The battle with the Beast began on Sunday night – hours before the actual meeting. It was intimidation time. The Beast was trying to psyche my out – messing with my thinking, trying to scare me off with thoughts. I remembered this workout from last year vividly. I remember the ache, the effort I had dig out from deep inside, the snot and sweat running off my face, the feeling of how seemingly impossible this battle was.
I kept waking up all night with these thoughts running through my head. I just talked right back in my biggest, bravest voice, determined to handle the Beast even better than I had last year.
In the morning, I met up with my four workout buddies, but I’d be battling my own personal Beast while they fought theirs.
Shauna and Dolores are dealing with some shoulder injuries so their job was to run the stadium stairs then do a lap around the track over and over and over until they had run every aisle up those steps.
Laura and I did the Countdown from 100s workout, nicknamed The Beast! That means 100 yards of Bear Crawling or Power Wheel Crawling then jump rope 100 times. Then we just repeated these two activities knocking 10yards off the crawls and 10 reps off the jumping rope each round. 100, 90, 80, 70 . . . 10, all the way to 0.
It’s 40-45 minutes of absolute torture – especially when you do the Power Wheel instead of Bear Crawling. I got down on the ground for my first crawl of 100 yards and went as far as I could without stopping. I was pretty impressed and thought I had probably gone about 70 yards. Yeah, try 55 yards. When I looked up to see how much further I had to go, I felt like the Beast walloped me in the gut. I don’t quit though. I put my head down and went again.
I took breathing breaks when I just couldn’t take another step, but never for more than just a few seconds. The idea of quitting never entered my mind even when this workout felt eternal. I was determined to go the whole thing on my Power Wheel – something I wasn’t able to do the year before.
I stared that nasty Beast in its green and red eyes and told it out loud, I was going to win – no matter what. Melina was cheering me on. Dolores was yelling out and giving me strength and I was getting tougher as I went. When I finally got to the last 3 rounds (crawling for 30, 20, and 10 yards) I made sure I didn’t take any breaks. I was so fatigued. My arms, legs and core were quivering, but I was going to finish strong and show that Beast just who was boss.
I have learned to embrace that feeling of fatigue, of exhaustion, of pushing myself beyond my perceived limits. It’s exhilarating actually. I know that is in those moments, strength is born. Strength in mind, muscle, and character. To not quit when everything in your head is screaming at you to stop, to take an easier route, to roll over and play dead – this is where the good stuff is found. When you ignore that, get stubborn and push even more.
I finished my last few steps, dropped to my knees and literally yelled out loud, “Take that, Beast! You didn’t beat me!!!!”
Don’t avoid the hard stuff. Don’t hide from the Beast in your workouts. Seek it out. Conquer it and show yourself just how strong you really are!
I have some “scars” from yesterday’s battle with the Beast. I have sore shoulders, arms, and back. My abs hurt like never before, but they aren’t injuries, just post-battle aches. They are my trophies from my victory over the Beast.
No comments:
Post a Comment