Karen writes: Nagging Voice in the Brain - NVB

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I'm doing a lot of “what was I doing this time last year?”,  “am I in better or worse shape than I was then?” type of thinking.

The answer is, who can tell?   That doesn't help really, because we never really tested ourselves at the full IM distance when the 2012 IM was downgraded, there is a definite psychological advantage to be had in being able to at least fool ourselves into thinking that we are marginally fitter than we were a year ago.  Last week I did an hour more training than the equivalent week in 2012…but then the Nagging Voice in the Brain (NVB) says “but you didn’t do as much swimming and you are weak at that”.  I reminded myself that I swam my best time in the Rotorua Half IM swim in December…NVB says “that was AGES ago”.  Likewise, the ‘off-the-bike’ run on Friday felt pretty good and I had a good long run (24km) on Sunday…NVB says “ah but you took a whole day off before doing the Friday ride/run, and the Saturday after it off as well…what happened to running on ‘tired legs’, you must be in worse shape”.  My NVB really doesn't like me.

This morning I left home early to try to silence the swimming NVB.  I even persevered after forgetting my laptop and having to turn around and drive back for it (I normally carry 2 bags in the morning, this time it was handbag and swimbag). I got to the pool, squashed my way into a lane predominated by a surplus of stately male walkers, and splashed out 50 frustrating minutes worth of paddle and flipper training.  50 minutes was exactly what the plan says so please be quiet NVB!

Tonight I will go for a run, the plan says 70 minutes tempo (meant to be a little faster than ‘usual pace’…ha ha), but LAST year I did 80 minutes at this time!   The NVB says “do 100 minutes, at much faster than usual pace”…um…no.

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