Week 10-a I Am Working My Plan

One of my smart goals is to finish the Strolling Jim 40 Miler in less than 7:51.  Yup, that’s 7 hours and 51 minutes.  The race is in Tennessee starting in a tiny town called Wartrace.  I have been working on getting into shape for this race since January and the race is in May 2015.  It takes time and patience to develop the endurance for a race like this and there is no way to take short cuts.  Like Haanel says, you have to “apply the knowledge”.  I could sit for 5 hours a day and read my smart goal millions of times but it will never get me across the finish line if I don’t apply the action that I have the knowledge to apply.  And that knowledge is training runs, nutrition/hydration intakes, pacing, foot taping, proper rest, mental game training, and listening to my body.

I have worked my way up to a big long run this last weekend to prepare me for a 24 hour race that is part of the training for this smart goal. This race is part of my plan to achieve my smart goal in my DMP by training my body to be on my feet for a long time.  I put in 50 miles this weekend and I am so proud that I made it through the entire thing.  I know this is not a running blog, I blog about that else where, but I wanted to share this because of my use of the affirmation “I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy.”

During all types of exercise where you are pushing yourself to your limits, you have to deal with negative thinking.  Negative thinking can have a HUGE impact during a long run, marathon, or ultra-marathon.  Have you ever thought to yourself while seeing possibly an elite runner finishing a marathon “Man….they make it look so easy”.  The reason it looks that way is because of the mental training that they have practiced for hours upon hours upon hours while they run.  They know how to deal with physical discomfort with their minds, otherwise they would not be able to do it.  It is actually really uncomfortable for them even though they are highly training elite athletes.  So during my 50 miles out on the road this weekend I fended off any negative thought with the affirmation and it worked wonders.  I would scoff at and laugh at the negative thoughts coming back with the affirmation.

When my mind said this is too much, I brought in the affirmation.  When I heard that this hurts, I brought the affirmation in.  If my body was screaming at me about the discomfort, I brought the affirmation in.  When my spirit felt broken by the shear amount of time out there in the rain and snow, I brought in the affirmation.

All summed up, when doubt comes in……….use the law of substitution and replace it with “I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy.”  IT WORKS!