1 Theme

Tiredness

I found myself being pretty tired this week.

I have to respect my body and that it's still recovering from the Ultra.

I missed a lower body session on Friday because my legs hurt too much from training them on Tuesday and a 40 minute run I had planned for Saturday morning.

Am I beating myself up over it? No, because I'm choosing what battles to fight and right now this isn't one of them.

2 Positive Outcomes

Back To The Gym

I had a buzz to get back into the gym. The last few weeks of the Ultra prep felt like I was going only to tick the box and not to make significant progress.

I got to the point where I was bargaining with myself by knowing I could go for a sauna afterwards.

It felt different stepping in again last Monday without the overhanging goal of an event but rather with the intention to go and shift some tin.

Expectations are not crazy high. No PB are expected but it's about getting into the grove of training and enjoying it again.

Delivering, Connecting & Success

One of my favourite parts of coaching is being able to deliver trainings to the Ready For Anything group and use this as a tool to connect with people.

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to online coaching is it's a training plan, macros and a weekly check-in. It's way more than that.

Yes, these are all part of the process however they don't always lead to long lasting sustainable change.

Continuous success is about coaching the person rather than the process.

You can show someone how to progressively overload their deadlift with a 12 week program but what is that worth if the person isn't reviewing and improving their lifestyle.

Being able to coach people to change their ways of thinking is difficult but worthwhile - especially when you connect with them and support them along the way.

3 Learnings

It's Going To Take Time

Even though I was back in the gym, training legs left me feeling sore for days. Despite lowering the intensity and weight, I seriously struggled.

What can I expect though? I'm only a week or so after the race. My body needs time to recover.

It's going to take me a few weeks to fully recover to the point where my lifts are back to where they were previously.

The Self-Care Dilemma

I'm a huge supporter of making the time for self-care in your week. Whether that's going for a relaxing bath, my sauna post-workout or even massage I'm in.

However there's often a slight misconception of what self-care actually is.

Self-care doesn't always equal relax.

In this episode of the Deep Dive podcast, Grace Beverley's way of bridging the gap between the extremes of productivity and self-care is redefining the way we think of self-care.

Sometime self-care is meeting that deadline you're currently not on track to meet but actually respecting your future self and your goals is getting up and doing the work you need to do.

It boils down to asking yourself whether what you're doing right now aligns with where you want to go and what you want to achieve.

The Unaccounted Factor

Time.

The internet has created this weird phenomenon where instant gratification is so easy to achieve and unreal expectations.

Seeing someone achieve X in Y weeks makes you want it too. What you don't see is the years of work beforehand to get to the baseline.

When I reflect on my own journey, despite never being a runner 18 months ago, I also had 5+ years of training and over 10 years of taekwondo experience.

It doesn't mean that you need this too but looking to do everything in the shortest amount of time isn't the best idea because you're ready yet.

Have a great week everyone!