Day by day

My blogging has been quite sporadic. As they say though, "no news, good news". Training has been going fantastic since Super Frog. This week is the second of a heavy 2 wk block, next week will be a lighter recovery one, and then one last 2-3ish wk block before taper!

I recently read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I'm a big Tolle fan, as I consider myself spiritual rather than religious. Applying his present moment advice to training is helping out a lot. I still keep my short-term end goal for Hawaii 70.3in mind, but not while I'm engaged in a specific workout. I am focusing on each second, within each minute, within each hour of training and giving it my best effort NOW without thinking of the next session, what I'm going to do between sessions, what tomorrow holds, etc. In other words, I'm freeing my mind of incessant thought of the future for the sake of making the most of the present. With that, I have a great sense of peace/calm as I go about my training- for there are no worries other than giving my absolute all for what is required of me NOW.

Applying that to race day itself will be of huge benefit because I will no longer be anxious or nervous pre race as my mind will be in a quiet place only concerned with carrying out what needs to happen at that point in time to make my end goal possible. I won't have doubts or fears because I won't turn any foreseable scenario into a doubt or fear- what is will be, what's isn't will not be. Tolle says there are no problems, thing are as they are, we choose to turn them into problems....An example he gives of silencing our inner voice and tackling situations is in emergency cases where rushes of adrenaline/ the shock cause people to have an intense focus and zero mental disturbance. People display incredible strength, and often "superhuman" feats, because they simply do, they don't overthink because the pressing situation doesn't allow for that. I digress....

In other words, I'm not saying I won't visualize a flat, mechanical, getting my goggles ripped off by another swimmer, or any other possible race day hiccup. I accept that those things can happen but they will not be fears or worries. They will just be and if they arise, then at that moment, rather than freak out, I will take it as is and deal with it one second & task at a time. My training up to then will be fully accomplished and my fitness will be what it is- not what it could have been. Knowing that I gave 110% for each and every moment in training gives me great confidence.

Anyway, that's my spiritual/philosophical spill. I'll likely check back in as taper approaches. I'm all signed up for that 10k and the sprint :) Good luck to all racing St. George- I will be inspired on my long ride Saturday!

For NOW- it's off to swim :D