I SEEK FAILURE

"I Seek Failure" - Adam Kreek

And so shall I.

This has been my motto for the past month. I got the idea from Olympic Rower Adam Kreek and Jacob Wetzel as mentioned in Adam's Tedx Victoria presentation. It is a simple concept and sometimes a scary one but my goal is to make it less of a scary thing. If I can make it a regular part of training then I won't be afraid to fail or risk failure. It can be difficult to purposefully put yourself in that position. However, if you think about it, in freestyle skiing, when they risk failure the consequences are quite great. For swimming, Biking, Running and Triathlon the consequence is not as dangerous. In the water your arms feel like they are going to fall off. On your bike your legs are unable to turn the crank. Running, you flop down on the ground catching your breath. Thats not bad, right? If you can master this skill success is attainable in or out of sport.

The past 7 months have been such an awesome experience. I have seen places I never thought I would see in my lifetime. The season began in New Zealand. I raced in New Plymouth and Aukland. both of which reminded me of Canada and never met a local who was not friendly. I raced in Cape Town, South Africa, a place I thought I would only read about or if lucky sail past. I competed in what felt like old stomping grounds in Yokohama, Japan. We moved on to train in Basque country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain with it's endless roads and medieval architecture. From there we raced in London's Hyde park.

Racing has not been to my potential but it is not a physical thing. I can take positives from each event I have competed in this year but a fear of failure has limited my performance. Every day in training I entered into a combative environment ideal for World Triathlon Series Racing(WTS) and yet many of the races do not reflect it. After London I realized I need to take a step back in order to take steps forward in my sporting career.

Since I have been home my approach has been completely different.

"every week we train from Monday through to Saturday and I pick one workout every week where I will willingly push myself through my known limit and I will embrace failure. Infact my body will fail on me and for the rest of the week I will know what this limit is. I will know what this limit is and I will hover below it. And intact the greatest point of growth occurs below your limit." Adam Kreek - I Seek Failure Click Here for full Video

I have taken such joy in this over the past month. I have failed I think 3 or 4 times this month and I'm ok with that. Infact it was a highlight for those days. I go into every group ride, every workout with the motto, I Seek Failure.

I am having so much fun putting myself in combative training opportunities it sends a chill down my spine. Twice a week I have a active recovery day where I feel blue because I miss the opportunity to be combative. Do distract myself I pour everything I can into recovery tactics. I make it a social event by trying to convince both myself and friends to join me in the icy pacific ocean to soak the legs. Date night for Brianna and I includes a bit of Yoga, strength work and the always painful trigger point foam rollers.

I plan to take this momentum and pure joy into next couple of weekends racing in Toronto and Magog Quebec. Lets have some fun!!

Till then, I hope all is well.
Ciao for now,
Andrew