I've always been a no-excuse kind of gal and now I'm very much a no-excuse kind of coach. I get tired too and I sometimes don't want to exercise too but I have to show up at Hulk's, I have to train and then I have to also train members for 10+ hours a day with that loud music blasting and the cold chill of the club freezing my tush. I have to be energetic on days I feel tired and I have to help everyone even when I rather not help for whatever reason. Everyone has an excuse why not to exercise but somehow in the scheme of things I've been omitted from the "privilege" of leaning on an excuse. I don't show up at work and trust me members talk, some even start to text message me, sponsors call and then there are those, like close friends, who show up at my house to see what's wrong. Their reactions are so extreme, as if I'm dying. Wednesday is my day off but I come in to work at 7pm and every Wednesday, during the early afternoon, there's always one or two members who ask if I'm ok or text me to see why I'm not able to train with them.
It seems like everyone has an excuse and the more and more I hear them, the more and more I realize that my excuse is that I'm sick of excuses. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired with excuses.
Whether it's with matters of the heart, work, money, or whatnot, if you want something bad enough than you'll do whatever you have to do to make your wish a reality. The fact that Hulk's Boxing is in existence is definitely a constant reminder of this to me and everyday I am reminded that things happen if you work and make them happen but first you have to really have to want it to happen. There has to be that desire -- your desire has to be stronger than your excuses. Your desire is what helps to push yourself outside of your comfort zone because it's when you're out of your comfort zone that greatness really happens. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and me learning this lesson has probably been the biggest life changing lesson I've ever learnt because it's applicable to every aspect of my life.
I try to encourage my members to train outside of their comfort zone and I try to not let them get away with cheap excuses. I push my Hulkies but I know when not to push too far and I know when they don't push far enough. But it's different when it comes to myself and my own training. I know I push myself and train outside of my comfort zone, proof being in the fact my husband is now my coach (so much more uncomfortable than most would expect or even know) and how I remain consistent with my training regardless of the long hours I spend coaching. It wasn't until today however that I started to wonder if perhaps I push myself too far sometimes. Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Maybe I don't even realize it because I'm just so anti-excuses. I absolutely refuse to lean on an excuse but sometimes a legit reason and an excuse get misinterpreted in my head.
I'm that person you see running at two in the morning because I told myself I would go exercise before I go to sleep. I didn't intend to go running at 2am and I probably did go to sleep though, well tried to, but got out of bed because I felt guilty for not having yet exercised. There was that one time I refused to go home because I wanted to train so I waited for Snickers to leave and started my workout after midnight. And there has been plenty of times when I've returned to Hulk's after having closed it for the day and boxed but just didn't post about it on Facebook because Snickers would have come, stopped me and insisted I go home. I'm not obsessed with training but I do take my commitment to my training very seriously and I know if I don't push myself than no one else will. I surely take my 'living by example' mentality very seriously and I do really enjoy training hard. Take that back, sometimes it's really not the training I enjoy, especially when it comes to running, instead it's the after effect. The feeling after a workout, when I know I've really kicked my own butt and gave it my all. I love those moments when I know without a doubt I pushed myself to exhaustion and just can't go that one more round or do another finish line sprint.
Today I had scheduled to go for one last long run before my half marathon this Sunday. I haven't really been focusing on my running but I knew I had to get in a solid long run in. So I set my alarm clock for 7am, which for anyone who knows me knows 7am in my world is like 4am in the normal world, and at 7am it went off. I set three alarms actually -- 7am, 7:06am, and 7:11am -- because I'm brutal like that when it comes to early morning wake ups. When I woke up after the first alarm, I laid there in bed and thought of why I shouldn't wake up, why I didn't need to wake up, and why I should just roll over and go back to sleep. I thought of so many excuses as to why I shouldn't go running but for every excuse I treated it as just that, an excuse, and so I bounced back with stomp-out comeback, something that counterbalanced it.
My excuses and my stomp-out comebacks:
I'm tired.
... should have gone to bed earlier.
I would have gone to bed earlier but I had to walk Pyen Chi.
... hello, that's why you have a husband for, silly.
I had a leg day last night at weight training so I should rest my legs.
... consider this a continuation of your leg day workout then.
But it was a super intense leg workout, one of those can-not-walk-normally after ones.
... well that's your own stupidity, you knew you had to get in one last long run before race day.
Maybe I should just do two medium length runs this week.
... ya, because waking up early for one day is going to be so much easier if you have to do it twice.
I've been consistently training hard with my boxing though, that should count.
... boxing has nothing to do with your upcoming half marathon. Boxing is boxing, running is running.
But I have a coffee date at 9am today, maybe I won't be back in time.
... then I guess you better hurry up.
I'll have so little time to get ready if I leave now and my face will still be blush when I meet my friend.
... do you think your friend really cares if your face is beat red or white?! No.
I don't think I'll have enough juice in my phone to last the whole run.
... all the more reason to hustle it. This could help your pacing.
I'll be taking the doggies out for some riverside play, that's pretty active.
... ya, like you'll be covering 15kms. If so, should have signed them up for the half marathon too.
OK, so perhaps my mind drifted and I started to think of some funny excuses -- perhaps me leaning towards procrastination as supposed to coming up with excuses. None the less, I did stomp out all my excuses and get out for a long run.
I ran 15.11km in 1:22:23 today, making my pacing 5:27min/km. It wasn't the pacing I was aiming for but considering I had just had a hard leg day with my weight training the night before and was running on an empty stomach, I'll take it. With my next half marathon coming up -- next Sunday -- I had to get in one last long run because as much as I will be winging this race, I do want to do good and I don't want to injure myself. I really was in no condition to be running but it was still a good run -- the only bad run is the run that didn't happen.
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