Self limitations

What are you capable of?

What can you accomplish?

What do you think is possible in your life?

When was the last time you asked yourself these questions?

Most people never do.

We think we’re limited.

Limited by our time.

Limited by our bodies.

Limited by our minds.

Limited by our subconscious.

Limited by our environment.

Before we’ve even tried, we’ve already limited ourselves.

We believe we’re not good enough.

That we can’t do it.

That only people who are special or excellent can achieve great things.

All of that is a lie.

As Steve Jobs said ‘When you grow up, you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you’re life is just to live your life inside this world.

Try not to bash the walls too much.

Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money.

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact:

Everything around you that you call life was made up by people no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use

Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.’

I never considered myself an athlete or particularly gifted at any sport.

Growing up I was always the smallest, shortest and slowest kid.

Didn’t start on any sports teams.

Usually got picked last.

Was mostly on a bench watching my friends play.

I loved playing sports, but was never any good.

Those experiences have stayed with me to this day.

Could I ever do something great?

Especially athletically?

Then came 2018.

The year my life changed forever.

The year when I left medicine and decided to start setting personal goals.

It started with reading.

Finished that.

Then it was fitness.

First goal - get in shape.

Started HIIT workouts and lost 25 pounds in 3 months.

Fast forward a few years and it was the marathon.

42 kilometres.

Never run a race before.

Hated running growing up.

But really wanted to do this.

To say in my life I completed a marathon.

So Jan 1st 2023, I signed up.

Had no idea how I was going to do it, but knew I took the first step.

The next 4 months were rough.

A struggle physically.

But also super fun.

I showed myself what was capable of.

I broke things down into daily goals.

Asked myself what training I needed to do that day and focused on that.

Started with running a few kilometres.

Slowly built up the long runs over a few months

Ended up spending 3 hours and 15 minutes on a treadmill by the end of it.

Then race day came.

Went out of the gate strong.

Ran for 28k straight.

Then everything went wrong.

My legs started failing.

Couldn’t even stop to stretch before everything seized up.

So struggled through the end.

15k of mostly walking.

But I did it.

Completed the marathon.

Conquered the mountain.

Something I never thought was possible.

Never imagined that short chubby slow kid could finish a marathon.

Yet he did it.

How?

Believing.

Dreaming.

Writing it down.

Signing up.

Then figuring it out.

Learning from those ahead of him.

Following a plan.

Slow and steady.

Building up over time.

Showing up.

Staying consistent.

And listening to my body.

Eventually, I got there.

A goal I never thought possible was now done.

This is how I’m taking on this challenge.

One day at a time.

Not getting too far ahead of myself.

Dreaming into the future.

But focusing on today.

This goal always seemed nuts.

But I never limited myself.

Years of self-reflection and self-work have taught me this.

We default to negative.

To the belief that we can’t do it.

To believing it’s impossible.

To having everyone question why you can’t achieve something.

Instead, ask yourself this.

Why not?

Why not me?

What’s holding me back?

Nothing.

The only person stopping you from achieving your dreams is yourself.

So get out of your own way.

Stop limiting yourself.

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

Swimming - 5500 m - 1 x 2500m, 1 x 3000m. Good improvements this week and feel faster.

Biking - 109 km - good biking sessions, especially the aerobic long bike. BRIC workout wasn’t bad this week and getting used to it.

Running - 28.5km - more running this week (4x). Definitely could’ve gone faster but kept slow and in zone 2. Need to watch this calf to make sure it’s good, but otherwise really happy with the progress.

Notes from Week 3 of training:

• Continuing to make progress this week. Slowly increasing the workouts.
• Food has been better. Liking the variety and found a good carb mix for the long bikes so let’s see how that goes over the next little while.
• Good improvements in the pool. Went from 2:37/100 m at the start of the month to 2:17/100m this week on my 2500m. Felt much faster and know there’s more to come.
• Bike is going better. Pushed the cadence up to in the 60s but still know I can improve. Slowly getting used to the ass-soreness but it’s getting better haha
• Running going well, maintaining a slow pace and know I can do more but glad I’m holding myself back.
• First injury scae as I had a bit of a calf strain on Friday after my 3k swim. Still got my long bike and long run done without any pain so something to monitor.
• Finished Prison Break this week, great first season. Night Agent next. So much more TV and movies to come this year. If any has any recommendations, please let me know!
• Onto week 4. First testing week so will see how good I am at baseline.