A mind set of an athlete

let me be the first... strike that, second (took too long to type) to say WELCOME!!! i guess ive always been pretty active (all 17 years :p) but it gets easier the more you train

goodluck,
.:aidan:.

Edited by Pro_rider 2004-03-16 5:30 AM

Thanks guys, you're awesome!

Ah yes, that voice. Then suddenly you realize the voice is probably right and you ARE crazy!! But you do it anyway, because you love it and the thrill of overcoming or doing more than you thought is so compelling. What's a little crazy between friends anyway??

Welcome!!

Dana

I agree with you Kevin. That voice gets a little crazy. It starts off whining but then it gets angrily insistent. "What, you've been swimming this same distance for 2 months and you're not getting any faster???" Oh, excuse me, that's my inside voice. But the other voice is like, "Wow, you're doing really good on the run, let's try 20 min today." It's schizo! It goes back and forward. The trick is to listen to it when you need motivation and to ignore it when it gets too insistence (when you're overtraining). Also ignore the outside voices too - voices of the other people in the gym who think you're crazy. "What you just biked for an hour and you're going swimming????" Ignore them because you have to train. There's just no way around it. You don't want to get to mile 10 of your Olympic tri and then realize you've got 16 to go and no steam. Overtraining is bad but undertraining can be a disaster. So it's all about balance. Don't worry. If you really couldn't do it your mind wouldn't be saying anything. It would be too much in shock!

My little voice always rears its head in the grocery store!
I can get up train, put my time in and feel great about it.

For me the struggle to find my athletic self was in making the switch to an "athletic diet"

This happend slowly but ever so decisively
I started to buy fruits and vegitables (not often found in my cart)
I found myself reading the lables of things before I bought them
Carrots replaced my beloved cookies
Juice replaced pop (soda for you Americans)
I started even eatting fish!

Now I eat 6 small meals a day, watch the protein and calories and hydration, and feel more like an actual athlete.

There is something gratifing about those lables now.

Welcome!
Monty

Welcome to the world of Tri and Tri again!

I find my voice saying..... is this really me???? I can't believe this is ME doing this? Does this make sense, having an identity problem.

I find my voice saying that same thing... WHAT? Is this really me??? Am I really wearing slightly padded, tight, biking/running shorts? Am I really running? WHAT??? I thought I wasn't athletic???!! I thought I wasn't coordinated or strong?! (Well, I'm still not coordinated, but I'm working on the ATHLETIC/STRONG part of this all...) So glad to have found this site!!! I've been lurking around and reading the posts, but I decided to register today after pulling the 20 week Olympic program in order to begin my training for the Chicago Triathlon in Aug. :-) Can't wait to get started for real.

I've only been tri training for two months, but the athletic mind set has certainly taken over my head and body. I was just thinking about this exact same thing this week. Just a few things I now do for myself (and my body) that I didn't do before starting tri training: I make my own bread, bran muffins, energy bars, and soups. I take better care of my skin and hair. I smile at myself in the mirror(I suffer from depression). I admire my new curves (lost 43 lbs now). I go to sleep earlier (too exhausted to stay up and watch mindless tv), and get up earlier (even went to an early bird swim at the pool this week)! I plan my week in terms of work outs for each day and determine what day will be the rest day.
I now think of myself in terms of being a triathlete, even though my event is not until August.
This site is soooooo great. I have learned so much since signing on I'm sure I wouldn't be training like I am if it wasn't for this site.

Doin' it...lovin' it!!!!!
Dolly

Dolly, that's awsome to hear. Keep it up!

I still hear the voices, heard them last night in fact. Did some weights, then bike, then swim. I just ignore them until I push through the first 10-15 minutes and then I settle into a "groove" where it seems I can just keep going indefinitely, especially on the bike or swim.

It's fun to push the limits of what I thought I was capable of. It's also cool to have to go buy a whole new wardrobe because all my pants are too big now!

My Tri motivation comes from having been in great shape growing up ( soccer, lacrosse, swimming ) and then did a self-check about a year ago, and found myself pretty lacking. So hit the gym for the first time in years, and in addition to weights was mixing up my cardio with bike, run, and swim. Then about a month ago I decided that I wanted to finish a Tri before 30 ( about a year and a half for me from now ), as I already had a bit of base built in all three areas.

Found this site, and with the logs ( second only to the forums and the other people here ), and now I've got all the motivation I need to follow-through. I've also found myself feeling a lot better about myself now. This site and the people here are the best.

-Chris

my voice can't believe i'm wearing tri clothes

This user's post has been ignored.

This Tri thing is not for the normal everyday person.  Personally, I think it takes a special person to Tri.  Welcome, and I hope all goes well.

I am new to tris as well, but I came from another breed of equally insane people - rowers. I haven't been exposed to tris at all to know just how crazy triathletes are, but I get the impression that they are one and the same, especially given that a lot of ex-rowers turn to triathlon addicts!! I'm not quite back to my insane self yet, but I'm getting there, which is the hard part - but I'm looking forward to it. Why?

There is a certain pride involved in being "insane". You will find two inner voices duking it out with eachother. You will find one voice challenging the other to an extra mile, and the other countering with a 'ha, I'll do two to spite you'. You will find that there are few things your body won't do if you really really ask it to. You will find there are many things your mind will tell you your body won't do, but when you say 'yes, I am nuts', you give yourself permission to tell your mind to shove it.

Break away from the norm. Embrace your inner athlete Somnya, you sound like the perfect candidate for being insane.

Four months ago I got up at 5:15am (hating it, but my work shift is early 6:00am) in the morning had a smoke on the back porch headed for work stopped and got a soda and a muffin. I used to kid my buddies that I trained on orange soda and newports cigs

yesterday I got up at 4:15am had two slices of earthy crunchy whole grain nutty bread toasted, some fresh strawberries, some lo fat cottage cheese then left the house (quit smoking cold turkey three mos ago) Went to a local park with a bike path and rode for 25 minutes.......went to work, ate well all day (currently trying 5-6 mini meals a day ). Got home went to the gym did my treadmill walk/ run work out and my circuit weight training ..............

Have set 4 mos goals , and 1 year goal..............and signed a contract with myself for a one year committment to training for my first sprint tri......(thanks Doctor Phil and Oprah)

The voices argue inside my head all the time but I have always liked a good argument and after three months the "Nay" voice is saying maybe................and the "Yea" voice is saying longer, harder, faster.

The folks here at BT are a great resource for information and support ........I log in every day it helps me keep a proper prospective.................

I would worry only when there are no voices anymore.....................or they speak in foreign languages........good luck