Overcoming Disappointment

Today I'm down to 156.8lbs. You'd think my 3+lb weightloss this week would excite me, and it is exciting, but it's also going a bit too fast and I worry some of it might have been muscle loss. There's really no way to know other than sticking to my workout plan and making sure I fuel my body enough...especially given the upcoming Olympic distance triathlon next Saturday!

1500 meter (0.9 mile) swim, 24 mile bike and 10K (6.2mile) run. I thought I was ready for it, but my training today has left me disappointed...

We did a 1hr25min bike followed by a 45min run and I burned out in the first 30 min of the ride and never recovered, running my slowest pace in over 3 months.

Was it the 3 hills we climbed right at the start of the bike? Was it the 90 degree weather? Was it the alcohol I had last night? Was it improper fueling? Or is it my fast weight(/muscle) loss?

I won't ever know the answer and most likely it was a combination of those things. What I do know is that the mental game I played with myself today was exhausting. I reached that burn out point and started the epic battle of "I got this" and "no, you don't."

Overcoming your own demons is the hardest battle in endurance athletics...and in weight loss. This stuff is HARD and when things get hard your brain is good at making excuses. When faced with disappointed your brain is good at telling you, "see, I told you you couldn't do it."

So today's lesson is one of overcoming disappointed. Convincing yourself that one bad day doesn't have to mean you failed. That one bad day doesn't warrant quitting. It should actually inspire you to push harder and keep going.

Today I am stronger than I was yesterday.
Tomorrow I WILL be stronger than I am today.