'I think that a lot of athletes and sprinters deal in absolutes. For example \"I must be at my fittest to run a personal best\" or I must have no injuries to run a personal best\" or \"I must train my hardest in this session.\" \"I must train hard every session\". I see this mentality a lot in all levels of athletics, even from the international level. Coaches harness and spread this message. Well you have to stop this mentality because it is simply not true. You can and will run fast without peak fitness and it\'s very possible that it is essential to NOT be in \"peak\" fitness to run fast. Here\'s why. Fitness is a construct you create in your mind. It\'s built up over what you percieve fitness to be. It\'s harnessed by long periods of consistant training. Long periods of training hard gives you confidence and you percieve to be fit just by the amount of work you have done. While this is partly true, it neglects a few important factors. For example, Are you recovering from this training? A question nearly always answered too late when injury occurs. Are you in the right state to get the best out of your training? Are you relaxeed to sprint How do you know that you are training at the right amount? Are you just doing all the training because it\'s a comfort blanket for you. Your idea of peak fitness maybe well off the mark and continued attainment of it is only going to make you frustrated. The truth is your fitness fluctuates throughout your career. This is because of the type of training program, periodisation, peaking and injury. Athletes want to be at their fittest (or what they perceive to \"be fit\" is) all the time. Truth is you\'ll only be at peak fitness a small amount of the year. Looking for peak fitness all the time is a futile aim. It\'s unattainable. If you want to be in peak shape, then you must give this up mentality. This all - or - nothing mentality only adds stress and frustration to your attaining your goals. This is for a number of reasons. 1. the all-or-nothing mentality forces you to put everything into each training session There are occassions when you will run a PB when you shouldn\'t . ie. when you are not fit (or what you feel \"fit\" is). It\'s happened to me as an athlete and it\'s happened to many others. This shocks athletes as they don\'t know how it happened. The truth in that race, they were at their fittest because they weren\'t putting pressure on themselves. They had set themselves free of the burden of self inflicted pressure. This mentality is highly destructive to running faster times. When you come into a race when you have been injured for a period, with the all or nothing mentality, you\'ve already lost because you don\'t already feel less about yourself. if you would like help in incorporating relaxation into your sprinting or running then I offer 1-1 skype sessions and hands-on in persons muscle activation sessions using thethe Be-Activated method. If interested, please get in touch by emailing andy@thegreatathletenexus.com Sprinting well is more than training hard and it\'s more than good nutrition or optimal sleep. Fitness has been pigeon holed into meaning one thing and that is the training you do on the track or in the gym, I go into more in this video If you go out into competition or training with relaxation and confidence, then that can overpower any perceived lack of fitness.'
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