Monday, May 5, 2008

Diabolical: It's How I Roll

After my last blog post, I was flooded with emails from concerned family and friends thinking that I was being too hard on myself, not having a healthy attitude, and taking this to the extreme.

Calm down. I'm fine.

In my eyes, the difference between people who talk about doing things and people who do things, is that the people who do things do them. I am done talking about this. I am doing it. And as I screamed into my pillow last night*, I will do this.

Being intense is kind of my hobby. It's what I do. The only thing new here is that I used to do it when no one was looking, and now I am blogging about it on the internet and sending it to my friends. I have always been crazy. Now you just know about it.

So kindly please step aside and let me get back to my diabolical plans for genetic domination.

Last week I said that it was time to get hard-core, and a week later, I am so glad I did. My workout this morning was fueled with the kind of energy you can only get by knowing that even though you might not be in control of your destiny, at least you're present for it. Last week, my runs were plagued with shin splints and sore calves. This morning, I sailed down the street and felt the angst and fatigue of last week melt away. Coincidence? I think not. I've upped my game, and I've also gotten some sleep. It's a magical combination.

I had spent the weekend in reflection. I've been stressed - stressed at work, stressed at home, stressed about my workouts and nutrition, and stressed about the effect all of that stress was having on me. I thought a lot about my goals and where I am in relation to them, and I updated my plan for getting there. And, I spent some time with myself. I took a day off from work and vegged. I bought a cute dress. I called my mom. She told me to stop being so hard on myself.

The truth is, I have been hard on myself, and I am tired. But, the two are not necessarily a pair - I can be driven and focused and intense in my journey to reach my MGP and also be tired, and the reverse can be true as well. Either way, I'm taking time to change up my cardio, enhance my nutrition, and alter my strength training to accomodate the need for rest and recovery. And, I am making some more room for stress relief, fun, and chill time when I am not bossing myself around. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts, but I am giving it a shot.

So relax. I'm fine. Still going hard core, still being tough on myself, and still moving towards my MGP with an unrelenting drive to come out on top. I'm just doing it with a little more sleep.

*I did not actually scream into my pillow last night. That was a joke. Relax.

2 comments:

Sghoul said...

**Yes you did

E. Peterman said...

I'm glad you took some time to relax and recharge. Remember, adequate rest is part of being as healthy as you can be, too!