What should you do with your brain while training?

Feeling bad about going out for another hour on the bike?  You've got so much work to do back at the homestead or office, right?

Luckily, there is something incredibly useful you can do with your melon while you're busy balancing it upon your shoulders.  It turns out that time spent thinking about your tasks is even more productive than creating a task list and trying to get them done.

It works like this -  There is almost no correlation between writing down items on a "to-do list" and what you actually do.  Go ahead and make a great list of what needs to be done.  Tomorrow, check that list and see what got finished.  If you made another list of what you actually did, you'd see that the two lists are very different.

On the other hand, if you take some time and think about what you need to do at critical times in the day, what I'll call "events", there is a huge correlation between that planning and what gets done.  Taking the time to think out your actions and responses when you show up to work, eat dinner, or take your lunch break makes you much more likely to act out the plan in real life.  Sound good?  It is!

Now, if there was only time during the day where you could think about upcoming events and plan your actions?  Gosh, when would that be?  Oh, you're a triathlete?  Then you're so lucky to have this all set up for you!

Here's how I do it - I turn off any music I might be playing while I bike, run, or even swim, and just let my mind wander on purpose.  Soon, my brain fills up with upcoming "events", usually several for the next half-a-day or longer.  Then, I think about the best way to execute those events, visualizing me doing them efficiently and productively.  For example, "After I finish my run, I'll make a green smoothie while I drink a cold recovery drink.  After I put everything away, then I'll take a shower, then check my calendars to see what meetings I might have this afternoon or tomorrow."

The simple act of thinking this out makes a huge difference in it actually happening or not.  Once you think it through, your body goes on autopilot to execute the plan.  As far as your brain is concerned, the plan is fact, and deviating from the plan would be confusing and flat-out wrong.

Give it a try!