Dig Deep!!!

Hard to believe that today is May 1st the year seems to be flying by in the blink of an eye. I hope that everyone has been maximizing their year knowing that everyone has the potential to be great. 

Being a sports specific chiropractor I have noticed a common theme with many of my runners, triathletes, cyclists and cross fitters recently....tired and losing some focus on their training. Most of this applies to the many patients I have competing in an Ironman this summer. They have been at training for awhile now and although most are enjoying the challenge many of them seem to be burning out. 

In my mind Ironman training is similar to every other goal or dream you have in your life. You have to put in the effort both mentally as well as physically to succeed and accomplish your dream. There will be some days when you wake up and say why am I pushing myself this hard, why do I always smell like chlorine, why can't I just sleep in instead of being up before the birds and the list goes on and on. 

You  just have to DIG DEEP and push yourself to the next level then the reward in the end will be absolutely amazing. The day to day consistency that goes into long course triathlon racing can be tough at times but the reward of crossing that finish line at your race and either qualifying for a world championship or just hearing the announcer say "INSERT NAME HERE" you are an Ironman...is an amazing feeling and something that pushes me everyday. I also push myself a little deeper each day as I was given the gift to be able to do this sport. I love to wake up each day and push myself to the limit and see how I will respond physically and mentally. There is a matter of DIGGING DEEP that is another challenge which is the ability to allow yourself to rest/recover. We also have to be able to incorporate recovery strategies that allow you to be able to push yourself on those hard days. I would say this is probably more of a strategy of mental control knowing that backing off in training helps just as much. The reason most people come into my clinic is they didn't incorporate enough recovery into their schedule. 

This summer at Ironman Lake Placid I will have to dig deeper than I ever have in a race before knowing what my times need to be to qualify for Ironman Hawaii. The thing is the pain won't be anywhere close to what Jimmy had to go through in his bout with cancer and this will push me to dig deeper while not complaining of the pain. I will be racing with the idea of constantly pushing the envelope and not giving up due to a little pain but knowing that I am racing for something bigger than me.

So when things seem hard or you are feeling defeated I ask you to take a deep breath and give it that extra effort knowing that you have the ability to accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Make it count!!!!