I have to admit, I was "high" for a couple of weeks after being selected for Team Rev3 and used that high to propel my training for my 1st Olympic Tri in Costa Rica (March 2012). I'm still completely shocked and grateful for the opportunity, but I've turned totally mental. I find myself counting the days until the race and feeling like I am not going to meet my goals. There is actually NOTHING physically keeping me from reaching my goals. It's my damn head. I believe my goals are realistic and well within my reach. But there is a very critical resident in my head who tells me I am a poser, that my workout is too hard, and that I should quit because I am a quitter.
Recently, while swimming, this jerk in my head was working me over on how slow I was swimming and how awful my swim endurance is, etc. Intrusive thoughts of quitting or being a quitter had me all flustered. So I confronted the thoughts by saying "I am not a quitter". I was still using the word quitter in my "mantra" so I changed it to "I am a winner". That caused me to think of Charlie Sheen-- not quite the motivation I was looking for. I got through the workout by counting my laps in Spanish, for some reason this has the power to distract me from thinking anything else.
Tomorrow I start working with a coach and I'm nervous to admit to her how mental I am right now; she could easily charge me extra for the therapy she'll inevitably be providing. I decided to make this my next blog topic to (maybe) save my new coach some unnecessary headaches. I'm certain I am not unique in suffering the fool in my head and I am hoping to get some advice from those of your out there that have conquered this demon.
