Many of you completed a monumental task on Saturday, gritting through several Hero workouts in one day in support of our 2nd annual Heroes Challenge. Some even completed all 12 workouts in 12 hours!! I’m once again super proud of all of your efforts, as well as the work that Alyssa and Denee put into planning the event, and then pulling it off so seamlessly. Thanks once again as well to Scott Mallory of Truckin4Troops, our charity partner who came by to support us and donated lots of recovery goodies to keep us all as fresh as possible through the long day!
Monday was understandably a bit of a slow day at the gym, as many took the day off to recover. That is definitely a wise move – we have to prioritize physical recovery after a long endurance test. In addition to that rest and relaxation, I’d like to also suggest another important “R&R” aspect of recovery, this time on the mental side – Reflection and Recommitment.
Some time in the next few days, carve out 15 minutes to sit down with your journal (or a piece of paper). What you’re going to do is sit quietly and think back to the event, to glean the lessons learned and other good nuggets that you can then use to propel you forward toward your personal mission and your next goal.
I suggest doing this in the morning before anyone else is awake, but if it’s been a busy day already or you feel distracted, it might help to start with just a couple minutes of deep breathing. I could go down a long rabbit-hole about the benefits of focused breathing, but for now let’s just say it will help you relax and become focused.
Once you are settled in, take some time to recap the event in your head, from start to finish. Write down the answers to these questions as they come up:
– What were my favorite parts of the event, when I felt most energized? What should I continue to do to build upon this success, or this feeling of enjoyment?
– What were my least favorite parts, or when I felt things were not going well? What, if anything, can I do to mitigate this negative experience in the future?
– What lessons can I learn from this experience?
– How does this experience change my goals (fitness or otherwise)?
The last question on goals will change the perspective of this exercise from looking back at the event to now looking forward. Now is the time to Recommit to your goals, using this experience as a springboard. Whether you have identified a new goal to work toward, or find yourself as motivated as ever toward reaching an existing goal, rewrite your plan to achieve it, making sure it is Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and Time-based. Then when you have rested enough and feel physically ready, step back out into the fray and get after it!
Going back through the event with a focused personal debrief like this can help you solidify the important lessons learned and also the great memories that you made. I hope everyone that participated in our Heroes Challenge event had a great time overall and learned something about themselves and our great community. I know that I did!
See you again soon at the gym.
Ryan
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