Quick Thought!

Well here I am about to start my workout for the day, the last one of my "rest" week before the next big block of base before getting to the nitty gritty before nationals! I'm really excited, finally, to make some big "offseason" gains!

Last year, I was really excited with the prospect of off season hard work, and doing things right.  This off season I've been pre-occupied mentally with the prospect of new things and change.  Moving to a new time zone, 1000 miles from the only region I've ever called home.  Change, such a tough thing to handle some times.  What has kept me grounded and feeling at ease is that I have continued to train and make progress.  Granted, I wouldn't necessarily say that the training up to this point has been the "best" because I've been so tied up with all of the new things.  I'm notoriously hard on myself, and it makes me think that I haven't really gotten anything out of the training this season yet. Sometimes you get caught up in the thought that if you aren't getting 100% out of your training, it's not worth doing.  It's sometimes de-motivating thinking this way, and I'm glad I have persevered as well as I have up to this point.  Besides, this is going to be a LONG season and a slow ramp up to productiveness will probably do me good come September! What are ya gonna do...

Anyway, this final three weeks of base is going to be good, consistent, and some of the biggest weeks that I have done this early in the season so far.  I'm looking at workouts for the next few weeks and I'm getting really excited! Hard swim sets, LONG runs, and more exploring on the bike are going to really test my fitness and recovery ability.  Last season I made sure to do at least ONE thing for recovery before bed, and I think that is going to be the key to getting the most out of the training I do in this block. Stretch, foam roll, maybe some stability exercises with the band, all of those "little" things that people keep telling you are important... Turns out they really are! Who knew? After weeks and weeks of not giving them enough attention as I should have I can honestly say that I see the difference, and even if it's just in my head it's still there! The placebo effect still affects performance, you know.

So much for not thinking! It's really impossible to stop, I've realized over the few days between when I wrote the last post and now. All you can do is become more "sure" of your goal, not confident, sure... they're different.

I like the idea of updating before each next training block starts, so I think I'll do that from now on. This post seems so short, I may add to it once I get back from exploring the North Carolina hills!