Many Uses of Training Time, Keeping Your Training a Priority
Now we are several weeks into training and as we begin to navigate the logistics are keeping up with our training, it may be easy to drift from our original intent. Although much of our mental energy may be directed toward the physical aspect of training – pushing ourselves to run that last ½ mile that we are supposed to do, swim those last laps, or to even get into the pool in my case J — it is helpful to reserve some of the time when we are training to mentally check in with ourselves.
Your “exercise/training” time can be a great space in your life to center ourselves, re-connect with our intentions, set other intentions and allow ourselves the time to think about some of the tougher questions we are facing in life. It is important to revisit your intentions for participating in the Ramblin’ Rose. By continuously thinking about your personal reasons, goals and intentions, they will provide a focal point for you throughout the rest of your training. It will also keep feeding your motivation if you stay clear in why you are doing this.
There are many other ways to use this time. Here are a few that come to mind for me: think about a work or personal situation that has needed some mental attention, pose interesting questions to yourself, reflect on a conversations and learn from your mistakes, make a mental to-do list for the day, practice presentation or upcoming conversations you need to have, focus on your breath or connect with a friend.
If you are experiencing any challenges in carving out the time to train, here are a few questions to ask yourself.
1. What is getting in the way of my time to train?
2. What do I need to put into place to support my training? Who do I need to talk to and what do I need to arrange to keep training time a priority? 3. Is there anything mentally getting in the way of my training time?
4. What conversation happens in my head if/when a choose not to train?
5. How can I make this more fun and enjoyable for myself?
Maybe thinking about some of these questions will provide some insight in whatever changes you may need to make to keep your training time a priority for yourself. Life happens and yes, we can’t always do exactly what we set out to do. But we can shift and juggle and hula hoop in very creative ways to do what we need to do if we stay committed to ourselves and our goals.
