Whilst training, it’s sometimes easy to get carried away and think you’re invincible. Do not get me wrong, it’s so important as a self-motivator to be in the frame of mind that no hill is too steep or no distance too long…It’s essential that we get in a positive frame of mind to maximize our workouts.

On the other side of things, to paraphrase a lyric from a Rage Against the Machine song…”Anger is a gift”. If you have had a tough day, there is no better feeling in getting out and working up a good sweat to clear the head. You need to use that negative energy and turn it into a positive.

But we have to be so so careful, we have got to listen to our bodies and think of the bigger picture.

The older you get, the more mileage you will have covered. Consider a shiny new car just out of the showroom. Everything runs perfectly for the first few years. But as you clock up the miles, little things start going wrong. You hear clicking noises from the engine. The car just doesn’t run as smooth as it used to, no matter how many services it gets. It no longer has the pick up speed it used to. This is just like your body. Over the years, your joints start getting stiffer, your muscles take longer to recoup. Make sure you listen to your body. It will give you the signals to say you are not quite ready to tackle that hill yet. It needs more time to rest.

Now there are plenty of options available now that just were not around yesteryear like Pilates & Yoga. The whole scientific side of things has come on leaps and bounds, from the simple miracle working foam rollers to super food drinks to compression tanks.

If you are undergoing an intense training schedule, it’s so so important you are fueling your body with the right grub. The way I look at is, that we want to be 100%, but then we train, we drain our bodies of percentages, and after a session, you could be physically and mentally drained, bringing you to e.g. 40%. Now, at this point I ask myself, what do I need to get back to 100% again before my next workout. Curry chips and cheese burgers won’t cut it. You need to eat right.You need to re-hydrate. Think about those percentages. what you are fueling yourself with. Put bad petrol in your car, the engine will splutter and the car wont run smooth till you have drained the engine and replaced it with clean fuel.

One thing I really would like to emphasis is REST! Your body will be crying out for rest. For me, if you have the above in order, then using the power of doing nothing, you will get back to that holy grail of 100% quicker. Rest is just as important as training. And as hard as it is, when all you want to do is tackle that hill or run that distance, you just have to suck it up. Without it, you will never train at 100% and that car will look further and further away from its showroom shininess!

One other thing and this is a horse for courses thing. I am guilty of this. Something I am trying to phase out, is that running with music in the ears is great, but it can mute out your body noises, your breathing noise, your foot step noises and also the world noises around you. Agreed, without music, it can make training harder but is that a bad thing?

 

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