When Gaining is Good
Jan. 20th, 2009 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerI am limping around the job site today. My hamstrings are so tight, it hurts to walk, stand and sit. (The muscle that connects your butt to your knee... or something like that. don't quote me, but I know what it feels like.) My arms, shoulders and pecs are also sore from weight lifting and yoga. I've been pushing myself harder since I entered the 12-week window for my next race. Go figure. I also spontaneously switched to a morning work out over the holidays and it's kicking my butt more than the evening ones were.
It turns out the morning workouts are more intense and driven than my evening ones because of the time-factor. In the evening I have lots of time whereas when I arrive at the gym at 5 am, I'm already counting down to the time that I must quit working out in order to get to work on time. That time pressure has really slapped me in the face with how valuable my time is. I walk into each workout saying, "I will get out of it whatever I put into it. And my time is my most valuable commodity, so I might as well make this worthwhile or I shouldn't have even come." Also known as "bring it or stay home."
When I'm in my groove and not recovering from "falling off the fitness wagon-itus", I bring it on when I go to the gym. I've got no one to impress; no fans, no play-date, no sponsors, not even a trainer. No one gives a shit whether or not I work out or sit my butt on the sofa and watch TV, so I better make it important to me or just stop taking up space. If I totally quit this and put the +50 lbs back on, my family and friends wouldn't stop loving me and I wouldn't lose my job, so I need to make sure I'm focused on why I am doing this and not kid myself into complacency.
I LOVE it. I love being fit. I love racing. I love intimidating the men on the treadmill. I love being passed by older women at races and seeing that there is Renaissance after age 50. I love playing outdoors with my kids without being worn out. I love being "it" and chasing all the kids or having all the rambunctious kids chasing me for large chunks of time. I love biking up Mt Diablo. I bring it so I can keep all of this.
Part of my work-out belief is that if my work out is comfortable, then I'm doing something wrong. I need to challenge my muscles, my stamina, my breathing, or something. If I'm not stumbling from exhaustion when I'm done, then it's time to change it up and make it harder. Otherwise I risk plateauing. I've had enough plateauing in my life, I don't want anymore stagnation.
Right now my cardio is focused on increasing my running pace, so I'm weight-lifting before I get on the treadmill, which is my best effort to replicate my energy level at the start of the run leg during a triathlon. The last few times I've been on the treadmill I've been focused on sprints and it's been exciting to push myself at harder paces for longer periods, but the excitement comes later when I journal it. While I'm in the middle of pushing these hard runs I'm typically on the brink of being physically tapped out; like if a man-eating tiger were to leap through the doorway, I really couldn't run any faster than I was running just to save my life. I maintain that state of "brink of failure" for 20-30 minutes. It's exhausting and my brain is screaming in protest the whole time, telling me it's time to stop. I drive myself forward with the promise of Gain.
Gain is good. Every step taken in the "utter exhaustion" zone is a penny in my Gain Bank.
I know that in order to improve on my performance, I have to work at it. I know that if I keep pushing myself to the edge that I will gain speed or endurance or recovery or lung capacity. It might only be a smidge or a penny, but given a whole lot of pennies, it becomes something bigger over time. I am hoping it might be the difference between finishing the 10k (6.2 miles) leg in 60 minutes vs in under 56 minutes. Because next year I want to finish the 10k in less time, maybe even under 50 minutes and break a 8:30 pace. That's one of the gains that I'm pushing myself for and that's what drives me on when part of me would rather fall down and pant; those are my pennies and I need them all.
Today I hurt all over. Before I even started today I still ached from yesterday's sprinting. I'm pointing out the pain because I think some people don't realize that this level of effort does hurt and no matter how many races I do, it's always going to hurt. I didn't get issued some genetic "get of out post-workout pain" hall pass.
Tomorrow I'm riding my bike to work. My running legs need a break and Sally needs to ride.
One of the questions I always get is "how do you make the time to do all that." Or others say, "We know you don't sleep."
Truly, I do sleep. I function pretty nicely on 6hrs of sleep, especially when I'm in my fitness groove. In fact, sleep is very important for thinking clearly at work, being nice to people, and physical health. Sleep is good. I don't like less than 6 hours sleep and I refuse to tackle Mt Diablo on less than 6 hours of sleep.
Work-out time does not create itself. I have to make the time to work out. I was done getting kids into bed, doing some more sorting/organizing in my closet, and packing my gym bag at 9pm last night. I chilled out in the office with F for an hour (I was perusing my one of my triathlon magazines) and I went to bed at 10 pm. I had 1 hour yesterday where I wasn't commuting, working, child-rearing, working out or doing chores. 1 quality hour spent relaxing with F. I used to spend hours and hours playing computer games and watching TV, but I've traded that in for something that makes me feel better.
It turns out the morning workouts are more intense and driven than my evening ones because of the time-factor. In the evening I have lots of time whereas when I arrive at the gym at 5 am, I'm already counting down to the time that I must quit working out in order to get to work on time. That time pressure has really slapped me in the face with how valuable my time is. I walk into each workout saying, "I will get out of it whatever I put into it. And my time is my most valuable commodity, so I might as well make this worthwhile or I shouldn't have even come." Also known as "bring it or stay home."
When I'm in my groove and not recovering from "falling off the fitness wagon-itus", I bring it on when I go to the gym. I've got no one to impress; no fans, no play-date, no sponsors, not even a trainer. No one gives a shit whether or not I work out or sit my butt on the sofa and watch TV, so I better make it important to me or just stop taking up space. If I totally quit this and put the +50 lbs back on, my family and friends wouldn't stop loving me and I wouldn't lose my job, so I need to make sure I'm focused on why I am doing this and not kid myself into complacency.
I LOVE it. I love being fit. I love racing. I love intimidating the men on the treadmill. I love being passed by older women at races and seeing that there is Renaissance after age 50. I love playing outdoors with my kids without being worn out. I love being "it" and chasing all the kids or having all the rambunctious kids chasing me for large chunks of time. I love biking up Mt Diablo. I bring it so I can keep all of this.
Part of my work-out belief is that if my work out is comfortable, then I'm doing something wrong. I need to challenge my muscles, my stamina, my breathing, or something. If I'm not stumbling from exhaustion when I'm done, then it's time to change it up and make it harder. Otherwise I risk plateauing. I've had enough plateauing in my life, I don't want anymore stagnation.
Right now my cardio is focused on increasing my running pace, so I'm weight-lifting before I get on the treadmill, which is my best effort to replicate my energy level at the start of the run leg during a triathlon. The last few times I've been on the treadmill I've been focused on sprints and it's been exciting to push myself at harder paces for longer periods, but the excitement comes later when I journal it. While I'm in the middle of pushing these hard runs I'm typically on the brink of being physically tapped out; like if a man-eating tiger were to leap through the doorway, I really couldn't run any faster than I was running just to save my life. I maintain that state of "brink of failure" for 20-30 minutes. It's exhausting and my brain is screaming in protest the whole time, telling me it's time to stop. I drive myself forward with the promise of Gain.
Gain is good. Every step taken in the "utter exhaustion" zone is a penny in my Gain Bank.
I know that in order to improve on my performance, I have to work at it. I know that if I keep pushing myself to the edge that I will gain speed or endurance or recovery or lung capacity. It might only be a smidge or a penny, but given a whole lot of pennies, it becomes something bigger over time. I am hoping it might be the difference between finishing the 10k (6.2 miles) leg in 60 minutes vs in under 56 minutes. Because next year I want to finish the 10k in less time, maybe even under 50 minutes and break a 8:30 pace. That's one of the gains that I'm pushing myself for and that's what drives me on when part of me would rather fall down and pant; those are my pennies and I need them all.
Today I hurt all over. Before I even started today I still ached from yesterday's sprinting. I'm pointing out the pain because I think some people don't realize that this level of effort does hurt and no matter how many races I do, it's always going to hurt. I didn't get issued some genetic "get of out post-workout pain" hall pass.
Tomorrow I'm riding my bike to work. My running legs need a break and Sally needs to ride.
One of the questions I always get is "how do you make the time to do all that." Or others say, "We know you don't sleep."
Truly, I do sleep. I function pretty nicely on 6hrs of sleep, especially when I'm in my fitness groove. In fact, sleep is very important for thinking clearly at work, being nice to people, and physical health. Sleep is good. I don't like less than 6 hours sleep and I refuse to tackle Mt Diablo on less than 6 hours of sleep.
Work-out time does not create itself. I have to make the time to work out. I was done getting kids into bed, doing some more sorting/organizing in my closet, and packing my gym bag at 9pm last night. I chilled out in the office with F for an hour (I was perusing my one of my triathlon magazines) and I went to bed at 10 pm. I had 1 hour yesterday where I wasn't commuting, working, child-rearing, working out or doing chores. 1 quality hour spent relaxing with F. I used to spend hours and hours playing computer games and watching TV, but I've traded that in for something that makes me feel better.
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And there it is
Date: 2009-01-20 10:33 pm (UTC)Yep. I don't play video games, and I don't watch TV, either. Amazing how much time that puts back into your day :-)