Don’t Call It A Setback

Published on 5:51 am by in Self Care

9

Obstacles
Creative Commons License photo credit: triplej*

Becoming a full-time athlete is simply part of the progression to achieving your best. By full-time I mean that this isn’t just a hobby for you, something you dabble in when the fancy strikes you. Not you. You have invested serious capital and time, purchased high-tech equipment, and changed how you eat. Everything from your work schedule to where you want to live is analyzed from the perspective of who you are as an athlete. It makes sense, after all, as that’s just who you are: fit, organized, and in control of everything.

But not everything is simple and easy in Endorfun-ville. There are times when, believe it or not, things don’t go exactly as planned. Life has a way of doing what it wants, when it wants. Your rear derailleur explodes on a winter ride; your kids won’t sleep at night; you are so sick you think you have have H1N-10,000. It’s enough to divert even the strongest athlete from their chosen path.

But having such moments isn’t a problem…letting them define you most certainly is. Here are a few tips to keeping yourself mentally on track when life throws a (or many) curveballs your way.

Quantify Your Fitness … Endurance athletes are walking examples of health and wellness. Yet miss one workout and they act like the biggest couch potato on earth, as though that one skipped session has set them back a few years…or pounds. Use benchmarks to quantify your “fitness” instead of whether or not you can workout on a given day. If you weigh 160 today and don’t workout….wake up in the AM and still weigh 160 are you less fit? More fat? If your bike functional threshold is 250Watts, and you miss a bike workout, do you wake up and think “My FTP must be 246.3 now I missed a day!” Of course not…your FTP is still 250, done.

Missed Workouts Are Opportunities… If you don’t get today’s workout done, that just means that tomorrow’s will be that much better. If you can’t workout today b/c you are just sick as a dog, then you have an extra hour in your day to do something that’s been on your to-do list forever.

Tackle Problems Like Your Dreams… The single worst thing you can do when sick or injured or down is to just throw in the towel. Personal experience and actual studies have shown that positive thinking and engaged action can make something like a cold, or a bump calf muscle, disappear in half the time. You approach every workout like a puzzle to be solved; it’s how you live your life. Applying the same focus and attention to your body when it needs your help will only help you get better, faster.

Share Your Challenges… Last, but not least, talk about what you are going through. Putting your situation into words (or emails or tweets) helps you to really grasp the true nature of your situation. It also gives your friends and support network a chance to give you a hand up…odds are you are not alone in your current predicament.

Please share any tips you find useful in the comments section below!

  • mancona

    Thanks P… very timely read for me!

  • Philip

    Wow..very timely for me. I'm struggling right now. I just can't seem to push the pedals lately. I keep telling myself it's temporary. But in the back of my head, I'm wondering if last year was “as good as it gets” for me. Yikes.

  • Olwen

    I watch “Dodgeball” and remember not to take myself so seriously. Seriously, it makes me feel a whole lot better…especially the scene with Lance Armstrong.

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    Unless last year you were winning your AG, typically you haven't hit the limits of your performance. That said, you might be at the outer reaches of what's possible for you given your current situation and what you asked of your body last year. Why not just stand down, walk away, through 1/4/10. Get rested, get connected with what's important, then get back into it. Short term lost fitness is nothing compared to a season of chronically underperforming.

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    LOVE IT!

  • http://trihardist.blogspot.com/ Jamie

    “fit, organized, and in control of everything.”

    Not all of us are Type-A triathletes. For the Type-B personalities out there, I suggest internally focused self-talk (vs. quantifying fitness): “This injury isn't a set-back; it's an opportunity to learn something new.” The Type-A athlete will be inspired to see his/her numbers stay consistent when the curve balls come; other athletes will feel bogged down and oppressed by the details. And instead of talking your challenges out, consider journaling. Some athletes will be better served by sorting out all that's going wrong (or that's how it seems, anyway) on paper; after writing it all down, the Type-B athlete has better clarity and perspective. Also helpful? Yoga and meditation.

    It's true that endurance sports tend to attract Type-A personalities. But there are plenty of us out here who operate in an entirely different way, and our strategies for dealing with adversity are often very different.

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    Jaime – You are absolutely right that sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story…or solve anything for that matter. I am certainly guilty of playing the numbers game, and really welcome your perspective. Think I had better over to your blog for some perspective!!!! Thanks, Patrick

  • http://trihardist.blogspot.com/ Jamie

    “fit, organized, and in control of everything.”

    Not all of us are Type-A triathletes. For the Type-B personalities out there, I suggest internally focused self-talk (vs. quantifying fitness): “This injury isn't a set-back; it's an opportunity to learn something new.” The Type-A athlete will be inspired to see his/her numbers stay consistent when the curve balls come; other athletes will feel bogged down and oppressed by the details. And instead of talking your challenges out, consider journaling. Some athletes will be better served by sorting out all that's going wrong (or that's how it seems, anyway) on paper; after writing it all down, the Type-B athlete has better clarity and perspective. Also helpful? Yoga and meditation.

    It's true that endurance sports tend to attract Type-A personalities. But there are plenty of us out here who operate in an entirely different way, and our strategies for dealing with adversity are often very different.

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    Jaime – You are absolutely right that sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story…or solve anything for that matter. I am certainly guilty of playing the numbers game, and really welcome your perspective. Think I had better over to your blog for some perspective!!!! Thanks, Patrick