Believe and you will Achieve

Today I ran the 10K Snowshoe race at Beaver Creek. It was a perfect day, sunny and about 20°F and no new snow so the ground would be fairly hard packed. I had set myself a goal time for this race. I wanted to run under 1:20. Last year I finished this same course in 1:29. Today I finished in 1:16 (booyah)

I haven't actually run that much, as I just finished a month of focusing on my cycling, but obviously my Computrainer work outs are paying off and keeping my legs and lungs strong. Thank god, they've been tough. It amazes me how much just working on my cycling has helped my running. I have also been reading a lot about mental training. Positive affirmations to be exact, and how powerful they can be in helping you achieve the goals you set yourself. For instance I am not particularly fast at running hills. I am consistent, just not fast. Now I used to tell myself "I don't like running hills", "I not good at them". By telling myself this I was planting the seed for my future, where my mind and body would then follow. Instead I have been telling myself "I like running hills" and "I am powerful" and seeing the top I know once I get there I can recover on the downhills. So that's what I did today. Believe and you will achieve. The only catch is you truly have to believe! I have been reading and highly recommend the book Running Within.

I finished with an altitude hacking cough and caught up with friends Patrick Pinnell and the super fast Carl Bruggeman (1:02). We watched the award ceremony while chugging on Muscle Milk - yum! We cheered for a great friend, Katie Hartmann who was 3rd Female in the 5K. Katie you are amazing, is there anything you aren't good at?

I finished off my afternoon with a massage at Spa Anjali at the Westin, it was a fluke they had an opening. The steam room, pre and post massage soothed my altitude hack and Matt soothed my sore muscles. Then it was time to swim & bike.

I did a Total Immersion Workshop in October at the Riverfront Club at the Westin in October with Kevin Millerick. It was awesome and I have been working on drills like Skating and Zen Skating that are making me more balancd and efficient in the water. 30 mins of Total Immersion swim drills and then 30 mins cycling on the rollers to work on my balance.

Finally, I must say that I am having a pretty fantastic day as I thought it was going to take me months to be able to ride the bike rollers without assistance, they were pretty intimidating to me. The you tube videos of people crashing, although very funny, were scary. I am pleased to say that the learning curve has been much quicker than I anticipated. My 4th attempt and I am changing gears and riding uninterrupted intervals of 15 mins. Oh, and thanks to my bike coach :) Yeah me. This is my attitude on a good day, I love the good days!