With all the new boat activity, some travel, and a bunch of other stuff, I'd only managed to get the Megabyte wet once since High Sierra. I certainly wasn't well prepared, then, for the annual Turkey Shoot regatta hosted by Lake Washington Sailing Club the weekend before last. No matter; I had to get out there as this regatta represented coming full circle on my first year racing a singlehanded dinghy since I was a teenager. Prior to the racing, I reflected back on my experience on Huntington Lake. I had determined that my performance had been most hampered by poor starts and generally pathetic first beats putting me too far back to have any hope of catching the leaders. So, I set the expectation that I would focus my energy on getting off the line with speed, finding just the right height/speed groove, and making good decisions up the first leg.
Well, guess what? It worked. I was first around the top mark in each of the first three races. the problem was that in only one of those three races did I manage to hold onto the lead. In the other two, I managed to find other ways to screw up and dropped to third. Dang. Maybe I should expect to win every leg? hmmm . . . That used to work when I was a competitive runner. I would visualize every detail of the race from a quick start all the way through to a strong finish. Then I just had to replay it for the real event.
How much of winning is simply expecting it?
About this blog
Well, this blog started out as a chronicle of the restoration, and adventures aboard, the O'Day Mariner, Mothra. But since then, and thanks to Mothra rekindling my love of sailing, it's often taken over with other sailing content. So be it. I'm having so much fun with the new Megabyte, I gotta share that, too.
4 comments:
I think you're on to something my friend (can't stop using that phrase since the election ended; I think it's a subconscious desire to stick it to that Campaign McCain I saw so much of over the past few months; he pumped all of those my-friends into me and now I gotta pump'em out). I was a sprinter in high school and college, running the long sprints and intermediate hurdles and I used to do something similar. Drawing a little oval on a piece of paper on race day and running through the race in my head. I'd imagine the start and the effort I should expend to get up to speed quickly; my stride as I shifted into the long backstretch section; the acceleration as I leaned into the curve; the slingshot out of the last turn; and my focus on keeping my form together as I finished down the home straight. When I did that visualization I always ran the race I wanted. Breaking 52 secs the first time I tried it at seventeen and then breaking into the 40's in college.
I believe that most winning does come from a strong desire and a focused will.
Wow. You mean that I've been missing this simple secret all these years? If you expect it, it will happen? Can't wait to try this.
Yep, that's right. Tell us how it goes, Tillerman. (Or if you want to make it more complicated, maybe it's related to that 'What would Ben do?" thing.)
Did somebody say something about hurdles? That takes me way back. I'm running my 2nd ever 5k on Sunday. I'll try to visualize myself not wheezing and gasping too much at the end - and not starting too fast. And I'll try to visualize the goofy currents at the next mid-winter race - or "frostbiter" as it seems some people with real winters call them. I think it comes down to having a solid game plan firmly in mind for each part of the race so that you make the right decisions when under the stresses of the race.
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