Getting Back On Track
Phew…this one is a tough one to write.
I thought the last blog was hard to get out—this one feels triple the size.
Ever feel like that?
You take one massive step one day when you’re feeling super motivated and then immediately tell yourself, “I’m back on track!”
Then, you wake up the next day and what was driven by motivation the day before, seems an impossible mountain to climb the next day.
Swimming this past year has taught me a lot.
It’s easy to go back to our former selves and recall times when we’ve been at peak performance.
2018 comes up a lot for me—the year I did my first Ironman.
Boy oh boy, was I in good shape.
A lot of life has happened since then, though.
Marriage.
Two beautiful boys.
Three major moves.
All on top of building a coaching business.
Oh, and Father Time has has continued to tick away.
This past September I decided to take the plunge and get back in the pool. After the birth of our second son last May, I was 4 months removed from any consistency in my workouts.
I joined a local Masters team and just started showing up.
It didn’t happen immediately, but eventually I found my way into a bit of a habit.
The alarm goes off at 4:30am, I pour a cup of coffee and head downstairs to draw for a bit while I listen to a podcast.
At 5:10am, I emerge from my studio in the basement and unload the dishwasher.
Around 5:15am, I head out to the car.
I dive into the water most days around 5:45am and just follow the coach-prescribed workout for the day.
By 7:00am, I’m dragging myself out of the pool with the hardest bit of work done for the day.
Since that first workout in September, it’s been 8 months of consistent swimming.
I’m not perfect, but most weeks I hit 5 days of swimming.
And, as I keep showing up, I’m noticing that I’m getting more and more moments where I surprise myself with times that I hit in the pool.
Those glimmers of a former self.
So, what’s all this have to do with this blog?
Or, what’s the message in this for you?
Well, I go back to 2022 when I made a firm commitment to sending out a weekly newsletter and blog.
Without fail, I sent out out 52 newsletters coupled with 52 blog posts.
Some of them were winners and some of them really missed the mark.
No different than with the swim workouts that I’ve had over the past 8 months: you win some and you lose some.
And that’s what I had to remind myself as I sat down to write this blog: consistency is key.
Because consistency is what builds habits, and habits—the right ones—are what unlock our peak performance.
Perhaps motivation has got nothing to do with it.
And the real key is just showing up.
Hit Publish.