Mental toughness

I’ve been working out for the last two months with an amazing personal trainer from 24 Hour Fitness in Aurora, Colorado, Dr. Justin Dukes .  He happens to also be a chiropractor who studied with the lead chiropractic physician for the U.S. Olympic Teams, Dr. Ted Forcum. 

I don’t know how I accidentally got their very best trainer, and someone with a medical background, as well, but I’m going to consider that God opened that door!

The progress Justin has helped me make has been incredible.  What a boost to your self-esteem, to lose the last ten pounds and 11 inches total off my waist, hips, and thighs, to slim down and begin to see and feel great muscles instead of flab!  He finds my body weaknesses and gives me exercises to fix them, finds my mental weaknesses and pushes me to overcome them.  Wow.

So this week, I signed up for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training” program, where they give you free coaching and training for endurance events and in exchange, you do a little fundraiser and help them raise money. 

If you can believe it, I’m going to spend the next five months training for the Denver Marathon!!

I’m in shock.  Total and complete shock.  And do you know what?  I really think I can do it.  So does Justin.

He even offered to run the first mile test with me, to keep me going.  Might even consider running at the end, to encourage me.  I asked him why he would do that and we had a little discussion about “mental toughness”.  See, when you train for marathons, it’s not ALL about physical endurance.  It’s about feeling like you can’t do any more and finding it someplace within yourself to finish it out.  Your coaches and trainers run alongside you and encourage you.  And he said he’d like to do that for me.

When I’m training, especially if I’m doing planks, I’ll say, “Justin, keep me going” and he’ll get on the floor and say, “10 more seconds, you can do it, come on… five… four… hang in there… two one.  Done!  Good job!”  And that keeps me going when my own lack of mental toughness would say, okay, that’s enough, quit. 

I realize that, because of really the most modest, non-problematic health problems, I’ve babied myself and maybe even felt sorry for myself for the last few years.  I can see it as I work out.  On my own, I don’t even work up a sweat or get overheated, I just don’t push to my own limits. 

You realize when you visit with people with health problems, many times, we all become victims.  We don’t want to admit it and in many other areas, we are NOT victims.  But in this matter of health, we ARE.  We wait to see what the doctors will do and with brain tumors, especially meningiomas, they just “watch and wait”.  And yet, as you can see from all the stuff I’ve found out about nutrition and natural healing — good solid stuff, good science from people who work for brain tumor societies — there is really a LOT we can do.

So, Justin doesn’t realize it, but he’s helping me in far more ways than just the “mental toughness” of training and getting fit and preparing for a marathon.  I’m a strong person in every other area of my life … but in this area of total wellness, I’ve found weaknesses.  Mental weaknesses, fears, “I’m not really sure I could do this” kinds of things.  Justin, bless his heart, is helping me believe in myself. 

Mental toughness.  Just might be the thing you need the most of all, when you’re trying to take care of yourself.

As of April 28, 2008, I have progressed to the point of not only losing the last ten pounds but of training for a marathon as part of a fundraiser effort for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.  To follow my progress or to learn how to go from being a non-athlete to a fit, trim, and healthy runner, see my blog at http://SheCanRun.com.