Living the Dream or Not

So I've been thinking. Occasionally. Well seldomly but well. You know training is only half of it. The other half is living, and to be honest its this part that lets most of us down as athletes.

Theres reasons why elite squads in top sports often live in controlled situations. Close to their coaches and support structures. Think of David Tua in his ranch with his minders, the East Germans in their dormitorys and Murray Halberg and co down the road from Arthur Lydiard. Your lifestyle is key to your sporting performance. You need to eat well, sleep well, stay warm and healthy and stay inspired.

Think about it this way. Remember those days you just couldn't get off your butt to go training. It wasn't your training that let you down, you probably weren't really tired from the day before, or the race at the weekend. You were unmotivated because you hadn't recovered well, you possibly hadn't eaten well and because of this you lacked the motivation, the necessary chemicals to get out there.

A real dangerous time for losing the battle to "live well" is immediately after school. Athletes change into a much less regimented, much less supportive environment full of all sorts of influences that however fun they may be are negative to their sporting performance. Now I'm not making a judgement call on choosing to be influenced or under the influence, of these influences. I chose to be. I just want to make sure that you know what you are choosing.

Some of my posts over the next while will focus on this choice....