Today is officially day 1 of my Ironman training. 305 days to go... And to kick off my training I decided to set some very, very, very top level goals to keep in mind. I am reminding myself of them each day in my journal. When I sat and thought about what I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY needed to do, I discovered it wasn't the usual lose weight, get lean, get strong, increase power, increase v02, increase Z2 pace, improve nutrition, etc. etc. etc (although I am sure there will be plenty of posts about such topics between now and the race).. instead, I came up with:
- Slow Down - Life, not training.
- Be Present - No multi-tasking, one thing at a time
- Practice Self-Care and Compassion
- Meditate Daily
So, in other words, Buddhism.
I have spent a deal of time in the past few years reading about the connection between the brain and the body, both in terms of mental health and athletic performance. And it all pretty much boils down to this -- meditation improves the performance of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, allowing the body to think through difficult situations instead of just respond in a pure survival manner. According to Psychology Today:
if you meditate on a regular basis, several positive things happen. First, the strong, tightly held connection between the Me Center (specifically the unhelpful vmPFC) and the bodily sensation/fear centers begins to break down. As this connection withers, you will no longer assume that a bodily sensation or momentary feeling of fear means something is wrong with you or that you are the problem!
and
This means that when you experience a bodily sensation or something potentially dangerous or upsetting, you are able to look at it from a more rational perspective (rather than automatically reacting and assuming it has something to do with you). For example, when you experience pain, rather than becoming anxious and assuming it means something is wrong with you, you can watch the pain rise and fall without becoming ensnared in a story about what it might mean.
Anyone who has done any kind of physical exercise can easily see how the above would benefit any training plan -- and especially a long endurance training plan.
I encourage folks to read the whole article "This is Your Brain on Meditation" to explore more about the biological benefits of meditation.
So would someone please make me an image of the M*DOT Ironman logo with the dot replaced by a Buddha head? Seriously. Because I think it, more than anything else, will be the secret to me getting through Ironman.
I am going to write it into my Training Peaks plan right now.. do you think they have an icon for that? Wait, what are the metrics? If there are no numbers, how do I know it happened?
*** AND ANOTHER BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY IRONMAN CZM RACING FRIENDS FOR AN AMAZING RACE YESTERDAY!! ***
Labels: 140.6, buddhism, ironman, meditation
