Pros Have It Easy

I am a sucker for inspiration. I will take it anywhere I can get it. Nike commercials. Crowds at races. Oprah. Blogs. My dog licking my sweaty leg (inspiration for a shower), or smelling my dirty underclothes (inspiration for laundry).

That is why I am eating up this book and yes that is me on the cover if I had a penis.

Sure, it is mostly a book about triathlon training, but it is SO much more.

The first part is devoted to the mental aspect of endurance sports. Basically if your mental state is in the toilet, so is your performance. But, you all knew that, and so did I. However, it’s one thing to know it and another thing to KNOW it, as in do whatever you can do to build yourself up mentally for your next event. And, to take care of yourself and value rest and recovery.

Some gems I’ve highlighted along the way:

• Most of us go through life never coming close to our limits and living only on wishes. Wishes are important; they’re the start of great feats. Wishes grow into dreams when you are able to mentally “see” yourself accomplish the wish. Dreams turn into goals when a plan for attaining them is defined.
  
  I’m a huge believer in the FACT that we can do WAY more than we think we can. Only we impose limits on ourselves.

• What you believe, you will achieve
  
  I like this because it is true and it rhymes and  it is easy to remember.

• I thought my success depended on training as much as possible. That approach led to frequent injury, overtraining, illness and burnout. It took me many years to figure out what I should be doing – only the training that was necessary to achieve my goals.
  
  I’m not going to admit how much I probably need this lesson. For a type-A’er like me, “more is more” all the time. I have to constantly teach myself when to say when. It bites me in the ass. And the hip. And once in my foot.
  
  
• Professional athletes typically sleep ten to twelve hours a day, breaking this down into eight to ten hours a night with one or two daily naps. You may not be a pro or have time for naps, but the more training volume and intensity you do, the more rest you need.
  
  Damn pros. WTH?
  
  
• Aim to finish workouts feeling as though you could have done more. The time to abandon a workout is when it is perceived as very hard, your speed has decreased noticeably or your technique has changed.
  
  So I guess that time I threw up in my mouth half way into my run I should have jumped ship? I’m glad they didn’t say stop when you have a small squirt in your shorts or I would never get any workouts in.
  

The best thing so far is that this book challenges the athlete to find where they are lacking mentally. You do this through a mental skills profile quiz. I have learned that while I am very strong in the areas of focus and motivation, I need to work on my confidence, thought habits and visualization techniques.

One area I really suck at is that I am such a pessimist. One thing goes wrong be it getting my period, the weather or forgetting my Garmin and I have a hard time remaining positive. I do this in every aspect of my life. I’m working on it.

Here is the Mental Skills Profile to give you an idea of what’s involved. Go HERE to submit on line and see your scores and what you need to work on.

You’re welcome for being the one to take responsibility for your mental strength.

In what ways could you be stronger mentally?

SUAR