A 2,000 lb. Blog Post
This blog post feels like a 2,000 lb. rock that I’m trying to lift.
Last week was easy.
It reminds me of something I wrote around discipline science about a year ago.
Inspiration is the thing that gets you to the mountain.
It’s cheap. It’s quick. And, it’s short-lived.
But, it’s essential because it gets you out the door.
Inspiration helped me hit publish.
Now comes the hard part.
Getting honest with myself and setting a clear intention.
Navigating the waxing and waning motivation.
Creating discipline to honor my intention and work through the waves of motivation.
And then developing systems and habits to make everything easier.
Around writing, I’ve got some work to do.
And, per usual, maybe I’m learning something through sport.
This winter I took a big step and signed up for my first marathon: the 2026 Twin Cities Marathon on October 4.
Since signing up, I’ve been loosely training: running 3 times a week, including a weekly long run.
I’m 17 weeks out.
It’s time to get a bit more intentional.
So, yesterday, I sat down and developed a 17-week training plan.
On the plan for today: swim in the morning and run in the afternoon.
I’ll be honest with you: Getting out of bed has been a real challenge the last two months.
I just haven’t wanted to face the days.
I gotten reacquainted with my old friend the snooze button.
Today was no different.
But, here’s a mantra that has always helped me:
Getting your feet on the ground is the hardest part.
And that is exactly what I told myself this morning when the clocked ticked 5:15am.
I also had that little 17-week training plan floating around in the back of my mind.
Summer swim training looks a bit different.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays our head coach runs additional outdoor practices at a different pool.
Most people prefer the summer outdoor workouts.
Some of us, though, are creatures of habit and stay indoors.
The impact?
The indoor pool workouts are sparsely populated.
When we go from 5-6 people in a lane to 1-2 people in a lane, this makes for a completely different kind of workout.
Often a “just bury your head and get the work done” type of workout.
And that is exactly what my lane mate, Max, and I did today.
We put our respective heads down and got the work done.
And it felt great.
I then went about my morning, got work done, and then went for a quick 4-mile run over my lunch break.
And, here I am, after putting my head down and doing the work, wrapping up a blog post that seemed so heavy at the outset.
So what’s in this for you amidst these disparate puzzle pieces:
Inspiration is great, but remember it’s short-lived.
Get intentional about your plan to reach your future state.
Because on days like today when motivation is low and everything seems enormous, you can just put your head down and get the work done.
And when we do that, that usually feels like a bigger win than when everything comes easy.
Onward.