Built for Comfort, Not Speed…

Rise and grind. That is all.

There are mornings where I want to quit. This was one of them. I’m sore as hell. I know I’m over-doing it, and I knew I was going to feel like this at some point. The key is to get up tomorrow morning and keep the streak alive.

Instead of a pure strength workout, today I decided to see how many push-ups I could do in 2 minutes. Rested for 3 minutes. Did it again. 5 sets in total.

That sucked.

Then I hopped on the bike for an hour to sweat.

Evening run was relaxing, but I was definitely achy.

Trust me – it becomes easier when you practice. I’ve now built some solid habits:

– I’m waking up at 4:15am every morning and NOT hitting the snooze button.

– I’m getting 30-35 minutes of strength work in each morning. I’m getting that in first, while my body isn’t awake enough to realize what I’m doing to it.

– I’m scoring 60 minutes on the Peloton each morning, wrapping up by 6am. 60 minutes at an average of 20mph more or less burns 700-900 calories.

– The endorphins I’m enjoying each morning after this workout are fantastic. I’m in a positive mood, and I’m psyched to get more stuff accomplished.

– Each day at 7am, I am taking 60 minutes to learn something new. This month, I’ve been focusing on listening to past panel discussions held by financial industry organizations to so that I hear multiple perspectives on things that affect my occupation. It’s making me a more rounded compliance professional. October will be all about creativity. November will be dedicated to learning a language – this month will be knocking the rust off of my Italian. December will be focused on studying for a level 1 Somm exam. Who knows what 2021 will bring.

– At exactly 4:30pm, I sign off from work and I immediately get my run in. This way I have enough time in the evening to eat dinner, wind down a bit, decompress, and hit the sack by 9pm.

It wasn’t easy in the beginning. It’s not easy now. But it’s not impossible.

Good happens feel great. Enough said.

Morning strength training and I biked some to burn off the crazy. The evening run is something I absolutely crave now. That was quick.

Here’s a little motivation for you:

Things are beginning to become routine now. Get up, strength training, hop on the bike and sweat off the crazy, shower, change and get to work. It has taken a long while for this habit to become ingrained, mainly because it didn’t have enough importance placed upon it.

I allowed my mind to become clouded. I embraced the simple concept of being and feeling comfortable. When you get too comfortable, you lose your hunger. That’s what happened to me.

“If you’re not careful, talent will take you places where your character can’t keep you.” – Eric Thomas

Hard work again today. But I switched it up a little, by taking myself to the beach in San Clemente, California and swimming in the open water. That felt AMAZING. It was a great workout, it got me practicing lifting my head and quickly checking my direction, and it made me get used to that wonderful chill that ocean water gives you when you dive in initially.

I biked there and back, which was a bit more of a workout than I expected. Ouch.

A little motivation, with Les Brown and Eric Thomas doing some PREACHING.

Me vs. Myself. The great battle continues.

Long bike this morning 2 1/2 hours – followed by a very slow 5 miler.

No strength work today – I don’t have any gas left in the tank…..which is OK, because the goal of today’s training was the beat the crap out of myself.

Mission accomplished.

Spent some time on the bike this morning listening to JK Rowling speak at Harvard. God, she is brilliant.

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all— in which case, you fail by default.” Like I said: she is brilliant.

Sometimes you need to remind yourself that anything IS possible. Listening to those who’ve found great success can provide the clarity and motivation needed to take a giant step or two forward in your own life.

Here’s one of my favorite speeches from a true icon. I watched this while trying to sweat off the crazy this morning.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

The routine is becoming a habit.

Morning stretching, strength and bike work. Post work 4 miler.

Starting to feel sore – but that’s a good thing. It means I’m working just hard enough. Got to embrace the ache.

This coach had his team so fired up that they knocked the damn walls down. The other team didn’t stand a chance.

Love that statement… “no matter how hard things get, my heart and my mind will carry my body when my limbs are too weak..” …..that’s a BEAST.