Toughen up

After a long ride on Saturday, I was supposed to run 6 miles, and then wake up and run another 8 on Sunday. Well, 3 miles into the first run, my hip abductors said “fuck you no” and took me down to a slow walk. Of course this happens 3 miles out from the house, while I’m sporting my brand new short-shorts, which I’m still self-conscious about.

Not enough filters in the world

DJ said had he known I was so tired after my ride, he would have told me to skip the run. So obviously I am still figuring out how tired is too tired to do a workout. Sometimes it’s good to push through, other times you risk injury. I feel like I’ve been at this training thing for long enough that I should know the difference, but clearly I do not. I don’t really need mental toughness training; I’ve proven that again and again. If anything I need the opposite: I need to baby myself when necessary.

I recall once at the gym the coaches pointing this out to me: we run around the block as a warm up every time, and sometimes during the workout there is more outside running. Well it was raining (as it does all winter long), and I think for the first time in 2 years I somewhat moaned about it. They basically said “well, if it was just you, you could skip it, but other people need to learn to toughen up.”

When it comes to being outside in shitty weather, I’ve spent my fair share of hours out riding with wet, numb hands and feet, frozen ears, drenched from head to toe, etc. I’ve pushed through multiple 12+ hour efforts. I come from a place where you don’t seek medical help unless you’ve got one foot in the grave.

I’ve proven my toughness, and actually, I find it much easier to be tough then to be soft. My default is to be hard on myself then to forgive myself. One more thing to work on.