Quotes and Quotables and Mantras

8 1/2 miles of speedwork simply can not be done without music. I've never even attempted it before. That would be craziness. But sometimes we're forced into doing things we didn't think we could do. Halfway through my nine Yasso's my i pod died. Panic set in and I jumped off during the recovery to try and find one of my children's. I wasn't even concerned about what kind of music was on there, I just needed music. After a few minutes of futile searching, I jumped back on and the reality set in that I was going to have to do this without music. I only had 4 left. My mind started doing the math; 2 miles left plus 1 mile recovery plus 1 mile cool down = 4 miles on the treadmill without tunes. It was almost unbearable to even think about. I plugged through the first one o.k. with a song in my mind that worked pretty well. I discovered that I even have to breath while I'm singing in my mind. Weird. The second one wasn't too bad, I switched songs on the music player in my mind and made it through. The third and fourth (really the eighth and ninth repeat) however were kind of torturous. It may have been that my quads were almost screaming at this point and I was getting tired, but I really think it was the music thing. So I switched gears and went to my mantras. I've only said them out loud once to my husband and felt pretty silly. But they work and they got me through the last part of my workout. This is what I repeat in my mind in a slow and calculated way, "soft, relaxed, smooth, fast, strong." I try to picture myself being that kind of a runner. One who's got a soft step, who's limbs are relaxed, that smooth runner who looks like it's no effort at all, of course a fast runner, and one who is strong and will finish that way. Think it's hard to remember? Well, here's how my brain works: every other word starts with "s" and I can remember relaxed and fast. So today was good practice for when I'm really gonna need it. I try to visualize the last part of a marathon with me repeating those words and having them make me into that runner. It's amazing that when I say those words I feel myself relax even when I'm running fast and everything feels better. I tend to tense everything up when I have to go fast and I know that's not good. I've been practicing this for a while but it's always been underneath the beat of music. Today was good practice without any other distractions.

I also read on this blog a great post about not procrastinating those things which we think are hard to do. For me it's eating good. I'm always saying that I'll start tomorrow and her mantra is I'll quit tomorrow. That's my new plan. I can have that cookie tomorrow.

Here's another good one that talks about how habits are so much better than willpower. That's what I really need to do to permanently change my weight. I need a new lifestyle.

What are the things you do to get you through? What's your mantra?