One of the characteristics that define living things is that they respond to stimuli. In other words there is a response as a result of some external cause or action.For example blow in a baby's face and they will blink and hold their breath. Swim instructors will use this technique before a baby is submerged in a pool.***By the way, you may notice more references to babies in coming blog posts. It's what we talk about at our house these days.***Anyways, we need this stimuli for there to be a response. And the more varied the stimuli the better. This helps us develop more complete neural patterns.Think of all the things we do the same way everyday.We probably brush our teeth with the same hand. We use the computer mouse with the same hand. We probably get dressed the same way. And mow our lawn in the same pattern.You get the idea.So if the stimuli is infrequent or not varied there is a reduction in the response of the nervous system. Our brains get to take a shift off. And we don't grow as much as we could.In order to be your best you need to constantly challenge yourself. You need to step up to the line and see where you stand. Where are you at with your training? What do you need to work on? What could be better?While we can self assess to get an idea of where everything is at this doesn't compare to entering a race or event. When you compete you can't have any excuses. You have to battle through conditions that are less than ideal. You have to work with the way things unfold on a given day.Sometimes this can be malfunctioning equipment. Or cold weather. Or a change in the schedule. Or travel complications.There...