Not long ago, one of you superstar Tradewinds athletes mentioned to me that you were feeling frustrated because you felt like you were not in as good of shape or as lean as you were in college, only a few years ago. My response was, “give yourself some grace and be where you are right now.”
I’ve thought about this conversation a lot since then, and especially how it pertains to me. As a 40-something (SHOCKING, I KNOW) athlete, my body is different than it was 10, 15, 20 years ago. And while, personally, I feel like I’m in almost the best shape of my life, it takes me longer to warm-up and recover. I can’t always lift as heavy as I want, or even as heavy as I did a few years ago. I must be a lot more mindful of what I eat and drink, because it’s not as easy to maintain the physique that I want.
While this sounds like a bummer – it’s not! It is real hard to take your own advice sometimes, but after some serious self-talk, I am a little closer to fully realizing that where I am right now is exactly where I should be. And frankly, I’m a better athlete because of it – I’m no longer stressed out about getting that next PR, running a 400m in a certain time, or feeling like I need to master every movement.
Does this pertain to you at all? Maybe you just had a baby – amazing – you grew a human! Your body will need time, probably more than you think, to feel like itself again and that’s OK. Maybe you are getting over an illness or injury and are super frustrated with your recovery. I’ve been there, it’s the worst; but you need to take the time to recover and build back that strength. Or maybe you’re training for a road race or competition, or working on a specific movement at the gym, and you’re seeing huge fitness gains. This is incredible and we celebrate you and the fact that Tradewinds is part of your journey. Or just maybe, you are completely status quo right now and feel great – high-five to you, because that’s a wonderful mindset to have.
So, my unsolicited but very important advice to every athlete at Tradewinds and beyond is that it is more than OK to be where you are right now. And remember – Team Tradewinds is here for you – we all have unique perspectives and life experiences and can relate more than you realize.
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