160 days until IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga
Type C Personality
Last night I started coming down with a cold. The runny nose, the sneezing fits, and the stuffy head were enough to send me to bed early. I was planning a day off from any workouts today, so I’m not missing anything. Besides I feel fine today. The only problem is that my mind keeps telling me to do something productive.
According to the introductory paragraph on Wikipedia,
… personalities that are more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management and/or aggressive are labeled Type A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory
That doesn’t sound like me. I must not be a Type A personality. Maybe I’m Type B.
… more relaxed, less ‘neurotic’, ‘frantic’, ‘explainable’, personalities are labeled Type B https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory
That sounds a little more like me, but perhaps I’m really a Type C personality:
… thinks he’s a Type B but is really a Type A. LG, TriRiot: 2019
You’ll know a Type C when you meet one, because you can’t stand being around me them.
Turn It Off
Many IRONMAN finishers celebrate their accomplishment with a creative Mdot tattoo.
Regardless of how we label ourselves, it seems that many of us triathletes have a “more-is-better” mentality when it comes to training and working out. We can’t seem to be content with easy rides, easy swims, easy anythings without reminding ourselves that it’s OK to go easy. In fact, I need a constant reminder to go easy on my easy days. While all my contemporaries will have Mdot tattoos on their calves, I’ll have one big tattoo on my left forearm that says, “TAKE IT EASY”. Everyone will think it’s a reference to the old Eagles tune, but I’ll know different.
There must be a way to train the mind to calm down short of shaving my head, wearing saffron robes and moving to Dharamsala India. I’d love that, but Lori might not so much.
It’s all part of the mental toughness I wrote about in a previous post. Being mentally tough is more than just pushing through a hard workout or staying positive while you walkrun up that hill at IRONMAN Lake Placid. Mental toughness is also about holding back.
One Word
One of my favorite people on the planet (I won’t say which planet) is friend, coach and race buddy, Sami Winter. Ironically, she just sent me an email on this subject earlier today. But the real reason I mention her is that she started me on something new: New Year’s Evolution.
The concept is simple. Instead of committing to a new year’s resolution that you are going to break anyway, you commit to making yourself better in such a way that it can be summed up in one word. Then you carry that word around for the whole year or the next few years, as is my case. My word for 2018 and 2019 was discipline. My word for 2020 will be discipline. I obviously need more discipline. ( I feel like Christopher Walken, “I need more cow bell”).
2020 will probably be my last year for that word. I’ll let you know my word for 2021 in about a year.