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F… New Year’s resolutions!

You can see them in the park, you can see them in the swimming pool, you can see them in the gym and in yoga classes. The New Year’s Resolutions. At no time in the year these places are so overcrowded as in the first week of January. The swimming pool is so full, that it’s barely possible to have a somehow normal training. It’s rather a combination of an obstacle course and martial arts in the water. But every time I get annoyed about this – I take a deep breath and just look forward to January 15th when it all be normal again. 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

(This quote, by the way, is by and large credited to Einstein, however there is no proof that he has ever used this expression). It doesn’t really matter here though as it perfectly serves the purpose of describing the insanity of New Year’s resolutions. If you didn’t keep your exercise routine (or any other resolution you made) longer than for the first 2 weeks of the year in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 18, what makes you think that 2019 will be so different? Let me tell you – it will not. New Year’s resolutions just don’t work for many reasons.

We don’t really want them 

The main problem with the New Year’s resolutions is – they’re not about what we really want, but what the society expects us to want. Quit smoking, do more sports, stop eating meat, save more money. Of course – these are very desirable outcomes. But do we really want this change or do we just think that we have to change it? Where do these resolutions come from? Is it the peer pressure, the spouse/partner or our super-ego (check out Freud if you don’t know this one ;)) or do we really want it= If we feel that we have to, without wanting it, it will just feel like an annoying obligation and we will be relieved to give them up.

Our goals are not SMART

In business I always recommend my clients to set SMART goals. What does it mean? SMART goals are smart because they are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. Even if I really have this intrinsic motivation to get fit again – „getting fit“ is not really SMART – it might be realistic and achievable, but it’s not specific, measurable, and time bound. A SMART goal would be for example to run 3 times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday for 30 minutes in the next 2 months. Going to the theatre once a week for half a year might be specific, measurable and time bound, but for me it’s not realistic and achievable as I know that I will have just other priorities. 

We get disappointed

The result of having goals that are not SMART or sometimes even having goals that are SMART but we just didn’t manage to achieve them is that we get disappointed. And getting disappointed usually directly leads to quitting. Once I have set myself a goal to become six-pack abs. The problem is – even if I only have 15% body fat – basically all these 15% are in my belly. It has always been like that. I could maybe could have reached it anyway, but for that I’d have to give up all the things I like (like wine and nice food) and do ridiculous amounts of abs training. As I didn’t see the expected results after two months, I was totally disappointed and gave up the training. What I decided not to see was, that I was fitter, my core got stronger and my body looked better. But – I didn’t have six-pack abs… Next time I decided to try a different approach and started focusing on small habit changes and small achievements, focusing on successes and not disappointments.

The best time to start is now

And by now – I don’t mean the beginning of the year. I mean now – whenever it is. If you have an deep motivation to change and you set yourself SMART goals – why the hell do you need to wait until January 1st? Why not start on March 3rd or August 25th or December 27th? Why have this socially acceptable procrastination method called „New Year’s resolutions“ stop you from starting the change the moment you decide to do so? 

F… New Year’s resolutions!

2018 – the fittest year in my life

The end of the year is always a time for a little reflection. This year was very challenging in many perspectives. But these challenges have actually shown me that I have never been as mentally and physically strong as I was this year. Getting older probably helps the mental strength to develop, but it doesn’t usually have a similar effect when it comes to physical fitness 😉

Since I started doing regular sports about 6 years ago I had several ups and downs when it comes to my fitness. I did my first long distance triathlon (Challenge Almere) in 2015 – 2,5 years after my first run. It was way to early and my body wasn’t yet ready for this kind of physical stress. I have finished the race without big problems, but the problems started shortly after. It took me more than a year to recover – that’s why I decided to only do Olympic distances in 2016 and 2017.

As my fitness was up again in 2017, I decided to sign up for the Hamburg Ironman 2018. I set myself three goals for 2018: Ironman under 12 hours, middle distance under 6 hours and marathon under 4 hours (my previous PB’s were 12:46, 6:10, 4:12 respectively).

Staying healthy is key

One key factor that made reaching these goals possible was staying healthy. I started structured training on November 1st 2017, and managed not to have a cold or injury until after the Ironman (the only health issue I had was the food poisoning directly before the Mallorca Olympic Triathlon – the only one without a PB). While luck definitely matters when it comes to preventing cold and injuries, there are many things we can do to help the luck a litte:

• I wear clothes suitable to the weather – sounds pretty obvious, but who does it in their twenties? I didn’t 😉 But as I’m getting old and wise, I always wear a hat and a scarf when it’s cold (of course cold is relative, I’m quite sensitive to it, so I usually wear a hat already below 15 degrees, especially when I’m riding a bike. Also I startet using the rainwear for my bicycle commute (if it was raining of course :D) and so avoided arriving in the office soaking wet and not having a dry change of clothes…
• I’d like to avoid crowds during cold and flu seasons, but that’s not really possible in my case. What I do, besides meticulously washing my hands, is getting some extra vitamins and trace elements, like Orthomol immun.It might be mostly a placebo effect, but I don’t care, as long as it helps.
• I try to get enough good quality sleep. I’m not the person who falls asleep easy, so I really have to work on it. The hardest for me is when I have to sleep in hotel beds, which happens quite regularly due to my work. Reducing screen time in the evening, avoiding eating too late, stretching and meditation before going to sleep (although I don’t always manage to do the latter…) – these factors definitely help getting a good night sleep.

• Stretching is not only helpful for a good sleep – it’s essential for preventing injuries. I didn’t have any kind of injury since I got back into sports six years ago, and I believe that regular stretching and core training are a key reason for that. I personally enjoy yoga – although I’m terrible at it, to be honest 😉 During the season preparation (October-January) I go to yoga classes 1-2 times a week, during the intense training and race phases I usually don’t have time for that, so I do shorter yoga routines with apps like Asana Rebel.

Structured training

Thanks to staying healthy I managed not to miss one training in the entire Ironman preparation time. Since my first long distance triathlon I work with a coach who prepares my training plans. Before I started working with Takao I was training too much too fast and with no structure, which worked for an olympic and a middle distance, but might not have worked for the long one. I know many triathletes who prepare their own training plans, but I personally prefer to have someone supporting me with it, helping me with the planning of the whole season, pushing me to my limits but also reminding me that regeneration is also important 😉

I also work with a swimming coach Katja (during my first triathlon in 2014 I swam 80% breast stroke – a lot has changed since then). She taught me how to swim back then, in 2014/15 while last year I mostly attended her open water swimming classes, which helped me to improve my swim splits a lot (1900 m in 45 minutes in 2015, vs. 38 minutes in 2018…).

The training camp in Mallorca in March helped to set the foundation for a successful season. I can really recommend it to everyone who’s planning to do an Ironman. I had 10 days of intense training, and especially something I don’t really have while cycling in Berlin – hills 😉

The training has paid off

On April 22nd in one of my favorite cities – Zürich, I wanted to finally run a marathon in less then 4 hours. In my two previous Marathons Hamburg in 2015 and Berlin in 2017 I missed the 4 by more than 10 minutes. I was a little nervous and didn’t sleep well and it was already 20 degrees at 7:30 in the morning (and it went up to 28 degrees at noon…), but somehow I knew that I’ll do it. My legs were a little heavy at the beginning (it’s actually always the case for me within 24 hours after a flight, even a short one – an observation, that I unfortunately made later on…), but the pace was good. At about kilometer 30 I really started getting excited. I knew that I have enough time, so I’ll manage it under 4 hours if no unexpected disaster happens. I hear from so many runners that they really struggle at about 10-12 kilometers before the finish. I don’t – I know, that I’m almost there, I eat a nutrition gel, smile and run 😉 (smiling generally helps). I finished in 3 hours 56 minutes – very happy but already with a plan to get faster next time 🙂

The next PB to be broken was the one in middle distance. On June 9th at noon (very unusual time of day) we went into the water. It was quite a nice surprise when I went out of the water just 38 minutes later. The transition went also pretty well and I felt strong on the bike. The heat was quite annoying though and after about 50 kilometers into the cycling I started having digestion problems, that unfortunately didn’t stop until the finish line, so the run was less fun then usual… At the finish line it didn’t matter anymore – 5:47 was not as fast as I expected, but still 23 minutes faster than my previous PB (and in my “off season” middle distance in August I managed to cut my PB by another 23 minutes, finishing in 5:24) and I started feeling prepared for the biggest challenge of the year (and qualified for The Championship 2019).

A week before my biggest challenge of the year I started getting really scared 😉 Especially as the temperature was permanently above 30 degrees and the water temperature was already at about 25 degrees – which means no wet suit. No wet suit means to me – poor swim split. But it turned out to get even worse – due to the dangerously high concentration of blue algae, the swim was cancelled… It was obviously quite sad, but some I took the pressure off me. A I woke up at the race morning I felt strong, focused and prepared. The day started with a 6 km run (instead of swimming). I started easy, focused on not overpacing (there were few more kilometers to come :P). The bike went perfectly, with optimal weather conditions – I only needed 5 hours 45 minutes. The runs started well – es I was energized because of my bike performance. Towards the end of the first round I started having digestion problems (based on what I saw and heard – I was not the only one…), but they went away in the middle of the second round. I somehow managed a negative split – each of the four rounds was faster than the previous round. You can see how I was feeling at the finish round when you look at the video above 🙂

This feeling is somehow still there when I think of 2018. And because I love this feeling so much – I’m looking forward to the challenges of 2019. Happy New Year everyone!