Chi-power: = Zen Meditation " develop fluid, powerful and effortless motion by helping you enter the
state of relaxed concentration, also known as ‘the zone’ or flow-state."
I was really looking forward to getting out and racing again. The course was a 4 corner flat course with a slight grade after the last corner then a slight down grade into the sprint. Nothing to technical. When driving to the race, I was practicing my Chi or shall I say relaxed concentration. This is something I personally feel as an athlete that it is something I need to work on. If I can develop good chi power and practice it, this will help develop into improved performance.I see that being strong and having good technical skills is not all one needs to be successful at a sport. The mental toughness as I say is also key.
Reaching my potential as an athlete is about doing less not more.
Keeping my thoughts quiet, my body relaxed and paying attention to my breathing that will help enhance the quality of my mind~body
connection in the moments of stillness before motion begins.
Before the race, I practiced some mediation and then got in the trainer and really listened to my body/mind and cleared the mind. Then I got off the trainer and did the rest of my warm up on the road, using my breathing techniques, and again clearing the mind of any negative thoughts, letting go of fears etc.
Got to the race start line and felt pretty relaxed and ready to go. As soon as the race started it was fast from the start and team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies and Team Columbia dominated a majority of the race. However, this race was a breakthrough for me. I stayed focused and was on every attack that went off. I stayed confident in riding strong and tried to get in a break a few times that never did stick but I knew that a break had to be something very special that happened in this kind of race. It had to be timed just right with the right people and it just wasn't happening.
Last 3 laps, I was confident and knew what I was going to do. I wasn't changing my plan, I was going for it.
At 1.5 laps to go, I made my move and decided to take a flyer. I knew it was risky and I just let it go and as I turned corner 4, I did break slightly and went out far left. Jeannie stated she thought for a minute the field was going to let me go then they started chasing hard the Optum and Colombian Team, When they caught up to me I jumped on the strung out field and went hard to the finish. I have no shame in how I placed, for it was a fun race and I felt that I had accomplished so much more by being a player.
As a wise person told me "Don't be pack fill, get in the game and play"
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