Friendship Fuels Dreams

I want to thank all of my World Support Team for the amazing encouragement I have recieved over the last week...What an unbelievable response... its been the driving force for my committment to you ( my W.S.T ) and friends, and it has lifted me with YOUR belief in what I am trying to achieve.

This weekend just passed was great in that I won the 60m at the Mingara Club Championships..I managed Second in the 100m...beaten by a 30 year old...damn!!! pipped me on the line...yet I still ran 2 tenths of a second off the Australian Record so in a sense I am on track ( pardon the pun ) to perform well at the State in a few weeks time. I did however injure my left knee...its not too serious though, thank goodness but I will still have to keep off it for a couple of days and instead get into the Hydro Pool....I have created a number of exercises in the Hydro Pool that are revolutionary in that they use a Swiss Ball as part of the Recovery process...most interesting and I'm hoping that we will be able to bring you some Video footage so you can Watch what I do and Benefit from the technique...its great for overall Fitness and Flexibility.

So...onward and upward..." A hundredth of a second may be the difference between winning and losing on the track... yet a Moment in Life may be the most Precious Memory of all. "

Live Brilliantly....John

What can we learn from Losing?

Losing....its a word that denotes failure isn't it?....Is there anything positive about losing or loss?
I believe so...In the aftermath of the Telstra A Series at the Olympic Center in Sydney in front of 5,000 people...and my Four Sons....I lost.

Post race analysis and discussions with my coach looked at the positives that came from this...Firstly I ran to instructions...I did what I was told to do by my coach Wayne Luckey...I performed better than I did in winning the Country Championships three weeks before....Coming back from 12 weeks of injury break...it was a great effort....but I lost....

In my own mind...I know what I did wrong....I did not hit the first 20 meters of the race as hard as I should have....but apart from that I ran a World Class Time....I was only beaten by one other in my age group Peter Crombie who is the World Masters 200m champion and in fact a legend of the World Track Scene..so.....?

This means I have two more major races to compete in on the 24th and 25th of March before I have a break to prepare for the World Championships in Reccione Italy in September....This is what I have to prepare for....I have to take what I learned from that defeat into the training track over the next few weeks and make sure I don't make the same mistake again...

This knowledge of how to manage loss...losing or defeat is pretty much what happens in business...we lose an account that we desperately wanted....or in life...we lose someone close to us....We must keep going....putting one foot in front of the other....that is how we move forward...

Yes I am a little dissapointed but I go into the next round of training with a vigour and determination to succeed in the New South Wales State Championships....I know you..." My World Support Team...." will be there with me in spirit......Cheers and be brilliant....John

The Most Important Energy On Earth ?

I wonder how many of us know the answer to this question...and in fact how many different answers there would be. As I am now at the 48 hours to go before my 2nd last race of this summer season I found myself asking this very question...especially considering yesterday was Valentines Day.....Why?

I have come to the conclusion that LOVE is the most vital and important commodity on Earth...I started thinking about this when I was trying to recall the most invigorating feeling of ENERGY I have ever experienced..that sensation was when I was in LOVE and felt LOVE with all its positive implications...How many of us can remember it...we are literally empowered to Leap Tall Buildings in a single bound...Our skin tingles at the very thought of seeing that special someone...You Feel Invigorated...Rejuvin8ted....Stimulated to achieve almost anything....That ENERGY....the LOVE ENERGY...is what I want to feel on Saturday evening when I compete at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney....but how to capture this....?

Can we search for it on the Google.?..maybe in words....can we buy it at the local Supermarket.?...I don't think so....IS IT PURCHASABLE AT ANY PRICE?.....Definetly Not....that is the one thing in this entire World we cannot buy...

So what am I going to do....?.......I THINK I'LL FALL IN LOVE!

Be With Me on this vital journey My World Team.....John

p.s I love you

Self Belief ...What is It?

Every time I get to the sharp end of the season...that moment when my last key races are coming up...I start to get those little things creeping into my thoughts...Will my injuries hold up...will I be fast enough on the day...have I eaten too much this week....etc..etc..etc.

In particular I have an interesting race coming up this Saturday...its a 200m race at Homebush Olympic Center at which the Elite 50 year olds in the country have been invited to compete as part of the Telstra A Series ....a major meet that brings some of the best runners from the World to Australia.

I have already been allocated my Lane Draw...Lane 2...it just happens to be my favourite lane...outside me in the other lanes will be the leading athletes in the Masters category...I couldn't have asked for a better lane....but....there are still little thoughts to overcome...to get my head together and eliminate unnecessary mind traffic....I have to get into the " Zone "

What is the Zone ? It is simply a place where Fear and thought of failure have no place...The Zone is where my head needs to be when I am going through this last few days of training...to enable my body to perform at the optimum level ( what its been trained for ) without the hinderance of extranious mental mind games. At the Elite level of athletics...each of the eight runners in this race have the same physical capabilities...The one who will untimately triumph will be the one who can control his mind.....YOU ARE MY WORLD TEAM... I will take this with me to the Starting Blocks this Saturday Evening. Self Belief is Knowledge.

Body Maintainence and Recovery

Just recently you will be aware that I have had a series of injuries...To an elite Athlete its devistating not to be able to run....But Lets Get Real....Life is not about Running....Or is It?

We of the Baby Boomers...we know what its like to get up in the morning and feel the stiff old joints objecting....bending down to do up shoe laces or put on stockings to some is a chore that involves some pretty skilled Human Engineering...usually followed by the sigh of relief when we manage to bend over...oops....can we get back up?

Body Maintainence is something I talk about to many hundreds of people who will listen anywhere in the world....Body Maintainence or BM is the key to an ongoing productive life....I have no time for anyone who says they can't do something....We All can Achieve...but we must be able to Deliver....BM is the way to overcome minor injuries and of course helps us to recover from the major ones...the knee replacement...the hip replacement...the shoulder operation....all of these require a period of Recovery....this will be appropriately assisted if we maintain our BM...NOW!

I am sometimes told that I'm too body conscious....Yes I am....but NO BODY...NO LIFE...Our Body is our Future because without this vechicle of ours to carry us around...we are like a Beached Whale....

BODY MAINTAINENCE and RECOVERY need not be complex...I can show you simple ways to remedy any injury and keep the body in tip top shape...Be Brilliant and Love Brilliantly.