Mind Chatter

Beth Shaw, Founder of YogaFit, first introduced me to affirmations or mantras. I’ve been practicing them ever since. They are powerful and always help me overcome limiting beliefs. I’ve never thought about it until right now, but I guess I’ve used affirmations in my life before without giving them a name.  I’ve used them to overcome health obstacles.  I just always referred to them as my gift for positive thinking and my strong spiritual belief that I could make things happen in my life if I put my mind to it.

“We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light” – Earl Nightingale

Let’s face it, we all have this mind chatter.  Some of the time it’s negative and some of the time it’s positive. Some of us have just one voice while some of us have a mob of voices. I can have conversations in my head.  If we aren’t careful we can get trapped there.

Okay, so now you all are thinking I’m loopy but really, tell me you haven’t been grocery shopping… and you know you should be buying vegetables… but instead you buy chocolate cake and ice cream. This is what I mean by the two different types of voices. Oh! Here is another example for you.  How many times have you come up with every excuse known to man as to why you shouldn’t show up for exercise?  Believe me, I’ve heard a lot.  You can be on the treadmill already and still talk yourself into getting off and leaving.  You know you’ll feel better afterwards and it is good for your health and well-being.

These voices can either promote or demolish us, our goals and our self-esteem.  I can learn something the hard way and pick myself up and be more successful the next time around. She doesn’t understand why I do what I do but knows that because I’m doing it I will be successful at it. When your negative voice creeps in, you can always count on your mom to give you a good kick in the pants. What does your negative voice tell you?  “You aren’t good enough.  Why change now you’ll just fail.  You’ll never be beautiful.  You’re not worth the effort.”   Do you have this voice?  Maybe several voices? I meditate and practice yoga.  It helps me quiet the mind chatter and still my mind; even if for just a moment. I practice Pilates because it gives me inner strength and I love my body for it. I practice fitness coaching because it gives me the grace and patience to see that every step (no matter how small and what time I start) is better than giving in to the negativity that surrounds us. Our lives are always swaying between light and darkness; we face good and evil, truths and lies, kindness and bitterness daily. You can’t escape completely but you can control the volume of certain voices.  It requires perseverance, dedication, self-sacrifice, and hard work daily.

I’m writing this while watching the Stanley Cup playoffs.  I’m reminded of some keys to winning.
Avoid Turnovers. Why, when we are on the path to greater health, do we self-sabotage our efforts?  Every time you use the word “Don’t” you set yourself up for failure? “Don’t eat cake.”  What do you do?  You eat two pieces of cake. “Don’t miss an exercise session this week.”  What do you do?  You miss the whole month.  Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away from our goal.
Build Momentum.  It takes both physical and emotional training consistently over lifetime.  You want it overnight.  Well, you are just starting out on your journey to a new you, a new lifestyle.  It doesn’t happen overnight, because if it did we would miss out on the character it builds going from point A to point B and you wouldn’t understand how to celebrate once you got there.
Play like a champion. Workouts should be called “Playouts.” It isn’t about being perfect and your clock hasn’t struck zero yet, so start today in taking steps to becoming your best self.  Let me and the staff at Mind Body Balance help you become the champion I know you already are.

Marathon Blog #7

“There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of that don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek that”-Rumi

Well, we just finished up our Trail Half Marathon and I have to say I had to dig deep. My practice long runs went much better for me than the race day run did. I was having stomach issues and found that my shoes for the rocky portions weren’t supportive enough. I had many mental struggles after the 10 mile marker and lost the personal pace that I had set.  When Danny Dreyer talks about it being a mental race he isn’t joking. We did a hard 13.1 miles and I think this took us to a new physical and mental level and reminded us that we still have work to do.

Our next race is in Northville on June 25^th. It is a timed 10 mile run of a 12 minute pace. So, you guessed it, we will be working on our speed over the next 6-8 weeks. Don’t let this scare you.  It will come, just as the endurance keeps coming. Remember that the strength of your mind is your driving force through your training. Keep your eye on your long-term goal and remember how far you’ve come.  It’s something to celebrate!

Just as in Pilates, when you hit a certain level of performance you really start to focus on flow and rhythm.  In doing this, it doesn’t mean that the quality of movement is lost; it just means you have to find it quicker and stay centered. As we do speed runs this is also true.  You still must focuses on form.  Good form increases your speed.

Here is a checklist to remember when working on speed:

•  start slow and gradually pick up speed,

•  stay focused on your body sensing,

•  relax your lower body,

•  allow the stride to be long out the back

•  allow the core to be strong,

•  focus on your arm movement as it sets your pace,

•  pick up your feet (not your knees)
•  relax the shoulders, hips, pelvis, calves, ankles

•  remember, effort with ease.

We will be dong interval speed drills and ladder speed drills. Interval speed drills means you’ll pick a pace that you can maintain for a long distance, run this for 1 mile and then take it up a notch for the next mile and then back down a notch for the following mile etc. Remember, to increase speed, just increase your lean. For the ladder drill, start out your first mile slow and then each mile after that pick up the pace slightly. Notice that I say “slightly” and “notch” or maybe even “a gear” I do NOT say to sprint 🙂

Remember this month’s goals are to improve form and learn to use our gears more.

Some additional things to strongly consider: fasting/ detox cleanse & new shoes.

I’ve logged over 160 miles on these shoes. I need to get another pair so that I can have them broken in for the event in October. At this pace I’ll need a new pair in October. I do not want to run on an old pair or a new pair. I will also pick up a pair of trail shoes as well.

I have noticed on the long runs that stuff seems to be coming out of my body through my throat and skin so I will be doing a fast in May and then will continue with one daily fast per week. I used to do this on a regular basis and got away from it. I’ve asked Sherri to talk about this in more detail in May’s Balancing Act Marathon Tip. I really encourage you to give this some thought.

It is time to sign up for your June 25^th, July 8^th and October 16^th race (this one is expensive and goes up in price starting Tuesday) so get signed up you don’t want to be like some of our clients that were shut out of our last race.

Here is a race day schedule:

Month	Training for The Half	Training for The Full	Link to Race
June 25th	10k	10 mile	http://www.solsticerun.org/
July 8th	15k	15k	http://www.moonlitformarrow.com/
August
September 10th	5 mile & 10k	Mellow full	http://www.runwoodstock.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
October 16th	Half Marathon	Full Marathon	http://www.freepmarathon.com/

Here is your training schedule for May: (it is now time that I’ll start dividing the long runs out for Half/ Full Marathon)

Week #	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	Active Rest/ Nap	Yoga	Yoga/ Short Run	Short Run	Breathing Class/ Pilates	Pilates	Long Run
2	Active Rest/ Nap	Short Run/ Yoga	Yoga	Short Run	Breathing Class/ Pilates	Pilates	Long Run/ Holistic Health Class
3	Active Rest/ Nap	Short Run/ Yoga	Yoga	Short Run	Breathing Class/ Pilates	Pilates	Long Run
4	Active Rest / Nap	Short Run/Yoga	Yoga	Short Run/Holistic Health Class	Breathing Class/ Pilates	Pilates	Long Run

Week One: This is an active rest week for those that just came off the half marathon. This means short runs are about 45 minutes and your long run is 6 miles. (Interval Focuses of Form/ Speed)

Week Two: Short runs are now 50/60. Long Run for FM is 9 miles & HM is 6 miles (Ladder Focus of Form/ Speed)

Week Three: Short runs are now 50/60. Long Run for FM is 10 miles & HM is 7 miles (Interval focuses of Form/ Speed)

Week Four: Short runs are now 50/60. Long Run is for FM is 11 miles & HM is 5 miles (Ladder focus of form/ speed)