the I in team

Contrary to popular belief, there most certainly is an "I" in "team." It is the same "I" that appears three times in "responsibility." ~Amber Harding

i talk a lot about competing, and it amazes me that i always learn something new.  or at least, something new jumps out at me.  this is the first big competition that we went to with more than one team.  more people means more fun, but it also means more personality, more variables and a lot more input on strategy and goals.  all good stuff, but just MORE.  and i realized as we were practicing that everyone had set different internal goals.  which is very normal.  but also very interesting when you are competing with a team.  how does the success, or failure, impact your own psyche - and what does it do to the team?  does it motivate your team to "pick you up"? or does it drag down the mojo?  you just never know.

of the 8 of us, i can tell you that everyone - to a person - said "it doesnt matter how we do.  we just want to have fun and do a good job".  and we all were totally lying.  at least to some degree.  because we wouldnt be competing if we didnt have goals.  or want to test our limits.  to measure our progress.  SOMETHING that would make the training worth it.  i mean, the camaraderie is awesome and all, but we still have something to prove - even if just to ourselves.

There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing anyway. ~Mark Burnett

while i would love to throw my SiB fam under the bus a bit here, i will refrain.  as always, i will use me as the example.  BUT, i know each one of them had a similar experience.  here is what i mean.  for the last year i have been focusing on getting stronger.  about 2 months ago, i noticed that my cardio just was not where i wanted it to be.  i was sacrificing cardio for heavier weight, and it was becoming very obvious in my workouts.  so i decided to change my focus.  and to try to add some extra cardio into my week.  and as always, when you change something, you get different results.

yup. dropped the bar BEHIND me

the last few competitions, i have been really pleased with my lifts.  ive lifted heavier than i expected and came home super happy.  but not so much this weekend.  i totally FAILED my second lift.  like dropped it behind me.  on a weight i absolutely think i should have been able to get.  and i just didn't get it.  which not only caused me to second guess my 3rd lift, but kind of screwed my team total in the process.  it was an epically sucky way to start the day for me.  the flip side is that two of my teammates hit their weight goals plus some.  they were totally psyched and picked up my slack.  so after 1 event, it was kind of a mixed bag in terms of how we all felt.  a couple euphoric.  a couple depressed.  and a bunch in between. 

In union there is strength. ~Aesop

on to the dreaded serpent workout.  like DREADED.  like, i chose not to do flex on the mall last year because of the serpent workout, dreaded.  and i had already shit the bed on the workout i was supposed to do well on.  so mentally i am like WTF.  and guess what?  it was ok.  it wasnt great, but it wasnt as bad as i had anticipated either.  i actually felt pretty ok. and seeing as how (mentally) cardio is not my thing, getting through that one without crying was a big deal for me :).  and come to find out, our team hare (made up of the "good" cardio peeps) came in 1st out of 91 teams in that workout.  and my team tortoise (bc, you know, we are slower) came in 3rd overall.  so we pretty much kicked that workout in the ass - as a unit.  go team SiB. and while we didnt know how well we did at the time, we all were happy to see the back end of the serpents.

workout 3 was the separator.  it was HOT.  we were exhausted.  but i think everyone felt pretty ok going into our last 16 minutes.  and then walls were hit.  some at high rates of speed, even. and even though i finished that workout feeling like i was moving at a speed consistent with walking uphill thru quicksand, i kept going.  my amazing partner and i did better than we had ever done in practice. and even though i could not appreciate it at the time, we outperformed our expectations on that event.  it just was not as glamorous as hitting that heavy weight.

Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. ~John Dewey

i wont lie and say i wasnt disappointed initially with my performance.  that drop put a damper on my day a little bit.  and im guessing it was the same for the crew that also didnt hit their number.  but then i started to break it down and analyze the day.  i looked at pics and sent some tips.  congrats and words of encouragement to some.  and a few coaching clues to others.  what i realized doing the rehash of the day was that what we focused on for the most part, was where we saw the best results.  for the first time in forever, my focus in the gym was NOT on the lift - but on the cardio.  and, shockingly i know, that is how it played out on game day.

in hindsight, i probably should not have tried that heavier weight.  and even though i shouldnt have, i probably would do it again.  pushing the limits is part of the process for me. and learning from failure.  knowing i have a great team behind me lets me test the boundaries.  they pick up for me, and i pick up for them.  that's why im a group ex believer.  i believe in teams and partnerships over individual success.  im more disappointed that i let my team down in our overall score than i am that i didnt get the lift.  and im sure i pushed harder on 2 & 3 to make it up to them.  if i was on my own, i'm sure i would have just had a mopey, blah day after the bad lift.  i need the team. and i believe the team needs me.  and THAT is what i love about competing with them.

I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion. ~Mia Hamm