Chasing Consistency

I feel like my big complaint about last year as a training year was lack of consistency. The thing about success at any endurance sport (and I count competitive swimming amongst them, because it's true for that too) is that you need to be consistent with your training in order to make progress. Sure, the stalling that comes with hiccups in training is possible to overcome, but it's difficult and comparably more mentally and physically taxing than it needs to be. Usually being consistent wins out in the long run.

The problem I've started realizing recently though is that as a normal human being trying to balance my normal human being life with trying to progress at my sport is that consistency is oftentimes hard to come by. Looking back on the last year, consistency was hard to find because of travel for medical school interviews, then travel for my long distance relationship, then summer things that included spending time with friends and family and moving out to St. Louis. Looking ahead to the next year, there's my erratic August orientation schedule, travel to Asia over Winter Break, my upcoming wedding next summer and Henry moving out to St. Louis, and probably other things that will pop up whenever they feel like it. Looking even further ahead, there'll be my changing schedule from year to year (and rotation to rotation), Step I, and who knows what else. I won't always be able to settle into that consistent schedule that I want, because like I talked about in an earlier post, the priority in my life is realistically not training. And that's okay.

I guess today's situation is related in some ways and unrelated in others. I was planning on taking a swim in the morning, but my period started today and my mother really doesn't want me swimming through my period. I've had a lot of issues with stomach cramps this year and she knows the cold and the exertion make it a lot worse. If I was still seriously swimming competitively like I did when I was younger, she would have understood the need to be at practice and let me go. But she's a firm believer that my priority should on my health and not on my performance (she thinks I train too much and too hard as is) and I'm willing to oblige her while I'm living in her house. The more the day goes on and the worse my cramps get, the more I am glad I am obliging her.

In any case, what I'm trying to get at is that while I'm here, my priority isn't training, it's family. Part of that means making time for them and making sure I have the energy to spend quality time with them but part of that also means trying to balance their needs with my needs. Living by my mother's rules for a few days is a part of me trying to satisfy her needs. So for the next few days, I won't be swimming like I planned. I don't even know that I'll be running like I planned. I'll just play it by ear day to day and see what happens.

The problem with that plan is that it starts to knock down at the consistency I've been building towards this month though, and that's a disappointment. But I think acknowledging that consistency is difficult to find in a life where training really does take a back seat to a lot of other priorities (and acknowledging that it's okay for training to be taking a back seat, it doesn't mean I'm not a committed, hard-working person) will be important for me moving forwards in terms of getting comfortable with the inevitable hiccups in the schedule that generally seem so frustrating to me. They are all part of the part-time athlete act and that's perfectly okay because it's just that: part-time.

So I'm going to work around it and move forwards and accept that consistency is a great goal to have but you don't always meet every single goal. That's the point of the 80-90% rule; do your best as often as you can and don't worry about the rest. (I'm also not even penalizing my numbers these next few days with that rule, there will be no adding or taking away from the hit rate regardless of what I do since they're planned as flexible days.) I am going to really try to be consistent moving into the fall triathlons seeing as those races are important to me, but if there are any more unexpected hiccups in the road, I will try to face them with the same attitude I'm facing these next few days with. Really working on having the right mentality and keeping training a positive experience. (:

Much love,
Jess

PS - A quick note on the recovery front: Mom has been rubbing out my legs sporadically throughout the day while I'm functionally disabled from stomach cramps and it's been wonderful but they're still sore. The joint pain is mostly gone although my knees have been flaring up occasionally when I'm lying down. Still mostly better than I was expecting though, I've had much worse from hard gym days so this I can live with.