Be Prepared

"Be Prepared"
Its the Boy Scout Motto, and its a good one. Read this article about this guy who wasn't prepared for his triathlon in Cleveland last weekend:

"Everyone who reads this column knows I'm a fitness fanatic, that I like to push myself to set and reach new goals. Last weekend, though, one of those goals got the best of me, nearly causing me to drown, and the experience prompts me to offer a few genuine words of caution to my friends on the fitness ladder.
On Sunday, I took part in the Cleveland Triathlon, an annual race downtown consisting of swimming, biking and running components, starting in the North Coast Harbor, spreading out to portions of the East and West Shoreway, and concluding behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Last summer, I had a positive, tantalizing experience in the race's Sprint Division, so this year I upped the ante and undertook the longer Olympic distance, which entails 1,500 meters (nearly a mile, almost double the Sprint category) of swimming, 24 miles of cycling and 6.2 miles of running.
Once again, readers of this column probably know the swimming leg is what intimidates me most. I can bike and run for hours on end, but in the water, I'm liable to tire out in a few minutes. Even kayaking makes my heart race.
A reasonable person in this scenario would either abandon his triathlon ambitions or work hard to correct the weakness. But I did neither. Instead, I kept honing my cycling and running skills, figuring a few last-minute swim lessons would suffice to bridge the gap.
I may be slow, I thought, but I'll get through it. Then I'll just make up whatever time I lose in the water on the bike and run.
Silly me. Not once did I consider that I might not get through it. Not until I was flailing around in the water did I imagine how low on my list of priorities the clock could fall if I myself started to sink.
Yet that's exactly what happened. A few hundred meters into the swim, beyond the turn past the Goodtime III and into Lake Erie, a dreadful cycle kicked in: I got discouraged by my slowness, which triggered panic, which caused my fledgling swim form to break down. That, in turn, led to severe cramping and, eventually, exhaustion.
Before long, it was all I could do to stay afloat and wave my arms. While I'm certain I could have tread water much longer had my life truly depended on it, let's just say I was extremely glad to see the kayakers and boater who came to my rescue.
For a moment, before climbing into the boat and out of competition, I foolishly considered trying to continue. But then I thought not only of my family but also of all the people this year who've lost their lives in triathlons. All of them died in the water, and all of them were fit, competitive people, just like me.
And just like that, I let go of my goal and grabbed the boater's arm, opting to forgo the swim and finish the race unofficially. I decided then and there I'm not going to leave this Earth on behalf of a race.
My error, I think, was not in taking on a longer triathlon, but in not taking that event seriously enough. Instead, what I took seriously was myself, and that blinded me to the reality of competing in a lake famous for swallowing entire ships."

As can be seen, his error was not preparing himself for 1/3 of his entire race. If he was a good swimmer, he may have gotten away with it (because of the high technical difficulty of the swim leg which is more about an efficient stroke than anything).

This can easily be applied to tryouts. Don't short change yourself on preparation for any aspect of those few days. Music, marching, fitness, nutrition. Failure to prepare yourself for any one of these could mean your tryout. So when you are preparing yourself for tryouts don't push something aside thinking that its not important or that you can make up for it somewhere else...you may not get that chance.

p.s. I've swam twice that distance in Lake Erie many times and jumped off of the jet express in the dark, with a good 3-4 foot chop, a mile from shore.

Murphy's Law

For everything that you prepare and work for, and want so bad it hurts, something will go wrong.

This is true. I've experienced it often. In every triathlon I've ever done, something has gone awry. I'd run out of water, my water bottle falls off my bike (most common), I fall while dismounting, overheating in my wetsuit during the swim, knocking over the bike rack with my bike, locking my keys in my car right before the race starts (while 3 hours from home with the rest of my family 1000 miles away), making a wrong turn on the bike course, not being able to see because its too dark out for my sunglasses or mirrored goggles, bike chain slip of the cassette, swimming between the wrong islands and ending up 100 yards away from the transition at the end of the swim, swallowing a lot of water on the swim (there was a lot of chop), etc, etc.

So bad things happen. Does that mean that my race is over? Not hardly, (these races are at least an hour so a lot of the little things don't matter so much) I usually place in my age group (20-24). Does it mean that I could have done a little bit better if these things didn't happen? Probably, but then something else probably would have gone wrong.

So what does this mean to the candidates and vats who are about to tryout for the band in just a few weeks? It means that things will not go as you expect. You will turn the wrong way during facings, you will get caught going to at ease with your instruments up, your drums will fall off during a hats off, and you will likely screw up the tryout drill or an easy box drill while on the line, you will miss the line, rush the slow step, etc.

So, what do you do about it? Just accept that the fact that your going to make all of these mistakes and stop caring, NO! You just have to acknowledge that everyone will mess up one or two things here and there and no matter what, DRIVE THROUGH IT! So strive for perfection, but don't beat yourself up over it, remember to relax a little bit and enjoy the competition.

If I was making a sports team, no matter what sport, the first people I would pick are the vets. Why? Because I know they have determination to win. I can see it in their eyes. Think Rocky (not Rocky V, that was just bad) they have the "eye of the tiger". I see it in some of the candidates eyes too. Some people look scared, others are concentrating about what they are doing, and others look like they are about to kill everyone around them. That last ones what we are going for.

In conclusion, mistakes will happen, drive through it, and want this from the depths of your soul.