The Can Do Mentality

DO OR DIE

Having the strength to leave a fun environment, to then embark on an arduous 3hr bus replacement journey back home from Brighton at 6am after having no sleep - to sit in a hot classroom for 5 hours and try to learn with a foggy hangover - all felt pretty tortuous this morning. 

Most would think this was a nightmare endurance feat. A lot would likely not do it and even if they did, would struggle to get themselves back on track for days after. Yet here I am back on the train, ready for the next two nights of drunken debauchary and actually feeling ok. 

I'd made a commitment to take on a massive 4 day stag-do with my first yoga instructor lesson falling slap bang in the middle. The timing for these two opposing events couldn't have been any worse but I'd made a commitment to myself to get the best of both worlds. I couldn't let down my yoga teacher or my best mate. I'd also be letting myself down and I couldn't live with that so I opted for a day of struggle instead. It was tough, but there are far tougher challenges in the world. All it took for me to accomplish this feat, was to keep a can-do mindset. 

Marathon Monks

The Marathon Monks have a very real life or death commitment to keep. They need to stick with their decision to take the challenge of running the equivalent of about 1000 marathons over seven years. Because they either complete the arduous challenge which escalates their status to that of a supreme enlightened guru - or they must take their own life if they fail. 

So what does it teach us about commitment? Most of our decisions are hardly life and death matters but if they matter that much, then we need to stick to them. And if it means enduring a few hours schlepping across country on our poor public transport services or getting through a day or two of feeling ropey, one needs to think of these monks running marathons daily and how easy we have everything in relation to all those who have hardships daily in their lives. 

Punch Drunk

BEER WORKOUTS

It's tough getting out of bed after having a boozy late night and it's even tougher when you have to get up at dawn to put yourself through a gruelling hour of boxing training. 

Performance Enhancer

I was still very much intoxicated even at the end of the 1hr session today, but as I skipped, punched and performed a strengthening circuit of squats, press-ups and Russian twists this morning, I realised my alcohol sugars were giving me a great source of energy. I was fast, with little fatigue after 6 x 3 minute intense rounds of pad work and able to do 50 continuous press-ups without getting pumped. In short, I felt great!

The Tour de France cyclists used to drink alcohol to numb themselves to the pain of going up the many mountains before it was banned as a performance enhancer. 

So the next time you struggle to get up after a late boozy night, the sensible thing is to get down the gym, go for a run, cycle or do some cardio workout, because the sugars in our bodies are better spent on doing some exercise - plus, it's a double win because we'll all feel better after sweating out the excess from the night before too. 

Lessening The Memory Of Burden

GETTING THE WORST BIT OVER WITH FIRST

When we're woking on something tough like carrying a heavy load (which I've just been doing in a house move), it works best if we get the heaviest items out of the way first. Once the weight drops down and the boxes become lighter - even though the boxes are still heavy - the feeling of doing something so arduous decreases and we are actually left at the outset, with the memory of a task that wasn't so bad after all.

The Peak End Rule
Finishing on a high or a lesser pain, means we hold on to a positive memory of something, even if it was potentially an arduous or unpleasant experience. The Peak-End Rule explains how our minds work when we go through an experience where the ending is good or better than at the start. It's why every difficult experience should have a treat at the end which was a cold pint of beer in the sun on this occasion!

Testing The Metal

ALTERNATIVE STRENGTH TRAINING

Training for an endurance event and want to harden the resolve? Try a festival. Cutting down on food intake and jumping around in a hilly field with no sleep for 3 days straight will test the strength of body. This, combined with a bit of time invested at the gym, will help with your half/full marathons, sprint triathlons and any Tough Guy equivalent assault courses. 

But, after all this weekend revelry, if you can then push through the day after to perform a tough 6am start doing intense boxing training - when the mind is saying no, stay in bed - that will really prove you have the strength of character to take on an iron man race, euro event or ultra marathon. I truly believe that after this morning's boxing session.