Spice

In this timely article the author (carrying the load of leading the Training Peaks Education Department no less) makes the case for a mojo reset. She calls it the Holiday Hangover.  I am very familiar with its symptoms. I might even run for another couple of Tums before I finish this post. 

One of the ways she suggests we can keep our motivation trending to the positive is to SPICE IT UP. Do some things different. Cross train. Get outside the box of your cushy comfort zone. Watch a motivational movie or create your personal set list of rousing high performance tunes. I also particularly appreciate her isolation of the 'post it' element, one's goal zone, where the GOAL, "A" race or event is posted for all of civilization to see (and judge). It is one thing to say you are going to do something, and another altogether to commit to the training necessary and then actually DO THAT THING. 

Another is the routine of the ritual. We have talked about this in the past yet I think coupled with the TP article it warrants another visit. 

I  have made the claim that we are what we repeatedly do. If you get up every morning and head to the gym to stimulate your physical side, after a time, it becomes habit. You don't question the reasons, you simply perform. You do. The doing becomes your routine and your routine shapes your persona, your character and your spirit. With your good health, vital energy and joyous fitness, everything else nicely settles into place. Most of the time anyway. 

There is another POV that states, rather interestingly, that you are NOT the things you do but the way you are being. As in right now. You are either being loving or being fearful. The quality and the essence of the energy you are sharing this very instant. Is it love or is it fear? You know from empirical experience that when you find that elusive groove-zone-sweet-spot one of its most compelling characteristics is the absolute love level attained. Quite simply there is nothing else like it. Another way to see it is as NO FEAR.

How miraculous is that? That we can be what we decide to be. We talked about this yesterday, about loving what you do and doing what you love. Same energy. Same flow. I wish I could keep that flow all the time. I try very hard to accomplish this, day in, day out. 

But, again as the author suggests, occasionally we slip. We wake up with a headache, cotton-mouthed with a fuzzy recollection of what happened after the second bottle of pinot noir (or mid-Feb, whichever comes first). And we need some help. BUT, we are not in this alone. That is the value of the team. That is the strength of a training partner. You are accountable to the group and your weakness becomes the focal point of the collective energy flow. We will pull you until you are ready to take a pull again. We will support you when the imbalance tilts the meridians towards the shadows. When you are down the pack picks you up. WE GOT YOUR BACK JACK.

So when the author cites joining a CompuTrainer class as one way to spice it up I say: PASS THE CRUSHED PEPPER PLEASE!

Bon appetitio.