This past weekend I ran the Colfax 10 miler. There’s a marathon and half marathon distance as well, but due to minimal training and schedule, I opted for 10 miles instead of 13.1 miles, which is what I had originally planned to do. Sometimes when I’m right on the edge of doing something like this, part of me says “Nope. Not yet. Just wait till you are better prepared.” Then there’s another side of me that I listen to more often that says “Sure, you might not do it as fast as you want, but you need this to check your head space and see how your body responds. Go for it. Take the chance. This isn’t the time to be normal.”
So I gave in and did the race.
Did I mention part of the running route went through Mile High Stadium?? Go Broncos!
The day was awesome. I had a good plan going in and felt confident with the plan. At any time I knew that if I got injured then I could grab a cab, go to my truck and go home. But the plan was simple. Run easy, listen to your body, take time to evaluate where you are in your head and most of all… have fun!
And that’s what I did! I had a blast and ran injury free.
You see, I’m walking into a season where everything with meeting my 2015 goals for triathlon get more intense – right now. I have one year to be in a much different place as an athlete and I will get there. Part of running the race this past weekend was all about me getting my head in the game.
Getting my head in the game is all about changing my mindset. I’m going to be writing on Getting in the Mindset more often as it pertains to so much of what we do in life. I use this thought process when I’m spending the day going over social media strategy and strengths with people. I will unpack the process in later posts.
For me, getting in the mindset to train for some big races next year takes totally immersing myself in the experience. Running this most recent race was one way for me to dive in. As I ran, I watched all of these runners who have been training day after day to beat their personal record. I watched as friends and family cheered them on. I watched as some people ran the one race that was on their bucket list. I got it. I saw it and I experienced it just like so many other times before. I caught the vision even more for what I want out of this and I can see it in my sights.
Getting in this mindset takes on the roll of being part of my every day life. Not something “I have to go do”. Not something that is an add on to my day or my life. But it is part of my life. What I eat, when I sleep, how I schedule my day and how I travel. It’s all part of the mindset.
You know what this is like right? When you have your eyes on a goal. It’s stuck in your head weaving it’s way in and out of your life right? It’s where getting in the mindset begins and for me, the mental side of it is the foundation to achieving the goals I want to meet.
When you know you need to get mentally ready for something, how do you get in the mindset you need to accomplish your goal?
