Journey to Kona day 2: Focus

Whether doing an Ironman, living one’s life, or running a business, it’s about focus. As I begin my journey over the next 35 weeks this is probably the single most important thing I will need to remember. One week ago, out of the blue, I decided that I was going to try to run every day. Now, for someone my age this normally wouldn’t seem to be the best idea. In fact I would attribute the fact that I have had very few running injuries to the fact that I don’t run every day. On the other hand, running every day doesn’t mean running a lot every day. It’s always a matter of degree. So over the last week I did run every day, and I managed to put in over 10 hours of total training last week, which included about 20 miles of running. This morning I got up, went out and ran a little over 2 miles. It’s not the distance that matters. I think that running every day puts me in the proper state of mind. In order to achieve the goals I'm setting for myself, this is important!

This morning was interesting for another reason. I woke up a little early, but not in the middle of the night, which I had been doing for sometime. Sleep pattern changes are one of the signs of fatigue. So waking up a little later than usual and actually being able to go back to sleep a couple times without any problems and getting my full nights sleep was a big deal. But that wasn’t the best part. I'm someone who tends to remember my dreams. I’m also someone who takes whatever is bothering me and finds a way of dreaming about it. Needless to say, over the last few months my dreams have not necessarily been the favorite part of my night, as I've struggled with a number of things in my life. This morning I woke up and realized that I had dreamt about the Snowdrop ultra (the 100 mile run/walk that I did over New Years). And, it was all good. I dreamt about the people, the camaraderie, the positive feelings I had doing this remarkable event. I don’t know what this portends in terms of whether I will do it again, but I do know that I can rest well with this recent accomplishment. Perhaps, it’s also a message that it is time to move on to my next goal.

This brings me back to the concept of staying focused. I’ve always been someone whose mind is going in many directions.  In fact, if I was born today I would probably be labeled with ADD. When I have a job, it gives me something to focus on and I generally don’t have any problem doing that. When I have multiple choices to make in terms of what I want to focus on, that is when I can run into difficulty. This brings me back to my Ironman training and why the idea of running every day, sometimes just for a mile, is important for me to latch onto. I think it’s also a chance first thing in the morning to get my brain focused on all of the other tasks at hand, which includes a major project I'm working on.  And so, I must learn to tamp down my habit of going in multiple directions at one time, which is easy to do at this moment in my life. I think the other key to successfully staying focused will be to avoid being distracted by other things such as politics, news and empty social media.  I realize, especially when there is too much time, with too little structure, today's world of instantaneous connectivity might not be the best thing for me. And so, everyday I'll get a run in and work on being focused.