February is my rest month before I start a very specific and rigorous training program for my Hawaii challenge.
When I say ‘rest’ it is an active rest month with goals to sort out my social media, sponsorship proposals and try and set up my non-profit company, ‘Breathe’ Last weekend I spent most of the weekend doing social media posts in advance for my face book page and started on my sponsorship proposal.
I have done as much as I can at this stage in my own capacity and am now waiting for feedback for the NPO, Breathe and assistance with my proposal from a friend
I have still trained a little with some Pilates, basic gym and light swims in the week to keep me active and maintain some muscle memory. My number one goal is to get to March physically and mentally fresh and rested ready for the schedule up ahead. My elbow has continued to give me trouble and unfortunately the physical nature of my job does not help the healing process, but I am trying hard to get the balance between treatment, rest and rehab to allow for optimal healing and with 2 weeks to go, I trust it will come right in time for March.
I have had a few mental battles this month between the desire to train hard and push my body and the frustration of being limited with what I can do more because of fear of aggravating a niggle than actual pain. I have learnt and am still learning the process of injury management and the fine balance between rest and pushing through. Despite this being my rest month I had a particularly frustrating training session at the gym this week and struggled to get my head in a better mind-set. I was frustrated that I couldn’t train properly because my elbow was sore, yet I know this is my rest month! Silly brain!
I am proud of how far I have come in this department but clearly still have an incredibly long way to go! I fluctuate between being the perfect ideal patient (to the point of mild paranoia at the smallest niggle) to allowing frustration and my desire to train and get better of me and push through despite the pain.
Mental visualisation and planning is essential in this process
Mental visualisation and planning is essential in this process and I believe even more important than the physical aspect of training
I spent last Sunday night googling pictures of my channel crossing and watching a preparatory video to remind myself of what is to be expected. I now have a picture of the finish as the background on my phone as a constant reminder of what I am aiming for, to prepare my mind for the long task ahead and the reward that awaits me when I finally get to touch land again. This week is a new week and hopefully I will take the lessons earnt from last week and enjoy my rest week and embrace this short season before the tough training starts.