Get your trainers on. See how far they can take you today.
You’ve come too far. You swear you’ll never go back but inevitably, it happens. I like to call this place my “gray area.” It’s that getting-somewhere-but-feels-like-nowhere place. You’re starting over and have to work your way back up. I think we’ve all been at this place at some point in our fitness journey. Currently, I am in my gray area. This past summer, I decided to take a break from running and focus more on lighter forms of cardio (yes, walking can be cardio) and yoga. So, when I decided to start running (consistently) again this fall, I immediately became frustrated. After one mile, I was breathing harder, and my joints began to stiffen. I swore I would never be able to come back to being the runner I “used” to be. However, I am happy to report it has gotten easier the more I have done it. After one month of running a little more consistently, I feel stronger and one step further from where I was. Although I would not say I am at my peak running stage, I am a lot farther than where I thought I would be after injury and lack of practice. So, I am here to tell you, if you are where I was/kind of where I am now… it WILL GET BETTER. I think the start-up phase is the hard, but I promise if you are consistent, you will break through again — and I think this stage is the hardest part. Think of it as a backwards form of recovery. When you go into physical therapy, you start out strong, determined to get better. Yeah, the exercises might be hard, but you are motivated to make that comeback. However, as you get stronger, you might feel like you have less support, yet (even though you have moved on to bigger and better exercises) you might feel the work is even harder. Two words: KEEP GOING. I myself am guilty of focusing on where I used to be or where I should be , instead of where I am now. That will not help your training. Focus on the now because this moment is where you make the most progress. Not two weeks from now, not last week. At this point, you are moving forward. The most frustrating part is not being able to see where you will be, but that’s also kind of the exciting part 🙂
This might sound like a cheesy motivation post. But I feel like this is a stage of training that is often overlooked. Usually the beginning and peak stages get all the attention, but what happens in between? Starting out, yeah that’s great, but the comeback is where you grow the most.
Here’s a little quote for you to leave with: a.k.a. a line from one of my MOST FAVORITE movies of all time!
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” — Tom Hanks from A League of Their Own
