Note
Upon reading about the desperate circumstances Seattle has found itself in, I thought: "I must do something to help." I rummaged around, and at length found a fun size Milky Way bar I could donate. It felt like it wouldn't be much more than a token effort, but it was surely better than nothing. It might not be enough to save all of Seattle, but perhaps it could be enough so that a block or two of the city could make it through until the arrival of spring.
I began looking for an envelope to mail the candy bar in, but before I could find something suitable, I felt myself growing hungry. So I ate the candy bar. It was really good.
Note
The plan was to do ski intervals today. Starting out, even going up some of the gentle inclines and along flat stretches in the early going, it seemed to me it required more effort than it should--not totally easy, even though I was going easy. I didn't feel all that psyched.
Which, I have to say--knowing myself, is completely typical of almost anytime I have a tougher workout on the schedule. And I've noticed/learned a few things of the years.
First, it doesn't matter whether I'm psyched or not while I'm warming up. Not in terms of starting and completing the workout. As long as I'm not ill or injured, then I should start the workout no matter whether I feel psyched or not. I can not think of even a single time when I've started a tougher workout where I didn't feel good about it by the end, and I've always felt like I've accomplished something. So as a rule of thumb, for me anyway, quitting/calling off a workout before I even got started would be a bad way to go, unless there was a very sound, tangible reason for doing so (like being under the weather.)
Second, the workouts that go best seem to be the ones where I want to get it done, and head out where there's enough time to get it done, but just enough, where there's a window of time available back-ended by something: I'm supposed to meet someone at a certain time, or the end of daylight, or something like that. There's just enough time to do the workout, but not enough time to dither, or wonder how I feel, or if maybe I should just warmup for a while longer, etc. So it usually ends up being a quick warmup--enough, but quick--and then just plunging into it with no time to entertain second thoughts.
It really almost always comes down to the same thing: just getting started.
So back to today. Even though I didn't feel all that jazzed while I was warming up, I headed straight for the start point, and told myself that when I hit it, I would start and just do the best I could, no matter how I felt.
Halfway through the first interval, I was feeling fine, and even though it was hard work, each interval after that went well, even the last, which was the hardest. And when it was all done, it felt really good.