Friday, November 18, 2011

In the Moment...

This year I had somewhat of a breakthrough with racing in the "moment".  It's similar to being in the "zone" but achievable a lot more consistently...

Almost every serious athlete, and most recreational athletes are familiar with being in the zone in their given sport.  I think it's a lot smaller percentage of athletes that have truly experienced it though.  Being in the zone by most expert's definitions, is being in a state of peak physical and mental performance, resulting in a breakthrough performance, usually with very little mental effort.  Performing better than ever, while feeling like it's easy...  So truly performing in the zone would be the times that any of us have blown away our previous best results, and having felt good while doing it.  I can count the times of done that in 15 years of racing on one hand. 

Racing "in the moment" on the other hand can be reached a lot more often, and regardless of fitness level.  It does take a shift in thinking, maybe even some "mental training" if you want to call it that.  The idea is to literally focus on what you're doing in the moment.  Think less about the pre-conceived result your shooting for, less about how far you have to go, even minimize the mental noise telling yourself how you feel...  Instead think about your leg turnover, your breathing, focus more on the trail and your bodies natural reaction to the terrain...

This stuff almost sounds silly.  And I'm not saying to completely ignore the competition around you, or to avoid thinking about pacing / how far there is to go.  But simply think less, let your body do what it is capable of at that moment in time, and you will perform closer to your potential. 

Like my sister Kathleen said back in our junior days - just be like a big dumb horse.  Race horses are fast and i bet they don't think about much when going down the home stretch.

Or like Ryan Hall suggests - give yourself a little grace.  Don't beat yourself up about the little things and simply enjoy doing what God made you to do.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Stuff

I've been doing some things besides working...


 

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Santa Ana River Trail

Friday was the first "winter storm" of the season in Socal. It was nothing more than an inch of rain most places and a few inches of snow in the mountains. That few inches of snow made for some pretty epic riding on the SART though. Riding the snow is actually a lot of fun when it's a nice day and you're with friends! By the time we had done about 4 hours of it I was beat. It takes a lot of energy to power through the snow!