_SportyBrains_

*This is my last post of the year. But it’s not about 2017, or 2018, or resolutions. I’m sure many of you are disappointed. Ok not really. So, I once read a comment on an Instagram post of yet another running pic that read: “ your legs are #goals” and promptly rolled my eyes a little. Really??  That comment makes basically no sense and is not good on the body image end of things either. Perhaps I’m just becoming a crusty old curmudgeon, but doesn’t it seem that the concept of goals (no hashtag) has become thrown around so much it lacks it’s original meaning? While goals, especially for athletes and businesspeople, remain necessary steering mechanisms for intentional progress, I have a pet peeve of that word being thrown around too much. And by how goal-setting can get misused. Or our focus gets misguided too heavily on a certain goal or we minimize them to clichés/loose terminology for just something you wish you had-we kind of have opposite extremes here it seems.   ...

...insert your name above....  Today we’re talking about lies, awful lies-but not the ones you usually think of: like when your mile PR is juuuust a few seconds over what you tell people or maybe that time when you were seventeen and you were staying at your "friend’s house" for the night (for the record, I have not committed either of these!). This post is about the lies that we tell ourselves. Yep. I do it, and probably most of the planet does so too to a degree. What’s crazy is how slick our negative belief systems can get at telling us things that are untrue. Absurd things. And like to the point where we don’t even question what’s going on anymore-it’s like “oh, okay Adrienne, whatever you say!”  That’s when stuff gets weird. And can work against us, but trust me-it doesn’t have to be this way. What this post really is about is about the jacked-up things that negative self-talk does to us often-like daily. These lovely thoughts are also referred to as Automatic N...

“Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.” -unknown Raise your hand if you ever find yourself doing this! Not quite sure what I’m talking about (or you're in denial, which is okay)- then read on. And you can put your hands down now... So there’s this awful thing we sometimes do to ourselves... some of us have this tendency to take our past achievements (Yay!) and use them to psychologically beat us down instead of build us up (Noooo!). When you read this for the first time, this idea likely makes little sense (or it's my writing style, but not much we can do there...)-or maybe it does if you’re all wise and stuff. If you're like me, we often find ourselves always going back to some arbitrary standard we set for ourselves this one day or moment in our lives and held onto it as to determine our worth and confidence forever and ever.  I'm writing to those achievement-oriented individuals out there; myself included of course. Maybe this blog should be re-named...

Let the audience be forewarned that a somewhat rambling and incoherent post may lie ahead. But if you don't care about that-read on. Because I think this topic is so relevant for so many; I know it is for me. We're going to talk about beliefs and letting go of those ideas that just serve no purpose in our lives. So life is all messy and stuff sometimes. The older I get the more I understand this is a prerequisite for truly living. You can't grow if you don't ever go through things-big things, small things, whatever. Sorry to disappoint any of you, by the way. This blog is not really about playing it safe. So when we go through things-anything like a personal or professional failure, a failing grade, or a sub-par race (or for me literally years of that mess) it can stay with you-we hold on to these experiences, often unconsciously for a long friggin' time. These beliefs can change how we perceive ourselves and they're sneaky little suckers. Not that we mean f...

At the time of me writing this it has been just 24 hours since the NCAA Cross Country Championships and the locally run (for me, at least) high school level slug-fest- Nike South Regional, which I attended yesterday. It ‘s no secret that even though I’m old and arguably past my prime as a runner, I love me some cross country. The energy at these events is hard to match for both competitors and spectators alike. Don’t believe me-if you like running at all- just go wander around one sometime and you’ll know what I mean.  It’s a beautiful thing watching people do hard things. Now it’s time to put my ‘armchair pacer’ to work and unpack some thoughts that I had while watching yesterday’s NXR’s and periodically checking in on the results for NCAA’s. First, running-especially cross country is really, really, hard.  The training it takes to prepare for Championship meets takes a certain mindset and a lot of commitment. You have to believe in what you’re doing-the training, th...

“Self-care is my middle name, people!” “I totally rock at work-life balance.” “I’m one of the most industrious people I know.” These are all things I’ve told myself time and time again (of course in my own head for risk of sounding like an arrogant weirdo). At times they are true statements/positive self-talk and can be validating that I am on the right track with things. Other times, well…I’ll fill you all in with a little secret: they’re sometimes dripping in denial.Dangit. Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this post (vegan option upon request), this story technically begins eight years ago sitting in Ethics class for Counselors but dates back even further. I clearly recall a discussion about how as professionals, we are obligated to exercise, eat right, keep our house and car clean (true story) and otherwise manage our stress levels; you know, just like any human is advised to do.  I also recall being very pleased in hearing this because I was the reside...

I recently had the privilege of doing a podcast interview with RunnersConnect 's "Run to the Top" weekly program covering a wide variety of questions on overcoming mental barriers in running. This is a topic I love discussing because the longer I run and work in the field of sport psychology, the more I feel comfortable discussing this topic and it does seem to be helpful for others to apply to their own running and lives. Some feedback and questions I've gotten since center a lot around the 'critical moment' in a race, hard workout, etc and I wanted to address some of this here and try and apply it to a larger scope beyond the road or track. This post kind of springs off of my previous; I guess I'm on a "moments" kick-who knows? Anyhow....So, for starters, I'll explain what I refer to as the 'critical moment' before we get into everything. My definition simply is simply this:  it's one that moment in a race, workout, exam, p...