Workout Reflections

I was thinking about this the other day when I was out on a bike ride: I have been doing this bike, run, swim stuff for a long time. I did my first 10K in 1982, my first marathon in 1983, and my first Olympic triathlon in 1986. That’s like 28 years of continual training. There was a period of time when the kids were young that I didn’t race at all and my training was significantly less than it is now, but I was still running and biking 5 days a week. In all those years, I have been relatively injury free. I have had my share of aches and pains but nothing that has sidelined me for running or riding.

This prompted me to ask myself the question, how have I been able to do this for so long? Since I asked myself the question, I was compelled to answer.

The first answer is I love it. That being said, I don’t think that alone is enough to keep someone going this long. Here is my list of how to maintain a consistent workout program that can go for years. I don’t profess to be the first person to come up with things on this list, but when I think about what keeps me going, these are the first things I came up that have worked for me. I could dig deeper and come up with more, but these are the key items. I do believe that it’s all these things in combination that makes the difference and not just one or two isolated points.

1. Log your workouts. Keep a record of everything you have done. Log time, distance, sport. As your data builds from week to week, and month to month, it’s very motivating not to slip backwards. Also, being able to see improvement in performance is very motivating.
2. Support your workouts with excellent nutrition practices. Most of you know what you should be eating, so work on changing the percentage of eating the right kind of food until 90% of your diet is “clean.” It’s amazing how much better you feel working out with a quality diet powering your body. It makes exercise more enjoyable, which reinforces the next workout.
3. Set Goals. It’s very important to have something to shoot for. It gives you a reason to workout. Short term goals like walking 10 miles in one week are as important as long term goals, like wanting to run a half marathon next year. The exercise log also helps memorialize the accomplishment of goals.
4. Have a purpose to each workout. This will help to create variety in your workouts. I run three days a week; day 1 is speed, day 2 is base training, and day 3 is long. The variety helps to beat the monotony. A couple other purposes may be an easy recovery ride or run, or a social workout with friends. Knowing what the purpose is before you start and planning your week will help with consistency.
5. A supportive spouse or partner. I am very fortunate in that my wife gets how important it is for me to get my workouts in. Communicate with your spouse your goals, make them a part of your team, and ask for their support. In turn, be considerate about when and how long you workout.
6. Stretch when you don’t need to. It’s so important and it’s so easy to forget about but you have to do it, especially as you get older.

This is my list of my items, yours may be totally different. I’d like to know, what’s on your list?