This was a trying week.
It highlighted the powerful effect of emotional stress on critical inputs to training: sleep, nutrition, and motivation.
The week started off fairly well with the day off for a national holiday. I made good use of the time off and honored my resolution to get into the city, and I still had time to chip away at things around the house. Tuesday back at work yielded unneeded stress when a colleague struck a nerve for the last time that I could tolerate. Thankfully I stewed on it while making dinner for the week and over an hour of masters swim, so not only did I contribute toward my goals, but I felt a wee more grounded by bedtime. Wednesday was a travel day and I ate the catered lunch. Including an only marginally satisfying brownie and too much chicken marsala. That was a little disappointing considering that my cravings had mostly dropped off. I was exhausted when I got home and napped for 2 hours (!!) squandering a majority of the evening; I DID get on my bike for a little bit, though, out of guilt. Unfortunately while on the bike I saw several news stories of the devastating fire that pummeled a community a mile north, and the empath in me couldn't tear away until well past bed-time. Then I couldn't sleep because I was fretting over the families, the destruction, and the “oh crap I don’t have an emergency action plan” thought train racing through my mind.
By Thursday the proverbial wheels were wobbling their way off. The time I would normally spend preparing for the day’s meetings was replaced with time spent gathering and dropping off donations for the fire victims – a good deed, but poorly timed. I felt unprepared and rushed all day, and then I gathered more donations at work and went to drop them off only to get deferred to another location (for which I would have taken a less traffic-jammed route) AND I got blocked into the parking lot by the governor’s media entourage. So frustrating. An hour and a half had passed by the time I dropped off the donations and got home, and by then my motivation and emotions were shot and I was a vegetable for the night. I had the time to get to masters, get on my bike, do anything. I also couldn't bat away this craving for carbs, so I blew my nutrition targets when I buckled for some chocolate zucchini bread that’s been in my freezer since August. It was delicious. And then I was tired but didn't go to bed at a reasonable time (doing nothing important) and then couldn't sleep. There went my chances at making masters in the morning.
Tally it up and you find three decisions that I could control to keep myself on track and I (very stubbornly) chose not to.
Friday was a wash – I was officially out of steam. Saturday was better, marginally. Made it to the pool and nutrition was somewhat reasonable save the post-swim nachos at the movie theater. Did not need those in my life, but I was famished. Lesson here is to pound a little more protein before leaving the house.
So what did we learn?
Next week is a travel week, so it will be another test. We’re also expecting a blizzard – a further complication! - so this week’s goals are to: 1) stop crashing! Fix the sleep/nutrition problems and 2) maintain focus while traveling (i.e. be creative with your training and nutrition schemes).
It highlighted the powerful effect of emotional stress on critical inputs to training: sleep, nutrition, and motivation.
The week started off fairly well with the day off for a national holiday. I made good use of the time off and honored my resolution to get into the city, and I still had time to chip away at things around the house. Tuesday back at work yielded unneeded stress when a colleague struck a nerve for the last time that I could tolerate. Thankfully I stewed on it while making dinner for the week and over an hour of masters swim, so not only did I contribute toward my goals, but I felt a wee more grounded by bedtime. Wednesday was a travel day and I ate the catered lunch. Including an only marginally satisfying brownie and too much chicken marsala. That was a little disappointing considering that my cravings had mostly dropped off. I was exhausted when I got home and napped for 2 hours (!!) squandering a majority of the evening; I DID get on my bike for a little bit, though, out of guilt. Unfortunately while on the bike I saw several news stories of the devastating fire that pummeled a community a mile north, and the empath in me couldn't tear away until well past bed-time. Then I couldn't sleep because I was fretting over the families, the destruction, and the “oh crap I don’t have an emergency action plan” thought train racing through my mind.
By Thursday the proverbial wheels were wobbling their way off. The time I would normally spend preparing for the day’s meetings was replaced with time spent gathering and dropping off donations for the fire victims – a good deed, but poorly timed. I felt unprepared and rushed all day, and then I gathered more donations at work and went to drop them off only to get deferred to another location (for which I would have taken a less traffic-jammed route) AND I got blocked into the parking lot by the governor’s media entourage. So frustrating. An hour and a half had passed by the time I dropped off the donations and got home, and by then my motivation and emotions were shot and I was a vegetable for the night. I had the time to get to masters, get on my bike, do anything. I also couldn't bat away this craving for carbs, so I blew my nutrition targets when I buckled for some chocolate zucchini bread that’s been in my freezer since August. It was delicious. And then I was tired but didn't go to bed at a reasonable time (doing nothing important) and then couldn't sleep. There went my chances at making masters in the morning.
Tally it up and you find three decisions that I could control to keep myself on track and I (very stubbornly) chose not to.
Friday was a wash – I was officially out of steam. Saturday was better, marginally. Made it to the pool and nutrition was somewhat reasonable save the post-swim nachos at the movie theater. Did not need those in my life, but I was famished. Lesson here is to pound a little more protein before leaving the house.
So what did we learn?
- ALWAYS have high protein snacks on hand (not just most of the time).
- These are the times to test your willpower. Put motto of the year #1 into action: just do it.
- Recognize when your emotions are driving your decision-making and overcome your stubborn, emotionally crazed b-word.
- Keep after your consistency goal. Timing of meals, initiating bedtime routine, etc. Forcing these habits will make it harder to let the B win.
Next week is a travel week, so it will be another test. We’re also expecting a blizzard – a further complication! - so this week’s goals are to: 1) stop crashing! Fix the sleep/nutrition problems and 2) maintain focus while traveling (i.e. be creative with your training and nutrition schemes).
RSS Feed
