If you hear it enough, you’ll start to believe it.

Every day I make an effort to constantly surround myself with positive people because I believe that the positive energy I get and give helps create a better environment for working in, training in, and living in.

Because of this positive “bubble” I live in, I believe that anything is possible.  Encouraging my friends to do something and seeing them excel is such a great feeling.  And they do the same for me.  I am fortunate to have family and friends who are supportive, and it is because of them I feel that I am improving each week and continue to believe in my bigger dream…2016.  For now my short term goal is just to continue to train hard and focus on giving my best in everything that I do…with rowing I don’t hold back on any stroke, unless I am specifically told to go steady state (and trust me, I have to be told, ha!).

So why do I emphasize the importance of creating this “positive” environment?  Imagine that you are told each day that you are not smart…after hearing it enough times, you’ll start to have lower self esteem and feel like people perceive you as stupid, and so maybe you’ll start to consider yourself in that way.  Wouldn’t it be better to have encouraging words said to you?

Of course hearing encouraging words from people around you is nice, but it may also be helpful to say them to yourself.  I’ve talked about visualization before, but I have come across a new approach that I think is really easy to do and helpful.

Sit down with a paper and pen, or computer, and write down your goals for the week or upcoming race plan.  Write down what you hope to accomplish, and how you hope to accomplish them.  Have motivating words in there, cue words that help you reflect on the cold days you’ve gone out to train in, or the puddles of sweat you’ve created from working to your max…after you’ve written this out, record yourself.  You can use your phone to record yourself if you have no recording device.  Then make a point to listen to yourself, your own voice telling you these goals and race plans…how you plan to execute them, how strong you are, how capable you are…and soon enough you’ll start to envision yourself doing this, feeling this, and then executing this in reality.

I’d like to say I’m crazy, which I amJ…but in truth, I have felt this work for me in the past few weeks.  I wrote something down, recorded it, and listened to it each day.  I pulled 10 watts higher than before on the same workout I had done the week prior.  And now this week, today, I pulled 5 seconds faster for each of 4 pieces that I did last week in the same workout.

Words alone are powerful, and together the mind and body can be even more powerful.

So I challenge you to do this and see if it works for you.

I thought last week was my hard week of training as the training schedule read “HARD WEEK”…little did I know that the letter “V” would be an option, and so I’ve learned that there is a “VHARD WEEK” too (this means VERY hard week!”.  So today I began my VHARD WEEK and am excited to attack my workouts again.  Food will be my best friend as I'll need to make sure I have enough energy to make it through each day (oh, how hard life can be!).  Next week I leave for training camp, so this week really is important to get in as much solid work on the erg as possible…next week I’ll be on the waterJ SO EXCITED!!!!!!

Happy Training