Month: February 2020

For all of you Parrottheads out there:

This was a good morning.  Finally had a day where I woke up fired up about training – not dragging my lazy butt for 30 minutes (or more) before getting my act in gear.  My routine has not been easy to get into a groove with.

The alarm goes off at 3am.  At this time, I normally have ZERO enthusiasm for training.  So I’ve gotten into the habit of grabbing my Ipad and listening to YouTube or watching an episode of a TV show before cracking the whip on myself.  This delay first thing in the morning resulted in limited morning workouts before having to get ready for work.  I need to be out of the apartment by 5:30am in order to get to work on time – so my training sessions have been cut short and they haven’t left me with that feeling of positivity that endorphins normally bring.

After work, the drive home take at least 90-100 minutes in heavy traffic.  So getting fired up to work out at night is not something that comes easy.

By Thursday mornings, I’m usually pretty fried – I haven’t been sleeping much at all, and that hasn’t helped in my recovery.

So these are the challenges in front of me:

• Getting up and out the door at 3am and getting the work in before the day owns me,
• Getting the work in each evening, even if I’m EXTREMELY unmotivated to do so, and
• Trying to score more than 4-5 hours of restless sleep a night so that I can recover.

So far, I haven’t adjusted well to he new schedule as it pertains to my preparations for IRONMAN Santa Rosa.  I have 148 days until race day, and I cannot afford any more weak training sessions.  I think improvements in my routine begin with remembering that saying by Tony Robbins: “life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”  Maybe I’ll be more inclined to hop out of bed if I remind myself the night before of the reasons why I’ve set some decent goals for myself this year and one insane one for 2021.  I’ve been so focused on getting through the mornings that I’ve lost sight of the WHY.  A person’s WHY is what gets him / her through the tough stuff.  I’ve been foolish by not keeping it in the forefront of my mind.

That needs to change.

 

 

I felt like I accomplished something this morning.  I knocked out a decent strength workout, followed by a relaxed dreadmill run.  Then I was delayed getting to work, as I had to visit my dentist for my one-week post-yank of my teeth.

In the evening, I was able to fit in a very cold swim and a short bike ride.  I feel like an over-achiever.

On a separate note, I’ve been using the abundance of free time in my car each morning and evening to work on a book.  I’ll share the first sentence of Chapter 1:

As I bent down to double-knot my running shoe on that cold November morning, a thought rifled through my head that couldn’t be ignored: “well this is it….this is the day my life ends…..and not a moment too soon.”

I know – it’s dark.  But the message won’t be.  That’s just the first sentence, not the overall tone of the work.

Tony Robbins Week begins with this one:

The weekend was fairly solid for training.  Solid, relaxed run in Laguna on Saturday, followed by some strength training and some time on the bike on Sunday.  Today, I put in some work in the water and then transitioned to the bike.  Starting to feel a bit worn out….and that’s not a good thing.

Over the weekend I also began taking the long distance run I completed in 2015, and began developing a new course for August 2021.  I’m planning to adjust the route a bit, so that I can swing by several SMA clinics along the way.  I’m also going to adjust the distance a bit.  This will be interesting.

 

Ending Les Brown week with a very valid quote.  People may tell you that you can’t handle something….or some goal is way too challenging for you…or that you are “too slow”, “too weak” or “not talented enough”.  Their opinion of you and what you can handle does NOT have to become your reality.  Period.

This morning was rough.  My jaw is swollen from the dental work, and according to Dr. Yankem (get it?  Doctor Yack Em?  hehehe) (I’m a tool – I just explained a joke), the swelling will get worse over the next 24-36 hours.  The pain level should also max out by tonight / tomorrow.  This has completely distracted me from training, so I’m giving myself a full day to try to heal up.

I’m still focused on my dream of finishing IRONMAN Santa Rosa this year, along with several other races – I haven’t taken my eyes off of the prize.  However, I also need to allow myself to heal.  Giving myself 24-36 hours to recover is not a bad thing.