[Day 139]
I go to med school. Sometimes I think I can suck it up and be exhausted and get on fine doing what I do but that's just not true. Opted to nap in the pm today because I was entirely non-functional. Chose to focus the rest of my time on school work rather than on squeezing in a workout. It was the right call. It's nice to not be training super seriously for something and have the ability to just axe workouts when I have to prioritize other stuff. I spent a lot of the past few months feeling torn between all of these different things that I wanted to accomplish. It's nice to have a single clear priority that I can put above other things and not constantly feel so conflicted about. Gonna try and run in the AM tomorrow if I can. No promises lol.
I'm tempted to drop the hit rate count because I know it's not gonna look good, but I'm also really curious about what the hit rate will turn out to be if I continue tracking it and choose to just live my life instead of constantly trying to work my life around training. I think it'll be an informative number honestly so I'm going to keep tracking it, even though I think there's a chance it might make me feel a little bad. The knowledge is worth that risk. Besides, I finished that last training block on a stellar 91.6% while still managing to do med school, so I'm allowed to drop the ball however much I want now. xD
Hit Rate: 11/13 (84.6%)
Send me good vibes for a good studying day tomorrow, I'm really needing it for the upcoming exam week. (:
Much love,
Jess
PS - Still going strong on that daily core/stretching! So proud! (:
Showing posts with label priorities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label priorities. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
School comes first
[Day 54A]
Trying to convince myself to write blog posts on busy rest days is one of those things that works literally zero percent of the time. Third missed day now I guess? I'm not great at this resolution thing evidently...but you know what, I sort of see it like how I see training. It's not about being perfect, it's about being as consistent as possible.
That being said, I'm not at practice right now. I'm at home, doing some final review for genetics before I tackle a take home quiz this morning. I didn't have enough time to finish it yesterday (full morning of lectures and full afternoon of clinic hours mean that all my studying was relegated to the morning and the evening and it just wasn't enough time) so I'm here trying to get it done now (it's due at noon). School is the priority.
I've also been thinking a bit about next year and am realizing that I want to focus on being the best med student that I can be during second year, so I'm probably going to step down training intensity dramatically in the fall after my fall races and really just focus on doing well in my classes and doing well on Step 1. That's a ways off, but I think it'll take me some time to get used to the idea of letting one thing go to focus on the other, so I'm glad I'm making my own expectations for myself clear ahead of time.
The rest day was good, I haven't been sleeping well recently which is a bummer (though strictly speaking I have been hitting enough hours), but other than that things are going well. Afternoon run today if the rest of the day goes according to plan.
Hit Rate: 57/62 (91.9%)
Hit rate feels like it's getting precarious. Am gonna have to make a really serious effort to not be skipping more workouts from here on out. Might be tough though with exams coming up in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!
Much love,
Jess
Trying to convince myself to write blog posts on busy rest days is one of those things that works literally zero percent of the time. Third missed day now I guess? I'm not great at this resolution thing evidently...but you know what, I sort of see it like how I see training. It's not about being perfect, it's about being as consistent as possible.
That being said, I'm not at practice right now. I'm at home, doing some final review for genetics before I tackle a take home quiz this morning. I didn't have enough time to finish it yesterday (full morning of lectures and full afternoon of clinic hours mean that all my studying was relegated to the morning and the evening and it just wasn't enough time) so I'm here trying to get it done now (it's due at noon). School is the priority.
I've also been thinking a bit about next year and am realizing that I want to focus on being the best med student that I can be during second year, so I'm probably going to step down training intensity dramatically in the fall after my fall races and really just focus on doing well in my classes and doing well on Step 1. That's a ways off, but I think it'll take me some time to get used to the idea of letting one thing go to focus on the other, so I'm glad I'm making my own expectations for myself clear ahead of time.
The rest day was good, I haven't been sleeping well recently which is a bummer (though strictly speaking I have been hitting enough hours), but other than that things are going well. Afternoon run today if the rest of the day goes according to plan.
Hit Rate: 57/62 (91.9%)
Hit rate feels like it's getting precarious. Am gonna have to make a really serious effort to not be skipping more workouts from here on out. Might be tough though with exams coming up in a few weeks. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!
Much love,
Jess
Monday, July 27, 2015
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.
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.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Priorities
Last night and today were much needed reminders that as much as I love racing and training and I try to hold myself to high standards when it comes to these things (and by high standards I mean standards in terms of commitment and effort, not so much performance), the real priorities in my life are not racing and training. It's the summer so I don't have school commitments, but I do have a family and a lover and these people in my life are my priority. And when school starts, school will be another priority. Henry and I had a rough night in a lot of ways last night. I sort of picked a fight with him and he's been going through a rough patch and in the end I think we both needed to just spend some time together, even if it was over the internet, being there to support the other. It meant I didn't get to bed until close to 2 AM. And I had promised Coen a trip to Adventure Bay today, so I had to be mentally present for him. Henry said something that was really important to me last night about this: Being there for my family right now is worth losing 5 or 10 minutes on my race finish time. And he's right. Competing and training is a really selfish thing in a lot of ways because it is such an egocentric activity and takes a lot away from what I can do with my time/energy outside of that. It's important to remember that this isn't the most important part of my life: I've got a lot of other things to prioritize above my training and performance.
So I had actually consented myself to the fact that today was probably going to be a missed workout day, but found some time in the morning to squeeze in a very short easy run. I had a base 4-6 miler planned, but seeing as I was slightly sleep deprived and somewhat stressed and exhausted, I decided to cut myself some slack and just run an easy recovery 5k. It was a nice relaxed way to decompress in the morning before my day got started and I feel very lucky to have been able to get a run in today, however short and slow.
Today's Workout: Easy recovery 5 km.
Summary: 3.15 mi, 34:56, 11:05 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 10:55, 11:03, 11:16, 11:09.
Hit rate: 13/15 (86.7%)
On top of that, today was a fairly active day. Coen and I spent 10 AM to 1:30ish PM at Adventure Bay (climbing stairs for the water slides was pretty rough on my evidently still exhausted legs - may have to adjust training load next week to make sure I'm properly rested before the race). I came home and took a short nap in the afternoon and then spent some time playing one-on-one basketball with Coen in the evening. (He's always beating me at basketball. The scores are close, but it's sort of embarrassing seeing as I'm way taller and way older than him.) It was the right call to keep things short and easy today, glad I made the adjustments as necessary.
I had a long run (10-12 miles) planned for tomorrow, but Coen and I are being taken to a classic car show in the county during the day so I don't know if I'll have the time or energy for it. I might take the day off instead and re-adjust my training plan so I take the long run on Monday and possibly an extra rest day sometime during the week. We'll see how my body is feeling. I think being fresh for the Sunday race is the priority, so I'll do what I have to do to get there.
In other news, I've been taking a look at what I would like to go and the paces are really aggressive and intimidating. I have no baseline to compare this experience to because I wasn't tracking my training very accurately in the lead up to my first and only half marathon (the Philly Half Marathon from the Philly Marathon Weekend; 1:55:37 finish time on a fairly flat course) and I know I took the race out too fast but I also have no sense for how much faster than my usual training pace it was. My goal (ideally) is to go faster than I did in Philly, especially since the Windsor course is way flatter, but I very rarely am able to hit that kind of pace in training. Ideally, I'd like to be under 1:50, but an 8:22-8:23 average pace sounds ridiculous to me. I will stick with the plan of starting out at 9:00 pace and hopefully dropping that down as time goes on, which should at least get me to my old finish time, but we'll see how I'm feeling when I'm (hopefully) rested on race day. I also hope that the smaller scale of the event doesn't cut back too much on the intensity that I'm able to summon up. I know that the size of the crowd and the event was a huge motivator for me throughout the Philly Half, and I don't know that I'll be able to repeat that kind of performance without the energy of that kind of crowd. A lot of factors go into race results, I know that already, so I just have to be prepared to face the music when it happens I guess.
Much love,
Jess
So I had actually consented myself to the fact that today was probably going to be a missed workout day, but found some time in the morning to squeeze in a very short easy run. I had a base 4-6 miler planned, but seeing as I was slightly sleep deprived and somewhat stressed and exhausted, I decided to cut myself some slack and just run an easy recovery 5k. It was a nice relaxed way to decompress in the morning before my day got started and I feel very lucky to have been able to get a run in today, however short and slow.
Today's Workout: Easy recovery 5 km.
Summary: 3.15 mi, 34:56, 11:05 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 10:55, 11:03, 11:16, 11:09.
Hit rate: 13/15 (86.7%)
On top of that, today was a fairly active day. Coen and I spent 10 AM to 1:30ish PM at Adventure Bay (climbing stairs for the water slides was pretty rough on my evidently still exhausted legs - may have to adjust training load next week to make sure I'm properly rested before the race). I came home and took a short nap in the afternoon and then spent some time playing one-on-one basketball with Coen in the evening. (He's always beating me at basketball. The scores are close, but it's sort of embarrassing seeing as I'm way taller and way older than him.) It was the right call to keep things short and easy today, glad I made the adjustments as necessary.
I had a long run (10-12 miles) planned for tomorrow, but Coen and I are being taken to a classic car show in the county during the day so I don't know if I'll have the time or energy for it. I might take the day off instead and re-adjust my training plan so I take the long run on Monday and possibly an extra rest day sometime during the week. We'll see how my body is feeling. I think being fresh for the Sunday race is the priority, so I'll do what I have to do to get there.
In other news, I've been taking a look at what I would like to go and the paces are really aggressive and intimidating. I have no baseline to compare this experience to because I wasn't tracking my training very accurately in the lead up to my first and only half marathon (the Philly Half Marathon from the Philly Marathon Weekend; 1:55:37 finish time on a fairly flat course) and I know I took the race out too fast but I also have no sense for how much faster than my usual training pace it was. My goal (ideally) is to go faster than I did in Philly, especially since the Windsor course is way flatter, but I very rarely am able to hit that kind of pace in training. Ideally, I'd like to be under 1:50, but an 8:22-8:23 average pace sounds ridiculous to me. I will stick with the plan of starting out at 9:00 pace and hopefully dropping that down as time goes on, which should at least get me to my old finish time, but we'll see how I'm feeling when I'm (hopefully) rested on race day. I also hope that the smaller scale of the event doesn't cut back too much on the intensity that I'm able to summon up. I know that the size of the crowd and the event was a huge motivator for me throughout the Philly Half, and I don't know that I'll be able to repeat that kind of performance without the energy of that kind of crowd. A lot of factors go into race results, I know that already, so I just have to be prepared to face the music when it happens I guess.
Much love,
Jess
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