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You know it’s going to be a good day when you walk into the gym and your favorite band is playing one of your very favorite songs.

I’m a huge Rob Thomas fan, so when I walked into Gold’s this morning and heard him singing “I feel stupid…” (in case you’re not a fan, that would be Mad Season) it put a big smile on my face. Nothing delights me more than the vision of Rob Thomas in my head. I decided Rob would be the soundtrack for my cardio this morning. And, being the big fan that I am, I do have, of course, every Matchbox Twenty and Rob Thomas song ever released on my iPod.

Rob and I spent 30 minutes on the stepmill and since my quads are incredibly sore this morning, we finished off with 20 minutes on the elliptical. I didn’t have to be there at the gym this morning. After all, I’m not in training for anything in particular (although I did decide that I will “train for” the Rob Thomas concert, which happens to be 6 weeks from today!), just trying to get myself back to where I like to be…which is a lot leaner than I am now. I didn’t have any early clients this morning, so I got to sleep in. I decided not to set my alarm and just let myself wake up on my own. Typically I wake up several times during the night, but I slept all the way through to 4:30 and was wide awake, so I decided to hit it.

It’s easy when you’re not training for anything specific to slack off. I think this is where the athletes, the competitors, separate themselves from the average “gym rat.” There have been so many times lately that I will be doing cardio and I want to stop early. My quads are burning, my calves are sore, my heart is pounding like it’s going to pop out of my chest, I’m hungry, I already did 45 minutes – why did I set the machine for 50?, I probably should go check my cell phone to see if I’ve missed anything important…I can come up with a lot of reason, ANY reason, to stop what I’m doing. BUT, I hate feeling like I quit. I hate leaving time on the machine, not finishiing the number of reps I had intended to complete, not going the distance on my sprints…I don’t like incomplete.

This game is 100% mental. You have to find a way to tap into that part of your brain that makes you fight through when you feel like giving up, when you feel like being done, when you feel like there are more important things to be doing (you know, the ones that really aren’t that important, the ones that can wait another 5 minutes…those ones!!). I’ve always been able to find something I’ve done in my life that was harder than the training I’m doing in the moment. I tap into the things that make me a “fighter”, because you do have to fight for it in this sport. You have to want it THAT bad. You have to be driven and you have to be willing and able to DRIVE YOURSELF!

For me, my best “drivers” are my emotions. Physical activity is the best emotional release for me…anger, anxiety, frustration, sadness, happiness, excitement…any kind of emotion comes out when I train. And another technique I use when I want to quit and when it feels like “this must be the hardest thing I’ve ever done” is to draw on challenges I’ve had in my life that were, far and above, more challenging that an hour on a rotating stair case. One of my twins was born breach. They pulled her out by her feet. It took a long time, the little stinker was fighting to stay in there, and the epidural was beginning to wear off. That’s what I use right now to keep going…if I can do THAT, I can certainly keep stepping for another 15 minutes. It puts it into perspective. Granted, I realize that not everybody has an experience like this to draw on, but I guarantee you have something. I’ve only had these twins for 4 years and I’ve been training for 16 years, so I’ve always been able to find something.

I know a lot of people are getting geared up for the Washington State show on the 17^th of this month. Those long cardio sessions are getting more grueling with each day as the diet gets more extreme. This is the time when you have to set your mind to accomplishing things one meal at a time, one workout at a time. You have to mentally prepare yourself to power through when your body feels like it can’t go any longer. It can. Set your mind to what you need to do and your body will follow its lead. Mind. Over. Matter. It’s really a simple thing, but it takes a disciplined athlete to make it happen. Get in your head, be mentally strong and get to the finish line.

“Strength is a matter of a made up mind”

~John Beecher

Make up your mind and get it done!!

~Julie~

Fearless, with cape in hand

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