Rachelle, like all of us, sometimes has problems with motivation. The difference between her and I is the root cause. I get frustrated when the pounds don't go down, she gets frustrated when her times don't go down (Im just happy to have times to begin with!). Of course, I think this is universal among distance athletes. Rach has always been extraordinarily patient with me, but she balances that out by being incredibly impatient with herself.
Usually this represents itself in pouting, eating some chocolate, and then going back out the next day and working twice as hard until the times do come down. Lately she's been feeling a bit frustrated; I put a lot of it on how hard we've been training and races are still a long ways away. I've felt some of it too, but she's ultra competitive.
We read a lot of sports magazines here in the Berry house... Runners World, Bicycling, and Triathlete magazines just to name a few. One of the things that's drawn Rach's attention of late in Triathlete is the idea of a winter (Mountain biking, XC skiing, and running) triathlon. I think it's because when you're trying something for the first time, you can only get better, and she was looking for a little bit of a quick win.
Fast forward to this morning, and I'm standing on the side of a man-made cross country ski track as Rach takes a lesson. Just standing there watching her take this one lesson made me want to be out there doing it too. It wasn't peer pressure; she'd tried to talk me into it all week. I had skis briefly as a teen, but didn't get a chance to do much with them other than goof around before I outgrew the boots. So I'm sure that's part of it. And the fact that my wife makes almost everything fun is probably part too.
But mostly, I'm just easily inspired.
For example, as a kid I was picked on a lot. I know everyone feels picked on, but I was tall, skinny, and too smart for my own good; a lethal combination. So when I saw Karate Kid in theatres, I said "maybe karate will help me too", and a few weeks later I was taking classes. (The trailer for the Karate Kid remake looks awesome, I saw it today during a commercial break while watching Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel-son learn "paint the fence").
So you can imagine how much inspiration I've gotten just these past couple of weeks watching the Olympics. Aside from hockey and curling, which I've played and loved for a while, there are boundless tales of triumph and endurance that serve to remind me of the joy I get from competing. Seeing these athletes reach these heights, hearing about how much time and effort they've put into their training; just makes me want to work that much harder myself.
Today is the last day of what is at best a marginally or minimally successful month. I'll know in the morning what the final tally is, but I'm certainly falling short of my 10 pound goal. Hopefully, I can take all of this inspiration and harness it into a wildly successful March.
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