It’s hard to
believe that I’ve already made it 25 days into this journey. Although there has
been a lot of hard work packed into these 25 days, the time seems to have just
flown by. Today I am going to look at what I have learned in the first 25 days
of this journey, as well as what I have been successful with, what I have found
difficult, & what I will look to adjust moving forward.
What I’ve Learned
- Power of Routine: in the past, I’ve found getting to the gym 2-3
days per week challenging, let alone the 5-6 days that I am currently attending.
What I have found through the first 4 weeks of my program is how powerful a set
routine can become. I have been able to get in all of my workouts & stay
true to my diet through 25 days because it has become routine. I get up early to write my blog, I get home from work
& immediately pack my gym bag & head out the door, when I get home from
the gym I make dinner, my shake & lunch for the next day. THEN I sit
down & relax. By following this schedule without deviation, I can stick to
it. I spoke at length recently about the power of routine & habit.
- The Spartan Community is Real: over the past 25 days I have also
engaged with fellow Spartans on Instagram (@100DaySpartan) & Twitter (@100DaySpartan)
& have been very impressed with how supportive & motivating the entire
community has been. I have found a great group of past & future Spartans to
follow on both platforms, & am constantly motivated & inspired by the
dedication & hard work of my fellow Spartans. Sometimes all it takes is
seeing somebody with a set of circumstances more difficult than yours getting
the job done to give you the motivation you need.
- There Are No Short Cuts: although I knew the hard work that this training program would require, I had an idea in the back of my mind that once I got deeper into the training program that it would get easy & the progress would come quickly. What I’ve learned instead is that there are no short cuts. Although it has gotten easier to stay in a routine & make the healthy decisions, the workouts are still gruelling & I still must to fight for every extra repetition or mile. I am now well-aware that the next 75 days are going to be as gruelling as the first 25, but if they can be half as rewarding then I am ready for it!
The Successful
- Consistency: through the first 25 days I was able to stay remarkably
consistent, only missing 2 scheduled workouts due to other commitments, both of
which were hot yoga ‘recovery days.’ I have made a commitment to myself that
regardless of what comes up, I will not miss my 4 strength days or 2 trail
running days per week through this journey, & will put forth my very best
effort to attend hot yoga twice per week. I know that if I can maintain this
level of consistency through the next 75 days then I will be able to arrive on
race day knowing that I have done everything I can to prepare myself for the
Spartan Race, & after that it is out of my hands.
- Strength Gains: through the first 3 weeks of strength-building workouts in my plan,
I have been able to consistently improve my results in the major lifts (pull
ups, dips, burpees) both in terms of my 1-set maximum, as well as the total
repetitions over 3 sets. As I continue along this journey, my goal will
always be to do a little more than I did the week previous. Provided I can
continue this for the next 10 weeks, I know that there won’t be an obstacle
that can stop me come June 24th.
- Cardio Improvement: due to the Canadian winter that finally seems to be relenting, I only completed 4 trail runs through the first 25 days of my journey, but I was happy that I was able to consistently improve on each one, in total shaving 1 minute off of my average kilometre time on a 7 KM run from 6:15 to 5:15. Now that the weather is nicer, I am going to be aiming for 3 trail runs per week, but will also be doing other types of HIIT cardio as outlined in my cardio training plan.
The Challenging
- Muscle Soreness: in past exercise regimens, my muscle soreness
has always subsided after a couple weeks of consistent training, however I have
found my muscles, specifically my legs, to be consistently sore since I started
on this journey. I was hoping that through stretching, proper nutrition, & the
sauna, I would be able to mitigate my muscle soreness, but that has not been
the case. This next week I am going to look to increase the amount of sleep
that I’m getting from 4.5 hours on average (blog post to come) to 7-8. If this
does not seem to help with my soreness, I may have to retool my workout regimen
to allow my legs to recover between workouts to ensure maximum output.
- Daily Blogging: the daily blog has been a much bigger challenge
than I had anticipated! In fact, today is the first blog post that is coming
out late due to a busy Thursday & Friday at work (I will double-up today to
get back on track). I have found it challenging to come up with new topics to
write about each day without being repetitive, & it’s also been challenging
to find the time to write the posts now that I’m spending so much time training.
That said, I have already learned a lot about exercise & nutrition due to
writing this blog & it has been an excellent test of creativity & dedication,
so I will certainly continue along this journey for the full 100 days,
regardless of what I have to write about!
- Workout/Work/Life Balance: over the past 25 days I have felt as busy as ever. Taking on two new time-consuming habits at the same time (blogging & exercising) has cut my ‘personal time’ substantially & is certainly outside of the recommendations that I provided in my habit forming post. Although I’ve made it to the gym each night, the nights where I’ve had to drag myself to the gym against my will, or where I get home from the gym at 8:30 & still have to make dinner & pack a lunch have been a true test of will. That said, this journey has been rewarding & I will continue to persevere. My focus now is quality of time, which means looking at the time I’m spending at home, at work, & even at the gym, to see where I can improve the efficiency of the time that I am using, ensuring that I’m always making the most of it.
Next Steps
- Sleep: as I continue to conduct fitness research in preparation
for these posts, there has been one glaring area where I am not taking care of
myself that becomes more & more evident each day; sleep. I am an early
riser & tend to stay up far too late. Over the past few weeks during which
I’ve been working 10-12 hours per day, I’ve averaged 4 to 6 hours per night,
going to bed around 11:00 & being up at 4:30. The simple fact is that this
is not nearly enough sleep & I am cheating my body out of valuable recovery
time by neglecting to get my 8 hours. I am going to be writing a blog post on
sleep in the coming days, & with this week set to be quieter at work, am
committing to getting 8 hours of sleep per night to see how I feel.
- Recovery: as mentioned above, muscle soreness has been a common
challenge for me over the past 25 days, which I believe has negatively impacted
the efficacy of some of my workouts. Over the next few weeks I am going to
place an emphasis on two areas in order to decrease my muscle soreness: sleep
& nutrition. I discussed sleep above, but I believe the second area that I
can improve is my nutrition. Although I am eating very healthy as outlined in my post on diet,
I believe I may be neglecting to eat enough protein which plays a major role in
the recovery process. Similar to sleep, I will be discussing this in a blog
post to come as I continue to research the topic.
- More Running: despite a major snow storm yesterday, the weather in Canada is forecasted to turn warm over the next few weeks, which means it’s time to start hitting the trails even more. A major takeaway from my first 4 weeks of training is that I need to increase the amount of running that I’m doing, because the reality is, I’m not very good at it. I have always been taught to give your body 4 weeks to adjust to a routine, so after this next week, I will be varying my training to include more distance running for the remaining 9 weeks.
Overall, it was a
very successful first 25 days of my Spartan journey. I have learned a lot,
sweat a lot, & complained a lot, but I like to think that all of these
things have contributed to make me a better Spartan. I am proud of what I have
accomplished over the first 25 days even if I’m not yet where I want to be,
& am excited for what the next 75 days as in store.
Aroo!
100 Day Spartan
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