Failing

In grad school I had to write a paper for a psychology class on a personal issue. I don't remember what I wrote, but it was something lame and un-personal, and it was returned with red ink scrawling "REDO this on something real." Doh! So I re-wrote the paper on Fear of Failure. Ironically I got a B- on it, which at the time to me was a massive FAIL.

I like to think I've since learned how to deal with fear of failing. However, it occasionally shines through when I get a really hard workout on my schedule. I love hard workouts - the kind where I'm not sure I can complete them as written, with the numbers/paces/watts that I assign in my mind as a "successful" workout, but I know the challenge of it all will be fun. Or just hard. And in the end I usually come away from it still gaining something - either mental or physical.

I typically have to remind myself that failing workouts is often part of determining what my current limits are. And if I never reach that "fail" point then how do I really know what I am capable of?

The pool this morning, in the middle of my set where I was trying very hard not to fail. I didn't quite hit all the times I was looking for, but I'm also fairly certain the set in no way qualifies as a FAIL.