How did I come across Rebecca? I was listening to Rich Roll's podcast. If you don't listen to his podcasts, you may want to start. He has some great guest speakers with interesting backgrounds. But I digress...to Rebecca's reminder!
The first thing that Rebecca said that stuck with me is the power of the mind! Rebecca trained super hard for her 2.20 record. When she didn't want to train, she would repeat 2.20. When she wanted to go out with her friends but couldn't due to an early morning swim, should would repeat 2.20. For over a year, she kept repeating 2.20 to herself on a daily basis. And you know what her body delivered to her??? A 2.20 swim in competition....not less than 2.20 (which is what she wanted)...but a 2.20! Remember when setting your goals, be specific; if you want under 25 minutes for a 5k - don't tell yourself 25 minutes!
The 2nd thing that Rebecca said was that when she came back from the Olympics, she took a bit of time off to determine if she wanted to train for the London Olympics. In that time, she decided that she would have some fun! When you set goals and achieve them, you will not be as 'fired up' as those that didn't reach their goals. So for a while, even though she swam, she didn't look at times, she made others smile...and sometimes she just blew bubbles. LOL. She needed the break! I think we can all relate (although maybe not at her level). Some athletes train for weeks and weeks for a race or competition and the feeling afterward can be kind of depressing...especially if we have no goal race or competition ahead of us. Let's go back to the fun...to the times that we ran without our garmins, that we took pictures and didn't worry about paces...remember why we started!! And then, when it's time to start training again, our body and minds are ready to go hard again!
Do you take time off between big races? How do you remember to have fun in your sport?
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