The Mind Rules The Body...

"Now, if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."

I really like this quote. I found it the other day when I was researching a marathon training plan. Do you have any idea of who said it???

Gen. George S. Patton

Did you also know that he was an Olympian in 1912? I didn't! He was entered in the Pentathlon. (Standby while I Google pentathlon) The pentathlon consists of 5 events: pistol shooting (where there was some controversy) fencing, 200m freestyle swim, show jumping and a 3km run.Weird combination if you ask me. I do not think it is an event anymore (thanks trampoline)

I have no idea why he said this or what context it was in, but it got me thinking, which is not really a good thing. What gets me up in the morning? Is it the body or the mind? Well I can say it is my mind. I am always thinking that I HAVE to get out there and run or whatever is on the schedule. I am always thinking that I will get behind and won't hit my goals, or worse, I won't finish! Now I am not a rocket surgeon at all, but I know my brain keeps me honest. It lets me know when I slack off and definitely lets me know when I give in and have horrible excuses. So I can say, Yes, my mind gets me up in the morning.

Now for the other end of the spectrum. What keeps me from getting up in the morning?? The body, and my nice warm sheets when the room is ICE COLD, and my brain at times. I have to get my feet on the floor and out from under the covers int he morning. If the feet do not hit the floor, then forget about me hitting the streets. It is so easy for me to tell myself that I need a rest day in the morning. See, I am an old guy (40) and I do not recover like I did when I was 25, or 30. Advil is a friend of mine.You dig?

I often tell people that the sport of triathlon is just as much a mental strain as it is a physical strain, but I usually only see it that when out on the course. I forget about the months of training and miles we put into a race. No wonder our bodies are such quitters. We are tired. But, that is why we have recovery weeks right?  True, but sometimes a recovery week does not always cut it. Sometimes that one extra day of not getting up in the darkness of morning to run feels oh so good. And I always regret those days later on that day. So sleeping in is a temporary joy that I have. I try to wake up at the same time, even if I am not working out. I am not a morning person yet, until my feet are on the ground.

So I guess the point of this post is really to myself. Quit listening to this body and get up, especially when I do not want to get up. See, I had a bad week of workouts, which means I didn't do hardly nothing. I am well prepared to provide excuses if one desires, but that is all it would be. I am hoping for two good races this weekend and then back to it for the final workouts before my HIM. I will beat my time form Branson!

Anyways, keep this in mind, if have to balance listening to our bodies and to our minds. Cause in our minds, we all look like this regardless of the body!

I changed it to a shade of Grey for you ladies!  Your wel-come!