Big Picture

Like most races that your working towards, Racine 70.3 went by like a whirlwind and before I knew it I was sitting back drinking a beer cheering at the finish line. When you race as much as I do (Not as much as my friend Gerlach but still a good amount) the races all tend to blur into a similar pattern. Swim, bike, run, recover, get back to training. To keep away from getting "Board" with the same old pattern for the whole year I try to go into and leave each race with the goal to...
1. Turn all the bad into a positive
2. Learn something
3. Set my sights on what to work on next

I will share a few take aways for my Racine race this year to hopefully help you in return.

-Racing for something "Bigger then yourself" truly helps to ground you as a person and athlete. As many of you saw I put on a fundraiser for RACC linked to my 70.3 race in which I can not be more happy with raising over $1500 in the fight against Childhood Cancer!! That not only took my mind away from the race a bit but made me remember what is truly important in this world and the result at the end of the day is not it.

-NEVER have a thought ingrained in your mind (Even if its partly true) that says if X happens then X will be the result. For me I have ingrained the idea that if I don't make the lead swim pack then I don't have the possibility of the end result I am looking for.  For the most part that is a true statement, that as a pro, if you don't get out in or close to the lead pack of the swim that your out of contention of "being in the race."  But you NEVER know what will happen and if you do miss the lead pack then you have already mentally lost the race which takes away ANY possibility of putting together a "Successful race."
-Re affirmed what I already know, that HAVING FUN and putting a smile on your face is totally the best way to race.  Yes relaxing and not "Engaging the crowd" would scientifically probably make someone race faster but what is the sense in that. Plus you totally get energy back from the crowd when you are having fun.  Me giving a smile or my (Thumbs up) move, does NOT mean that I am not working my ass off or in just as much pain as the one grimacing by.
-Sometimes your legs are on and other days they are not, be happy with the end result no matter what it is and look forward to the future.

Few thank you's to give you...
-Like always my AMAZINGLY supportive family and friends
-RACC for helping me race for a bigger picture
-Endurance House for more support in many more ways then I could even tell you

Thumbs UP!!

-Peak Performance Massage for always doing there best to get my body ready to fight
-Newton Running for making some kick ass shoes
-CycleOps for helping me train smarter, better and harder day in and day out
-Powerbar for providing nutrition to train and race properly
-Friend Noah for letting me borrow his race wheels for the race

Since Racine I have aged up to the ripe old age of 22... man I am getting old! haha
Next up for me will be 70.3 Steelhead this weekend and then a bit of a break followed by a re look at the rest of the season in store.

GTGTG

My AMAZING Family

Time for a Cause... RACC

So excited for 70.3 Racine in little over a week one of the many reasons I am so excited is because of the RACC Fundraiser I am putting on below... 

Secure active website to donate link

http://www.active.com/donate/raccfund/pauleicher

Extra info for "Time For a Cause" fundraiser. 

For each $10 you donate, you get 1 guess

Example....

$10 Donation= 1 swim time, or 1 bike time, or 1 run time, or 1 overall time.

$20 Donation= 1 swim time and 1 run time, or 2 overall times, or 1 bike time and 1 overall time....etc

$30 Donation= Donate $30 get 3 guess PLUS One FREE guess. SO...2 run times and 2 overall times, or 4 swim times... etc

Best of Luck!!