So there it was... the Facebook ad that would not go away. Every time I opened the page, this ad would show up until finally, I clicked on it to find out more...
Sometimes it's eerie what is marketed towards you, like Big Brother is watching over you. Anyway, Big Brother invited me to lunch and I went with it. I had the day off. It was a local event. It sounded fun and relevant... so I went.
The speaker was Kacey Oiness, Ph.D. She is a sports and performance psychologist with St. Vincent Sports Performance. The purpose of the lecture was to focus on some mental skills to help you perform better as it was pointed out that a large part of your performance is mental yet most athletes spend most of their time working on their physical skills and hardly any time on their mental skills.
Here were some of my favorite quotes from the lecture and key takeaways...
"If you focus on results, you will never change; if you focus on change, you will get results."
"Confidence is not the absence of negative thoughts or feelings; it is the belief that one is able to perform well despite these feelings."
Goal setting should focus on the process rather than the outcome. Goals should be specific, challenging, realistic, adjustable, and measurable.
Other mental skills that were discussed were self-talk strategies - staying in the present and getting rid of all the "should have's" in your life; composure skills - ways to get yourself either calmed down or energized for an upcoming activity; working on concentration, focus, and visualization skills. You can work on these skills daily by writing down your daily goals, journaling, and/or working on focus/imagery/or relaxation skills for 10-15 minutes a day.
Performing well under pressure is accepting that some pressures will exist - be aware, prepare a plan and practice the plan. In the end, have goals, be immersed in the activity, pay attention to what is relevant, and enjoy the activity.
So Week 3 was a "drop down" week. Every third week in my program is an "easy" week to rest and recover. Here's how it went...
Sunday - 3 miles. This is where it's nice to have a schedule. I didn't feel like running but the schedule said I only had to go 3 miles so I was OK with that.
Monday - 7 miles. Got up at 4:30 am for another 10 hour work day. I absolutely did not feel like running in the evening but so wanted a total rest day on my day off on Tuesday so I laced up and hit the Monon while by daughter danced... and ended up having a really nice run.
Tuesday - Rest. Went to my luncheon.
Wednesday - 3 miles.
Thursday - 7 miles. Marathon pace run.
Friday - 10 miles. I got a new Garmin Forerunner 220 with heart rate moniter and took it for a test drive. My goal was to keep my heart rate under 150. Easier said than done! I found that I could keep it in the 130-140 range if I ran about a 10 minute pace on the flats however, the minute I started going up any uphill grade, my heart rate immediately started climbing. It got to be a game of "can I make it to the top of this rise before my heart rate hits 150." I ended up averaging 10:24 pace with an average heart rate of 143 and max heart rate of 156. It did keep me entertained the whole run though.
Saturday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Week 3 Total Miles: 30
5 good days, 0 bad days, 2 rest days
My miles will be ramping up the next two weeks so fingers crossed that things continue to go well!
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