The Art of Self-Trickery

While I have never been exactly great at consistency, I am good at challenging myself.

With that being said, one of my favorite things to do is work out. But not every day. More like, when I get around to it.  I love the feeling I have after a great workout, the high I have for a couple hours after that really energize me and throw me into full-on productivity mode.  Of course I KNOW the benefits of working out. And hell, I study the human mind, so I’m also painfully aware of the positive effects of routine. But… for some reason I just cannot bring myself to put the two together correctly.  So in the meantime I’ve forced myself to at least bumble to the gym in one way or another, with some sense of regularity, by tricking myself.

My secret is to sign up for something that someone may have casually mentioned in passing that they could never do.  I lack a lot of things, but a competitive drive isn’t one of them.  And no, I don’t even need you to know we’re in a competition for me to get down and dirty. Or you, I guess I don’t technically even need to know you.  I’m realizing this is kind of a sick problem now that I’m saying it out loud… don’t judge me.

So this year?  I plan to run a marathon.

It’s actually been on my list for a few years… but did I mention I also struggle with procrastination?

In past years I’ve had great success with this self-double-dog-dare method so I plan to stick with it.  So far, I’ve completed:

·    Tough Mudder – At the time I worked the late swing shift as a Cocktail Services Manager for both Wynn and Encore.  Naturally, I couldn’t get any friends to join me, because they thought it was ridiculous and I’d never do it.  I couldn’t get off work so I worked until 4am, had my boyfriend at the time drive me two hours to the location, completed the 12 mile race and its 20 obstacles on my own while he went to a bar, had him drive me home, and caught two hours of sleep before getting back to work for my shift at 7pm that day limping and cramping like a mother f…..Anyways,  I learned that if I was going to do crazy shit like this I really needed to run more frequently and maybe pick up some weights.

·   Spartan Race – Less exciting of a story, but shockingly more difficult of a course. If you’re going to run 8 miles in the desert and do THAT many burpees there better be more water stations… I guess that was the point, but still… Touche, Spartan Race creators. No pics, sorry.

·   A couple of Half Marathons – I ran both track and cross country in high school, so I thought these would be easy.  They’re not. And nothing has made me more certain about how much I have changed and grown since high school…..  in a much slower, less disciplined way.

·   A Sprint Triathlon– This time I did get a trainer, but I think she was probably pretty frustrated at my lack of consistent scheduling.  Honestly, she was probably pretty shocked I went through with it because just like everything else, I wasn’t nearly as prepared as I should have been.

 So there it is. I’m a successfully shitty planner, but manage to get things done.  Has anyone done a Marathon?  Do you have any tips to help me create more routine?  HELP ME!!!!!

#adultingishard

Lindsey