I had a whole thing this week with managing work. Not the work specifically, but the time it was taking. And so as far as training and running goes, I had a great start to the week, but then it started to go a bit sideways half way through.
In that situation, it can feel like there should be a ‘right’ choice. Like the correct choice would be to still prioritise moving and stick to the plan as much as possible. Maybe shorten a few things here or there or have an extra day off.
But I didn’t do that. I had lots of extra days off.
If I let it - that could feel like a failure of some kind or like I was moving backwards. But instead, when that happens I understand that mental resilience requires a good degree of self-compassion. And so I decided to choose my days off, rather than them kind of just happening due to a lack of choice on my part.
And then I can feel pretty good about having a few days of sleeping about 10 hours to bounce back from the added stress. It gives me a bit of time to reset and readjust and refocus without feeling like a hamster on a wheel and reminding myself that these things are all things I choose.
Ironically, the answer at work was actually to increase my hours. I KNOW. It seems counter-intuitive but it turns out the overwhelm was more to do with having to do all of these things in a span of time that really wasn’t enough for the workload. I always feel so much better when I have the time to do things properly and I’m not constantly feeling behind.
A lesson for us all in running or training as well I suspect. Trying to wedge in the ‘best’ version of what you can do will often lead to you being overwhelmed and doing nothing. And it can feel like it’s happening to you, rather than the result of conscious choice.
So that’s what I’m focusing on this week - making it on purpose. Which all starts with a plan. Not a plan for what I hope will happen. But a plan that reflects how my life really is. Like in theory I have time between 3:30 and 4:30. In reality, that’s usually devoted to getting something for the kids that they all of a sudden desperately need for the next day that they’ve failed to tell me about until this moment. Or similar. You get the idea.
What could I do even on a day when things go sideways? That’s a pretty good place to start. Building in your buffering whitespace in between things to allow for life and for coffee.
From podcast land . . . One weird trick to hit new running PBs and prevent injuries. Just kidding, it’s strength training
Just in case you missed it: here is the podcast with Jo, where we talk about strength training: how to get motivated, how to do it when you aren’t motivated, dialling in what your reasons are and all manner of other things that have helped us across the line. If you want to build a v8 engine, you are going to have to reinforce that chassis. You can also listen to this on Apple Podcasts, or your preferred app. You can also listen and read episode notes on the website here.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version on YouTube.