Why consistency is my goal
Getting the year started off on both feet
I have completed at least one workout (sometimes two) every day since the start of the new year.
This is what it looks like on my training calendar:
I’ve only missed one workout (the red one). All the green and yellow blocks are completed workouts. There’s at least one every day in 2018.
As of today, that’s twenty-three training days to start the year. Tomorrow, I hope to make it twenty-four.
I’ve never in my life had a stretch like this during which I completed a focused workout every day. This comes on the heels of a very active 2017 during which I prepared for and completed not one, but two Half-Ironman distance races and then Ironman Wisconsin. I’m running and cycling better than I ever have in my life. It has a lot to do with consistency. It’s something my coach harps on.
This is how I’m measuring success this year. Though I’d love to set some PRs, I won’t equate success with my finishing times at Ironman Chattanooga 70.3 or Ironman Chattanooga 140.6, the two big races for which I’m training. It’ll be based on how well I committed to my training plan and got myself to the pool, on the treadmill, on the trainer, or out on the road and I put in the work. Day in. Day out. Over and over like waves on the sand. Relentless.
This all isn’t to say I won’t miss a day here or there. I will get sick. Work may get in the way. As a single dad, I won’t always have extra help caring for my boy. But, most days, I expect to be active. If all goes well. I won’t let excuses get the better of me. I won’t succumb to the snooze button. Now that I’ve begun to experience the physical and mental adaptations that come with that consistency, I believe the results will follow.
My buddies on the Crushing Iron podcast brought up a Bill Belichick quote that’s resonated with me (Source: SBNation):
Q: With all that you have accomplished in your career, what are some of the things left that you still want to accomplish?
BB: I’d like to go out and have a good practice today. That would be at the top of the list right now.
I’m in the the best shape of my life. Next month, I expect to be even better. Yes, I’m training for an Ironman again, but I’m no longer just training for an Ironman. I’m on a mission to seek out the limits of my potential. It’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to require many days (weeks, months, years) of consistent and relentless commitment to my training.
I may not ever get there. That’s ok. The results are not my focus. Right now, I’d just like to have a good training day tomorrow.
