It’s been 50 days since I first
began this journey to the June 24th Spartan Race. Over those 50
days, I have made 50 posts, completed 30 workouts, gone on 11 trail runs, &
had a ton of fun! (Did I mention I meticulously tracked everything?).
Feeling nostalgic about having made it
to the halfway point of my Spartan Race journey, today I decided to look back at my very first post on this
blog, & reflect on how my mindset, body, & abilities have changed since
that time. The format of this
post is a bit different, as I pulled out 7 key phrases that brought to mind a change I have made, bolded & italicized them, & below wrote my response or update to the statement made in my original post. If you would like, you can click here to review the March 14th post that inspired this one.
“I need to
find motivation to get in shape again.”
I truly cannot remember a time
where my motivation to exercise & eat healthy has been higher than it is
right now. When I discussed my ‘why’ during my day 19 post, I listed health benefits, to challenge myself, to learn about health
& fitness, & a healthy dose of fear as my reasons for pushing myself in
my training for the Spartan Race. Since that time a new motivation has emerged;
I believe I have become addicted to continuous improvement. Since I began this
exercise program, I have been meticulously tracking each one of my workouts in painstaking detail. I find
that having everything tracked gives me motivation to push myself a little
further than the workout prior. The effect of making these small, incremental
gains week in & week out has become addictive, & before each workout I
look forward to the feeling I get after I set a new PR or push myself a little
further than I ever had before. This journey has shown me the importance of
tracking your results & pushing to get just a little bit better each day. The results of these small, daily improvements has already been substantial, & I'm only at the halfway point!
“I have
never quite been able to regain the fire to dedicate myself to my health &
fitness, opting instead for sporadic gym sessions and occasional bouts of
healthy eating.”
If nothing else on this journey,
I have been consistent. I’ve managed to maintain a level of consistency with my
workouts, runs & blogs that has surpassed even my wildest expectations. Although it
may not always be the best workout, meal, or blog post that I’ve ever completed, I
have been consistent in showing up, & finishing what I’ve set out to do, day-in & day-out, which I am immensely proud of. For me, the key to the second half of this
journey will be to sustain the level of consistency that I was able to achieve
in the first half, while gradually increasing the intensity to focus
more on consistently producing my best
results as opposed to just consistently showing up.
As of this
morning, I am officially signed up for the Toronto Super Spartan Race on June
24th, 2017. Just writing that sentence sends shivers down my spine.
This is one area where I haven’t
changed much; the thought of my upcoming race still sends shivers down my
spine. With the amount of OCR veterans that I follow on Twitter,
Instagram,
& Facebook,
I am constantly being exposed to race footage of various types & I
regularly find myself thinking ‘oh my
god what have I gotten myself into?!’ That said, I believe this fear is
healthy, & instead of allowing the fear to paralyze, I have attempted to channel it into motivation to push myself
that much harder the next time I’m in the gym. I’ve come to accept that no
matter how hard I train, I’m going to be nervous & feel as though I'm not
prepared come race day. I believe the key is to do everything I can between now & race day to ensure that I have
peace of mind knowing I’ve put in as much work as I could and that I have given myself
the best possible chance to succeed. After the work is done, the results are out of my hands
Never one
for modesty, I chose the ‘Super,’ a modest 9-11 mile run instead of the 3-5
mile ‘Sprint’ which likely would have made a lot more sense for a first-time
racer.
A recurring question I get from
people on social media is ‘why did you
sign up for the Super instead of the Sprint?’ The answer is simple; I was naïve.
When I saw 3-5 miles, I thought that it would be too easy. Since that time I’ve
learned a lot more about the Spartan Race & learned that the Sprint is
anything but easy. That said, I’m not sure I would have pushed myself to the
lengths that I have had I signed up for the Sprint precisely because of that
naivety. Had I signed up for the Sprint, I likely would have started training in June & would have eaten a big slice
of humble pie come race day. Signing up for the Super which is 8-10 miles &
well outside of my running abilities at the time (as well as now) forced me to take my training seriously for fear of not finishing (or living) come race day.
Therefore although it was ignorance & naivety that led me to sign up for
the Super instead of the Sprint, I believe it ultimately led to the best
result. That said, there may be a Sprint & a Beast in my future – stay tuned
for updates on that.
Despite
never completely abandoning the gym over the past 10 years, I am far from a
runner. In fact, I hate running. For me, the cardio aspect is going to be by
far the biggest challenge, as well as my biggest focus for my training
sessions.
One thing has remained the same;
I am far from a runner. Despite my best efforts over the past 50 days, I do not
consider myself a good runner. That said, instead of considering myself a ‘bad
runner,’ I have shifted my mindset to be an ‘improving runner’ which I
discussed in my day 45 post on trail running.
This shift in mindset allows me to maintain a positive outlook & continue
to focus on improving my abilities free from any negative connotations. Another aspect that has remained the same is
that I still believe that running, or cardio, is going to be my biggest
challenge come race day. Although I’ve worked hard on my cardio over the past
50 days, the reality is I am still a beginner when it comes to running &
cardiovascular abilities, so it is imperative that I continue to push myself
day-in & day-out over the last half of this journey to make sure I’m able
to complete the race come June 24th. The one aspect that has
changed, is that I would no longer say that I ‘hate’ running. Although it is still
far from being my favourite form of exercise, I have come to appreciate running
as an excellent form of exercise, & since I have began tracking my running
performance & looking to improve each time I hit the trails, I have found
getting out onto the trails to be far more palatable.
So on June
24th, 2017, I will be competing in my first ever Spartan Super Race, and I am
going to utilize this blog to detail my 100-day road to the race.
While I had originally set out
to write one post a day, having never written a blog post before, I do not
think I fully understood how much work a blog entailed. I had originally
thought that it would take up about 10 minutes each morning, & instead it
has become a 1 to 2-hour commitment per day. That said, I believe there have
been numerous intangible benefits that the blog has provided that make the
effort more than worth it. First, I believe my writing skills have improved
substantially since I began this blog 50 days ago, a skill that is
transferable to my work life & that has already proven incredibly beneficial.
Second, I have learned a ton about health & fitness since I began writing
this blog. The posts that I wrote on supplements, intermittent fasting, sauna
use, habit-forming, creatine, & the importance of sleep, to name a few,
required extensive research that has translated into an increased knowledge
base & better results in the gym. Finally, as I detail below, this blog has
allowed me to tap into the OCR community which has been an incredible
experience & created an added motivation to be consistent with my workouts.
My hope is
that this blog will hold me accountable to my training, and provide a handy
'how-to,' or more likely – 'how-not-to,' for any fellow 'gym avoiders' that find
themselves in the precarious position of having an obstacle course race looming
without a concrete plan in place.
As mentioned above, perhaps the biggest positive impact that has come
out of this blog has been how it has allowed me to join the OCR community All
of my interactions with members of the OCR community have been so positive that
I feel like I’m letting my OCR brothers & sisters down if I skip a workout
or cheat on my diet, creating a brand new form of accountability. As a result of my interactions with OCR veterans that have offered endless amounts of support, I no longer fear the Spartan Race (ok maybe still a little bit) but have instead become motivated to crush the Spartan Race. Each time
I am pushing myself beyond my perceived limits, I think about how it’s going to allow me to do better come race day & do my fellow OCR's proud. I actually find myself looking forward to my workouts lately, as I look at each of them as a new
opportunity to improve my abilities & chances of success come race day.
In conclusion, the first 50 days
of my Spartan race journey have been more rewarding than I could have ever
imagined when I sat down to write my first ever blog post on March 14th.
I have improved my fitness level, learned a ton about exercise & nutrition,
& have been adopted by one of the most supportive & positive
communities that I have ever been apart of. While the Spartan Race certainly
still scares me, this journey has allowed me to develop confidence in my abilities
& has me excited to get out on the course & conquer whatever Joe De
Sena throws at me. To anyone still reading this long tirade – thank you for
your support on the first 50 days, I can’t wait to see what the next 50 days
have in store. AROO!
100-Day
Spartan
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