Light at the end of the workout
By Amy
How many times have you started a workout and thought, “Oh, man. I’m not sure I can get through this”? You start a 6 mile run, and half a mile in it already feels like you should be at mile 5, and you’re just ready to be done. You start a swim workout and your heart just isn’t in it, and it feels like it will never end. You’ve done 2 sets and you’re supposed to do 25 and you can’t figure out how you’re ever going to do 23 more.
This is particularly near and dear to my heart currently. I’m right at the end of my Ironman training build. Theoretically, if my coach doesn’t hate me, I’ll start tapering soon, since the race is in 18 days. So my workouts right now are long and hard and with a high potential for being soul-draining.
I’ve found that I very often will start a long workout and have a great attitude for a good, oh, 10 minutes, and then start to droop a bit. Begin to wonder where I’m going to find the fortitude to keep going, when I’m only 1/16th of the way in, and already I’m doubting. Already I’m wondering whether I can come up with compelling justification to cut my workout short. Always wondering, every workout, “How will I get through this?”
And one thing this training has made me realize is.. I always do. I always get through it. Whether it’s a 30 minute workout or a 6 hour workout.. I’ve always managed to live through it and come out the other end. Maybe it was good, maybe it was bad, maybe I did even quit early. But here I am on the other side now, happy and healthy and no worse for the wear. Maybe even with some good angst-ridden stories as a result.
Realizing that, and acknowledging that, has really done wonders for my attitude about dreaded workouts. When I’m done with a really hard (mentally, physically or both) workout, I now take a moment to acknowledge the fact that, hey, it may not have ever felt like it would end, but it DID. And I’m awesome for getting through it. And y’know what? The next workout may feel hard, but it will end, too. And knowing that makes it that much easier to start the next hard workout.
Because it will always end. And you’re awesome for getting through it.






