Yesterday was a mess. I would say I oversleep maybe twice a year and this was one of them. I missed my alarm, overslept by an hour, and ended up having to hustle the whole day. Didn't get time to read in the morning, didn't get the time I needed to write, and then I really have to work hard to not be a little baby about that. For a person who wears the badge of adaptability and resilience, this kind of stuff makes me cringe.
I had a couple of meetings that ran over, then there was a problem with one of the stationary bikes at the gym, and an old friend stopped by. Each one of these no-so-big things chipped away at my carefully planned day. This is something that comes up a lot, despite my regular focus on how to be more efficient and productive.
And despite the fact that I truly do prioritize the time I dedicate to training, training time is what suffered. I was a little tired coming into the day and the time I had set aside was later than I'd like...so it was super tempting to skip. And it was a Thursday, so I knew I had a hard session coming early Friday.
When I am at the gym (in my office), lacking for time, staring at the to-do list, and feeling my aching joints, my motivation can waver. And so I move into the "preflight" part of the workout.
Close planner and laptop.
Lock the door of the office.
Shoes off.
Change into shorts.
Drink a pre-workout mix (which I don't really think does anything, except tell me it's time to train).
Grab training log.
Go.
So in my 45-instead-of-120 minute session, what do I do? No full bouldering session. No total-body 5x5. No extensive endurance combos. Instead, I just have to "touch" all of the things I'm looking to move forward. Hold the schedule, shrink the scale.
We really push for movement prep with our athletes, but sometimes I just can't commit fully to it. 10 minutes of my 45 is too precious. Not sure if this is the best practice, but I sort of mush it into the front of the session.
Since I love climbing, I start there. Here's what Thursday, February 27th looked like:
Boulders: V0 vert, V0 15 degrees, V0 30 degrees
2x Pull-Up, 30 sec Toy Soldier, 5 each side Atlas Lunge, 2x Pull-Up
Boulders: V2 vert, V2 15 degrees, V1 45 degrees
5 each side Bulgarian Split Squat, 5x Weighted Pull-Up, 5 each side Bulgarian Split Squat, 5x Weighted Pull-Up
Boulders: V4 15 degrees, V6 30 degrees, V4 45 degrees
Not much for volume. Hardly felt warmed up. Didn't get to some important exercises.
Wildly successful.
As long as this is not an everyday occurrence, these sessions are great. Sometimes the least you can do is the most you can do.