike practice. Everyone has a different strength, everyone is completely new to some part triathlon...so No Shame.

5. I was worried that my coaches would be uber unapproachable athletes:

• My coaches are uber athletes having competed in ironmans around the country, but they are completely approachable. They love to go to Happy Hour with us, joke with us, push us, and be inspired by us as we fall in love with the sport that they are already passionate about. They love coaching us and mentoring us...so No Shame.

6. I am worried that sometimes I forget to slip into my mantra of No Shame:

• Sometimes I still forget, I was definitely developing a complex over the bike portion of training. (Seriously I expected to suck at swim...no surprise, but the struggle with the bike portion caught me completely off guard) And then one of my favorite training partners reminded me...No Shame.

I love the question, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

What would you do if you could make mistakes, act silly, and be yourself with No Shame?