With the long months of training behind you, it can be hard to manage the emotional roller coaster before your first marathon. You’ve made it this far so hang tough since navigating this part is critical to your race day performance. Let’s dive into the details of your training, nutrition, and mental tactics so you are ready to toe the starting line with confidence and ease.
Beating the Mid-Season Slump
Most triathletes kick off the year with clear goals and a spring race or two to shake off the post-season cobwebs. By mid-season, however, many triathletes struggle to maintain their motivation as training starts to feel less exciting and more routine–the mid-season slump. If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, here are a few tips to stay focused on your goals and fired up about reaching them.
Overcoming Resistance
Are YOU READY…. to change jobs; start a big project; go back to school; overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction; embark on a spiritual advancement; commit to a big race; permanently adopt a healthy eating and exercise regimen; launch an entrepreneurial venture? In other words, any act that does not offer immediate gratification for long-term growth, health or integrity So what’s holding you back? It’s chatter in the form of fear, self-doubt, procrastination, addiction, distraction, timidity, ego, perfectionism, rational thinking, friends and family – yep – all of these forces are chatter. That chatter in your brain – is called RESISTANCE.
“The Only Thing That Matters Is NOT Quitting”
Ironman South Africa 2015
Hi, my fellow friends in sport! It’s me, Organic Cherry Pie Girl! This time I come to you with a slightly different story. This is my story about my most recent Ironman journey. This time, it happened to be Ironman South Africa. Now, to understand the beginnings of this adventure, you have to understand my attitude about life. I’m just over five feet tall and probably compensating for the lack of height with these giant adventures. I have an “OH YEAH! I’ll show them!” attitude about things. I’m also not one to take the easy way out on anything either. Yes, I have huge goals, but I don’t want to achieve them by doing a triathlon in my backyard. I have a compulsion to find success in the hardest of things. It’s a test of my will. A test of my heart. A test of my endurance. It’s my way of telling the world that when things aren’t perfect, aren’t going right – I choose to fight back! On top of that, there was a little part of me that was laughing at the idea that I was actually going to the place where they film Air Jaws for shark week. What can I say, I’m a sarcastic little thing too 🙂
The Power of Failure
Every person, every business man/woman and every athlete, should embrace failure with open arms. It is only through failure that we learn our greatest, most valuable life lessons. Many of the world’s finest individuals have learned this the hard way. Here are a few of my favorite quotes on the importance of embracing failure, along the road to success.
Reach Your 2014 Goals
Proven Ways to Reach Your 2014 Nutrition Goals
With 2014 underway, many of us have already made New Year’s resolutions, written on a sheet of paper or tucked away in our minds, in hopes that we can become a better version of ourselves this year. If you find that you’re setting the same goals year after year, here are some tips to help break the cycle and turn your resolutions into reality.
Inspired by the powerful message in Sports Psychologist Stan Beecham’s “Elite Minds,” here are my thoughts on how to apply Beecham’s beliefs to your own nutrition goals, from eating healthier and consuming more fruits and veggies to reducing your intake of sugar and processed foods.
Examine Your Intentions
When we make New Year’s resolutions, it is with the hope that they will happen. For a period of time, the goals are our priority.
Beecham contends you can have a clearly defined, written goal, but if you have a goal without intention, you’ll usually fall short of achieving it.
[Read more…]
An Elite Mind is an Elite Body
As we begin 2014, many of us are making New Year’s resolutions, written on a sheet of paper or tucked away in our minds, in hopes that we can become a better version of ourselves this year. There is a long list of “popular” goals that we all know- but WHY is it that they tend to be the same goals year after year?
During my holiday vacation, I read the book Elite Minds, by Stan Beecham, a sports psychologist. The take away message for me was so powerful that I want to share my thoughts on how to apply Beecham’s beliefs in your nutrition, athletic, or career goals.
Intentions
When we make New Year’s resolutions, is it with the hope that they will happen. For a period of time, the goals are our priority.
Beecham contends you can have a clearly defined, written goal, but if you have a goal without intention, you’ll usually fall short of achieving it. [Read more…]