Self Control and Smashing a training week

I love to self reflect and read interesting ideas. I remember reading something about 6 months ago about self control and how this is the actual key to a great life. We talk about self esteem being important but really self control is what sets you up. It gives you resilience and stops you doing stupid things. Its about not doing something just because you want to or more importantly not doing something cause you can't be bothered, or would rather stay in your lovely warm bed. Its doing things cause you so know they are the right thing to do and even though you would rather be doing something else, doing these things ARE going to make your life better.

Self Control enables you to achieve soooo much. I will say I don't always have self control but I probably have more than most and as a result I seem to be able to do things others find difficult. I don't think what I do is necessarily difficult it just needs some dedication and passion to achieve amazing things (and a dream to do more).

Not everything is going perfectly for me at present. I have put some weight back on and the last 3 weeks I have turned into a slug. Neither of these things are going to be helpful for achieving my dream of competing in Mont Tremblant and although I know I will not win the event I am hoping I can come in the top half of the field. Despite setting myself a goal realistically I am going to be happy to finish and be able to say I have competed in a world championships. This is something I never thought was ever going to be possible.

So where does the self control come in.

Weight blow outs!

To drop those extra kg and a couple more I am going to have to develop my self control around food. Bad habits and poor self control have crept back into my life. This is how I ended up at the hefty weight of 92kg about 4 years ago and self control (by reducing my portion size) is how I managed to get back down to 80kg. The 12wbt program 12 months ago was the extra push I needed and by the beginning of the year I got to 72kg. Now I am back up to 76kg..... time to get a bit of self control happening again. Diet has been pretty good this week and I have avoided getting hungry and therefore have stopped the inappropriate snacking.



Weekly challenge

This week the #WBTHydrate challenge was to drink only water. Now this little black duck is a big time coffee addict so there was no way I could go without coffee for a week (or even a day). Everything else I could drop.... no juice.... no soft drink..... no cordial....no sports drinks..... but no coffee that is a stretch too far. However I did exercise some self control and have only 1 coffee (which I made an espresso so there was no milk added and only a small amount of water). Other than this I have only had green tea (2 per day max) and water all week.

The training benefit

So as I mentioned I have been a slug when it comes to training in the last 3 weeks. I have rested well but this week was week ONE of the my 15 week program. The plan was

• Monday - Swim in the morning and run in the evening.
• Tuesday - Cycle in the morning on the indoor trainer (intervals)
• Wednesday - Run in the morning (with an effort) and try the new stretch class in the evening (90 minutes of stretching)
• Thursday - Cycle in the morning on the indoor trainer (maybe try the course on the computer) then body balance class when I knock off work and a swim to follow
• Friday - recovery run with my friend in the morning (more about helping motivate her than needed for the program as this should be my rest day)
• Saturday - 2 1/2 hour ride on my bike - flat ride
• Sunday - 10km fun run (entered during the week so no excuses)

I know this probably sounds impossible but for the first time in about 2 years I have managed to stick to the plan for the week. So at this point in time (Saturday night) I have managed to do 10.5 hours of training this week with about a 1 hour run to go tomorrow. Realistically achieving the entire week of 12WBT exercise is about 7 hours of training for the week and this equates to only 3 hours more (less than 30 minutes a day) At this point I am really pleased with my efforts. I wanted to stay in bed this morning and I had excuses.... My partner is home and my mother is in town looking for places to buy. I had to do some juggling to fit some of this in during the week and I don't feel like I have stopped much... but on the positive side the high that I get from exercise has already kicked in.

Self control is definitely the way to happiness so just go out there and do it.