I work out pretty consistently. I've been running 20-25 miles per week for 15 years; I've done weight training on and off for the same time; and recently — 2 years ago — I got into triathlons.
Last year was a big endurance year for me, racing over 10 times in various events: 5K, 10K, half and full marathons; and just about every distance of triathlon — including Ironman Lake Placid [2.4mile swim, 112mile bike, 26.2 mile run].
I feel like I'm no stranger to hard work.
BUT, 4 weeks ago I started CrossFit and I've been sore like you'd never believe. Everyday. And if you're familiar, these workouts are 20 - 30 mins per day at most. Sometimes 10. Hardly a 3 hour run or 6 hour bike ride.
There are days that I'm fully convinced that this 25 minute workout is harder than the entire eleven and a half hour Ironman.
The funny thing is, with incorporating CrossFit, I'm working out less then last year [time wise], I'm working out harder [in any given moment], and I feel more fit and healthy then ever.
The main reason for all of this is CHANGE.
I changed it up. Did something different. Broke the boring.
But I didn't change to change. I changed to match my goals.
I realized, I didn't have the 20hrs per week it takes to train for Ironman. I didn't care about getting faster or going farther anymore. But I still wanted to burn calories, tone up, and be fit.
And I sort of worked myself into this confused state of trying to train in the same style [swim, bike, run] but doing it less, for results that had nothing to do with getting faster or going further.
I had to hit the reset button.
Like when your Nintendo went crazy. [And then you had to blow on your Nintendo tape to get it to work again.]
I had to ask:
What am I trying to do here? How can I realign and prioritize to get there?
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