Bringing on the Pain

Building Mental and Physical Fitness

*Bringing on the pain by ChatGPT

As I write this I am sitting on my couch cringing as my shins feel like they are shattered. I have a bag of frozen fruit on each shin and feel pretty disappointed. I started the 75 hard 10 days ago and have many updates as you’ll see below. One thing I’m learning is that recovery is key and I need to step up my game! For seven of the past 10 days I have had rugby camp, where we had at least one or two 2-hour practices a day. The other days I have been recovering by going on bike rides, walks, and lifting weights at the gym. Today I wanted to challenge myself with a marathon-pace short run before lifting and class and here is how it went.

Four Miles of Pain

As you might be able to tell from the title, things didn’t go according to plan. I was aiming for an 8 minute per mile pace with one minute of walking between miles, but my final pace was just over 10 minutes per mile. I started off strong out of the gate with a solid pace and finished my first mile at 7:36. At this point I knew I was pushing myself and my shin splints started kicking in. During mile two my shins went into overdrive and were making me not feel too great. From there on out I was start and stop with running and had to figure something out. Rather than going home and resting due to the discomfort, I decided to do a circuit of 20 paces on 20 paces off for the next 25 minutes. By no means was it easy, but I had to convince myself that I had to find a way if I was going to run 26.2 miles in 2 months. I’ve easily moved 40+ miles in the past week and my body is catching up to me haha. But I must persevere through the mental and physical discomfort as I strive to transform my mind, body, and spirit into an elevated version of itself. No pain, no gain!

Rugby Training at Camp Pendleton 

So last Thursday the rugby team had the pleasure of training with the Marines at Camp Pendleton, just north of San Diego. For those who may not know, my dad was in the marines from ‘90 to ‘98 and he actually had infantry training at this base so I was excited to have the opportunity to train in the same space as he once had. After driving two hours to the base at the butt crack of dawn, the rugby van pulled into the Marine Corps Field House. We arrived and were put right to work. The Captain told us that we had one minute to line 15 tractor tires up in a line that were spread out across a 100 meter field. At the end he told us it was because “you always leave a place better than you found it”. 

For two hours we went through some pretty intense training that involved tire flips, pull-up and push-up competitions, 100 meter sprints, suicides, obstacle courses, fireman carries, and so many more fun activities (hope you can sense the sarcasm). At the end, the commanding officers delivered us a speech about Leadership which I really enjoyed and appreciated. They pushed me to my physical limit. I can only imagine the work that those men and women put in each and every day. I don’t know that I have what it takes to be a Marine but I damn well do respect and appreciate the work they do to protect our freedom.

Getting Over The Hump

Well my break time is over! My shins feel a little better after having iced them. This is your reminder that recovery is important (both mental and physical). Now I’m off to the gym to work out shoulders and core — a break from legs for the next day or two is what the doctor ordered. I think it’s important to remind myself and you all that change is hard, especially when it comes so abruptly. But I know that I can get over that hump and so can you. Good luck to anyone out there who is working hard to become their best self. I see you and others will too! Stay hard. Stay hungry.

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