Tuesday 4 June 2013

Mind games (again)

Coming back to training is interesting.  Having been so fit before MdS to starting all over again isn't easy.  Before I left I was going out for 3 hour trail run with an 8 kg rucksack.  Now going out for a 10k run without a rucksack requires me to push myself.  I had to drag myself out of bed, continually telling myself that I need to make a start as I feel sluggish and am now the heaviest I've ever been.  To put that in context I am now 11 and a half stone whereas my heaviest before that was 11 stone 2 pounds!  This isn't an issue but would be if I got any heavier (slim boy fat!).
But I'm having to work on my mindset as not having a specific event to train for gives it (my mind) the perfect excuse to say "why bother?"  On Saturday I managed 10k which compared to what I was running before is nothing.  But I needed to "reset" my mind so that it didn't feel like a tough training session and as I am practicing my Chi running it did distract my mind from asking "why bother?".  The solution could be to pick an event but I want to concentrate on my form for swimming, cycling & running for the rest of this year.  2015 will be the year for my next big challenge, whatever that is?
I will be starting my yoga and swimming in under two weeks time (letting stiches in my chest heal properly, and I know this will help get the enthusiasm back. 
In the meantime my golf has been playing mind games at a higher level.  What a frustrating game that is.  On Sunday I played in a competition and had the worst score that I can ever remember!  But here's the point.  How can I expect to perform at a sport that requires precision and a positive mental attitude when I haven't been playing.  Crazy.  It's like turning up for a triathlon having not trained - it's only going to hurt and disappoint.  So to summarise, I'm a "work in progress" at the moment and as the sun is shining, I'm off to the golf course to work on my mindset!