After skiing, I had an easy jaunt around Vail as the sun went down. Ran for 90' easy, concentrating on breathing easy, keeping a strong core, and enjoying the scenery . I approach runs like this the same way I would approach a yoga class, or even a technical row; I am trying to maintain a posture, a quality posture, and the focus that goes along with that, for the entirety of the workout. Minimizing lulls and lapses in concentration. Just one moment at a time. The implications and potential speed gains of getting my race pace rowing stroke to be as graceful, repeatable, and thoughtful as a yoga pose are profound. And while I am not taking rowing strokes right now, I am continually trying to develop that gracefulness, thoughtfulness, and focus on the present moment no matter what I am doing. These tools are used while running, xc skiing, lifting, erging, doing yoga, reading a book, drawing, painting, playing the piano, talking with a girl you like, or even doing the dishes. Especially doing the dishes. It's definitely easy to lose track of what you are training for, what the goals are, what needs improving, etc, especially during the winter months on the erg or cross training. I think thats a big difference between a young athlete and an experienced wiser athlete: an ever-present vision of what they are aiming for and what needs to be changed or maintained. But its like remembering a dream when you wake up. It's extremely difficult, you think you remember it, but then it's gone. It's fleeting. Keep reminding yourself what the dream is. If your dream is as fresh and clear on the other side of winter training as it was when you finished your last race in the Fall, then perfect, you probably just got a lot faster. The varying techniques to do that...I watch a lot of world championship videos. I am a visual learner, or so they tell me.
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