The voice inside my head

She talks to me all the time. She amuses me. She bores me. She keeps me company. She gets me into trouble when she convinces me that doing more is always better. I can’t turn her off. I don’t want to. This week is a swim-focused week. Swimming is my least favorite event.  This is where the voice is the loudest.

In the pool there are few distractions.  A blue line, the wall, a blue line, the wall – again and again.  I bought an MP3 player, but the sound is muffled by the bubbles that pass my ears.  So the voice is what I hear the most. 

“Oh my God this is boring.”

“What lap is this?”

“I wonder if that kid over there has peed in the water?”

… Are but a few comments running through my head. 

“Focus, stop thinking about the kid…chlorine will kill anything…focus”. 

“Ok, are you focused?”

“Check your stoke, are you catching?”  (What is catching, really?)

“Am I doing it right? (I am moving so I must be.)”

“Where is that kid?”

This goes on from km to km. 

The Ironman is a test of strength and endurance, and that applies not only to the body but also to the mind.  My coach says he is going to get inside my head…. Lord help him.