Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Rob DeCou of Olympic Conditioning. 

That gripping fear: your heart racing, your thoughts wandering, your palms damp with anticipation for the future. We’ve all experienced moments like this. It could be those last passing seconds at a high school track meet, when you’re getting ready to take your place at the starting blocks, before the gun fires and signals you into a dead sprint. Or the minutes that seem like hours ticking off the clock as you wait for an interview for what could be the next big move in your career. I feel that “fear” creeping up inside me again. But I don’t like to call this feeling fear, or anxiety, or stress; I choose to call it anticipation. I like to imagine it as similar to what a horse must feel as it waits in the starting gate before a big race. It weaves its head back and forth, waiting to let loose and show its speed. It is a feeling that all of us need to learn to keep in perspective and to put into check, or else let it take over and consume us.

Rob Bike 2

For almost nine months now, I’ve been training for the Oregon Cycling Challenge, a 400-mile cycling race that cuts through the interior of Oregon before looping along the coastline of Hwy 101. I reflect on the many evenings I’ve spent preparing, cycling on the trainer in my living room and watching Battlestar Galactica, plugging out the miles with the winter weather and cold chill safely held outside the nearby door. As the days grow longer, I’ve taken advantage of the extra light and transitioned the training to more outdoor rides. I’ve prepared in other ways: figuring out my water bottle situation, adding new tires, a CO2 pump, replacing parts, and slowly becoming more in tune with my chosen bike for the event. I chose a beast of a hill for my two months of weekly hill rides—six miles up and 1,800 feet of elevation—along with two other easy weekly rides and a long ride every other weekend.

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Now that I am within a month of the event, it is time to wind down the training. There is very little benefit to trying to add more distance or speed to what I’ve already accumulated, so all I have to do is eat healthy and balanced, drink lots of water, sleep well, keep my nerves in check, and wait for the event to start. I find myself starting to map out the 400-mile course in my head, blocking it into eight manageable, 50-mile sections, taking special note of each hill along the way. I have convinced three outstanding people to join me as my support crew: Kristin Brown, The Encourager; Kyle Downs; The Trainer; and Jack Church, The Mechanic. It puts my heart at ease to know that I will have these special people within reach at all times, people I trust and have history with. I’ve come to learn that just the presence of those close to us, even if we can’t talk to them and they can’t personally experience what we are going through, is such a great blessing and source of strength during these events.

The race is long, and I may not make it to the finish line in the 32-hour cut-off. There is no failure in not reaching the goal for me, only in not giving myself a chance to go after it. Half the riders aren’t expected to finish on courses like this. In fact, my last attempt to qualify for the Race Across America ended up with my first DNF (Did Not Finish) of my career. As with many things in life, all I had to do was rest up, pull myself together, and start training again for the next challenge, making the necessary adjustments along the way to ensure future success on the courses ahead of me. Here I am again, anticipating the race ahead. I am hopeful for a great performance, and I know in my heart that I will leave every ounce of passion and tenacity I can muster on the course. My heart leaps with the anticipation of wondering if it will be enough. The idea that there is a good chance, for a myriad of reasons, that I may not reach that finish line makes the prospect of finishing all the more exhilarating.

When we go after our goals and strive to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be, we’re going to feel that anticipation—that “fear”—creep up within us and try to capture our thoughts. We must train ourselves to rise to the occasion. I choose to view these situations as opportunities, adventures, and chances to test my skills and grow out of whatever happens. I find it imperative to enjoy the journey, and I remind myself that all I need to do to be a success is sign up, show up, and start moving. If we allow fear to dominate our lives, we miss out on some of life’s greatest encounters.

Rob

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