Mental toughness and yesterday’s plank

No wonder experience is the best teacher. It has to teach us things we don’t want to learn. —Unknown

There is a yoga position called The Plank that my trainer includes in almost every routine. It looks like a push-up only you’re perched on your elbows with your thumbs up.

It looks easy but if you don’t have a strong core (that’s your abdominal and side muscles), whoo, it’s hard!

Usually I can only do 30 seconds and it’s a pretty wobbly 30 seconds. There are also side planks and planks where you raise one leg at a time. They seriously kick my butt.

Yesterday, at the very end of a tough workout, Justin grabbed a mat and said, “We’re not finished yet, give me a plank”.

Man, I was beat! We’d done stuff with tiny little muscles in my hips to help me build stability for running and I had jello legs. I was actually limping!

But he’s been teaching me about “mental toughness” and how with marathon running, it’s all about believing in yourself and pushing through your mental limits, so I did it.

30 seconds, that’s all he asked for. I was wobbling and red in the face and puffing hard, he must have felt sorry for me!

After a long 25 seconds, he started the final “5-4-3-2-1″ and I called out, “Go for 40! Count for me, Justin, COUNT.”

So he counted. “30 seconds… 35… 4 – 3…”

I called out, “50, keep counting!”

He was onto it. “Make it 60!” he called. “You can do it!”

“Ok!”

“45… 50… You’re almost there… 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 That’s it! Good job!”

I crumbled onto the floor and just laid my heads in my arms. Whew, that was really something! I did it! The full 60 seconds, even after a kick-butt workout. There aren’t enough exclamation points to express how happy I was.

Justin always reaches out a hand to help me off the floor. As he pulled me up, I noticed the people warming up on the three bicycles near the front of the gym, getting ready for THEIR trainers. I’ve visited with one of the ladies, Carol. She was looking at me and smiling broadly. She’s been working with a trainer as long as I have, she knows it’s hard. Dang, I did it for 60 seconds! In Bruno Tomioli fashion (from Dancing with the Stars), Top that! TOP THAT!

I think there might be hope for me