Visualizing

One important aspect of any sport is one that is often left out, visualizing. I can remember from high school and college, coaches reminding us to incorporate this into our mental preparation for games. High school coach Phil often would say, "you girls can't shoot the puck in the ocean!" (Typically adding several F or S bombs.) Here he was trying to get us to visualize shooting and scoring on the net. Not sure how that compares to an ocean, but he thought yelling would work (sometimes it did). In college, the coaches made a little bit more sense. Bacon would come into the locker room and guide us through a "hockey meditation" once in awhile or give us a pep talk about visualizing. Even Coach Donovan would incorporate it into his pre-game talks.

I was never the best hockey player on my team but I've always had heart. I've always given it my all, encouraged my teammates and brought 110% to practice and games, even if I was hurt or warming the bench. But one thing I always did was visualize. It helped me to think about what I needed to do on the ice or any other sport I played.

So where am I going with this?

Yesterday's Workout: Yesterday's spin class included up/downs, a series of hill climbs/sprints, hill climbs, sprints on a flat road and ended with up/downs. The spin instructor is also a yogi. So as much as she has the intensity of a spin instructor, she always brings some of the yoga qualities to spin class. She asked us to close our eyes as we entered the 15 second hill climb, picturing a hill and then picture taking off from the pack as we transitioned into a sprint. Some people in the class don't partake in the visualizing but being the nerd I am, I didn't hesitate to close my eyes. I brought the visualizing and the intensity, as I pictured running up the last leg of "Heartbreak Hill" and sprinting down Boylston street to the finish, while picturing the faces I would hope to see!

Even though in spin we are on a bike, it simulates runing in some aspects. So if I can't visualize during my runs, I'll at least have spin class to mentally prepare.

Song of the Post: "Ill Behavior" - Danny Byrd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u1vq8xI1Vg&feature=related (again, from spin class...awesome song for sprints - definitely going to add it to my running mix)