Keep your eye on the ball. This is not the time to get sloppy. We have come to far, accomplished too much. We've grown, honed and toned. We have endured. To ignore all this would be disrespectful and lazy. Sloppiness is not something we want to add to our list of good habits. And I am not talking about the cleanliness of your room (although that is part of it). The important part we are considering today is one of fundamentals. Of base. Of foundation. And of form. That is our starting point as well as our point of reference. Everything builds upwards from there. The details are placed atop the pillars. There is a reason we call it the core. It is solid. It is strong. An immovable, impenetrable marbled slab of solidarity. Your foundation.
It has been suggested by many far wiser than I, that this takes time. Patience not only a virtue but a prerequisite as well. You have to put in the hours and miles. You must experience this path of peril with a singular focus and happy heart. You must have faith. You must trust yourself. It helps to make some friends along the way, friends you can call upon when you need a favor. REAL friends. The kind that won't let you down when the going gets tough. Allies like confidence, speed, power, stamina, humor, compassion and empathy.
This is a process. It is not going to happen overnight. On May 1 of 2012 you are going to feel strangely the same as today. Unless you tweak your 'tude and start to clean house. Start to up the ante. Jettison the excess. Step up to the plate. Take your current contort zone and put it in the history section.
Or Sunday: 45 mile ride - Can I go harder, longer? Or longer, harder? Either way the need for focus is crucial when fixed at 25mph. Followed by a 12+ mile run. Can I go smoother, easier, with economy and impeccable form longer, faster, or faster, longer? Either way the need for calm and confidence wins the debate.
What debate?
You know the one. The sloppiness one. It is so easy to allow bad habits to prevail. Bad habits, the lack of fundamentals, the loss of form, the fear of success, giving in to the slightest amount of physical discomfort, self doubt, negative chatter, sabotage, tossing in the towel, practicing the art of the quit. Giving up. Taking your eyes off the target. Losing sight.
There is something somewhere that we can all use for this drill. Maybe your focus, maybe your climbing, maybe your power or endurance. I was reminded of this watching Junior play Little League Baseball Saturday (after the spin, sauna, smoothie and rub down).
Sometimes keeping your eye on the ball can mean more to adults than to kids.
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