Back at the end of my season in 2013 when I
was looking forward to the start of a new season, I really didn’t picture 2014
going the way that it did.
I didn’t think that I would be where I am
now.
But life is a crazy, crazy thing. And I
guess if I could always see my future then life wouldn’t be all that exciting.
So right now I am taking the time to let
things heal slowly and get my mind back to the right place. Because if there is
one thing that I have learnt this year, if you run head first into a brick
wall, nothing will come out of it if you try to keep on running.
Rocks beat bones.
One thing that I do know is that I have so
many things to be thankful for and that I have the best family, friends, and
teammates.
I’ll be back!
Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.
Jo
Clermont Training Camp
Agoura Hills Training Camp
Clermont Continental Cup
Sarasota Pan Am Cup & Relay Champs
Auckland WTS
Yokohama WTS
Dallas Pan Am Champs
Chicago WTS
Magog National Champs
Edmonton Worlds
eGames!!
A huge thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters.
And a special thanks to:
Craig, Tonya, Kate, Sophie Taylor
RTC Squad
Momma & Poppa Brown
Jaime & David Markin
Auntie Joan
Triathlon Canada
Colin Young & Sportbrand
Kretz Family
Hinton Family
Marcell Meresz
Triathlon Ontario
Speed River T&F
Jen Sygo
Scott Kelly
Alex Sereno
Heather Sprenger & CSIO
Perspective: Helping Jo Bro Back Get Back on Track
ReplyDeleteFelt compelled to write this a year ago after what appeared to be a disappointing season and a career going awry however unfortunately decided to wait until now given what became an even more concerning season so as to help you ultimately realign yourself for the challenges ahead and to meet your lofty goals.
Contrary to your blog note, your 2014 season was no surprise at all to outsiders and in fact if you look at your history and what you were doing as opposed to where you thought you were at one could tell you were headed in the wrong direction.
Perspective is reality however self perspective in your case is frankly untruthful, damaging and is hindering your progress. If you continue with your self observation only (and importantly not just during competitions but workouts too) you will never reach where you want to be because you can’t see where you’re truly at.
Lets take a look at the history and see what it says:
2010 National Juniors 1, World Juniors, 3. Nice job for an age class athlete. Shows great promise but not actual elite adult competition results, your ultimate goal.
2011 National Juniors 2, World Juniors, 6. Good showing but slight regression. Still shows great promise for what could potentially be achieved with physical and mental maturation. But not elite adult performances yet and that plateauing can/did occur.
2012 World under 23 – 3rd Nice, a step in the right direction. Again showing promise in age class events and potential for open races, continues to develop.
2013 World triathlon series event (elite adults) 18th, Under 23s – 5th . Still showing promise but no doubt a disappointment in terms of progressing especially at the U-23s. The race was potentially yours but you viewed it too much as though you thought you’d win and underestimated the calibre of your competition. The year was additionally riddled with dumb mistakes and accidents that shouldn’t happen at this age, preparation, or level. Yet excuses were made, and it was never your fault. Ridiculous, it was your fault! You need to take responsibility and stop denying and blaming everyone else. You’re making excuses because of your disappointment in not achieving your unrealistic (at this time) goals.
2014 Simply took a further step backward with average WTS showings and then a mysterious and disastrous DNF at world under 23s in Edmonton. Why no comments on this, possibly avoiding reality? This could be predicted but not in Joanna’s mind; the fork in the road of where she saw herself and where she really was were even further apart.
Here are some starting points to get Jo Bro mentally back on track:
ReplyDeleteRight now lets stop telling the world embarrassing claims about where you will finish in major championships ie Commonwealth Games, Pan Ams, and Olympics. You haven’t even made the team! You are just giving your Canadian counter parts reasons to kick your ass as they are vying for the same performance and position. And don’t forget there are younger competitors like you once were that are nipping at your heels and love the motivation; they’re thanking you!
Its elite “adult” time now no more age class promise. Note that in most other sports there are no age class events after junior; track and swimming being two of the obvious three for a triathlete. And in most other sports they’d hit you over the head at practice and tell you to get a grip of yourself!
Your assessment of your fitness vs where you are truly at are frankly ridiculous and deceitful. Comments such as “world class speed” in workouts or “It’s not often that I have the opportunity to work with other strong cyclists…” Of course you could, you were sucking off their asses!
Take a look at the humility some of the world class triathletes project in their demeanour (e.g. Gwen Jorgensen) and try to emulate that or get into that sort of mindset. There’s a reason why they compete afraid and perform all the time; they haven’t counted their chickens before the plane has left, only when they finish.
Compete in individual events at times vs doing workouts or time trials with tri guys so you can evaluate your true ability vs singularly focused athletes. Their performance in their individual disciplines will put into perspective where you’re at. You are good at transitioning between sports and they are good at the single sport itself.
Maybe lose some weight so that your running times are faster vs your cycling performance; that’s where the races are won now. Depend more on drafting for cycling.
Train smart not just hard. Everyone at high levels work hard including hockey players, lawyers, carpenters and miners. Race horses don’t "work hard” or do garbage miles. They do focused workouts and do what their trainer has scheduled and back off when told to.
Get rid of any photos that show you in “a higher place” vis a vis your teammates (e.g. Gryphons cross country team standing out ahead of your teammates or above your current teammates at some goofy pee wee neighbourhood competition). There’s no “I” in team and they’re going to want to kick your ass every time you post those and in the case of the Gryphons, won’t even want you on their team.
If you haven’t already, don’t live with Amelie anymore. She is on a super performance swing right now, consistently beats you and is ready to make that next big step that you so desperately want. The last thing you need is to keep coming home to someone better than you. She’s not going to make your swollen ego feel any better. She’s not only better, she’s humble!
Have your PR guy or coach rehearse with you what you say next time to a journalist or when a film crew comes along asking about your aspirations. Your competitors will remember those ridiculous comments and make sure you don’t live them out.
Its almost as though you are practising your marketing for your future profession with a big company and throwing some demoralising politics in their too. I’d want you on my team if I was running for a political position or promoting a product for a business but as an athlete if you keep this up the bus is going to leave you far behind.
I really hope there is someone in your “support system” that can bring you back to earth and help you see where you are at and what you have to do to try to achieve these dreams. Give it some thought… on any day, anywhere, there is someone in this fine country of ours who’s better than you are and right now.
And the games selection committee wants them first.
Best of luck!
TJ