Self-Improvement is not an easy task to take on. With spring finally here, and everyone preparing for competition again…what are some self-improvement strategies for us as individuals? How do we overcome the mental game to stay positive and drown out other’s negativity?

Running and yoga can really help your mind and body.   Mental toughness books.  Books about athletes and how they prepare.   A couple of good ones I have read is the Mind Gym, Let your mind run, 10 minutes of toughness, Life's too short to go so f**cking slow, The champions mind.   Staying away from social media.  Focus on your breathing.   Running and yoga can teach you about that.  Focusing on where your energy level is.  You dont' want to be too high (you will wear yourself out/or over run your pattern) or too low you won't have the gumption to compete.  

My work out rules run almost year round - ride or row. If the weather is crud I will row on the water rower for 20 minutes and do a stretch. I do a yoga/core/balance routine 5-6 mornings a week no matter what. If I don't do all of this I will tie up worse than any horse in about 48 hours and then it takes a week or more to get back on track. 55+ really sucks on the physical body!

I always hit the gym hard in the winter but maintaing my place alone, I dont have much time for it in the summer. However, I have set goals to read a few new books each year. Picking ones that are self-help, reading before bed to ease my mind. I have also set some big goals and then some smaller goals.

Running and spin classes to stay and shape....and control my breathing like someone else mentioned. I tend to set small short term attainable goals leading up to a big end of season goal. If it's broken down in chunks, it doesn't seem so scary. With those goals, the races I want to run at, etc, comes with a plan of how to pay for it all. 

I don't read self help books but I find if I keep my focus on the main thing - my family, faith, etc, I don't get so caught up in a not so great run, a not so great ride, or what other people are doing or not doing. 

As far as staying focused at races, I tend to be a bit of a recluse. I don't talk to people much prior to my run. Weird, I know. But sitting around, chatting, watching other people run just gets me jittery. I avoid it. I warm up and stay away from the arena til my drag and depending on arena set up, I stay far away until it's my turn.