Exciting times

Lads,

In the eloquent words of Mikey Neild we are currently entering some "Very Exciting Times" ... personally, I'm currently counting down the days like this: "After today I only have one more Wednesday for hillsprints on Federation Mall". Just got back from my second last one.

Federation Mall is the long strip of grass extending up the hill from the back of Old Parliament House to the front of Parliament House. It's very close to where I work and it's where I've been basing my lunch time plyo and hillsprint sessions for the past couple of months. Today's session was a bit of a kick in the teeth - the current apparent temperature at 1:15pm is 1.7 degrees centigrade - but it feels good to have smashed it out and I'm sitting here in a post running glow avoiding doing any actual work.

Gareth's comments about cue words really struck home with me on the weekend. I started using a four word phrase some time after Nationals when we really started turning up the training and I've been using it more and more in recent weeks. During a game I'll think it before the pull. When I'm riding to work through freezing Canberra rain/sleet I'll think it and crank the pedels and suck it up. When it's a shitty training session here in Canberra and I need some motivation, I think about these four words. They mean a lot to me. They are simple, they make me run faster and focus more intensely. They remind me of the past, they inspire me for the future and they anchor me to the present.

The four words: "I am a dingo"