If you ask me within the first 10 minutes of an intense cardio workout if I am going to manage my 40 minutes I would not be able to tell you that answer.
The first 10 minutes kills me. My body resists and I feel sluggish and tired. Everything in me wants to quit. But it’s a mind game. I promise myself if I go really hard for one more minute then I can quit. This goes on minute by minute until I reach the ten minute point when my body wakes up and off we go. I love that moment. It’s a rush that continues on through for as long as I want to make it last.
My first month here in Austria has been similar to that first 10 minutes. The whole thing got off to a rocky start. It began with a friend ambushing me with some pretty difficult news the moment I got off the plane. The hotel I was temporarily calling home became a party zone for a number of nights. I couldn’t find the food I wanted. My hair stylist made me a mousy brunette. You get the picture anyway.
Whine. Whine. Whine.
I was a bit cranky. Some days were worse than others, and if I were to be really honest, I was fairly unpleasant to be around. And, there were moments where I was feeling pretty close to throwing the towel in. Though, if you had asked me why I wanted to give up I would not have been able to give you a solid answer other than it was just too difficult.
Tonight at the gym, as I made it beyond that brutal first 10 minutes, I began to reflect on things. I made a decision to do exactly what I am doing for many reasons; including the fact that I knew it was not going to be easy. It’s like every time I head out for a run, or step on a stair machine, I know that I am going to have to struggle through those first 10 minutes. But it’s a struggle that is well worth every moment thereafter.
I like to think of my first month here like the first 10 minutes of cardio. It was just something that I had to fight through and now I am ready to do exactly what I came here to do.
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