when you start settling for anything thats not the best
thats when its over
thats when you can tie your shoe laces together
and throw them over the telephone wires
make them as far out of reach
because thats where your dreams and goal will always be

in this sport, its not about enjoying life
its about being the best
its about eating oatmeal for breakfast even though you don't like the taste
its about running an extra rep even though you have nothing left
its about staying at home recovering even though you haven't seen your friends in months

its about sacrifices
its about discipline
its about hard work

its about crawling and fighting your way through every set back

its about being the best

only winners are remembered

knock knock.

who's there?

the guy that came second.

the guy that came second who?

exactly.

Every minute

And if I was to be totally honest with you
I'd tell you I hate it
I hate training
I hate running
I hate competing
I hate losing
I even hate winning
I hate it all

But I'm addicted to the way it makes me feel

What I can only assume a drug addict feels
You hate what it does to you
You hate what it's doing to your life
But you can stop
Because you love the way it feels
The way it makes you feel

So you can't stop
You just sit and wait impatiently for your next fix
Knowing how much you don't want to
But also how much you NEED it.

And as much as you hate it you know you wouldn't have it any other way

Athletics is my drug

the question isn't "how much more can you take?"

But "how much more you can give?"

Just when you're ready to quit.

Your mind says "push harder".

You listen, sensing an inner strength that wasn't there before.

&& suddenly you discover -- you no longer feel pain.

only a burning desire to do what others cant or wont.

only a burning desire to win.

my sport is your sports punishment

I'm on the track 11 hours a week
I'm in the gym 5 hours a week
I've got yoga 3 hours a week
&& pilates 3 hours a week
Pool sessions 4 hours a week
Recovery session 7 hours a week

Then I'm expected to be at uni 6 hours a week
Study 5 hours a week
In the kitchen 14 hours a week
&& an extra 7-10 hours cleaning and washing

I'm up before 6 making lunches
I'm in bed around 10
2 hours a week is spent in chiro
&& Another hour is spent in massage

Not to mention i walk the dog 7 hours a week
spend about 9 hours a week getting ready, showering etc
&& I'm required to have 4 hours minimum every day as "down time" between sessions.
where i am supposed to do very little mentally or physically hard (which i generally dont get)

which leaves me 53 hours a week to sleep.
divide that by 7, giving me 7 hours sleep a night.
Thats if i'm lucky && everything goes to plan.
which it usually doesn't.
But every minute i spend doing something "fun" away from this schedule is a minute less i get to sleep.

&& If you were to ask me if it was worth it.  
I'd say yes everytime.

so how about you fuck off and give me a break
you wouldnt know what hard work looked like even if it punched you in the face

☆☆☆

Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.

It's pretty simple really,

Work hard,

Train smart,

&& It'll happen.

To talk much and arrive nowhere is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish

“Some people want it to happen,

some wish it would happen,

others make it happen.”

-Michael Jordan

The thing i want most in life, cannot be bought nor sold. But earned.

think, really hard.

&& ask yourself.

are you doing enough?

are you working hard enough,

are you looking after yourself good enough,

are you doing everything you can?

if the answer is yes, then your a lying fraud and you should stop reading this blog and go be mediocre else where, coz the truth is, you could always be doing more.

more reps.

more speed.

more strength.

more technique.

more smiles.

more laughs.

more hugs.

more sleep.

more, more, more.

but when can you sit back and say, i have done enough.

well, you cant really.

There are only a few people in this world that can say they have done enough.

Usain Bolt: 100m World Champion, Olympic Champion, World Record Holder, Olympic Record Holder.

Lance Armstrong: 7 time Tour De France winner and cancer survivor.

There are others who fit this catigory of the most amazing athletes we have ever seen but i have chosen these two for a reason.

The feats both these athletes have accomplished are phenomenal.

Yet both of these athletes have never once said "I've done all i can do"

Bolt is still chasing down his own world record.

Armstrong is training for yet another tour de france win.

so dont sit there and tell yourself you are doing enough

because the truth is you can always be doing more

you'll always have to do more

There is no end to how hard you have to work.

it'll always be harder, harder, harder..

until your day is done.

The Six W's:

Work will win when wishing won't.

It isnt hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good at it every day. A feat I was stupidly trying to achieve. But at the end of the day it all boils down to one hour and fifty minutes of my life. My heat and final in 33 days time. Who cares if you have an off day? who cares if you lose one meaningless race in the lead up. How many races have you seen the favorite falter and lose. Pressure is doubled even tripled when people are expecting things from you. But at the end of the day, the only race that counts is the one that your running.

A fatal flaw in Athletics is we are so busy looking at the short term goal. we never think about the long term. Nobody cares if you win your interclub. your state title. the grand prix. unless you can back it up at nationals, having your name at the top of the national rankings in meaningless. The last 2 years of my life have been a lead up to that very moment. 365 days of training, 365 days of lead up, excitement, dedication and motivation, a life time of training for one hour and fifty minutes of my life. with two intense 13 second periods in between.

When you stand there on that line. What you have done means nothing.
The only race that counts is that one.
and if you havent worked the hardest.
you'll lose.
even if you've beaten them before, if you havent done the work.
You'll lose.

So shut up, smarten up and hit the track.

Work will win when wishing won't.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going

Sometime in this sport, you need to get back to basics. Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the purity, to love the pace on the track. The technical aspects. And if some kid gets really good at it, that's cool too. But you need to love what you do, in every single possible way.

The more I talk to different athletes, the more convinced I become that the method of training is relatively unimportant. There are many ways to the top, and the training method you choose is just the one that suits you best. No, the important thing is the attitude of the athlete, the desire to get to the top. Your training partner's name is pain. You start out trying to ignore him. Can't do it. You attempt to reason with him. No way. You try to strike a bargain. Hah. You plead. You say "Please stop, please go away. I promise never ever to do this again if you just leave me alone." But he won't. But i promise you, the pain of disipline is far less than the pain of regret. And the Truth is that Running Hurts. No one gets faster without meeting their personal pain barrier straight on. No amount of junk miles, fun runs or affirmations are going to get you to any place worth going. Wether thats winning states, nationals, or any international event.

No one ever won the Gold medal with an impressive training diary. Your hard work MUST be met with a determined mind. Faith can move mountains, doubt can create them. And yeah, sometimes its hard not to doubt yourself when the rest of the world doubts you. But its important to remember that we are truly judged by what we finish, not what we start. and only a person that has done nothing, is sure that nothing can be done. If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win. Its continuous effort, not strength or talent, and a strong mind that is the key to unlocking our potential.

A winner makes commitments to a goal, a loser makes promises. And yeah, you wont win and you wont run your best every single time you hit the track, if we did i would be a 7.5 100m runner by now. But bad times do have a great value, these are the times a good learner would not miss. Errors and mistakes are so important but once you have learnt from them, they MUST be forgotten. Just do what you love. Love what you do. And deliver more than you promise.

You should also keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great athletes make you feel that you, too, can become great. We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; It does not exist and I am not cut out for defeat. I can be destroyed but not defeated.

Ever.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though splattered by failure, than to rank with those worthless people who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory or defeat. If you believe in yourself, have dedication and pride and never quit, you'll be a winner.

The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards.

today is the first day of the rest of your life

Here i sit. With high hopes and big dreams. But i am no different to most. "I wanna do this, I'm going to do that" but am i really willing to do what others don't to achieve what others wont? I'd like to think i would do everything to be the best i can but some days that is a lie. The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The WILLINGNESS to learn is a choice and some days its just easier to choose to be mediocre. Why must this pursuit for perfection rule my life? To myself I seem to be like a girl playing idly on the seashore, now and then finding a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of success lay undiscovered before me. I have had my solutions for a long time, but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them. I work hard, believe, suffer and sacrifice. The idea that so much suffering can be in vain is intolerable to me, i know persistence is the key but which door does it open? My mum told me when i was very young that God will never give you more then you can handle. and i try to keep this in mind on days like this. Day so dark you wouldn't know them to exist.

But I must get up, dust myself off and pursue these dreams. Maybe I made you believe that it was easy. But I've worked on this these dreams, every single day of my life.

Which is exactly why I must push on, and persist. To chase my dreams through the struggle and hardship because if I don't, the last 16 years of my life had been a build up to nothing. A giant drum roll.

The graveyards are full of irreplaceable people, but only winners are remembered.

My Story.

When your born you start from the bottom. Your parents hold your hand through all of your greatest learning points. They teach you to talk. eat. crawl. walk.

Then they hand you off to your coach at five years of age. Your coaches holds your hand through all your greatest achievements. He taught you to run. believe. dare. dream.

You work your way up the ladder of success. When your at the bottom, no one cares about you. As you climb they start to notice you. As you pass them and they start to hate you. When your on top, it doesn't matter what they say. Other coaches now try to help you, confuse you with a million different things you should be doing, trying to have there claim that they somehow helped you along the way. To take a slice of the glory.

You achieve greatness and your current coach gets all the credit.

But somehow it doesn't sit right with me.

What about that man who taught me to run. To love what i do. That man, what now seems like a million years ago, who spend hours and hours setting me up for success. Setting the foundation of the Athlete i am today. Without him, i am no body.

In the limelight and glory you should never forget where you came from. Your past which defined your future.

The first ten years of training are the hardest. Then it just gets harder.