Perception

This weekend I participated in a great event at Fitness dk. Pro triathlete Aleksandar Sørensen-Markovic and former pro triathlete Ole Stougaard came to share their great experiences on training programs. They started talking about motivation, setting realistic goals, preparing for heavy amounts of training – both physical and psychological. They ensured us that taking good care of the body and listen to it, plays a big role in accomplishing the big challenge – doing and IM. Actually. Listening to your body is the most important thing to do!

My main learning from that specific topic can be put in one single word: Perception.Its a common word – but put in the IM context it suddenly appered as the key I have been looking for. Grounding the project. We are talking about preparing a body for a huge challenge. No book. No guru. No formula. No one else but myself can answer the question: How am I doing in my training! Perception is all about Body image – Understanding –Taking control. Listening to our body – an respond to it.

It is actually very simple. And that was exactly what made the event very useful! Sometimes all the planning and training can take over, and make me all dizzy of concern: Am I doing this the right way? Am I training hard enough? How do I get strong and fit? Do I need to get more geeky and count every calorie, put my sleep and rest in system. Adding time with friends as a spice to dinner? No. Accept the fact that there will be situations in your private life, work life that rquires you attention – don’t have bad conscience – as long as you do the best you can – when you can. Take full credit in every training session! If I follow the instructions I get – and use them as a guide – not at formula – then I am all good! Its not more difficult then that. You can feel if you do it the wrong way – body image will tell you that you are in pain and feel extremly tired. You understand by taking a day off. Taking control and care.

It is a long journey (exactly 6 months today!!!!) – it’s a lifestyle change. Make it fun. Have fun. Enjoy it. If you dont feel you are training – but just sit there waiting for the session to be over – why did you show up? Do it. Push it. Take control. Feel the changes and the satisfaction of hard work. Be curious J and reward the body after pushing it to the limit. Rest. Rest. Rest. Be in it. Actually it is just like in every other aspect in life.

Aleksandar and Ole also shared great knowledge regarding swim, bike and run. How we optimize our trainings, in terms of making great result. Results are the only way to have control over how good your doing with your training. It’s not a question on how many hours you put into you program – but how well your trainings are absorbed by your body. Slowly the amounts of hours will increase as the body prepares for building up.

We were also introduced to pose-running technique. What an eyeopener! We practiced some small exercises and headed for an outdoor run. Everybody felt awkward in the new running style – but we all agreed in the positive impact on our running economy! It will take a lot of time adjusting my running but I will certainly practice!

So sitting here with a feeling of roasted legs – I am taking an evening without training – and enjoing it J