Riding in the rain

OK, so I have on my training schedule a 3 hour 15 minute bike ride. Without really looking at the weather I sleep in on Saturday thinking that I’ll be able to start when it’s a little warmer. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

As I was getting ready to leave the rain starts to fall. CRAP. I look at the radar and I see a wall of green. Of course I head out the door anyway. I made it about 100 yards before I turned around and came home.

I put on another layer and I headed out again. I knew that I was in for a full bowl of misery soup. I was ready to take it like a man.

Have you ever started something that you knew was going to be hard only to find in the middle that it was, eh, hard? Did this cause you to quit? Didn’t you know it was going to be hard?

Most people are like this with exercise and proper nourishment. You know what I’m talking about. You get up one day with a wild hair that says you are going to get in shape if it kills you. Well it day one it almost did so you didn’t have a day two.

Sometimes we just don’t understand what the hell hard really means.

Back to my bike ride.

OK, so I’m wet and cold. I’m fine. Just a little wet and cold. Then I get to Buckhill Road. Now I do a series of short but steep hills. Each hill was nice because it warmed me up just a little. For ever micro degree that I warmed up I was 10 degrees colder going down the backside. The last hill was Sugarloaf. I squeezed my breaks all the way down to avoid the wind!

Then it was several miles of slight downhill towards Astatula. Now the rain was heavy and the temperature had dropped to the mid-40’s. I was freezing my ass off.

That was hard. I knew when I left that it was going to be hard but actually being there, shivering uncontrollably, was pure and utter misery.

So this is what HARD is like. This is what it’s like to SUFFER. I was at least a little mentally prepared so I made it through. A warm bath and some tea and I would make it through the experience in one piece with a darn good story to tell.

I tell you my story of woe to make a point. My point it a clear one and please take it to heart. Here it is: When you arrive at the hard part you must remember that this is part of the process and you MUST find a way to fight on like I did on my bike.

Here is an example that I see all the time. You sign up for a Boot Camp class because you want to get in shape and your friends say the instructor is good and the class is fun. You KNOW it’s going to be hard but after the first day you are sore and you quit because you become “busy” or “your schedule at work changed” or “sick” or some other excuse.

Another example is with your diet. You start eating right and you do it for a few days. Then your office goes out to lunch and everyone else is pigging out on the wings and it’s just too hard to resist so you do as well.
I could go on and on.

Being healthy, successful, fit, strong, fast…. Takes HARD work. There is going to be a point that you reach when things seem impossible and you lose sight of why you are one the road that you are on. This you need to be ready for. You must fight and you must prevail.

Your fitness journey is up to you. You must get on the road and stay there. It WILL be hard. The question I pose to you now is this: What are you going to do when it gets hard?

Please don’t give in to the excuses and quit. Press on and do your best. You owe it to yourself to be your best and that’s what you will be. Never, ever give up!

Thanks for reading!

- Rick Copley “The Fitness Guru”