Tag Archives: goals

Be Inspired.

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Inspiration. As I have grown older, I find that true inspiration is more difficult to come by. Or perhaps it is more appropriate to say harder to notice. I might be over generalizing my own personal experience, but I challenge you to take a moment to ask yourself, “when was the last time I was truly inspired?” We as humans-especially Americans-tend to busy ourselves and rush from one thing to the next. I am the queen of this. For why is it that we should “stop and smell the roses?” Sure, it’s to “slow down and take the time” to admire the beauty, but more importantly I say it is to be inspired. That impressionable side of us that causes us to get chills when we hear a riveting speech, have our breath taken away by a sunset, or our heart warmed when we witness some amazing act of human kindness oftentimes gets buried under the blanket of stress and everyday responsibilities.

Growing up as an athlete, I grew accustomed to being inspired. In sport it is all around you. When I was younger, I covered one of my bedroom walls with articles, Nike advertisements, and photos of strong and successful female athletes. Mia Hamm, Lisa Fernandez, Sheryl Swoopes, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain-Hell, the entire US Women’s Soccer team of the mid to late-90’s-were my roommates. I called it my Inspiration Wall. Maybe a little dorky…but it inspired me day in and day out as I would walk out on my way to school, to run errands, or to the next big game.

Yesterday, I found myself truly inspired and inspired in a way that I haven’t been in a very long time. I was inspired to have courage. I had the opportunity to attend a work luncheon and hear Paralympian Gold Medalist Alana Nichols tell her story and speak about her journey to becoming the first American woman to win Gold medals from both the Summer and Winter Games. I sat on the edge of my seat taking in every word, entranced by her attitude and tenacious drive to go after what she wanted and be successful doing it. That’s inspiration. I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that her overcoming a paralyzing and literally life-changing accident to achieve what she has in the past 10 years is of course, inspiring in itself. I think what stuck with me more is her courage to take the risks she has taken, have the confidence and faith in herself as an athlete and person, and to go after what was in her heart. She wanted to win Gold starting with the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and then for giggles, she went after Gold in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

It seems to have become somewhat cliché to say, “go with what is in your heart” or “do what makes you happy.” Easy to say but hard to execute for many people when considering their situation and circumstances. This is where inspiration meets courage. To truly be inspired, you need to be courageous. It takes courage to act on that inspiration and to take those steps toward becoming someone or doing something that you have always wanted to and feels right in your heart, but perhaps haven’t had the guts (or faith) to take that leap.

After listening to Alana Nichols tells her story and feeling as though I was being directly spoken to, I couldn’t help but take a moment to self-inspect. That hour and half luncheon was the kick in the butt I needed to step off that ledge and go after a dream. I am inspired.

erGOALS…

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I have always encouraged others to make sure they take a moment to enjoy the small successes achieved along the way in working toward the larger goal. The road to reaching any accomplishment-whether it’s publishing your thesis or dissertation, finishing a long-range project at work, to training to be an elite rower-is long, difficult and inevitably filled with setbacks. So the importance of taking time to recognize the smaller successes is vital to keeping your confidence up and the momentum going. We all know what it feels like to be “stuck” or in a rut. It comes in the form of writer’s block or maybe you just can’t seem to shave off that extra second on your 2K to set a new PR (personal record) no matter how diligent you are about your training and how hard you work. There are far too many days we are all hard on ourselves and too few that we give our own back a congratulatory pat.

Last week was a big week for my training record book. I pulled a new PR in both the 2K and 6K erg tests. Still on the steep side of the training curve, I am seeing significant results with almost every test so pulling new PRs isn’t anything new. The difference in these PRs was I succeeded in reaching two goals I had set for myself which felt pretty damn good.

A little over two months ago, I set out a list of my goals I knew I needed to reach this year. Buying my own boat = check. I’m madly in love with my Hudson single. Breaking the 7 minute mark in the 2K (pulled a 6:56 for my new PR) and breaking the 22 minute mark in the 6k (pulled a 21:59 for my new PR) = check and check.

You can kind of see the “21:59.9″ in the picture above. In my state of gasping for oxygen and forcing myself to take light strokes to properly cool-down, I managed to snap a picture…like a proud parent when their child does something for the first time, I was a little excited…just barely broke 22 minutes but hell, I still broke it. That was true pain and what a lesson in how important every single stroke can be.

Time to set some new goals.

Back at the Boathouse

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I have mentioned before how valuable having a training partner is. Yesterday was my first workout back with my partner Brian, breaking a long 11-day solitary confinement driven by my own ambition to get the workouts in-and of course, my workout binder (yes, I have a binder that catalogues my workouts, mileage, test results, etc-I might be a bit Type A) mandating I check off each day. More on the binder later.

Sunday’s Sub-max 6K was good-especially in the company of Brian and his wife Pam. While it’s not necessarily “difficult” because you aren’t going balls to the wall, maximum effort-it helps knowing you’re in it with a team. You’re working hard because you know that’s what you have to do but you’re also working hard with others and in some way this creates an atmosphere of obligation and maybe even competition; making sure you give your best because everyone else around you is doing just that (and you expect that from them), and it would be insulting, even disrespectful to them to not put in your 100%.

This morning was a 75-minute easy piece on the erg (easy, HR zone = R)…but LONG. A month ago, 75 minutes without stopping used to seem like an eternity. Today, it felt fantastic-I was cruising and enjoying it. But I also think a huge part of the ease of this morning was having someone working just as hard on the erg next to me. For all the reasons mentioned above and before, there is comfort and strength in that. I was talking with a friend last night who was flabbergasted at the idea of spending that long on the erg. She exercises so it wasn’t the thought of working out but more so the idea of spending so much time doing the same motion-methodical, boring. I remember thinking that same thing before actually trying this rowing thing. I can run for hours but never imagined I could have the focus to sit on an erg for hours…but alas, I have arrived. I guess it’s one of the side effects of the addiction. Focus, fixation. My mind goes to another place for those 75 minutes, 100 or 120 minutes (as tomorrow’s workout calls for). I think about everything and nothing. Time when my mind is completely at ease and for lack of a better term, “blank” is rare but graciously welcomed even when it is sweating on an erg, feeling my muscles working and burning. I love it. I look forward to it. Not just for the time that it is (because truly, I do love the exercise), but knowing that every minute I’m training, I’m working toward a goal; toward being better as an athlete and person. There truly is purpose (and benefit) in every pull I put in on the erg. And for that alone, I absolutely love it. It’s why I wake up at 5:30am every morning; it’s what I look forward to in my day.

It is 3 days into a new year. Many successes and victories and many losses and failures will be seen over the next 362 days. But at the end of the year, the final result will only be success and I can’t wait to taste a little bit every day.