1 Thing You’re Not Doing that’s Robbing Your Performance

Mental Performance Training.

When most athletes think of Mental Performance Training, what comes to mind? Visualization? Breathing techniques? Goal setting?  These concepts barely scratch the surface. Since early January, I started a quest to find out as much as I can about how we as athletes can control our outcomes through the power of the mind. And what I’ve come across has been quite mind-blowing. I won’t go into full detail here (heck, I’d have to write a novel), but I do want to devote many more posts on this subject in the future. I’ll also provide quick action steps that any athlete can apply right away. So here we go…

Today’s Action Step:

I’m on the News!

It’s official: I’ve been covered in my first news story! Please visit Mid Hudson News to read the article and listen to the radio cast.

Thank you to Hank Gross for covering the story!

Product Review: ProMera Sports Con-Cret Concentrated Creatine

First product review! Many more to come. Here’s my take on the Con-Cret Creatine product from ProMera Sports.

Hands down, this is a great product. I highly recommend this form of Creatine, especially to those that tend to bloat up bad on Monohydrate (like me) or to athletes who think they are Creatine non-responders. There are zero side effects with Con-Cret and absolutely no water weight gain. I’ve actually lost weight while

Week 1 of Training Complete

So week 1 is over. I’m finally settled in to the new place and I’m now full-force into training. Training went well this week- lots of strength, power and biomechanics work among other things. I surprised myself with several aspects of my fitness (in a good way!) and I also know what I must work on. I definitely feel like I’m in the right place, with the right coach that will take me to the next level. My body feels good and is recovering well from the workload. That was one thing I was somewhat worried about when I first arrived- I didn’t want to be too sore from each day’s workout, but that really hasn’t been an issue so far. I feel really good and things are coming together!

I’m still heavily in the conscious

Training Time! And Thanks to All!

I am now officially moved to New York and ready to train! It’s been quite an exhausting week of preparing for the move, taking care of business, and training on my own in between. Now I’ve moved into my new home, with the Masztalics family, and I meet with my coach, Rick Scarpulla, this morning to start training. Let the thrashings begin!

I really want to the thank several people for their overwhelming generosity in helping me move closer towards this goal of making the USA Women’s Bobsled team.

Joe Masztalics: thanks so much for helping me move! I wouldn’t have been able to get all my stuff up to New York without your help. Thank you for showing me around town and for all the support you have provided!

The rest of the Masztalics family, Joe and Cathy: thanks so much for hosting me in your home during this time. Your generosity and hospitality are overwhelming and I feel so blessed to now have you all in my life!

I also want to thank Eddie Harris for the generous donation he provided in helping me on my way. Thanks so much!

To all my previous coworkers: Thanks for the support you have all provided me! It’s truly awesome!

And of course, to my family who has supported me through every crazy adventure I’ve ever wanted to try out along the way. Having your blessing going forward really means a lot. Love you all!

…Idea just popped in my head. I think I’ll make a new page for this blog; the Appreciation Page! I’ve realized that it will be impossible to achieve this goal (or any other) without the help of a lot of generous people along the way. So I would like to start a page where I thank those people. Sounds like a great idea 🙂

Free Now!

On Friday, I finished my last day of full-time work. It’s a strange feeling! And now I have tremendously more time to get even more things accomplished in pursuit of this goal. It’s challenging to move in a new direction while working full time; my life before was spent on working, training, and exhausting myself on the weekends trying to plan out the future, learn how this all works, drive up to Middletown to train with my coach, and getting administrative details together. I’ve had to learn a lot of things from scratch along the way so it’s been a work in progress.  I’m glad I did this leg work while still employed full-time however; it allowed me to save far more money while learning what I need to do to be successful.  It’s pretty awesome that I’m moving on now, yet I know I have to be running full speed ahead from this point forward. So much to do and to get off the ground!

This week, I’ve been preparing for the big move, which is coming up on Sunday, April 14th. So far everything is coming into place. I’ve been selling furniture, dropping off unneeded stuff at Goodwill and cleaning everything out. I’ll be a minimalist-mover- it will be much less stressful this way and more convenient. My life this week is preparing for the move, training, and getting my athletic career off the ground bit by bit as I’m developing this blog more, my social media presence, and as I start pursuing sponsorships more aggressively. I’ve recently added more to the site- I’ve got my About page and Donations page up and running now. I still have to get the Sponsorship Opportunities page off the ground, which will happen in the next day or so.

Randomness for the Day: today, I hung out with my friend Dale and we threw an actual boomerang in an open field. By the end of it, I had thrown the boomerang close to full circle (almost there!) and I became the boomerang’s first kill as well- I managed to run into the boomerang while actually trying to get away from it. Yeah, I kind of went in the wrong direction…lesson learned! Luckily it didn’t really hurt; it’s kind of like being attacked by a bird 🙂

It’s gorgeous weather here today and I’m thoroughly enjoying it!

Setting the Stage

Over the weekend, I traveled back home to visit family in Alabama before taking on my big adventure.  It was my birthday so I took the opportunity to have a little vacation while I could. I had a great weekend- beautiful weather (and warm!), great food, spent time with family and old college friends and got in some much-needed rest.  I just landed in DC this morning, where I’ve lived for over 2 years. But not for much longer.  Next week, I’ll be relocating to Middletown, NY in order to train with my coach, Rick Scarpulla of Ultimate Advantage. I’m really excited yet I know I’ve got a tall task in front of me. This experience will require me to reach beyond my comfort zone in every conceivable way…yet I suppose that is the reason I’m doing this.

I like being challenged and I like a certain amount of uncertainty in my life. Something to go after that isn’t guaranteed, that will require myself to be firing on all cylinders at all times to make this work the way I want it to. And I am aiming my sights high. I want to see what I’m fully capable of. And I know I’m capable of a tremendous amount. I have everything I need, physically and mentally, to do extremely well this year. I can’t wait to get started 🙂

This is my last week of work! It’s hard to believe I’ll be leaving the 9-to-5 very shortly to follow a rather unorthodox path. And I can’t wait to get this off the ground! This week is all about wrapping up loose ends at work and also preparing for the relocation. So much to do, not much time left!