An overdue winter training update

As I drove to the pool this afternoon I was overcome with a strange, and strangely common, sensation. Nervous energy and anxiety filled the car as I thought through the details of the session. Monday afternoon felt eerily similar to a mid-summer race-day morning. It's a feeling I am experiencing with increasing regularity. I'm finding that as my performance level has increased, the pressure and stress I experience before my key training sessions has amplified. I'm not complaining; I relish the opportunities to extend my boundaries; I enjoy immersing myself in my training completely. I find myself at a place where my expectations are great year-round. High-performance should be an everyday occurrence, not a luxury stashed away only to be pulled out on race-day. To achieve the (lofty) aims I have set, I find myself approaching training in a business-like fashion. During key sets or workouts, this mindset leads to stress, anxiety, and nerves. Fortunately, it's often also paired with excellence and achievement.

I'm encouraged by my progress early this winter. I'm stronger and faster than ever before. It hasn't been an optimal few months for training between buying a house (stress), moving (more stress), and coaching (severe loss of training time), but it's still going as well as ever. I train with purpose and focus on a daily basis. When I train, I make the most of each session and it's paying off. Not everything goes perfectly all the time; sometimes I have to miss a session and other times my body doesn't respond as I'd prefer it to. Still, I don't allow myself to take shortcuts during my workouts. I am driven to perform. I strive to excel at the most critical time, the time when it's most difficult to do so, the time when no one is watching.