{"id":13844,"date":"2019-09-25T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/?p=13844"},"modified":"2019-09-25T08:00:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T15:00:04","slug":"push-through-the-grind-of-the-fall-prep-period-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/push-through-the-grind-of-the-fall-prep-period-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Push Through the \u2018Grind\u2019 of the Fall Prep Period"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s late September. If you\u2019re serious about your ski racing, this means you\u2019re back to school and hip deep in an intense physical conditioning block. You\u2019ve been at it all summer and there\u2019s another few months of busting your butt before you get to do what you love to do, namely, get back on snow. Right now, you\u2019re probably tired of it, of being exhausted, in pain, and maybe even a little bored. I remember fall training at Burke Mountain Academy back in the day: cold early morning runs, bike rides in the rain, multiple sets of squats, and incredibly intense intervals up \u201cBlueberry Hill\u201d (so named for a girl who threw up at the top after a blueberry pancake breakfast!); definitely not fun!<\/p>\n

The physical conditioning you do and the fitness gains you make in the fall are essential for your success this coming winter. Yet, it\u2019s very likely that, at some point in this fall prep period, you\u2019re going to reach a point in your physical training when you want to scream, \u201cENOUGH!\u201d<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t! Because if you do, you let yourself down and, in all likelihood, you aren\u2019t going to have the kind of race season you want to have.<\/p>\n

\"Atomic\"That point you will almost certainly reach is what I call \u201cthe Grind.\u201d The Grind occurs when your training is just no longer fun. It\u2019s also the point that separates ski racers who achieve their goals from those who don\u2019t. When most racers hit the Grind, they either ease up or give up because it\u2019s just too darned hard. But truly motivated racers\u2014Alexis, Mikaela, Sofia, and Henrik\u2014realize that the Grind is also the point at which it really counts. The fact is that everything up to the Grind is pretty easy, so anyone can get through it. But, when these superstars reach the Grind, instead of easing up, they keep on going and, in fact, push harder. They know that maintaining their effort, intensity, and focus during the last reps, sets, or miles might make the difference between success and disappointment this winter.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard other sport psychologists tell their athletes that they have to love the Grind because if they don\u2019t love it, they won\u2019t embrace it. But I\u2019m a realist. Except for a rare few athletes, there\u2019s just not much to love when you\u2019re cold, tired, and in pain. But you can\u2019t hate the Grind either because if you do, you\u2019re probably going to stop. Now, you might be thinking: \u201cIf loving it isn\u2019t possible, but I\u2019m can\u2019t hate it either, what do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n

How you experience the Grind is on a continuum. I suggest that you neither love nor hate the Grind, just accept it<\/em> as part of the deal in striving toward your ski racing goals. The Grind may not be very enjoyable, but what feels even worse is failing to achieve your goals this winter because you didn\u2019t work hard enough in your fall conditioning. And what really feels good is seeing your hard work pay off with success this coming winter.<\/p>\n

Plus, after a really intense workout, when you push through the Grind, you feel a lot of pride and it inspires you to keep on pushing through the Grind. Until you arrive at that day you\u2019ve been waiting for, when you can click into your skis and start arcing them again. Then, you\u2019ll know that pushing through the Grind was worth every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears.<\/p>\n

So, next time you\u2019re doing dryland and it is REALLY NOT FUN, recognize the Grind, why you\u2019re doing it, and push on through it. This winter, when you\u2019ve had some great races, you can then thank yourself for hanging tough when it really mattered.<\/p>\n

Want to make mental training a part of your off-season training program? Take a look at my<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>online mental training courses<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s late September. If you\u2019re serious about your ski racing, this means you\u2019re back to school and hip deep in an intense physical conditioning block. You\u2019ve been at it all summer and there\u2019s another few months of busting your butt before you get to do what you love to do, namely, get back on snow. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1516],"tags":[820,1200,394,230,1316,1317],"class_list":["post-13844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ski-racing","tag-conditioning","tag-dryland-training","tag-mental-training","tag-motivation","tag-sport-psycyhology","tag-the-grind"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}