The Olympic Effect

Despite the fact that I tell my athletes to go to bed early so that they can rest up and recover for the next day's workout I have, of late, been breaking that vital rule myself. Yeah, it is the television that is drawing me in, and it is the Olympic events that are on my tube. Is it the athletics, the sportsmanship or the drama? All of the above can be blamed. However, I like to think that there is more.

As a coach and an athlete I strive to explore the connection that the brain has in actual performance. I spoke yesterday of quieting the whining part of the brain in order to embrace and complete good training. Watching Olympic competition brings to mind another brain function that is fascinating to me and is what drives so many of the athletes I know -- the ability to be perfectly in the moment while competing. While watching on my little screen (no large screen half inch thick TV's in my house) it is amazing to see the athletes who are magically transfixed into their moment. It is also hard to watch those who have suddenly been reduced to a thinking being, trying to right the wrongs that are plaguing their Olympic dream.

I've been in both places, the latter more than the former. However, having that in-the-moment race can and does happen, and when it does it has an amazing feel, no matter what the final finish says on the results sheet. It is my meditation. That magical flow is what I enter the next race for, and then the one after that. I like to say it is my gambling, not so much whether I win the race or not, but whether I had my best-feeling race ever. It is nice, though, when the two things happen simultaneously, and more-likely that the winning will come when the mind is quiet.

So I will continue to cheat on my sleep a bit here and there so that I can witness for myself the incredible focus that can be achieved by the human mind. But only a little, I have a huge week of training ahead of me to recover from too. I might just have to focus on the events that end before 10:30 :)