Finding Inner Peace...

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and seems like a good day to do a bit of soul searching and look at what inner peace means to me and others. Our lives are so full of chaos with the technology that we have at our disposal everyday. Emails, text messages, and so on. We are contactable 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So at what point to we say stop! and try to remove ourselves from the everyday hustle and bustle.

These past few days with not being able to do any training or even doing the swim yesterday has put me in a place that I don't usually like being in, as it allows me time to think. When I have time to think, my thoughts are not always good. I have a tendency to run over things that have happened in the past that have hurt or upset me, This is why I usually like to keep active and not allow myself this sort of down time. I have seen though in the last few days that my body is telling me to ease up a bit. Again this is all new for me, as  someone who is constantly on the go, and to slow down is not easy.

As I was looking for some inspirational quotes this morning I came across some awesome ones from the movie Kung Fu Panda, which I loved watching. Each time I saw a quote I would laugh and see the true sense of the words, with a smile.

Its interesting to how I actually spend my time thinking about future races and events, and also past issues, and not focus on today and the present. So I am going to make a pact with myself to spend time thinking about the now, less on the past and a little on the future.

So today's plan is to spend it writing, I have had a dream to write a book, so I think its about time I made a start on it.

As I step forward into this coming week, I promise to take each day as it comes and keep the chaos to a minimum, so I can stay present to what is around me at that time and enjoy the present moments.

Enjoy your week everyone and hope you have time to find your inner peace.

Hayley xx

Nourishing My Body...

This morning I was supposed to do a 2.5km swim at Coogee Beach, at 5am when I woke up my foot was still extremely sore and I knew I still had to go to work today. I made the decision which for me was very hard, not to swim and put myself back to bed and sleep for another few hours.

On rising to the sun, sound of the birds and a lawn mower going at 8:30am it was time to get up and get coffee. Though my mind was going to places that I knew it might. Here is where I have a small battle going on. As I am still recovering from an eating disorder I still have moments like today that the internal battle happens. The fight between what I so called should have done...swim...to what I needed to do...rest...

So in resting this morning I have nourished my body as I needed the rest. The mind well that will come to see later in the day when I process it all in a healthy way. My soul, well that comes from the rest and knowing that its not the end of the day when I don't swim like planned and see that the rest was the better option.

By resting today allows me to do a good training session tomorrow and know that I have time during the day to rest and not worry about being tired at work when I need to be productive. I can say 12 months ago, I wouldn't have done this, I would have pushed myself to the swim, done the swim as well as I could and still go to work and whether I was in pain or not, would just keep going. Its a good feeling (in a way) to see that I have made positive changes for my health in knowing when to rest and not push to the endth degree and resent it later.

I just wish that part of my mind (eating disorder) would understand quicker than it does.

Have a great weekend everyone...

Hayley xx

Mental Preparation for Swim...Keeping the Strength....

the quality or state of being strong; bodily or muscular power; vigor.

Mental power, force, or vigor.

For the next two days I don't do any physical training as the body needs to be energized ready for Saturday's swim. Though these next two days are extremely important for mental strength and preparation. I try to visualize the swim course and maintain a positive out look, even when some negative things happen during the next couple of days, there will be time after the swim to deal with them. 

 Digging deep to find your inner strength to by-pass the negatives in your life can be hard work, but definitely a necessity. If we stay focused on the negatives all the time our life will mirror them to everyone else. So its best to take all the positives and project them out to the world, and hope that your positives help others find their positives when so many negatives are happening in our daily lives.

I have come to learn that dealing with negatives for the shortest possible time is better than holding on to them for days, weeks and months on end. Its moving these situations on and not letting them stew in your mind and body, which then does not give to the nourishing of your mind, body or spirit.

I hope everyone can find positives today, have a great day!

Hayley xx

Learning To Let Go...

Letting go of things in our lives is never easy. Letting go of relationships, family, friends, even things we do, or want to do, dreams, goals...

Over the last couple of years I have had to do a lot of letting go. I have let go of certain relationships with friends and even family. We know we always have to let go of family when they pass away, there have been times I have had to let go of my relationships with people in my family which was one of the hardest decisions I think I could ever make.

I have had to let go of unhealthy habits. I have had to let go of my eating disorder in order to live the best and healthiest life I can. Now I have to let go of my running. I am sure some people would think that doing that shouldn't be so hard, but for me it was a love. Being able to lace up the runners, hit the pavement and just run, whether it was hard or one of those 'blue-moon' runs where you feel you could run forever. I won't be able to do this any more.

I do believe that when one door closes another one opens, and that things happen for a reason. Like I posted recently that my dream as a child was to swim competitively, well it will now be competitive against myself, more than against others.

Also as I train for long distance swimming my time at the gym will be more focused, my diet will be more focused as I need to gain another 7kg to be able to swim long distances in open water with out running the risk of hypothermia, or other issues. The weight I need to gain, is a little over whelming as I have never been over 50kg without being pregnant, and now as I am 52.5kg gaining the extra will take some time and effort, and determination to make sure I do it properly.

As I am one to always look for the challenges in life, this is a new chapter in my life, as we close the chapter on my running and dreams of running marathons and even Boston, and look towards marathon swimming.

One person in Western Australia that stands out to me is Shelley Taylor-Smith. I was luck enough to listen to her accept an award recently where she thanked everyone who helped her to reach her goals in marathon swimming and that she was and truly is a very humble person. Its having people like this to look upto even as a 40 something year old and still being able to dream and strive to reach goals.

We are never to young to make new goals and to dream new dreams.

Hayley xx

Mind Body and Spirit...

Nourishing your mind, your body and your spirit, so what does that mean? 

 Mind:(in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.:

Body:the physical structure and material substance of an animal or plant, living or dead.

Spirit: the principle of conscious life; the vital principle in humans, animating the body or mediating between body and soul.

So to nourish our mind, what do we do? some will read books, learn new things, take in nature at its best (hiking, running, etc) To nourish our body, what do we do? we are supposed to eat clean, exercise, not be too stressed, live life to the full, and enjoy every day we have on earth. To nourish our spirit, what do we do? meditation is supposed to be a good thing, now we can mediate in many different ways, We can sit in the lotus position and go with in, we can run, we can swim, we can walk, we can be out in nature, we can do our gardening,  we can be doing things that make us happy, even watching an awesome kids movie...example "Finding Nemo" always one of my favourites. Its a matter to finding that something or things that allow you to switch off to your everyday stresses and have that down time, no thinking time. We all find it many different ways.

How many of us really take that time to nourish our mind, our body and our spirit? I can say over the last couple of years I haven't done it as much as I should, and from today on it will be at the fore front of my mind to make sure I do, whether its reading something interesting, being in my garden, my swimming, just allowing myself to switch off and take care of myself.

Today I took time to have an awesome late lunch of an omelette, cake and a coke spider and had some quiet time on my own to think and set some new goals.

Lets make it that each day we do something to nourish our mind, body and soul. Write it down, put in on Facebook, let people know what you have done, and just maybe others will catch on and nourish themselves as well.

Have a great week and take care of you.

Hayley

Making New Goals and Dreams...

Today I decided to let go of my dream to run Marathons and the Boston Marathon. I have a reoccurring injury with my right foot, and as it has progressively worsen even without running. So after seeing my physiotherapist today and being told to stop running and rest and not just for 8 weeks, I asked, do I need to look at stopping running all together? There wasn't a definite answer, and I understand why, as it is my decision in the long run...sorry about the pun.

Even over the last couple of days I have questioned myself to my running and my injury. Do I get another cortisone injection to get me through the Busselton Half Marathon, and that be it, or just leave running all together. I guess for me the hardest part of all this is not running, after all I do love being out pounding the pavement, in the fresh air, even the rain, allowing myself to switch off from everything. Now its a matter of finding something that I can love as much and find the same stress relief.

I took a moment today to remember what my dream was as a child. It was to swim competitively. Well I didn't get to do that in my younger years, but have managed to do it as an adult. I don't look at the open water swimming races I do as competing against others, its more about getting the distance done and about my own times. This is what I need to remember, that I can build my strength and become a better swimmer. I will also spend time in the gym building my fitness, strength and muscle definition, and maybe just one day I will be strong enough to take on the Rottnest Swim, which is a 20km swim from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island. People can do this as a team of 4, 2 or solo.

So as I step forward and get my head around the fact that running isn't an option at this point, I look at what I can do, and that is to build my strength, mentally and physically. Take on my swimming as my main love, as well as the gym to continue to build my body. To nourish my body with good healthy food, and nourish my soul with positives, not negatives.

Here is the funny part, my husband will be happier that I won't need to spend so much money on running shoes as often any more, but then there are all the bathers I will go through and maybe another wetsuit (with no sleeves) to add to the collection, oh and goggles...well lets see what else I can add to the collection. Oh and new gym clothes...yep all is good then.

 Looking for my strength, which I know is within me, and as much as I talk about my physical strength and mental strength I still need to work on them daily. As someone who is still recovering from an eating disorder, things like having to let go of my running, puts me in a place where I need to work through it and process what has happened, what will happen and how I feel about it all. As I used to focus so heavily on running for controlling my weight, and having running be a big part of my life over the last 5 years, its a hard part to let go of, but by learning this lesson I will be a stronger person for it. I guess that is why we are here for the lessons of our lives no matter what they are.

So tomorrow is a new day, and new beginnings and new steps forward to new goals and new dreams.

Hayley xx

Fears are to be Understood...

Yesterday I found out the Point to Point swim I want to do in January is 7 kilometers (4.6 miles) which kind of freaked me out. I have never swum more than 2.5km at one time in open water. I sat last night and thought about this race and distance over and over again. In a way I feared the distance, but I think I feared more my capability to do the distance.

I messaged a good friend of mine last night asking for a pep talk, with this one. One of the answers I got from him was..."Why aren't you trusting your training?" I said to him that it wasn't the training that I wasn't trusting it was the distance, and he was right in his comment next..."One thing I've discovered is that numbers are just numbers and we typically build them up in our minds way more than they need to be." He is so very right in this. 7km is just a number, with good focus on my training, and nutrition I will make it through the distance.

So now it is time to believe in myself and my ability to train hard, eat well and focus on getting through this up and coming swim.

I will also be cutting back on my running for a little while, to allow the sesamoiditis in my foot to settle a bit more. I will have 4 weeks between the Point to Point swim and doing Busselton Half Marathon and Jetty swim. There is this saying I tend to use a fair bit..."where there is a will the there is a way!" I stand by this quote and know it is true.

So with the start to my new training plan I managed to pump out 2 kilometers at the pool this morning, feeling still a little stiff from the weekends swim, it was good to get it done. Tomorrow will be a run on the treadmill at the gym. Rest day is Friday and then another 2 days of training, Saturday being parkrun (5km run) and then an endurance swim (2hrs of straight swimming with not stopping). The big part of the endurance swims will be mental strength. As you go your mind starts 'talking', and you can either end up talking yourself out of what you are doing or push harder. It will be a matter of staying focused on good technique, especially when you become tired.

May we find something that scares us enough not to run away from it, but face it and conquer our fear.

Hayley xx