2012 Goals Pt 2: The Current Situation
Jan 30, 04:34 PM
So where am I at right now? It’s the end of January and I finally actually figured out my goals for the year. It took a while to get to where I am but I think I’ve got a good idea of what my plans are and all. I’m currently running, swimming and riding my bike on the trainer at least once each per week as well as getting in some kind of strength training as well. I’m doing a weekly long swim set that consists of a 3000+yd swim. I’m running outside and I’ve been doing intervals on my bike that are designed to really get my power up.
Probably one of the bigger parts of getting to where I am now was an attitude change. I made a conscious decision to start acting like an athlete instead of pretending to be “active”. What’s the difference? Mainly it comes down to what I’m really trying to achieve when I work out. In the past I would get out and run or ride or swim just to do so. I had set goals of distance that were helpful for training volume, but not so much for improving myself to the next level. Now, it’s important to note that last year was the first year back to training after taking over a year off when the twins were born so I was essentially starting at the beginning again. The only difference was that I’d done a couple races already and was more aware of what I was in for.
So right now I’m trying to be more deliberate about my training. I’m trying to push myself when I want to just give up. I’m trying to deal with the pain instead of avoiding it. I’m trying to accept that there are times when I need to push harder than I feel like I can, but other times I need to recover and listen to my body. Right now it’s really easy to always say “push harder” but that just leads to injury and problems.
I’ve never thought of myself as an athlete before. I didn’t grow up being athletic or doing sports very much so this is a pretty new transformation for me. It’s been as much a mental and spiritual journey as a physical. It’s caused me to change how I look at myself and where I look for strength. I’ve realized that I can’t do this on my own and that I need to be looking to God for the mental toughness to get through the physical strain. I’ve learned a whole new meaning to Philippians 4:13 where it says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Older Articles: Swimming update Jan 29, 2012 Newer Articles: 2012 Goals Pt 3: My Goals
You mentioned the spiritual journey…all of the praying you do while working out has definitely made a difference in your life. I think all of the training/competing you’ve been doing has really made a wonderful and positive impact in your life! Keep up the awesome work!
— Kristy · Jan 30, 09:11 PM · #