"10 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Celebrate." - H. Walters 

Firstly, thank you all for reading my Energised Running Thoughts. The Running Bug Team tell me lots of you read it, so thank you and if there is anything specific you would like me to write about just post a comment below.

Secondly, Happy Month of July, may it be your best month so far. Make sure you take some time to write down your goals, and how you are going to make them happen. We are half way through 2012….now onto my Blog!

Many of you may have picked up that I am training for my first ever Ironman, in just three weeks time now. 18 months ago I was swimming around 1500m, biking 50km and running about 15km, max. Then my best friend lost her little baby girl, Ashley and I just really wanted to do something that would help her, and raise some money for 5 wonderful charities.

That is my motivation.  I think I under estimated how much time training for an Ironman takes, and the mental & physical strength. However, I love it and I thought I would share some of my learnings with you. I hope you will find them useful for your training too, let me know what you think.

1. Flexible – Listen to your body and adapt your training to give you the best results. It is important to have a plan, goals, motivation and accountability, but awareness and adaptability is key for optimal results.
2. Fine Tune – Always make time for stretching, foam roller and core exercises, they are the key to strengthen and lengthen the muscles, reduce the risk of injury and increase stability.
3. Strength – Make time for functional strength training, good biomechanics and core training. I really advocate at least a couple of short session’s a week, and feel you will see gains in your performance from this.
4. Fire – Whatever you goal is, make sure it gives you some ‘fire’ in your belly, something that excites you, makes you a little bit nervous and kicks you to edge of your boundaries. This is what will keep you motivated when training becomes challenging. Which it will, but that’s ok.
5. Energised – Be mindful of your nutrition and the levels of energy you are burning. Your body will adapt to the training, so what you needed in the beginning may actually become too much once you have adapted to the training. So you either need to increase the intensity of the training), or perhaps reduce so of the intake on easier sessions.  It all depends on your end goal, but the key to lean, efficient, energised bodies is quality training, nutrition (good protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals & complex carbs), hydration, sleep and positive stress levels.
6. Enjoy it  – Keep in mind that you have chosen to do your goal, so make sure you keep it fun. Even if you are aiming for a gold medal, if you enjoy it you will be more motivated, focused and in the moment, therefore making better use of your energy, gaining better results and having more fun.
7. Support – Keep it in balance, even if the goal is taking a lot of time, make sure you make time to have fun outside of the goal, with friends and family. This will keep you motivated and allow time out for rest and relaxation, outside of the training.

I have learned so much more, from being in awareness but that’s a good summary.  I really look forward to updating you in a couple of weeks, which will be just before Race Day, followed by my work at the Olympics. 

You can follow my progress & ask any questions daily on Twitter: @kimingleby

To support my 5 Charities and Why I am Doing the Ironman click here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/energisedperformance

25 Random Things About Me If You are Intrigued…. http://www.energisedperformance.com/blog/energised-performance/25-random-things-you-may-not-know-about-our-head-coach-kim/