THE POWER OF THE MIND….

THE POWER OF THE MIND

The last 3 or 4 weeks training has been going pretty well, hitting targets and making some progress in new areas of my rowing. At the start of each week I look at the sessions for the week ahead and plan and prepare accordingly. This week one session stood out as looking particularly challenging, so much so that I didn’t think I could do it and I hate failure. From that moment forward I had built it up and was not looking forward to it and had a completely negative mindset about it. That in itself is a very limiting factor.

The day arrived, lots of other factors seemed to go against me to the extent I was beaten before I started to be honest. Still, following a warm up I gave it a shot as I had to get it done. True to my fears it was savage. Off the scale hard in my book. I just managed to hit target through half way, but from there on in I just wanted to HD. The only reason I didn’t was I don’t quit and I didn’t want to do it again lol. I did finish, but I did fail and by a long way. It hurt mentally and physically as perhaps I was not in the form I thought I was.

I honestly believe that you learn and improve far more in adversity than you ever do in success and I hoped this was the case! That said it is never the aim and it feels awful at the time. So after reflecting on why I was so far off target and spending 12 hours or more questioning the journey I was on, I knew the best way to process this was to get back on the rower to restore some faith. Yesterday was a bad day yes for sure, but I was miles off pace.

Today was better (4 x 2000m (r 6) 26SR @ 1.38-1.39) and was I was back on target, which left me even more confused. Later on, some clarity as I discovered there was a ‘typo’ on the pace guide which gave me temporary satisfaction that I wasn’t losing it lol. However it was too late by that stage and I had reinforced a valuable lesson to myself.

‘Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you are probably right’ .

In my opinion positive thinking does not mean you will definitely succeed, but by thinking so negatively I gave myself no chance, no matter what the pace was. Assuming targets are challenging but achievable, a balanced and realistic approach will keep you grounded and also give you the best chance of success. Confidence and faith restored.

concept 2 rowing

Today’s 4 x 2000m @26 SR


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