For the past two months my mental and physical approach to training has been simplified. It is a shift that happened organically. I experienced a moment shall we say just after Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 that inspired a change for the simpler. It’s hard to explain exactly how it happened but it was a pivotal moment and not really something I was sharing with anyone, until now.
As athletes, we rarely need help from anyone to judge our performance or set unrealistic expectations. The tapes replay and replay until something or someone grounds us and remind us that there is much more to life than sport, results and winning. And, that we are 100% complete with or without extra accolades. Yet, we tend to clutter, evaluate and question. To what end? Is all this questioning and complications vital to athletic improvement? It is necessary to always think and think some more? Somehow, I think not.
Mark Allen consistently relays his message to the sporting community (and beyond) since taping into his own serenity and limitless potential. After studying Shamanism and winning Kona six times, he believes the key to finding your “Zone” is to quiet the mind since even thinking takes energy. He says that during his athletic breakthrough moments his mind would go blank, he would become 100% engrossed in that specific moment completely at peace, uncluttered and ready to unleash a performance that he didn’t even know was within his capacity.
So with one big race left to go – Miami Half Ironman 70.3 (October 30th 2010) – I decided to let go of the “extras” and take one day at a time focusing on each training session, proper recovery and high quality nutrition to back it up. When the training sessions are over, I log it, learn from it and leave it. I structured a routine that was similar each week building on fitness and strength with each effort. Routine meant less thought was required. Routine also had the potential to lead to boredom so it was important to always inject some type of spice to session – a friend, a new route, a slight twist to the session or even a new playlist on my iPod.
The simpler my approach became, the less room it took up in the rest of my life. Train hard, recover harder and move on. Focus on what is important and get rid of the “extras”. For myself, some of the “extras” included rehashing the details about my training sessions with other people. I was tired of talking about it since each chat could turn into articulate evaluation and analysis of, well, me. Boring. And the reality was, all the talking, was not making me race any faster.
Taking a simpler approach comes up in everything. Like jumping in a cold pool at 5:30 a.m. in the morning. Some mornings I can stand on deck for a solid 5-10 minutes pondering the cold hitting my skin and reverberating through my body for the first few hundred meters. I stand there having a good look around, evaluating the situation and questioning how on earth I was going to get in this pool? Three lanes down, however, the eager swimmers were jumping in without even a pause to dip their toe for a quick test of the temperature. They don’t even think about it, they just jump right on in. Kids do the same thing. Simple.
Of course we do need to “think” a little in life so that we can conduct ourselves as competent, functional and organized individuals but maybe shift our thinking to what is fact, what really matters like our integrity and making important decisions. Maybe spend less energy (aka thinking) on judging our selves, questioning our path or evaluating every single move.
All of this has made my lead up to the Miami race intense, focused and very exciting. The work is done, there is no question. I am ready to race, there is no question. The sun will rise and fall each and everyday, there is no question.
Christine
As athletes, we rarely need help from anyone to judge our performance or set unrealistic expectations. The tapes replay and replay until something or someone grounds us and remind us that there is much more to life than sport, results and winning. And, that we are 100% complete with or without extra accolades. Yet, we tend to clutter, evaluate and question. To what end? Is all this questioning and complications vital to athletic improvement? It is necessary to always think and think some more? Somehow, I think not.
Mark Allen consistently relays his message to the sporting community (and beyond) since taping into his own serenity and limitless potential. After studying Shamanism and winning Kona six times, he believes the key to finding your “Zone” is to quiet the mind since even thinking takes energy. He says that during his athletic breakthrough moments his mind would go blank, he would become 100% engrossed in that specific moment completely at peace, uncluttered and ready to unleash a performance that he didn’t even know was within his capacity.
So with one big race left to go – Miami Half Ironman 70.3 (October 30th 2010) – I decided to let go of the “extras” and take one day at a time focusing on each training session, proper recovery and high quality nutrition to back it up. When the training sessions are over, I log it, learn from it and leave it. I structured a routine that was similar each week building on fitness and strength with each effort. Routine meant less thought was required. Routine also had the potential to lead to boredom so it was important to always inject some type of spice to session – a friend, a new route, a slight twist to the session or even a new playlist on my iPod.
The simpler my approach became, the less room it took up in the rest of my life. Train hard, recover harder and move on. Focus on what is important and get rid of the “extras”. For myself, some of the “extras” included rehashing the details about my training sessions with other people. I was tired of talking about it since each chat could turn into articulate evaluation and analysis of, well, me. Boring. And the reality was, all the talking, was not making me race any faster.
Taking a simpler approach comes up in everything. Like jumping in a cold pool at 5:30 a.m. in the morning. Some mornings I can stand on deck for a solid 5-10 minutes pondering the cold hitting my skin and reverberating through my body for the first few hundred meters. I stand there having a good look around, evaluating the situation and questioning how on earth I was going to get in this pool? Three lanes down, however, the eager swimmers were jumping in without even a pause to dip their toe for a quick test of the temperature. They don’t even think about it, they just jump right on in. Kids do the same thing. Simple.
Of course we do need to “think” a little in life so that we can conduct ourselves as competent, functional and organized individuals but maybe shift our thinking to what is fact, what really matters like our integrity and making important decisions. Maybe spend less energy (aka thinking) on judging our selves, questioning our path or evaluating every single move.
All of this has made my lead up to the Miami race intense, focused and very exciting. The work is done, there is no question. I am ready to race, there is no question. The sun will rise and fall each and everyday, there is no question.
Christine
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