Last week was a rough one. I was traveling home, got stuck driving in the remnants of yet another hurricane, narrowly escaped the flood waters of the Susquehanna, felt my heart break at the sight of the devastation the raging waters was causing, and then spent the weekend remembering....My weekend was filled with music - the music of remembrance.
My training took a backseat. Normally, that's not such a terrible thing. None of us are professional athletes; sometimes life gets in the way of our best exercise plans. As long as our overall trajectory stays on target, a day or two here and there isn't going to make a huge difference.
But I'm training for a specific goal. My next 50 mile race - the Vermont 50 - is next week. My workouts at this stage really are important; there's no time to make it up later.
I needed to get in a long run on the weekend, but had concerts. I planned to get up early on Sunday, run 26 miles, then go play a concert. Running a marathon right before playing a big concert is certainly not ideal. I need to rest and recover after a long run, not get dressed up in high heels. But this was my only option.
Unfortunately, I didn't get started as early as I needed. I knew I wouldn't make 26 miles.
The perfect is the enemy of the good. ~ Voltaire
That was the Life-Cise Daily Tip I posted the next day. (it's easy to sign up for the Daily Tips & Newsletter from Life-Cise.com)
I knew I couldn't get in the full run - I'm not that fast. I had to decide: run fewer miles, or skip it and try to make it up the next day. I chose to run as many miles as I could, which turned out to be around 20. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.
It's so easy to just put off the workout if we can't do what we planned: "Oh, I'll never get in 26 miles, I'll just wait and do it tomorrow. I'll get an earlier start." Or, "I will only have 20 minutes at the gym. It's probably not worth it, I'll just do more tomorrow." The problem is, all too often the tomorrows pile up and we never get it done.
We don't have to be perfect in our quest for a healthy life. Getting something done, even if it's not ideal, is always better than nothing. Getting something done consistently is what leads to a healthy life, it's what gets us to our goals.
Don't put off being good enough because it's not perfect.
Julie
My training took a backseat. Normally, that's not such a terrible thing. None of us are professional athletes; sometimes life gets in the way of our best exercise plans. As long as our overall trajectory stays on target, a day or two here and there isn't going to make a huge difference.
But I'm training for a specific goal. My next 50 mile race - the Vermont 50 - is next week. My workouts at this stage really are important; there's no time to make it up later.
I needed to get in a long run on the weekend, but had concerts. I planned to get up early on Sunday, run 26 miles, then go play a concert. Running a marathon right before playing a big concert is certainly not ideal. I need to rest and recover after a long run, not get dressed up in high heels. But this was my only option.
Unfortunately, I didn't get started as early as I needed. I knew I wouldn't make 26 miles.
The perfect is the enemy of the good. ~ Voltaire
That was the Life-Cise Daily Tip I posted the next day. (it's easy to sign up for the Daily Tips & Newsletter from Life-Cise.com)
I knew I couldn't get in the full run - I'm not that fast. I had to decide: run fewer miles, or skip it and try to make it up the next day. I chose to run as many miles as I could, which turned out to be around 20. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.
It's so easy to just put off the workout if we can't do what we planned: "Oh, I'll never get in 26 miles, I'll just wait and do it tomorrow. I'll get an earlier start." Or, "I will only have 20 minutes at the gym. It's probably not worth it, I'll just do more tomorrow." The problem is, all too often the tomorrows pile up and we never get it done.
We don't have to be perfect in our quest for a healthy life. Getting something done, even if it's not ideal, is always better than nothing. Getting something done consistently is what leads to a healthy life, it's what gets us to our goals.Don't put off being good enough because it's not perfect.
Julie
5 comments:
Great post. You pointed out some important things to remember. I admire how much you are running, even if it's "only" 20 miles. I am still getting back up to four!
Julie,
What a wonderful message in this post. Sometimes we think we have to do it all, whatever in the heck that even means?? Good for you for doing the miles you could and counting that as good enough. Sometimes doing anything is good enough. Good luck on your big race!
The perfect is the enemy of the good. ~ Voltaire says it all Julie. You are truly amazing, and an inspiration!
Thanks all. This can be such a hard thing for me to remember (part of why I wrote the post). I think it's something we all struggle with. But, oh my, it is important!
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