It's NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK...

Hey Guys, 

Welcome back to another entry on my BLOG. Today I wanted to talk about the importance about not letting your mind trick you into thinking that what you are doing is not working or even worth it, or that its to late to make a differences.
 
Since the start of this Las Vegas lockdown, I lost my mojo, and I didn't know why until recently when I decide to create this entry. Its's funny, the one thing that was holding me down was my own perception of myself.  Let me explain. As you know Im a dedicated run and I love being out there, I'm not an elite but I work hard like the next person.

​Lately I have been dealing with an heal pain that comes and go. Around March the pain was unbearable but if I stopped it seemed to get worst but I knew I needed time off. So I decide I would dial down my running, but this slowly started to change my perception on how I felt about myself, and my running. For the month of March I was able to complete 47 Miles in pain and I was not happy.

Since I took off 15 days from running in MARCH, every time I would see my calendar and see the big "X" on the dates I would feel bad, because I would want to run, but If I did the pain would come back and not heal. So I decide to switch things up, I added Cardio workouts thru a SPIN BIKE, also started to do body weight exercises to help me keep active and healthy. However I soon realized that this was not something I wanted to be doing all the time, I would rather be out running the streets or trails plus I missed my weekend race adventures.

So after finishing March with low miles, I decide I would get back into my running groove. I started to once again add a little more miles but nothing to drastic. I made sure to record all my runs on the calendar so I would no longer be seeing a big "X", which means nothing was done that day. I was once again seeing myself as that strong runner I know I can be, but this did not happen until I made the "SWITCH" in my mind. From " a  poor hurt runner with an injury" to telling myself " You are strong, you are dedicated, and you can push thru anything."   After accepting this positive thinking in my head I was back on a roll.  My foot started to feel better from the proper exercise and also from getting a new pair of shoes. This time I decide to try out HOKA RICON, so far I love the shoes. If you are running with an old pair of shoes I recommend you buy yourself a new pair, it will make a big difference. I am happy to say I was able to finish April with a few extra miles. 58 Miles. Not bad.

So with this being said please remember the following to help you stay focus and not overthink the situation like I did.

1. Change the channel, if you don't like what you see. Take action and make it different.
2. Practice mindfulness, Commit to becoming more aware of the here and now. 
3.  Schedule time for Reflection, Thinking about how you could do things differently or recognizing potential pitfalls to a plan, Incorporate 20 minutes of “thinking time” into your daily schedule it can work wonders to help you feel better.
4. Challenge your thoughts, it’s easy to get carried away with negative thoughts. Before you conclude acknowledge that your thoughts may be negative. Learn to recognize and replace them with positive thinking.
5. Relax, sometimes this can be the hardest thing we can do, just remember that if your not enjoying it, then your not happy, which usually puts you into stress mode. So don't let that happen. Breath.