Monday, December 01, 2008
The Case for Momentum
Today's Run: 3.0 miles
Run Time: 34:00 minutes
Total Miles to Date: 880.8 miles
Thoughts on the Run:
Today I experienced the tremendous benefits that come from creating momentum.
After being up since 5:30am, I had a long day at the office and finally arrived home after 8:00pm in the evening. I was gone for a week, so there was a lot of "catch up" to do and we had some late design sessions. Driving home, I had a great conversation with my wife. I could easily have started to talk myself out of the 3 mile run I had scheduled, because I was running late. Fortunately, because I planned ahead and brought some extra shake mix for an extra meal in case things ran over, I wasn't too hungry.
Just months ago this would have been the perfect excuse to give up. I would have shifted days around or written off the workout and said to myself, "It's a hectic schedule, you deserve it."
You know what happened last running season when I did this consistently? The end of the week left me disappointed. There were runs I wasn't getting in. I wasn't advancing as fast because I wasn't sticking to schedule. Just missing one day per week out of six training sessions really translates to missing over 15% of the training time I had scheduled ... so why would I assume I would perform at 100%?
Fortunately, weeks ago I made The Decision (click here to learn more) and stuck with it. The first few workouts were tough. I didn't want to do them. I was tired. I'll be honest, a few times I simply dreaded going downstairs and turning on the treadmill. And I'll also be honest: if that's how every workout would be, there is no way I could stick with the program.
But the hindsight of my experience gave me a valuable gift: understanding momentum. I knew that all I had to do was suck it long enough to become a routine, a habit, and I would slowly start to transform my thoughts and feelings about training.
The shift really happened over Thanksgiving break when I started to look forward to my runs and realized I was truly committed and would not give up.
But today was the proof. Here's the key ... every time I finish a run, it's a green check mark on my workout plan and it feels GOOD. I know I've done what I set out to do, without excuses. As the result of my efforts, I dropped several pounds over the holiday break when most people gained. And a feedback loop has started: I feel so good about the effort I put into my workouts, that I naturally find it easier to eat clean to compliment that hard work I've put in.
More importantly, I get momentum. Each workout pours into the next one and each time I workout despite the odds, I gain confidence and enjoy it more. Suddenly, less than a month into this, my BEST feeling is that I'm NOT missing workouts like I did last training season. I'm not just getting excited about the green workouts completed, I'm ecstatic over the green WEEKS where at the end of the week I can look back and say, "I truly gave 100%."
So a few months ago, tonight would have been:
"I'm tired. It's been a long day. I just want to unwind. I'll go home, eat, lounge in front of the TV and catch up on sleep."
But today it was ...
"Wow, what a long day ... thank goodness my workout is just 30 minutes. What am I REALLY going to do tonight? Besides dinner and my time with my family, is there really anything else substantial I'll be missing out on? Not really ... and 30 minutes is PLENTY of time to get in some training and then have a good meal before bed. In fact, why WOULDN'T I train ... skipping today will just set me back a day. I'd rather get it done with (it's just 30 minutes out of my long day) and earn my day of rest at the end of the week (instead of feeling "cheated" because I had to swap it at the last minute)."
Okay, maybe I didn't talk THAT long to myself but the point is .. by having enough discipline to get through the hard days, I created momentum and now it keeps getting EASIER and EASIER each time to train. The six miles yesterday required no motivation when the sun came out - it was a given. Tonight? No problem. I'm so happy because it's DONE, I'm still ON TRACK, and now I can truly relax GUILT-FREE tonight and enjoy the wonderful baked chicken, baked french friends, and spinach meal my wife cooked!
How cool is that?
Use momentum to your advantage!
Run Time: 34:00 minutes
Total Miles to Date: 880.8 miles
Thoughts on the Run:
Today I experienced the tremendous benefits that come from creating momentum.
After being up since 5:30am, I had a long day at the office and finally arrived home after 8:00pm in the evening. I was gone for a week, so there was a lot of "catch up" to do and we had some late design sessions. Driving home, I had a great conversation with my wife. I could easily have started to talk myself out of the 3 mile run I had scheduled, because I was running late. Fortunately, because I planned ahead and brought some extra shake mix for an extra meal in case things ran over, I wasn't too hungry.
Just months ago this would have been the perfect excuse to give up. I would have shifted days around or written off the workout and said to myself, "It's a hectic schedule, you deserve it."
You know what happened last running season when I did this consistently? The end of the week left me disappointed. There were runs I wasn't getting in. I wasn't advancing as fast because I wasn't sticking to schedule. Just missing one day per week out of six training sessions really translates to missing over 15% of the training time I had scheduled ... so why would I assume I would perform at 100%?
Fortunately, weeks ago I made The Decision (click here to learn more) and stuck with it. The first few workouts were tough. I didn't want to do them. I was tired. I'll be honest, a few times I simply dreaded going downstairs and turning on the treadmill. And I'll also be honest: if that's how every workout would be, there is no way I could stick with the program.
But the hindsight of my experience gave me a valuable gift: understanding momentum. I knew that all I had to do was suck it long enough to become a routine, a habit, and I would slowly start to transform my thoughts and feelings about training.
The shift really happened over Thanksgiving break when I started to look forward to my runs and realized I was truly committed and would not give up.
But today was the proof. Here's the key ... every time I finish a run, it's a green check mark on my workout plan and it feels GOOD. I know I've done what I set out to do, without excuses. As the result of my efforts, I dropped several pounds over the holiday break when most people gained. And a feedback loop has started: I feel so good about the effort I put into my workouts, that I naturally find it easier to eat clean to compliment that hard work I've put in.
More importantly, I get momentum. Each workout pours into the next one and each time I workout despite the odds, I gain confidence and enjoy it more. Suddenly, less than a month into this, my BEST feeling is that I'm NOT missing workouts like I did last training season. I'm not just getting excited about the green workouts completed, I'm ecstatic over the green WEEKS where at the end of the week I can look back and say, "I truly gave 100%."
So a few months ago, tonight would have been:
"I'm tired. It's been a long day. I just want to unwind. I'll go home, eat, lounge in front of the TV and catch up on sleep."
But today it was ...
"Wow, what a long day ... thank goodness my workout is just 30 minutes. What am I REALLY going to do tonight? Besides dinner and my time with my family, is there really anything else substantial I'll be missing out on? Not really ... and 30 minutes is PLENTY of time to get in some training and then have a good meal before bed. In fact, why WOULDN'T I train ... skipping today will just set me back a day. I'd rather get it done with (it's just 30 minutes out of my long day) and earn my day of rest at the end of the week (instead of feeling "cheated" because I had to swap it at the last minute)."
Okay, maybe I didn't talk THAT long to myself but the point is .. by having enough discipline to get through the hard days, I created momentum and now it keeps getting EASIER and EASIER each time to train. The six miles yesterday required no motivation when the sun came out - it was a given. Tonight? No problem. I'm so happy because it's DONE, I'm still ON TRACK, and now I can truly relax GUILT-FREE tonight and enjoy the wonderful baked chicken, baked french friends, and spinach meal my wife cooked!
How cool is that?
Use momentum to your advantage!
Labels: momentum, the decision
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]