Falling into Routine
Fall is upon us and the precious time we have amid its beauty is quickly dwindling! For many students, the new-ness of school has worn off. Moving in to the musty dorm room, buying all-too expensive textbooks (or potentially not buying them), going too fast on L1 workouts because you're stoked to be back on your favorite training routes, having to answer the overly-enthusiastic "OMG what did you do this summer?!?" a gazzilion times, assimilating the freshmen accordingly, acquiring a parking pass from the angry lady at the parking office, and desperately trying to get the same lady to let you fix your class schedule since Hermione didn't lend you her Time-Turner again this year - these busy but exciting first days of fall have since tapered into something a little more bland, but a something that can facilitate your athletic, academic, spiritual, and personal development if executed correctly: routine.
It was really cool to have the chance to meet the US Paralympic Cross-Country and Biathlon development group and see them put in some big efforts when they came to Lake Placid in September. Most of the team members train 99% on their own in places such as Georgia and Florida, making their dedication to training that much more impressive. How do they do it? Many expressed the importance of making training a habit, a part of a healthy routine.
This is my first full year without formal schooling since becoming a self-proclaimed "big boy" at the ripe age of 5. In past years my class schedule and yearly calendar have provided the structure for establishing a healthy routine when it comes to training. Doing so without the structure of school I've found to be very challenging.
I'm very thankful to be able to live at the Olympic Training Center here in Lake Placid, NY. It's a fantastic training venue, complete with everything I need to establish a positive training routine. But that doesn't make it an easy task. At times I've been tempted to lose focus, skip my stretching programs, not warm up properly for a workout, eat too much ice cream, or sleep in until 10am. As my time here has gone on, however, I've made improvements on staying focused and, in doing so, have established a healthy training routine without the structure of school.
Starting each day with purpose is vital to establishing a positive routine. Each day, routine or not, is an opportunity to continue to improve - as a student, athlete, and person - Carpe Diem! Something as simple as getting in a short morning jog before breakfast, which I do most days along with some short mobility drills, helps me not only jumpstart my body but also purposefully ready my mental focus for the day. It's a way to communicate to myself that I'm serious about this day. Whatever morning routine you establish, make sure its one that puts you in a productive mindset- you're telling yourself that this day is your day for the taking. You're speaking directly to the early-morning sloth inside of you, saying, c'mon let's go get it! Starting my day this way makes it a lot easier to incorporate other positive health aspects into the rest of the day: foam rolling, stretching, ice bathe or sauna, eating right, mental relaxation, and spiritual restoration.
If you're at all like me, you can stick to a strict productive routine really well. For about two weeks, and then it falls apart. Like when you decided three weeks ago that this semester you were actually going to do your chemistry reading before class, but somehow here it is, the night before the midterm, and you have yet to read beyond Chapter 1 which covered material you already knew anyways. (if that is you I'd advise you to stop reading this quasi-meaningless blog and do a few problems from Chapter 2).
With training and life its often the same. After a month and a half of sticking to my morning jog routine, my motivation began to falter and I started jogging only before hard workouts. Sure, some routines are experimental and probably shouldn't last: my freshman year of college I did 10 backpack-weighted pull-ups every time I left my room. Having no concept of recovery, I was surprised when my pull-up max actually decreased by the end of the year. Or during my junior year of college when I used our off-days during the racing season to do hard workouts because I thought I needed to "catch up" on ski training I'd missed during XC running season. Bad routine. Very much worth abandoning. But what about the healthy routines that we really do want to keep a part of our lives? I am no expert, TED-talker, nor Nobel-laureate, but I have a few thoughts to share, thoughts on the matter that have helped me establish healthy routines:
1. Be reasonable, be confident: Set out to make a reasonable addition or change in your routine that you are confident that you can continue. Just like setting an unrealistic goal, attempting to pursue an energy-draining routine that doesn't allow for proper metal rejuvenation will quickly prove futile. Instead of making some bold lifestyle change like saying you'll study Organic Chemistry five hours a day, every day, try two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays for starters. For me, I only morning jog if the morning workout doesn't involve running, bounding, or hiking (so anything with running shoes really). That gives me a good break from my "routine" a few days a week and keeps it healthy. Sure, I still have days where I don't want to get out of bed, but knowing that a break is in my future keeps me motivated to stick to the plan.
2. Find motivation, find resilience: Stay motivated and make goals. Write those goals down, and make them visible. My teammate Paul Schommer has posted his goals on the inside of his door so he sees them every time he leaves his room. Another mental tool, "bulletin boarding", that may be helpful comes from Matt Fitzgerald's latest book How Bad Do You Want It? Think of a football team that tapes a newspaper headline of last year's loss to a rival team on the locker room wall, gets fired up, works their collective butt off, and then goes out and passionately defeats that rival. Think of Brett Favre's historic game on Monday Night Football against the Oakland Raiders in which he passed for nearly 400 yards and 4 touchdowns the night after the death of his father. Think of former Arizona State wrestler Anthony Robles, who proved to the world in 2011 that a man born with one leg could not only compete with "able-bodied" individuals but win the NCAA Championship in his sport. Think of EA Sports' Greg Jennings, who put the team on his back and scored a virtual touchdown with a broken leg, doing it all "for Madden." These athletes are motivated by something bigger than themselves; in a way, many are motivated by chip on the shoulder.
All that said, passion for what you do needs to support your routine. If you set a goal and don't enjoy the process in some regard, then achieving that goal will not be a fulfilling endeavor not matter how many motivational clippings you pin on your mental bulletin board.
3. Team up, teammate: Last year I discovered just how well surrounding yourself with a dedicated, like-minded group can help you endure a long-term training routine. With the Northern Michigan team I trained harder than I had previously while surprisingly expending less mental energy and experiencing more enjoyment. If you have trouble getting out of bed to exercise for example, recruit a friend to join you, even if just for a few mornings each week.
Training with a teammate (and in a beautiful area) when I can makes the work more enjoyable and mentally sustainable - Here I try to catch teammate Paul Schommer while he finishes up the three-hour upper-body-only OD run.
At the end of the day:
"Show some tenacity" - it was a phrase that jumped out at me from one of NMU coach Sten Fjeldheim's pre-workout briefings last fall. It's a phrase that I repeat to myself when I'm struggling to hold my feet up during a core workout or struggling to get out of bed for training. Sure there are days for resting, days for taking a break and escaping from the routine, and that's all an important part of the process. But most days we practice racing, and in our sports, showing tenacity is what racing is all about.
