Monday, February 17, 2014

Strong. Fit. Powerful.


 Let's talk about triathlons and positive self-talk a bit. Last October I completed my first triathlon after wanting to do one for years and guys, it was incredible. It was hard and easy at the same time. It was fulfilling and addictive. I knew as soon as I crossed the finish line with my knees aching and my side in stitches that I would be doing another one and that the next one would be longer and more difficult. I couldn't have been more excited.

So now I am about a month and 3 weeks away from my second tri and I still deal with moments of doubt. Moments of doubt because I'm not sure I'm going to get my running times down or that my knees are going to give out or that no one is going to show up to cheer me on because they came to the first one and the second is never as exciting as the first. All of those are completely ridiculous reasons to worry about a triathlon. I'm going to do fine, the training is going well and I'm pretty darn sure that I will have at least one super awesome cheerleader (my amazing bf).
And I'm here to let you in on a secret as to how its so easy to brush that stuff off: positive self-talk. A couple weeks ago Chris and I were on a really hard ride (34 miles on the River Mountain Trail) and I caught myself thinking positive affirmations up a hill. Constant brain chatter of "you can do this, you are tough, keep pushing, make it look easy, strong, fit, powerful," and I began to wonder, 'do other people do this? Is this how other people get themselves to finish tough tasks and super hard workouts?" Because this is what I do ALL THE TIME and it helps so much. The title of this post is my workout mantra for 2014. When my runs get hard, the hills on my bike seem impossible and my arms feel like lead in the pool I think, Strong Fit Powerful. And it propels me forward every.single.time. Try it on your next workout =) and let me know how it goes!