This week has been exhausting. A huge project at work is due tomorrow and I’ve been working until late in the night each day. Training doesn’t take a break for work, though, so every morning I get up, eat, ride, shower, go to work, and stay there until it’s time to go home to sleep. I’m tired. My interval workouts have gone well over the last few days, but I’m running out of steam fast. When I get really tired and overwhelmed, I cry easily; earlier today, a sad picture of a pit bull sitting next to its dead companion had me in tears. Also, this happened while I was in a coworker’s office. He had to hand me a roll of paper towels to mop off my face.
I often believe in training and racing that it’s just a matter of wanting it enough. If you want to ride faster, all you have to do is be willing to hurt more. I want to believe there are not physical limits. Last night at work, in the process of shit-talking with the guys, I tried to win a challenge to do 75 perfect push-ups without stopping. I do sets of 50 sloppy ones regularly, so no problem, right? Except that I couldn’t do it. I got to 52 and started shaking from fatigue. By the time I hit 55, I literally could not lift myself back up to reach 56.
Apparently there are limits that can’t be overcome by sheer will. I think I’m about at my limit for this week.
Most people can’t even do 10!
Sounds like you need some time to recharge the batteries, especially after back-to-back pro-race weekend wins. Will is enough to do 75 push-up, the problem is it takes practice to truly develop the will and confidence to do it. Look at Annie Thorisdottir. She’s the 2011 CrossFit Champion “Fittest Women in Earth”. She’s half the size of some of the women she competes against, but like you in a race, she’s trained her mind to have the will to do thing someone her size would seem impossible to achieve. It’s just like a training ride when you dust guys twice your size. Muscle don’t make you strong, it’s your brain at a subconscious level, true will that makes the impossible possible. How can someone your size be so Freak’n powerful? Easy….. WILL is enough to get you across the finish line first, and you got that will by doing all that crazy training at O-Dark-30 in the morning. Good luck with your composite Team!