Milestones get celebrated here in the Badass Army, and our guest blogger Chris celebrates a doozy this week - halfway down the road on his #360to30 journey to find the strongest 30-year-old he can be, inside and out. So let's check in with Chris, who is recovering after two - yes, two! - knee surgeries but hardly slowing down....
“What’s going to be harder: 1st year at West Point, or my first swim lesson for @xopherfl?”
This is the last thing I read before going to sleep the other night. See, my swim coach Brecht Heuchan is kinda insane. He’s one of those nut job tri-athletes that I, for some reason, want to become.
Swim 2000 meters before work? No problem! 70 mile bike on a nice Sunday afternoon? Why not 90! (OK, he never actually said any of these, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did.) So I fall asleep having flashbacks to Plebe drowning and wondering like I have a lot in the past 180-plus days “What the HELL have I gotten myself into?” I wake up and head to Trousdell Aquatics Center.
*Side note: The facility was very clean, and has an amazing staff (Thanks Clarissa for taking the picture!). Good job to the City of Tallahassee for maintaining such a nice place.*
I look in the water for my trainer and he’s doing laps, don’t know how long he’s been there but I’m hoping long enough that he will be tired. NO. SUCH .LUCK. Dude sees me, jumps out with a huge smile on his face. I should’ve known I was in trouble when I saw his Speedo: “Winning” on the front, “Tiger Blood” on the back.
I have to say it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and probably because he was being easy on me and he’s going to try to drown me next time. A few tips, some advice and some things to practice and I was on my way. It’s amazing how much a good coach will help. By the time I had done 75 meters I noticed a difference in my stroke, my heart rate, and my breathing. I actually felt comfortable in the water, a place that is not my element at all. But he assured me that come April, I will smoke the 500 meters I am going to be swimming!
Yes, we are little over the halfway mark right now in #360to30. In 173 days, the 360 to 30 will come to an end in a glorious fashion. But let’s reflect on three things I have learned over the last 193 days.
• Eat right – My diet has changed, which has helped my budget SO much. A small investment of a mini-fridge in the office helped a lot. Controlling my portions, packing lunches, and the wonderful myfitnesspal.com have helped so much in making sure I not only eat the right things, but that I eat enough to fuel my workouts. One thing I learned quickly is that even if you want to lose weight, you need to eat, and if you don’t keep track, you don’t realize how little you are helping your body.
• Know your body – I know I have said it before, and Shannon has said it as well: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! Take that time to rest if you need. We had a conversation a few months ago about seeing people taking three classes a day, every day, for weeks straight. You don’t get the results you want if you beat up your body. Muscles need time to recover, and the only thing that will come from overtraining is injury.
• Mondays cannot be, will not be, and AREN’T Fridays as much as they used to be – I am not going to lie and say that I have completely turned around on how much I go out, but I will adamantly state that it has changed. Yes, there are still days where I text a friend and say “Monday is not Friday,” but those days are fewer and further between than they were in years past. When given the choice between happy hour and an evening lift, I take the evening lift 8 out of 10 times. And if I do go out, I never use it as an excuse for not doing exercise the next morning: Play Hard, WORK HARDER.
So here we are, 173 days to go. Not backing down, and embracing my challenges. #360to30
Coming this week: Eating for 2(a-days), and a routine using the 8x8 strength training method.