Training your mind is as important as your body

Tuesday I had one of my best workouts in a long time.  I got outside on my bike for the first time in months.  I worked hard too.  But, the truth is, that ride, in itself, wasn't that significant in terms of getting stronger physically and mentally.  It was more like a reward for the work I'd done prior.

Yesterday's ride was significant.  I'd missed Thursday's training because of an afternoon dentist appointment that left me grumpy and tense.  Truthfully, I used that as an excuse, and getting in even part of the training in the time I had left probably would have brought me to a better mindset.  Instead, I ended up taking a day off, following my scheduled rest day on Wednesday.

So, Friday, when I should have been getting a 1.5 hour ride out of the way, I put it off.  Before I could even start, I had to change my rear tire back to the trainer tire.  (We've had a big dump of snow, so no riding outside right now.)  That was just depressing.  

My kids are old enough now that I could have done it early in the day while they played, but I didn't.  I didn't do it after lunch either.  Then, it was time for supper.  In my defense, I did at least manage to change that tire once I had supper going in the oven.  I can't train immediately after eating, so enter the whirlwind of children's bedtimes.  By the time that was done, it was 8:00 pm.

I know very well that the time of day, that I have the hardest time with motivation to train, is in the evenings.  And, that is the only time I had left.  Thank goodness for the most important part of my support system: my husband.  He didn't have to tell me to suck it up and ride my bike, but I knowing he would have was enough to get me down there.

And, unlike most workouts, once I was going, it wasn't easy to keep going.  I don't know if it was the monotony of the trainer after the excitement of the road, but it took constant diligence to stick it out for the full time.  A few times, I took a short break to practice clipping in and out (I like the speedplay pedals, but they feel different then the shimanos and I find the left side a bit stiff to clip in and out.)  I have my garmin set to autopause, so it just postponed the inevitable: the full 90 minutes still had to be done.

It was tempting to cut it short.  Nobody would know but me, right?  But that's the thing, I would know.  I remembered something that Angie said during a bike class when somebody jokingly suggested not doing the final interval: if you don't finish, the entire workout is for nothing, because you know you didn't do it.  

Physically, it might not matter that much.  The effect on my body from a single workout in my training cycle isn't going to be that different if it's 75 minutes or 90.  Mentally, it matters.  Quitting becomes a habit, and if you train to quit, it gets easier every time.

In the end, I finished the 90 minutes.  Instead of training my mind to quit, I trained it to stick it out even when I didn't want to.  It was hard, but I did it.  Maybe next time, I'll also remember that putting it off doesn't make it easier.

Dealing with stress

How does stress affect your body?

How do you let stress affect your body?

Two very similar questions, yet they really are different.

First of all, I'm going to cut to the chase with this week's weigh in. I weighed in at 218.8 for a weekly weight loss of 0.0 and a total weight loss of 25.

I've promised to start asking "why?" when the numbers aren't showing me what I like.

So, why?

Well, I could say last week was a stressful week for me.

Or, I could say that I let myself get stressed over a situation and take over me.

I was waiting for news on a situation that was important to me. It wasn't any kind of life altering situation, and I had a back up plan if it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Yet, I let it take over. I obsessed over it. I stopped doing other things that were important to me and let myself be consumed with waiting for a phone call.

I had a tight little ball in my stomach. Interestingly enough, I checked my weight during this time and it showed me as being up SEVEN pounds. If that isn't proof that I need to find better ways to deal with stress, I don't know what is.

The thing is, I couldn't control the situation. But, I could control my reaction to it. I could have taken the kids to the park or done a craft with them. I'm a strong believer in attitude, and making the choice to stop obsessing over something goes a very long way towards achieving it.

Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but I'm working on it. I generally know how to get through these situations. Rather then analyzing it afterwards, it's time for me to start acting on it in the moment.

Setting a pace, being sustainable

Sunday, I swam 500 metres of front crawl at the pool. I did that full distance without stopping for a break. This was a new accomplishment for me by quite a bit. My previous maximum was 150 metres before I would stop at the end of the pool, gasping for breath.

I realized that I was going too fast. When I learned to swim, I felt like I had to go fast so that: a: I could breath often enough, and b: I wouldn't sink. I had a lot of trouble slowing down and on a couple occasions even had to stop and tread water because I caught up to another swimmer in the lane and had only one speed.

This is a lot like weight loss. How many of us start off eager and excited, roaring out of the gate? We lose weight at a break neck speed those first few weeks and then fizzle out. I'm sad to say that some of the bloggers that started out at the same time as I did haven't blogged in months. I always wonder what happened to them, and I wonder if they started off too fast and fizzled out.

When making the choice to change your lifestyle, the steps have to attainable and sustainable. It's great to lose 3, 4, 5 pounds those first few weeks, and many do. To expect that rate to continue is unrealistic and setting yourself up for failure.

You have to make changes in steps that you can achieve as well. I do think it's good to overhaul your diet in one step, but it's probably best not to start training for a marathon that same week. Make sure the changes you are making are things that you can incorporate into your lifestyle.

It shouldn't be too hard to lose weight. Seriously. After the first couple weeks of adjusting, it shouldn't be something you always think about and work at. If you do, it's going to be exhausting and at some point you're going to get tired of it and quit.

Find foods that you enjoy and fit into your new lifestyle. Find exercises that you do for the joy of doing them rather then to burn calories. Life is so much more then burning calories and losing weight.

We should be losing weight so that we can live life better. Not living life so that we can lose weight.