Hello Trigirls!
Hope this finds you in good health? If the health is not so good – I hope that this finds you in good spirits! Every cloud has a silver lining and all that…
At the moment, while I’m not in perfect health (I’m having a few back problems that have prevented me from long distance triathlon racing so far this season), I still feel that there is plenty to work on, and there is plenty of hope on the horizon. I’ve just had to re-evaluate my short-term goals and while I’m confident that my long-term goal of racing at the World Championships Ironman in Hawaii (in 2012) is still achievable, it is going be via a different route to the one planned at the beginning of this year.
So what are your triathlon or training goals? Are they achievable? Are they too easy even? Do they need re-evaluating? I try and have goals for every session; it can take less than 30seconds to clarify what the aim of a session should be, and this helps me to make sure that I focus on the right things when the going gets tough. Not just physically challenging or difficult, but sometimes you feel that you are just “putting in the time” and perhaps this time might be better spent elsewhere? Quality time with family or friends? Chores that aren’t going to do themselves? There are plenty of things that distract us from our swim bike and run training, but essentially, my advise to you, would be to remember that we do triathlon because we love it and take enjoyment and satisfaction from the training and the racing.
For me, as a full time athlete it is imperative to keep focus on putting myself in the best position to win a race – or rank as highly as possible in the finish line up. But I also recognize that these are not the only goals that motivate us and there is satisfaction and motivation to be had from many other aspects of our triathlon training. For example: Achieving a 12 second balance on the fit ball, completing 8 reps of an exercise or session where previously you could hardly even do 2 – and they were messy at best! Both of these are true examples of where I have refocused and been encouraged when perhaps I had previously been feeling a little gloomy about my training or tempted by distraction. Everyone has down days about training (I think!) and my guidance for when this happens is to re-visit your goals and identify ones that will help you to progress and enjoy your training. In my experience, this has provided me with the “pick me up” that has made it a far more rewarding and positive training session or race. Try it for yourself and see how it goes – I’d be interested to hear whether or not it works for you. If there is anything specific that you would like to ask me – then please feel free to contact me through my website (www.corinneabraham.com) and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
I hope that there are no clouds in your sky – but if there are, I hope that you can draw a silver lining around them and see the sun getting ready to shine behind it.
Best wishes,
Corinne
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