Lots of Nights working with these Guys. Congratulations to Gord and Cheryl!
Simple enough right? Get to a predetermined distance within a variable window of time in order to achieve your goal. For some it’s very straightforward. Complete a set distance in a certain period of time. That’s it, that’s all. Simple. For me the distance isn’t just a literal distance (the 42KMs that I have to run in Chicago in October) or the variable window of time (2 hours to 6 hours and thirty minutes), but also has factors that seem to affect the outcome of the equation. They never appear in the formula, but I know they are there and if you’ve been following along so do you. Everyone has them. Age, weight, health, work, family, friends, home life and the list goes on. How do you manage them? How do they fit into the equation and what effect will they have on your outcome.
Crazy right?
I will break down the variables as they apply to me and you might be able to relate to some and not others. Take what you can if you find something useful. We are all getting older, it’s a fact of life and while there are anomalies, as you age doing things you could do as a youngster become harder. You don’t recover as well and things feel heavier. Still this is where another variable comes into play, mental toughness. You have to want to do it a little bit more and the will to succeed will help overcome just about anything. Weight. This one is easy. The older you get the harder it becomes to shed the excess pounds and it those pounds that make it harder to do everything. Still in order to have a long healthy life, the pounds have to go. Eat well, exercise and occasionally skip the dessert. You still have to live and denying yourself the occasional night out is not the way to do it, but realize that for every creamy pasta dish and bottle of wine, there is a price to be paid.
The old 9 to 5… A long, tough day at work can make training even tougher. There’s nothing like a crappy day with nothing but a 15KM run or long training session still to do. There’s no magic pill here, just the mental toughness (again) to get the body moving. My two cents? Get the sessions in early. Get two feet on the floor first thing and get your training done. Family life also can take a big chunk of time. It probably doesn’t have the drag of work, but you still have to manage multiple schedules and commitments. Get your work done early so that if something does come up you don’t find yourself in a bind.
So what’s the secret? Honestly I have no idea, but if I had to give an opinion, it would look something like this:
(Mental Toughness + Desire + Support (Family + Friends) )*(Time + Distance) = SUCCESS
I don’t know. I might have to keep working on this one. My Physics prof might not like what I’ve got going on here. Lots of ramblings on a Sunday afternoon. All I do know is that food prep is done, I didn’t get a run in this weekend (which has allowed @hoodieruns to extend her lead) and the Oilers are off to the second round!
Scary after 11KMs…
UPDATE: This week I’ve completed 858 of the 1250 HR Push-ups in the April Challenge and 7 days left to finish. This one is going to be close, but I still am confident that I can complete it. How is your Challenge going? Keep fighting and get as many as you can. What will May’s Challenge bring?? I also completed my longest run of this year’s training session clocking in at 11.8KM in a little less than 1h30m. My feet weren’t too happy afterwards (no idea why) and it’s been a struggle to juggle everything this week. What I do know is next week is a big running week to end the month and MAX OUT of my Bench Press.
Beez
