Signs of a mature athlete

1.      You understand that rest days are training days and are helping your perform better!

2.      You understand that it’s okay to take an extra arrest day! Sometimes our bodies need an extra rest day and that is okay! It’s not going to undo the weeks or years of your training. It will actually allow your body to heal and recover so that it can take on more training stress.

3.      You don’t move around workouts when you miss a workout. I see this one the most often. When we move workouts around, we end up in a domino effect, and not a good one. There is a reason that said workout was on a certain day and moving said workout takes away the integrity of what the workout was intended for. Most of the time we needed that extra rest day and when we double up the next day it’s only going to hurt us in the long run. So, we need to move on from that workout and forward to the next one!

4.      You don’t race your workouts. You understand your training zones and understand the why behind each workout.

5.      It’s not all or nothing. You don’t have to complete every single workout to reach your goals (yes I said it)! It’s okay to miss ¾ or a session because life happens! We don’t want this to happen all the time but occasionally, it’s okay! Understanding that you don’t have to complete 100% of your workout or you might as well do nothing is a growth mindset.

6.      You don’t expect to PR every race. The more you race, the smaller the margins are for PRing your races. That is okay! You can still find big wins that are not PRs!

Are you a mature athlete! How have you grown as an athlete and what does it mean to be a mature athlete to you!? Lets hear it in the comments!