Me Vs. Ego

I use the "smartcoach" at Runner's World to plan my running workouts. I put in a time for a race I've done and what race I'm training for and it puts together a workout plan on what distances and speeds I should be running to train for the race.

Lately I've been consistently slower than the pace set out by the smartcoach, so I had this conversation with my ego.

Me: I think I need to adjust my training plan, I'm not able to keep up with these times.

Ego: Naaah, this is based on one of your 5K races, you can do it.

Me: Yeah, but it's based on a 5K I did 3 months ago when I was running, and swimming, and biking regularly. Since then the weather has interrupted my biking and my schedule has cut out the swimming, and on top of that, an injury cut out a lot of my strength training.

Ego: but, but, if you lower your scores your RACE TIME will be lower.

Me: Look at what's going on ego, my race time is about to be lower anyway, and I'm going to get hurt along the way, it's time to slow down.

Spaz!

I have a spasm in a muscle in my neck/back. It's not cripplingly painful, but I don't want it to get that way, so I've been easing off on the workouts for about a week.

Running seems to actually help it, but kettlebells, kung fu, pushups, and biking are on hold.

Sometimes setbacks are part of the journey.

Trying Harder

On my bike ride in to work today, with plans to "go fast", I didn't manage to go very fast. So I analyzed my effort. I realized pretty quickly that in my 23-25 minute rides to work and my slightly longer rides home (It's mostly downhill there, mostly uphill back), that I was not feeling at the end of my rides the way I feel at the end of a 5K running race. The easy conclusion is that I was not working as hard on my bike as I work when I run.

So I decided to focus on effort level for the ride home.

I made it home in my fastest time ever for a ride home from work.

I thought I was trying hard, but I got tricked by my brain again.

I just had to try harder.

Getting Back on Track

The winter break has been good for me. I'm getting back on track and re-energized. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. A little more struggling and schedules will settle down a bit.

I'm looking forward to having time to go to Louisville for training again.

I'm looking forward to having more time to plan for classes.

I'm looking forward to having more energy for classes and special events.

Tough Week.

Emma's been sick, I've been sick, I've gotten off my schedule. I'm going to have to make it up.

That's part of the process though.

Narrow Path

I am trying to remember to be what I want to see in the world. I want to see people striving for personal improvement, working to improve the lives of those around them, and being joyful while doing it all.

This is a challenge. I think I need to research some role models on this.

Re-evaluate

Things are going pretty well so far, I'm getting into a routine and learning a lot about my strengths and weaknesses.

I'm eating pretty well, avoiding a lot of bad for me stuff, but logging my food intake is making me realize I need to focus on making sure I get my veggies.

Balancing all the physical requirements is tough. I think I over estimated the amount I could do in a week, so I've adjusted some goals downward. It is the wise way to go so as to avoid injury.

Racing Thursday, then holiday travels.