This is not helping . . .

Last night I was watching 20/20 or whatever news show that was on ABC w/ Diane Sawyer. The program was a tribute to Randy Pausch, the author and Carnegie Melon professor. He recently passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. It was a very touching show, I had to turn it off before it stared talking about his kids.
His wife was being interviewed before his death and one thing really stuck out in my head. She said that a therapist taught her to stop and tell herself, “This is not helping.” when she started to go to the really dark place. Now loosing your husband to cancer is a whole different ballpark than an ironman but I think I will use her thoughts (and think about her strength) with my training.
It’s easy w/ training to go to the dark place. I think I often go to that place when I am not performing as well as I expect of myself. I start to beat myself up and do that horrible negative self talk. This morning when I was getting dropped on the group run I tried it. I asked myself, Is this helping? The answer was no. So I let go and just ran.
So, in your training and in your life when it gets negative or low stop and ask: Is this helping? If not you need to make a change.