Sometimes my phone, computer, or other electronic device will get stuck and I have to press the power button for 10+ seconds to perform a hard reset. Strangely enough, I don't have a power button that I can hard-reset myself with, once I've gotten stuck in an endless loop. Athletic loops include things like thought patterns, training habits, and muscle memory. As you'll see in the next blog, thought patterns are something I've been taking note of recently, and they're probably one of the hardest to reset. My training patterns have always been to err on the side of too hard. My technique hasn't changed much in the last 2 years either. I never wanted a bad race performance to be because I didn't work hard enough, and I've put in technique work that I'm proud of. But too much training can negatively impact an athlete, and not changing up the stroke a little can make you stagnate. By the time I got to the USA SUP and Paddleboard 2019 team tryouts, I was smoked. I made the team by the skin of my teeth. Competitions, social media, travel... it was non-stop and I broke down. I used the solstice as a HARD RESTART (no shame in using "half-way new year" as an excuse to start over!!). I cut out sugar, caffeine, and social media; in no particular order. Not using caffeine to artificially boost my energy levels helped me listen to my body better, and take more rest. Reduced sugar helped me optimize my nutrition and get more out of the training I was doing. Removing social media, both consumption and creation, freed up a lot of my time and mental capacity to focus on my training and technique. How did it go? Well.. I did make a few posts on instagram documenting the results, you'll just have to go check it out :-P We can all benefit from the occasional "hard reset" I bet you can think of a few things worth mixing up just by reading this. Today is a good day to start. Just saying.
This excerpt originally appeared in my second summer newsletter of 2019.
It was an interesting time. I was finally starting to see some results from my YEARS of training :-)
You can view the entire newsletter RIGHT HERE: It was because I dropped anything that wasn't essential to achieve my goals and focused. Unfortunately we don't always have time to do that. Life, jobs, kids, and other obligations come before paddling. In either case, focused or balancing a lot, one thing remains the same: keep your SELF TALK POSITIVE.
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