Free Mind, Free Body

"Free your mind, and your body will follow." "Free your mind, and your body will follow."

That is how my massage with LA Body Mechanics' David ended tonight, with his words imploring me to relax and focus going into my final month of Ironman training.

It's funny, because I've been hearing that statement echoed in some form from various sources over the past several days.  Whether it's from fellow triathletes who have completed an Ironman, massage therapists, or yoga instructors, it's the same message.  Relax, don't over think things, and let your body do what it's capable of without complicating matters.

I feel like I have been doing that for weeks, if not months now.  I've learned over the past year that your body will do what your brain tells it to, as long as there's enough fuel in the tank to do it.  It's as simple as that.

Yet I think that those who know me well realize that I tend to heavily analyze things that matter most to me and perhaps they're concerned I'll somehow psyche myself out prior to the big event.

Let me assure you -- heck, let me assure myself -- that this won't happen.

Like I wrote the other night in my "fallure" blog post, I already am an Ironman in spirit.  I don't need this race to validate my training, my conditioning, or the fact that I put in the hard work.  It's all right here for everyone to see.  Yes, I want the finisher's medal.  I want it bad.  But I'm not going to torture myself thinking of every conceivable detail about how the race should be run to finish in a certain time.  I will have a strategy in mind, which Coach Gerardo is going to help me with this coming Sunday evening.  But I'm also going to let the race come to me.  After all, what if I do a bunch of planning for a race based on a clear, sunny day and it's raining?  Or what if I get a couple flat tires?  There's no point in getting riled up about all that.

So as I really head into the final stretch of training, where is my head at?  I'll tell you.  It's in the here and now.  Though I'm sneaking a peek to November 21 as well.  Nothing more, nothing less.

There's still a lot more work to do.

28 days and counting