Train with a positive attitude!
It’s very easy to get caught in the trap of thinking negative thoughts when a workout or race doesn’t go your way. A lot of people believe I am the most positive person to walk this planet. I have a little secret to share. I find myself every once in awhile beating myself up over a bad workout. In fact, it’s not uncharacteristic of me to think I can’t do something. (I know, practice what you preach!) This morning, I went into the workout thinking there was no way I could complete it at a respectable pace. My last few workouts haven’t gone great and my training since I got hurt has been pretty sub par. I had every excuse in the book for why I was go to run poorly. My attitude was I am out here because I feel like I have to be but not because I want to get better. This attitude doesn’t reflect how I view training as a whole but I fall into this trap when I go through low points in training. It’s easy to get frustrated when things don’t seem to be going your way. Before the workout began I told myself, “why are you out here at 6 a.m. if you aren’t interested in being positive or getting better?” I thought about what I would tell my athletes who were in the same shoes. It became clear I needed an attitude adjustment real quick. This morning’s workout was 5 X 4 minutes at 10k effort. I ran just in line with where I would have run a year ago in a similar workout. To put things in perspective last year was the strongest racing season of my life. I was on cloud 9 during the workout knowing things were rolling in my favor. It was an incredible feeling being excited about training again and believing I can continue to get faster. Although I never allowed my negative emotions to leave my head, thinking negative doesn’t just have an impact on your training but also the people you are running with. It’s crazy the difference it makes when our training group is high fiving, smiling and encouraging each other. Everyone has the ability to run well and compete hard because of the positive spirit roaming the air. If your head is down and you are talking yourself out of things, that can affect the mindsets of your teammates for the worse. Our demeanor and attitude plays a huge role into how the group as whole trains. I am not saying I will never go through another negative point in my training. My point is that, sometimes it is as simple as an attitude adjustment that can turn you from running an average race to a season PR! Sure, there are days you can be as positive as you want and things won’t fall in line. However, if I have learned anything over my 14 years of distance running, you won’t survive in this sport or reach your goals if your perspective each day is negative. Training consistently requires you to not overreact to the good or bad days. Keep working hard and do your best to listen to all the people telling you to chin up when you are in a rough patch.