Sunday 29 May 2011

How to stay grounded?

How the hell do people do it?  When you've set a goal way further in the future than when you need to actually start doing anything about it.  How do you stay focussed on the current tasks in hand.  How do you stop yourself from starting to do stuff waaaaay too early?

I'm struggling to contain myself at the moment and it is definitely too early to change tack on the stuff I'm doing at the moment.  Having been at 3 so far this year so far (2x Thames Turbo Sprint triathlons and 1x Clapham Common 10K),  and missing the Sheffield Half Marathon (boo to gonky knees!) there are 13 more races/events left for me this year to focus on between tomorrow and the middle of December (not including the ad-hoc Parkrun 5Ks every so often):-
  • 2x Thames Turbo Sprint triathlons
  • Blenheim Sprint triathlon
  • Shock Absorber Women's Sprint triathlon
  • 3x Clapham Common 10Ks
  • Nokia Thames swim (2.25 miles)
  • Virgin London Olympic triathlon
  • British 10K
  • London to Brighton
  • Nike+ Run to the Beat Half Marathon
  • The Grim Original (8 miles off-road run)
So there's no way, especially for the new events to me (Olympic, Half Marathon, and the off-roader), that I can drop focus on this lot.  I'm really hoping I can keep my head straight through it all.  But the revelation to me right now is that while I have no doubt of getting 'round every single one of these (barring injury) physically, the battle now is almost purely mental.

And mental is something I've proven, what with losing 30kg and keeping it off for 5 years.  But still... ongoing and new challenges will constantly test the resolve.  Which is tiring.

2 comments:

  1. Jeez. I am well impressed, that's some list.

    The only advice I can give, which may not be helpful since I've never prepared for anything of that magnitude physically, is to have a very clear plan, and figure out exactly what goals you need to meet along the way. Then you focus only on each goal. Much easier said than done, but from experience (said experience being juggling ridiculous workloads and exams) anything else just leads to energy and time being wasted fretting and worrying....

    Very best of luck with it all, that is seriously awesome!

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  2. Thanks wonky_monkey. Sometimes the perspective and reminder to take things one at a time is exactly what's needed :o)

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