Positive Self Talk & UCan
The Mowdy Mustang Run is one of my favorite trail runs. The trails are super diverse and fun. I always feel like I’m on a journey, never knowing when a creek, a hill, a deer, or a mustang might pop up. The aid stations and the food (shout out to our friend, Brian Cathey, and Ameristate Bank) are absolutely the best and it is the perfect time of the year for mild weather. This is the third year of the Mowdy, and I appreciate that each year the race directors take participant feedback to heart and use it to make the event better and better.
This, however, was not my race. I contemplated not even going and waited until 7:00 p.m. last night to make the decision. My body was telling me it was a bad idea, as I’m still trying to recover from strep. However, I had already paid for the race and had a serious case of FOMO. Besides, I could picture myself explaining to my running club the reason I didn’t show and hearing stories of how they, “ran a marathon in the sleet with a broken leg and pneumonia, so whatever.” I hope my running club finds that humorous and not offensive. It probably is a bit of an exaggeration. Running clubs are great motivators, and a great source of peer pressure (all positive, of course).
This was by far the worst run I have ever had, but it gave me lots (and I mean lots) of time for reflection. Positive self-talk as an athlete is so important. To be honest, it is a skill that we all need for life in general. I was bummed that I was struggling, and it would have been easy to get down on myself and just decide that I was a horrible runner. The truth is, I just finished a 9 mile Spartan and felt great during the entire thing and afterward. I had to remind myself that a single run (whether good or bad) does not define us as runners and that my next run would be awesome, even if this one wasn’t.
I have never had a run that didn’t teach me something, so no run has ever been worthless. This one taught me that I should have listened to my body, slept in and continued to recover (and that I need to be drinking more water every day for crying out loud). I also think that if every run was the same (easy), many of us would get bored with it. Running is a mental game as much as a physical one, as we are constantly trying to beat the challenges placed in front of us, whether it is an injury, a fueling issue, cramping, or a need to increase speed. Running can be very nerdy lol.
So back to the positive self-talk; I’m grateful for a beautiful day, a beautiful trail, for my ankle holding up (thanks to a KT you tube tutorial), that I didn’t get plowed over by a wild mustang, and for the young blonde-headed girls who saw me struggling and turned around to give me some encouragement (but not for them beating me to the finish line). Here is to another great race, and I’m so ready to get out there and do it again to prove to myself that I’m better than I was today!
It is very fitting that this post revolves around positive self-talk because my first trial of “UCan” was a success! I felt like it did help stabilize my blood sugar and did not cause GI distress (please don’t ever do what I just did and test a product out on race day). I used UCan in my breakfast shake a few hours before the race. UCan is a product containing a resistant starch, which is metabolized differently than simple or complex carbohydrates. Most carbs have a need for insulin, which might be an issue for those who are insulin resistant, or when we eat more carbs in one setting than our body can handle. UCan by-passes this pathway, creating more stable blood sugar and longer lasting energy for those individuals. I will continue to try out UCan. You can learn more at https://www.generationucan.com/contact.html. I am not receiving any kind of compensation from UCan.
