Programming

I recently read “your brain is a supercomputer, and your self-talk is the program it’s running” – I won’t pretend to take credit for that quote, nor will I profess to remember who should, but it rings pretty true. Here’s another parallel nugget: “mood follows action.”

I work my body hard 5-6 mornings per week, well before the rooster conjures up anything resembling a crowing sound, and my brain goes into a mode of function resembling that of an android setting out to complete a series of tasks: get dressed – turn on the kettle – bury my face in the dog’s soft warm neck – prepare breakfast – take a B12 supplement – eat breakfast – drink coffee. My girlfriend is only a step behind me at any point, and at some point before either of us says anything resembling an intelligible thought, we’ve decided to carry through with the plan for the morning.

Inspiration is a hard thing to find at 5am. What moves us at this point is a heaping helping of discipline, peppered liberally with routine.

Do I want to do what I’m about to do? No.
Do I want to accomplish what I’m about to embark on? Absolutely.

It’s daily. And yes, there are circumstances that arise that obstruct our view… our hours of employment, for one – but also carpooling kids to school, late nights, an occasionally restless dog getting up in the middle of the night.

Alas, life won’t wait. I need to accomplish this task for my physical well-being, and for my mental well-being. We need to do this together whenever possible, for the good of the fellowship of our household. To share the self-imposed burden. We don’t want to let each other down, so we make a point of not discussing our lack of desire to leave the warm comforts of the nest we’ve built – because Lu’s comfort is a priority for me, as mine is for her. we can’t discuss ‘not going’ because if we do, we’ll excuse each other and regret it later – because mood follows action, and we always feel 1000x better having accomplished the tasks of the morning.

We’re lucky to have each other, and to be on this fitness journey together. I realize that we as a couple are a bit of an anomaly in that regard.

Doing hard things is hard.
Not doing them is harder.

Speaking of hard things, training this week was a relentless force especially in contrast to the lighter effort of last week. A hard swim with a focus on technique on Monday, followed by Tuesday’s BRick workout of 29km on the bike and 5km on the treadmill. Another 6.5km run Wednesday, and a 45 minute bike session on Thursday. The weather has been hovering around minus-20 Celsius, which has made leaving the house difficult to say the least, and the presence of ample vegan confectionary delights in our home has only added a temptation that’s hard to deny – but we’re 2 weeks out from our event, and I think it’s this event that’s going to keep us from slipping completely off the track.

But I also know that even if we do go off-track, we’ll get back on, and we won’t put on any holiday weight we can’t lose again. It’s important to acknowledge that to err is human, and that we have the knowledge and practice in place to deal with any bumps in the road.