Living in the past...

I was training a client the other day and he was having a hard time with the workout. He was doing a lot of negative self talk- saying out loud that he was 'fat, slow, and out of shape'.

At this moment I drew upon many of my experiences with running. I too have gone through periods of negative self talk- I think we all have at some point or another.

This gentleman however, is not the same shape he was in 6 months ago. He is just getting back into it after taking some time off of training. He kept making reference to the fact that he used to be able to do all of these things in the past and was clearly frustrated that he kept having to take breaks.

This instantaneously reminded me of what I feel I have been experiencing and dealing with. I have however, come to the realization that I am not in the exact same shape I was 4 months ago. I can't run for hours up hours like I used to. And I can proudly say that I am totally OK with that! And, I will get back to that when I am ready.

I shared with him my experience with a similiar situation. I told him about my anxieties over not being able to perform as well as I had in the past at a race I had done the year before, where I won and broke the course record. I almost didn't want to go because I knew I couldn't beat my time. I explained that I really had to do some self-reflection on the significance of these feelings.

I think it's really important not to think about what we have done or where we used to be. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The reality of the situation is, no, I am not in the same shape. I have not been running as much as I was 6 months ago, so why am I pressuring myself to beat a time, such an insignificant thing. That day, I went out, I ran as hard as I could and because of the effort, I was happy. I did not think about my time, I just went out and tried hard. For me, that truely is what matters most.

I reminded him that he is not what he was 6 months ago and that it was OK. All that matters is that he was there, giving it his best that day, moving towards where he wants to be tomorrow and in the future. Maybe he didnt do the workout as fast as he thought, and maybe it took longer to complete the exercises selected. In the end, he still finished everything I gave him. He did the work and he tried his best. That's all I can ask for.