Prioritize rest

Prioritize rest.

I’m type A.

An always-on-the-go type of person.

Always working.

Always thinking.

Always doing something.

It’s the reason I’m here.

The reason I’ve achieved what I have.

The reason I’m doing an Ironman.

This relentless drive and energy to constantly improve.

Constantly work.

Constantly achieve.

It’s gotten me so many great things.

It’s also been to my detriment.

I can’t rest.

I can’t relax.

I can’t stop.

Reminds me of a convo during Covid.

Moved back home for 18 months during that time.

There was one evening when my mom and I were watching Netflix.

I told her ‘I gotta leave and go up to read and write.’

She said ‘why can’t you stop?’

Why do you keep going?

I jokingly responded ‘because of you.’

It was how I was raised.

It was what I saw.

It was who my parents were.

Especially my mom.

Type A.

Always going.

Always moving.

Always planning.

Always doing.

Always working.

Taking care of a house and 3 kids.

Putting us in tons of activities.

Driving us across the city to get to all our activities.

Whether it was music, swimming, tennis, basketball, or soccer, my siblings and I were always busy.

Always doing something.

That’s been normal to me.

After I graduated medicine and was on my own, I had to find things to do.

Stuff to keep me busy.

Stuff to get me going.

It was how I was raised.

Relaxing was an issue for me.

Sometimes I enjoyed it.

But I couldn’t do it too much.

Even now, it feels like a waste of time.

Sitting in my bed all day watching a show sounds like torture.

And yet, I need those days.

Need that time.

Need that break.

This Ironman journey has shown me such.

I’m even planning things on my off days.

At one point, I started incorporating hot yoga so I was working out 7 days a week for a month.

That’s unsustainable.

I can’t keep that up.

My body is starting to tell me that.

Been having ankle and Achilles soreness since the marathon.

I know why.

It’s too much use.

Even on my off days, I’m routinely walking 10,000 steps.

It’s too much.

So I’m trying to tell myself.

I need rest.

I need to rethink it.

Need to remind myself that rest is just as important as training.

As a startup CEO told me this week, performance begins with rest.

You can’t be at your best if you’re not well-rested.

So here’s to more hours sitting on the couch actually resting.

I’m gonna need it before August.

Remember, prioritize rest.

This week in training - (Follow me on Strava here):

Swimming - 7.4k. Good swim sessions this week. Volume picking up. Doing more sprints. Timing hasn’t been the best as my pool workouts have only been on days where the pool is only open an hour so can’t finish everything in that time. Will need to readjust as the summer gets closer to keep that volume high. Sprints getting faster, up to 43 seconds/50 m.

Biking - 157k - big bike week. Hit my first 100k ride. Was a grind the last little bit of that but my legs felt reasonably good after, especially the next day. Know I’m going at a good pace. Still not outside but will be soon.

Running - 29k - good run week. Good pacing, more treadmill this week. Achilles and ankle felt sore again on the long run so something to keep in mind. Felt good all week, no issues with any other workout but long run is flaring it up. Shouldn’t be too bad, just a bit sore.

Notes from Week 19 of training:

• Big build week. As my coach told me last week, now the training volume increases pretty significantly. More training time but happy I’m still keeping up with it.
• Nutrition was ok this week. Ate out probably a few too many times but still feel good. No stomach issues, which has been great. Starting to notice the gut training working.
• Good swim sessions this week. Felt good in the pool. Good pace. Sprints going well.
• Biking was good this week. Really felt it on the long ride. Happy I hit my first 100k, hard to imagine that, especially doing it all indoors. Bit nervous about getting outside as the elements come into play, but know that’ll be a fun part of the training.
• Good run week. Felt good throughout. Only left ankle and achilles soreness post long run, but not too bad. Something to watch.
• Movies - watched Liar Liar (decent Jim Carrey movie), the Amateur (good spy watch), Kipchoge the last Milestone (epic documentary on the greatest sports achievement ever IMO - a sub 2 hour marathon), Now You See Me and Now You See Me 2 (love magic and these are a great time pass), The Rundown (meh, good time pass), Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation and Dead Reckoning Part One (love this series; best action series ever IMO; getting ready for the last one coming this week). TV shows - nothing else other than up to date with The Studio and Your Friends and Neighbours.
• Felt good this week. Really happy with my weekend considering I did 2.3k in the pool, 101k on the bike on Saturday then a 17.5k run on Sunday. Know the volume picks up a ton so trying to remind myself just to take it one day at a time. Have to remember how much progress I’ve made since the beginning, even though it’s hard to see. I’m clearly improving and on track, yet it feels like there’s another level to unlock. All good, know that’ll come in the next few months as we get closer to race day. Have an Olympic triathlon coming up soon so know that will be a good test.

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