It's official. When I miss workout I am thrown off of my game. All day today I've felt like garbage, and not just physically. I feel like today is an "ADD" day, and I could use some Ritalin. I have noticed that on days I don't work out, I generally am more distracted and anxious than on days I run. I think it must be my body telling me I'm being lazy.
I've often wondered what it is about our brains that makes it so hard for people to stick to a plan. I have a specific goal, a specific plan that will let me achieve that goal, and yet I keep sabotaging it. For instance, right now I am absolutely 100% positive I will be running every remaining workout until December 2, getting to bed early, eating healthy during the week, limiting alcohol consumption, etc... I am SO fired up to get back on track. I know damn well that Friday night will come around, some of my friends will be going out to a bar or something, and I'll cave. I'll probably have a few beers and go to bed around 2:00 am.
I could just go out, drink water, hang out until around 11:30 or midnight and then go home and go to bed. I'd wake up Saturday morning feeling fine, I'd have the whole day to get stuff done. It seems like such a fantastic idea right now. Why, oh why does my brain conspire against me when temptation is put in front of me? Shouldn't it be easy for me to realize, "Drinking this beer will make it much harder for me to reach my goal of running a 3:30 on December 2" ?
I have total sympathy for people who can't stick to a diet and constantly gain and lose weight in a yo-yo fashion. It seems simple on the surface... just don't eat so much damn food! I know from experience that it's not so simple. Your mind rationalizes and makes deals with you to get that one bite... ok maybe just a little piece... maybe just a piece and a half of cake into your mouth. "It's fine, you'll just eat less for dinner. Don't worry, you'll work out tomorrow and it'll be gone." You can't trust your mind... it will betray you!
I've found a few little tricks that help me, although they all seem to work only temporarily. One trick is wearing something that constantly reminds me of my goal. I have one of those rubber bracelets that has all of my splits that I need to run in order to finish a marathon in 3:30. It's meant to be worn on race day so I can easily look down and see if I'm running too fast or slow. I wear it all the time, because it reminds me, "Order the 6-inch sub, you'll be happy later." Before that I was writing "3:30" on my arm every morning. Both of these methods work for a while, and then I get immune to them. I need to find some new tricks. Maybe another tattoo would do it.
I am clearly a rambling lunatic today. Anybody else have these issues?
2 comments:
absolutely! i very frequently think about myself when reading your posts...
I know about this more than anyone you probably know! The trick is to keep coming up with new stupid reasons and mini goals. I also get wicked competitive with other people and myself.
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