Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week. Not a particularly successful week by “bullet point” standards, but it happens.
Last week:
Fitness
It wasn’t a particularly great week of training for me as I was “forced” to take an extra rest day because of an insane work schedule, but it’s alright. I moved when I could, and sometimes that needs to be good enough!
If I had to pick one thing, it’d be not missing a snatch up to 200lbs on Wednesday, but that’s really it.
The first workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open is in the books! I don’t think I could have done much better, and the energy around the internets will be crazy for the next four weeks. Good luck to everyone competing!
Sleep was alright, but certainly not great. I need to be more consistent.
My busy weekend of training clients didn’t allow me to get to the drywall in the garage. But due to a really successful Saturday of coaching, I added a class to train junior athletes to my weekly schedule, so that’s really positive!
This week:
I plan to record my strategy video for the second workout of the 2018 CrossFit Games Open. I got some really positive feedback from people on the one last week, and that always makes me happy!
I reflected on the goals that I set for February earlier today, and believe I hit NONE of them! It’s so crazy to realize how quickly time flies. Since this is the last week of the month, I plan to spend some time thinking about how to set more realistic short term goals for myself. Long term goals are important, but in the few days and weeks in front of my face, I think it’s possible to set mini milestones to help keep encouraging progress.
Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?
The pic of the week comes from a concert we saw at the Fox Theater in Boulder, CO. The DJ’s name is Defunk, and if you’ve never heard him before, you should check out his Defunk Presents “The Funk Trunk Mixes” on Soundcloud. They’re great!
The sentence “Practice makes perfect” is a lie. Yet, humans say it all the time, and usually to children. It’s simply not a fact. There are a number of things I could practice on a daily basis and see only marginal improvements over a long period of time. Today, we’re going to talk about practice.
Let’s start by discussing just two of the many factors that could impede reaching perfection. Age can play a role in one’s ability to find success in a particular area. While I’m not saying it’s impossible, I do feel confident saying that very few humans in their 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s could train and compete at an Olympic level in most sports. No matter how often grandpa hits the track, I don’t see him beating Usain Bolt in the 100m Sprint, I’m sorry. Genetics can also play a major role in one’s athletic development and potential. If a person isn’t over six feet tall or incredibly explosive, the odds of being able to dunk a basketball on a full-sized hoop are not very good. (I still think that’s a bucket list goal of mine, by the way!)
Actual footage of me currently trying to dunk
Aside from age, genetics, and a long list of other things, that logic doesn’t even address what “perfection” even means. In nearly every discipline, sport, task, or skill, perfection is often a subjective term. What looks, sounds, or tastes perfect to you, may taste far from it to me. So why work to attain this a title or status they may very well be simply unreachable?
Instead, let’s change that first sentence (Practice makes perfect) just a little bit. What if it read, “Effective practice will almost always help you improve at a given task.” In that case, I think a lot more of us would nod our heads in agreement. While we typically associate the word practicing with activities and skills like sports, music, and languages, there are so many other things in our lives that can also be improved through dedicated time and focus.
Want to be a better weightlifter? Find a decent coach and get on a proven strength program. Then lift. Often. Want to feel and show more gratitude? Start each morning and end each night by writing a list of three things you’re grateful for in your life. Keep that journal close-by to remind yourself on days where you struggle. Want to read more? Instead of surfing on your phone before you go to bed, read 10 pages. Not only is it better for your eyes and your brain (to actually allow them to wind down after the day), but after only a few weeks, it will become part of your routine. You will likely get better at whatever activity you chose because you devoted time to practicing in order to get better at it.
I’ve been trying to read more, and even with the book on my nightstand, it hasn’t become high enough of a priority for me. That’s one thing I’m going to practice more! To help yourself be more accountable, what’s one thing you want to practice more often? Let’s continue to hold each other accountable and support one another in our quest to be better than we were yesterday!
When I saw the video below, it really made me stop and think. We’re each already REALLY GOOD at certain things. Choosing to practice and develop those things that make us happy drastically increases our chances of becoming really good at being happy. Similarly, choosing to practice things that make us sad, angry, or resentful, will likely make us really good at being sad, angry, or resentful. It’s so powerful to realize that it’s fully in our control to intentionally choose what we nurture in and for ourselves. Think about that for a second… Practice doesn’t make perfect. But devoting practice towards things that improve our lives can make a profound impact on who we are as people!
Happy 2018 CrossFit Games Open, everyone! It’s finally here!
The first workout (18.1) was released tonight, and for the SEVENTH year in a row, I’ve recorded my strategy video with my advice for the best way to attack it. First, let’s review the workout:
To watch my strategy video, click below. Otherwise, I’ll summarize this workout in a few sentences below. Enjoy!
Toes To Bar
There are some people who can do 8 Toes To Bars unbroken all day long. Most athletes, however, cannot. If you know that 8 reps in a row isn’t sustainable for 8-12 rounds, I would recommend breaking them up from the start. Depending on the athlete, that could mean doing sets as 5 reps, short rest, 3 reps… or athletes who do quick singles or doubles. Knowing your own limitations will be key for this, and not relying on adrenaline of the first few rounds pushing you to come out swinging and then crash and burn.
Hang Clean and Jerks
Your motto during this movement should be “No Missed Reps!” Stand all the way up and pause before your first rep. Make sure the dumbbell touches your shoulder after the clean. Control the lockout overhead before lowering the weight from the jerk. There are so many chances to cut a rep short during this movement. Remind yourself that 20 minutes is a long time, and pace your effort and speed accordingly. Push Press may work great for 5 rounds, but if your arms are wrecked after that, are you confident enough with your technique to switch to confident Push Jerks? I hope so! If you’re strong enough, I think hanging onto the dumbbells for all 10 reps should be a goal throughout the entire workout, even if it means pausing with the dumbbell at your shoulders or at the hang for a few seconds.
Rowing
This movement will feel REALLY EASY the first few rounds, and you’ll be tempted to pull at a much higher power output than normal. Resist the urge! My advice here is to be powerful and efficient with your strokes (longer and stronger versus short and fast) in order to conserve energy and keep your heart rate down. Most men will likely average out somewhere in the 1050-1250 calories per hour range, while most women in the 850-1050 range. Remember, you’ll spend half of your time on the rower each round! If you’re gassed by round 4 from sprinting too hard, you’ll probably have a bad time for the second half of the workout. I’d rather you start slower and build as you go, versus crashing and burning.
At the end of the day, I think this is a really good first workout for the 2018 Open. It is really inclusive, and allows for a wide array of pacing strategies based on where our individual strengths may fall. Let me know what you think of this video, and I’d love to hear how it goes for you!
My philosophy on competitions of any kind is that once they’re done, a celebration should follow shortly thereafter. Win, lose, or draw. This is all well and good for most athletes who play on teams, or participate in long events, but sometimes people have a hard time seeing eye to eye with me because of the sports that I’ve competed in most. As a swimmer, I specialized in the sprint events, which means that on a good day most of my races were less than one minute long. At a typical meet, I’d swim a maximum of five events. If you’re as good at math as I am, you’ve already figured out that I’d train 20+ hours per week (oh hi, NCAA official… I mean to say I’d train just under 20 hours per week) in order to compete for less than five total minutes. Even worse, during big championship meets that last 2-3 days, I might swim a total of 10 minutes all weekend long! Swim a race in under 30 seconds. Wait a few hours. Repeat. For three full days!
Some of my friends who were endurance swimmers specialized in events that took anywhere from two to fifteen minutes EACH. That is a pretty big difference in total time spent actually throwing down. Those who played other sports like soccer and football had games that were hours long. Me, five minutes of total work. The worse part, is that even with that difference, I would still be completely exhausted at the end of each meet.
In CrossFit, it’s kind of the same situation for me. I’d sign up for a 2-day competition, compete in 5 or 6 total events, each typically falling in the 6-12 minute range, and feel absolutely crushed afterwards! Saying it out loud seems silly to me. How can my wife compete in Half IRONMAN triathlon where she’s moving for five HOURS straight and not even sore the next day, and I’m hobbling for the rest of the weekend after doing fifteen whole minutes of exercise racing?!
Regardless, when competition day comes and that huge flood of adrenaline kicks in, I find an extra gear that doesn’t ever show up during training. Pushing that hard for each those events takes just about everything out of me, so when I’m done, I feel like I deserve to celebrate surviving. Since so many of us are going to be “competing” in the same events for the next five weeks, I think we ALL deserve to celebrate! My celebration of choice usually involves beer (sometimes tequila) and pizza or burgers. What are your celebration treats to yourself after an accomplishment?
The 2018 CrossFit Games Open starts in a matter of hours. I hope you’re excited, and that you’ve got your post-workout or post-Open meals already planned out! Good luck out there, friends!
This weekend we got out of town and came up to Breckenridge, Colorado for a few days! The sun is shining, people are smiling, and while it’s not even noon, we’ve already had breakfast, got in a workout at CrossFit Low Oxygen, and now we’re posted up at a local coffee shop to get a bit of work done! One thing that we always try to do on our trips is make time to workout. Why? Because Em is an active and fit human who takes care of her body, and I would just sit and day drink on patios around the world all day every day if she wasn’t there to help me reel it in. A healthy balance of the two makes us a pretty good team when we want to be!
I used to do a “Smashby Drops In” series on this blog, and while looking through my archives, I saw that it’s been nearly six years since my last post of this kind. What better time to bring it back, than right now, that “the blog is back” in full swing! I have been to one other gym in and around Breckenridge (and that gym is CrossFit Breckenridge), so today I decided to check out a new box. Since I have several friends who had been to Low Oxygen before, and one couple who considers this their “home gym away from home” when they’re up at their mountain house, choosing it was a no-brainer.
The options for Saturday workouts I saw were a Partner WOD at 9am, and then a regular class at 10am. Since Em and I never get to work out together, I thought it’d be nice to choose the Partner WOD. We got there a little early, since I tend to be a “late person” (as Em calls me), so we had a few minutes to just move around a little on our own before class. The gym is cool, has lots of toys, and was really clean! I also go to try out my BRAND NEW DSX FLYKNIT METCONS I bought at the Nike Outlet store last night!!
What are thoooooose?!
Once 9:00 hit everyone came together to warm-up, coach let everyone know that we were drop-ins, and introduced us to the class. While some people don’t like being the center of attention, I am a firm believer in making guests feel welcome. Thanks for that!
The workout (above) had rowing in it, so after some general mobility work, we did partner Rowling. (Alternate every 100m, your partner does the meters you’re over or under!, and go to 1,000) Over the course of the next ten minutes or so, we were walked through a Power Clean warm-up, and were shown proper range of motion requirements for balls slams and knee tucks. Once people got all set up, the clock counted down and we were off.
Em and I alternated 250m distances on the rower while the other one planked, and I was holding in the mid-1:30’s as my pace. It’s less than a minute, so I thought I’d be good. For the Power Cleans, I chose 135lbs since coach wanted them to be unbroken. Slam balls we opted for a 30lber since we were sharing. She would have gone up if I let her! (“What? I grew up with 30’s, they’re not hard!”) About halfway through the middle part of the workout, it hit me. I haven’t worked out at 9,000+ feet in a LONG time, and the shortness of breath was rough! On the Cash Out, you switched rowers every time someone lowered their legs, and I was barely able to hold a knee tuck on the parallettes for 30 seconds. Poor Em probably thought, “Dude! Let me row!” Our final time was 19:24.
Over the course of the hour, we interacted with every other athlete in the class, and they were all super friendly. Thanks for making us feel like a part of the family this morning, CrossFit Low Oxygen!
“YOU DID IT!!” I yelled, as she took the goggles off of her head, revealing the largest smile I had seen on someone’s face in a while. I was excited, too!
Rachael had just swam the entire length of the pool for the first time in her life without help. She is also 39 years old and up until a month ago, couldn’t even get close to the side of the pool without her heart rate going through the roof and her body tensing up. However, her 6 year old daughter has been taking swim lessons and “wanted mommy to play” in the pool with her on the weekends. Knowing that her little girl would soon be jumping off of the diving board in the deep end, she decided that the time had come to face her own fears and learn how to swim so they could swim together.
Stories like this are not at all uncommon. In fact, in my twenty-plus years of teaching individuals how to swim, I hear more and more adults say they share perspectives like this all the time. “I avoid beach vacations with my family because I’m scared to go in the ocean.” “My partner never wants to go tubing at the lake because she’s scared of not being able to touch the bottom.” “I had a really bad experience as a kid and almost drowned, haven’t recovered since.”
On top of being an incredibly effective full body workout and a great low impact form of exercise, swimming is also a survival skill. The ability to safely keep oneself afloat in water should be critical for all adults.
Motivated by wanting to help others learn and improve this critical ability, a few years ago I hosted my first “Swim Better Now” series, and it was a huge success. Since then, I’ve taken on dozens of new athletes in the pool; some were triathletes looking to improve their efficiency for long distance swims, but most were adults simply looking to gain confidence in the water.
Since so many people have been asking me to do them again, I’m bringing them back!
Each week of the “Smashby Training’s: Swim Better Now” Clinic will include practice sessions of up to three varying ability levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. A more detailed description of these three courses can be found below.
The criteria for the Intermediate Course is as follows:
Swimmer should be able to complete 100 yards (or 4 lengths) comfortably without stopping
A basic understanding of proper breathing technique (either to one side or both) should be established
Athlete can efficiently tread water or float safely in the deep end of the pool when tired without touching the wall or lane ropes
For athletes who do not yet meet these criteria listed, the Beginner Course option should be selected. Athletes who easily meet or exceed the requirements for the Intermediate Course should register for the Advanced Course option.
Course objectives include:
Beginner Course
Basic Water Safety (how to keep oneself afloat safely in deep water)
Introduction of proper stroke timing of arms, legs, and breathing (for freestyle stroke)
Proper functional use of swimming equipment such as Kick Board and Pull Buoy
Intermediate Course
Increased efficiency of stroke technique and timing of breathing for freestyle stroke
Skills and drills using swimming equipment (Kick Board and Pull Buoy)
As requested, introduction to flip turn technique and additional strokes (backstroke, breast stroke, butterfly)
Advanced Course
Fine-tuning of freestyle stroke mechanics
Advanced speed, flip turn and technique drills
Technique work on additional strokes (backstroke, breast stroke, butterfly)
Athletes in this group may also be looking to compete in an aquatic event (triathlon, swim meet, etc.)
Are you interested in attending one of these clinics? Here’s what you need to know:
Who should attend? Anyone who wants to improve their swimming
What are you signing up for exactly? One hour swimming clinic, programming and athletes grouped by ability level
Where will clinics be held? The Golden Community Center
When will these happen? Sunday mornings, date(s) to be determined based on interest (hoping for Mid-March)
PLEASE comment on this post, or email tomashbytraining@gmail.com if you’re interested in attending, along with which course level is best for you.
Pass along the word to anyone you know who might benefit from these sessions as well, please.
Here’s last week’s recap and my goals for the upcoming week.
Last week:
Fitness- The more time passes this year, the more appreciative I am of the little things that go well in my training. My expectation used to be that I had to hit big numbers in strength, and push hard on workouts. Both things had to be there, every day. Now, I look back on training and am excited to see that a few things go well every week. That’s been more than enough to keep me going lately.
For Time:
– 40/30 Cal Bike or Row
– 100′ Front Rack Walking Lunge (DB 50/35)(KB 53/35)
– 25/20 Cal Bike or Row
– 100′ DB Walking Lunge
– 15/10 Cal Bike or Row – 7:39rx
For Time:
– 2k Row (or 1 mile run)
– 200 Double Unders (300 singles)
– 10 Rounds of Cindy (C2B Cindy) – 22:21c (chest to bar)
The challenge this month was to accumulate 2,018 calories on a rower or bike. My goal last week was to complete an additional 1,000 calories, and I did it. I’m currently sitting at 2,300 for February.
Progress still continues slowly on my first book of the year (Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jacko Willink). I knew that it would be hard to prioritize sitting down and making time to read instead of doing some sort of work, but not this tough! I’m always so convinced that there are other things I need to be doing until the second I close my eyes to go to sleep, but at least I’m plugging away.
Complete one thousand more calories on the bike and/or rower before next Sunday. Feeling good about the extra cardio I’m doing, I just need to MAKE time to get it in! Another 1,000 would put me at 3,300 by next weekend.
Swimming Post is basically done, just working on fine-tuning details on the graphic/poster! Booked another 2 new swim clients this week for later in the month, too.
Alright, your turn. What’s going on with all of you?
I just registered for my seventh consecutive CrossFit Games Open. Over the last few weeks several people have asked me if I was going to sign up or not, and that question always stirs up these weird emotions. While I haven’t “trained for The Open” in over three years, in my mind registering for this online competition is just a given. I’m not trying to beat anyone, I’m not expecting to place well, but it’s just become a part of what I do.
It’s not every day that we get to say we’ve been associated with something since the very beginning, but “The Open” is one of those things for me. I clearly remember the first CrossFit competition I ever did (the 2010 Mountain Sectionals), I remember my first year watching the CrossFit Games live-streamed from the Ranch all weekend long and not living leaving the house a single time, and I remember the first time we had to register online for this crazy thing. Somehow, this sport and community of ours continues to grow, and it doesn’t even cross my mind to not cough over $20 every year and throw down with the rest of you.
So as another year passes, my training goals shift yet again, and life continues to change on so many levels, I find myself preparing to join over a quarter of a million people worldwide to put our fitness to the test yet again. Here’s to keeping the streak of consecutive Open participation alive. Good luck to each and every one of you, and I’ll see you on the leaderboard!
The thought of being unpopular used to be one of my biggest fears. It may come as a shock to you, but throughout my life I have struggled with feeling as though I should do whatever it takes to be liked by most people. This belief has allowed me to maintain friendships far longer than I should have, it’s encouraged me to give far more than I knew I’d ever get back from people, and it’s lead to me to being walked all over by others because I felt too awkward to stand up for myself. As I’ve gotten older, however, I’ve realized that most of those relationships have helped mold me into the man I am today. I’m proud that I’ve been able to learn and grow from many of those moments.
In the video posted below, Rethinking Unpopular: Erika Napoletano at TEDxBoulder 2012, Erika describes her difference between being “unpopular” and being “unlikeable.” Being unpopular, she explains, means making decisions based on honoring two groups of people: those who will love us for everything we are (and everything we aren’t), and ourselves. Being unlikeable, however, stems from the belief that everything revolves around us. When applying that distinction to my job as a personal trainer, it means although I may not always make the most popular decision in the gym, I’ll always make the one that has the best interest of my athletes at the forefront of my mind.
My goal in coaching the way I do is not to try to impress other people. In fact, the older I get, the less I try to impress others, and the less apologetic I am about my desire to add value. Relinquishing the need for validation of any kind has allowed me to truly give as much of myself as possible, simply to try and improve the lives of others.
If you watch the video, you’ll hear her hilarious story about the graphic above. For the purpose of MY post, let’s change the word “Swear” to the word “Care.” I can’t explain why I care so much about my athletes, but I do. When I lead a class, my style of music may not be the most popular, but I’ll rarely play songs with lyrics that offend an entire room. I often stop athletes from adding weight to their bar when form starts to break down, which may lead to some not wanting to take classes I lead. (I think that it also leads to fewer athletes getting injured on my watch, however.) I regularly suggest that the volume of a workout be reduced or movements scaled based on an athlete’s ability or experience. While this decision may bruise an ego here and there in the short term, it usually leads to those same people being able to come back the next day instead of being so sore they can barely move. They’re not always popular decisions, but they always ones that come from a place of caring, and a place that prioritizes safety over everything else.
To some, these choices are logical and expected by a coach. To others, they’re an attack on the abilities and character of an athlete. I’m not able to control how others react. When I lay my head on my pillow at night, though, I know that I tried to help every single person I came in contact with in the gym that day. Being so unapologetic in those decisions makes me feel really good about what I do.
Every day I hope that through my actions over time, I will build the trust of those around me and prove to them that I always have their back. For those who don’t feel that way, over time, they’ll slowly move on. While that scenario doesn’t always make me happy, that’s how it goes, and it’s alright to let those people out of my “blanket fort” of life.
Please take the time to watch the video below. Let it inspire you to reassess and remind yourself why it is that you do what you do. Today, I’m more comfortable with the thought of being unpopular than I ever have been, because I know the choices I make at work are made to try and help others.
“Love me, hate me, just don’t be indifferent!” she says. I feel the same way!
All jokes aside, this post is timely given some members of the audience reading my blog, and some situations I’ve witnessed in my years as a CrossFit coach. A lot of gyms out there have fun monthly challenges to keep their members engaged and strengthen the community. One in particular, which I’ve seen at dozens of gyms all over the world, happens during the second to last month of each calendar year. This event is called… ROW-VEMBER! What is Row-vember? Well, it’s an in-house competition to see who in the gym can row the most meters in the month of November. Sounds fun, right?! Well, it can be! At least, until people take the competition a little bit too seriously.
If read that and thought, “You’re kidding, right? How can someone take a rowing competition too seriously?” I’m SO glad you asked! There was a handful of individuals that were so set on winning, that in many ways, rowing took over their lives for four weeks. They’d show up early to row before class. Stay to row more after class. They’d come in and just row instead of taking class. Sometimes they’d back to the gym a second time during the day just to get in more rowing. Someone even took apart their own personal a rower so it would fit in the car to take with them on vacation! Now hopefully the picture is getting painted a little bit clearer as to how things went down.
A few years ago, Crazy Castro had the CrossFit Games athletes complete a HALF MARATHON Row… that’s 21,000 meters. In a row. Insane! What happened next? Well, like every other year after the CrossFit Games are over, people all over the world tried to do the same workouts on their own… “Just to see how they’d do compared to the fittest people on earth.” I know several people who called up some friends one day, went to the gym, put a movie on the TV, and rowed for over 90 minutes straight, just to say they did it. I get it. (Well, just like I know people pay money to do Ironman distance triathlons, doesn’t mean I want to do one myself. You do you, just know it’s not my jam!)
So we’ve talked about a crazy CrossFit event where athletes rowed for over an hour. And we’ve discussed people going to the gym all the time just to row and taking rowers on vacation with them to not fall behind in random competitions. Now, to drive home my point of just how bad it got, put those two groups together. There were a handful of people rowing 20,000+ meters nearly every day!! And if they missed a day, they’d make it up before or after!! That is insaaaaaaaaane to me. I’ve been in this CrossFit game for nearly a decade, and I’ve never even rowed a 10k!
I understand some people just like long and slow cardio. I also get how completing long distances in the form of several shorter interval repeats can make it more manageable. But what my brain doesn’t process is why when you’re 23 days into a month, and your sleep is suffering, focus is off, hands are calloused, butt and lower back are wrecked, and energy is down… you’d keep going just because there are seven days left in the month! But they did. That is a situation where, in my brain, the competition got way too intense. If you’re pushing yourself to the point of adrenal fatigue over pride and a $50 gift card, I think your priorities should shift a little bit. Realize that we want to take care of our bodies through the work we put in at the gym, not destroy them!
I thought of this story because at one of the gyms where I currently work, they’re completing a challenge each month to complete 2018 reps of a different movement. January was burpees, and I think there were about a half-dozen members who completed them all! This month, it’s Calories on a bike or rower. Since I didn’t hop in last month on the burpee game, I figured as a coach I would hop in a lead by example to encourage others to participate. After a few days of rowing a bit and writing my score on the board, I realized that a few of us started to get a little bit competitive with each other. The first few days it was fun, and then I was reminded of the folks I saw a few years ago.
Let this be my official declaration to those of you who are in the friendly game with me:
I just want us to have fun. If you ever feel like you’re impacting your work, social/personal life, or health and stress levels just by trying to row more, let me know. I will gladly step back and bow out of the game!
I say that kind of in jest, but still pretty serious. For me, I find rowing or biking a little more than I usually would to be a great way to burn off a few extra calories. It’s low impact, I can do it on my own, and at my convenience. So, while my goal is to “#BeLessFat” and allow myself to drink another beer or two on the weekends without feeling guilty, I know that some people get wayyyy too into the competitive spirit. Don’t allow me to fuel an unhealthy fire. I want to make your life better, not worse! Besides, at the current gymour competition isn’t even for most meters, it’s just to see if people can hit 2,018 in the month. Every meter above 2,018 is just icing on the cake! I’ll back out in a heartbeat if I need to, though.
If you can keep it all in perspective, though, game on. Today I rowed an extra 4,000 meters at a comfortable pace while watching a live video of my favorite Dj, and my heart rate was low the entire time. It was just some nice active recovery, and it felt awesome!
While I’ll be the first to admit that I’m really competitive, I rarely let that get in the way of my own health. Sadly, though, I know a lot of people who can’t safely make that distinction. Did rowing alone lead to adrenal fatigue? Of course not. But putting one’s body through that much unnecessary stress for that many days in a row, certainly didn’t help! Story one was about a competition that went awry. Story two is about a challenge to hit 2,018 meters. The point is, saying, “It’s not a competition,” is great, but we all know that to some people… everything is a competition! If all else fails and your brain won’t let your body stop pushing, remember that it’s only a game. And none of it matters. Train smart, friends.
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