A Hilly Thursday

My car doesn't smell good =(. Since it's been raining for 2 days in Atlanta I knew right where to look... the sunroof! It has been a thorn in my side all year long. The last repair (as oppose to the 2 before that) was back in August when one of the tracks had to be replaced due to a visit from a tree branch. The tree in question has done untold amounts of damage to my car. So, I was rather annoyed to find water sitting underneath the brand new track. I called the company that installed and they said that this was normal and that the water would run forward to the drip lines and drain out. Um, what part of "there is standing water in my car," did you not understand. Again they tried to say that this was normal. Um, my car smells like mildew. I really don't think that's normal. Call me crazy.

Since I was rather put out after all of that I decided to head to rehearsal after teaching my 2 students. I've been playing with a community group at a local church for several years. The director and I go way back (he use to accompany me on piano when I was in middle school). It ended up being exactly what I need. Gone was the frustration over another car problem, and in it's place was a new sense of confidence in my playing. I played really in tune! My sound was crisp and clean, and I really liked it! I can definitely see what my teacher said about my playing becoming more consistent. It was awesome!

If there was any frustration left over the car it was gone by the end of my run this morning. It was amazing!! I decided to try something new and start adding hill repeats to my Thursday runs every other week (I'm going to try some intervals on the weeks I don't do hills). So, I picked an easy hill on my route (living in Collier Hills gives me lots of options) and did 2 hill repeats sprinting up the hill each time. It was awesome! I love sprinting!!!!! I even threw in an extra hill sprint at the end of my run on a longer more gradual hill just for the heck of it and then flew down the final downhill. It was such a great feeling, and my average pace was even better than my tempo run on Monday! It makes me feel pretty good about my race coming up on Thanksgiving.

Are you whittling you middle with Oh She Glows? Day 2 of getting those abs back into shape

Consistency

Yes, it's the dreaded word of consistency :). Well, maybe not so dreaded. I've found that it actually has helped a lot in my violin playing. Why couldn't I have discovered that sooner? It's something that I work on trying to teach all of my students. Some get it better than others. It's teaching them to go slow and make sure that things are right before speeding up. Unfortunately kids only have one speed, fast (or maybe 2 speeds and the other one is faster).

My violin teacher said something to me that made me very happy yesterday. He said I was getting more and more consistent every week. I never realized what a huge difference it makes in playing. A difference in sound, intonation, and confidence. When people asked me if I was any good before I kind of himmed and shrugged an I guess so. Now I know I sound good! I wish all of the contractors and personal managers knew the same thing! Getting some freelance jobs would send my confidence through the roof right now! (know of anyone who needs a violinist? :) )

I've always been one to stick to a schedule. I do the same thing almost everyday at the same time. Get up, go running, eat breakfast, take a shower, practice, lunch, more practicing, teach private lessons, eat, wind down, and finally go to bed. It's just the way I work. Imagine what happens when you apply the same consistency to your job, or in my case my violin technique. Making sure that everything is working right every time, and if it doesn't find out why and fix it. My teachers calls it adjusting instead of reacting, and it's certainly helped a lot. I'm actually looking forward to the next time I have an audition because I know that things are consistently starting to work for me, and that's the only way I'm going to land one of my dream jobs. The slow down in the economy has been frustrating, but it's given me more time to focus on things and make them right the first time instead of putting them off and trying to fix them later. All that leads to is disappointment, frustration, a lack of confidence.

Do you have something you do to help you be consistent? Has it made a difference?