Serious Athlete?

Serious athletes: Have goals,have a plan to achieve those goals,recognize that there will be ups and downs along the way, they know what their workout will be when they wake up in the morning and what that workout is trying to accomplish, they don't view the day's training session as something to "get in" between work and what they have planned for the evening, they never rush a workout so they can move on to something else,they recognize that each day running is taking them one step closer to their goal,they think about and evaluate their training daily,ultimately,they view their training and running as a labour of love,an integral part of who they are.

Overcoming

If you have read the Percy Cerutty bio,"Why Die," you learned about the poverty,depravation and illness he experienced during his childhood years.These hardships and the way he responded helped to mold him into the kind of person he became. Cerutty had the desire and perseverance to overcome many obstacles during the course of his life. A little known fact about him is that in 1945, at the age of 50, he became just the third Australian to run 100 miles in less than 24 hours.This was accomplished after years of poor health. Cerutty knows what he is talking about when he writes on subjects like obstacles, failures and overcoming. He offers the following: "It is said the darkest hour(in human experience) is just before the dawn. Be grateful if you have blundered: proved to be ignorant: made a mistake. It is only through such experiences that greatness can ever be achieved. When you experience frustration: discouragement: even a feeling of futility and hopelessness--it is then you should take heart: resist the temptation to abandon your objectives: to give up striving and trying. It is commonplace in human experience that--when we are about to abandon hope: when we are on the point of quitting--the miraculous occurs: we break through: we achieve(and what seemed only yesterday--the impossible)--the goals we dreamed of: but we must never have ceased believing and working towards those goals. In our moment of desperation something heartening occurs: the letter arrives: the invitation is received:we are added to the 'team'. So: never--whilst you breathe,whilst you have life,entirely give up hope: cease to try: abandon the search: cease doing. No one,until we have turned it,knows when we shall turn the corner, even which corner we may turn! But it is always well to remember: there is no road but has a turn somewhere: there is no problem but has a solution--if we can but find it: that there is no limit to what we may accomplish--at least whilst we have life in us." Perseverance is the key to success,you read this over and over again in the bios on successful people. Unfortunately,most people appear to lack the desire to persist and continue pursuing their goals. That is really too bad because I believe people are capable of accomplishing much more than they think they can.

A Hurricane and A Bin

For most of the time living on an island off the coast of North Carolina is like being on a permanent vacation. However,there are times when it isn't and hurricane season can make you aware of that fact. It appears that there is a 50/50 chance that "Irene" will pass through the area where I live. With the possibility of evacuation and power outages looming, I just wanted to let readers know that the usual weekend posts may be delayed. On a related note, as I was making preparations to possibly evacuate,I was putting things I value most into a foot and a half by three foot weather proof bin. In my continuing desire to keep this a vanity-free blog I won't go into detail what I put in,but,as for those of you who live for the run, take a moment and consider what things you might place in your bin. You may be surprised at what you decide to protect.I close with this quote which should be remembered whenever we face adversity,not surprisingly it's by Cerutty, "You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone."

A Sometimes Forgotten Aspect

Percy Cerutty writes the following in the preface to one of his books, "To paraphrase the statement attributed to Baron Coubertin,the founder of the modern Olympic Games, and to supplement it: It is not the winning that is important,it is the taking part in. It is not the arrival that is important, but the journeying to. It is not the doing that is important, but the trying to be. All the world admires the trier--and that is something we can all succeed at: be tops in, being a sincere and punishing trier." We should not forget that our participation in athletics is more than whether or not we achieved some predetermined race time or place.Those who focus solely on performance are limiting themselves in regards to what they can learn,experience and enjoy.

The Ideal State of Mind

The following is something I came across recently, it is by Dr. James Loehr, who is among other things, a sports psychologist. Dr. Loehr lists what he calls the "12 aspects" that comprise the ideal way to feel if you are going to perform optimally. He developed this list after interviewing hundreds of successful athletes in a variety of sports. I think it is an excellent checklist that appears to cover everything in regards to how one should feel and be prior to competition. Here goes: 1. "Physically relaxed 2.Low anxiety 3. Optimistic 4. Effortless 5. Alert 6. Self-confident 7. Mentally calm 8. Energized 9. Enjoyment 10. Automatic 11. Mentally focused 12. In control".

Anxiety,Fear and Rest

It's interesting how anxiety,fear and nervousness can impact racing performance. The most obvious way you see an example of this is when a runner goes out too fast.Haven't we all done this at one time or another? Remember that feeling when you've gone through the first 2 or 3 miles of a 10k too fast and then find yourself struggling to maintain pace over the last mile and a half? Eventually, as experience is gained and confidence in your fitness is realized,most of us come to assume control over pre-race jitters and anxiety.I have written about ways of overcoming race anxiety in the past and so much of it relates to using common sense and keeping things in perspective. As we prepare for the fall marathon season,as well as other races, runners need to recognize how another type of pre-event anxiety can negatively impact performance on race day. What I am referring to here is not tapering or resting properly before the big race. Think about it,say you've done the right training for a marathon over the last 6 to 9 months,for some of you it may have been longer, but, when you get to the last 2 weeks you do workouts that sabotage months of carefully planned training. Once again,fear and/or anxiety has claimed yet another victim. There is a time just before your race when the interval sessions and the longer time trials are over. Arthur Lydiard wrote: "You need to keep fresh and sharp to race well: you can't do this if you try to train hard and race at the same time." He especially stressed evaluating how you felt on a daily basis in the two weeks prior to THE race. In keeping sharp, easy jogging is interspersed with days of easy fartlek and short wind sprints. Again, as runners gain experience, they will learn what is the best tapering schedule for them. The key is that they are motivated to evaluate how they feel on a daily basis,not mindlessly following a schedule printed in a book.Something that all of us tend to forget is that rest is as important a component to training as is nutrition and running. Ignore one of them and your performance will be effected. I recall reading years ago that if you didn't train at all for one week you would lose 5 % of your fitness level.That's not much. Of course that percentage increased if you went into a second week of no running. The fact is, you will lose zero fitness if you only do light jogging the week of your race and take a day or two off. If you have done months and months of preparatory work,you must back off (rest),that is simply common sense and being aware of the fundamentals of anatomy and physiology. If you are prone to overtraining and not resting, then you need to put reminders in your training log or leave notes to yourself to get control of whatever compels you to potentially undermine all that training. Have confidence in the work you've done,tell yourself it's now time to recharge and be at the starting line fresh and ready to go.

To Be

Off to the trails today but will post an article tomorrow. Here is a quote to think about by author George Eliot: "It's never too late to be what you might have been." Boy,would there be anything worse than realizing 10,20 years down the road that you should have gone for it? What are you waiting for?