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Gaines Performance Coaching

Photos from Gaines Performance Coaching's post

03/03/2025

Sometimes you need tough times to work through mental blocks and cognitive dissonance. Saturday was a great training lesson in retrospect. All I could control was my fueling and hydration for a 20 mile trail run since my mind was all over the place and mostly in a bad mood from the moment I woke up. I wanted to bail on the run 1,000 times but I kept stacking bricks mile by mile even though my head was spinning and my legs were heavy. Around mile 18 I finally came to life when I happened to see a large crowd at the entrance to Pisgah National Forest. Feeling more hopeful and relaxed I felt like I was floating for the last couple miles.

The mind is so powerful and sometimes training feels really hard. It’s ok to feel bad. It’s ok to have doubts. It’s ok to wonder if you have what it takes to put in the work that day. It’s also ok if your mind and body need to take time off from training and recharge. The lesson for me was, I really need to feel this way today because there will be a point in my upcoming race where you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.