Journey to Kona Day 35: Use Your Time

I heard a great comment today about how much time we waste, and rather than complain about not having enough time, we should be focused on making better use of the time we have.  I’m sure that there are some people who would look at me and assume that I’m good at this, but they’d be wrong.  Interestingly, as always, there’s a running metaphor.  In a 5K, as well as a marathon and an ironman,  if you start out too fast, you’ll finish too slow.  In day to day life, this also holds true.  Since I’m someone who allows their “fight or flight” mechanism to engage too easily, I often find myself in adrenaline overload.  I was always like this in school.  I’d study really intensely for half an hour, then not do any studying for 2-3 hours.  In retrospect, this may not have been the ideal way to study, although it seems to have turned out ok.

The last four days were a whirlwind.  They always are when I go to meetings.  On a positive note, with the exception of yesterday, when I had a 6:30 am meeting, I didn’t set my alarm and just allowed myself to wake up naturally.  This is a habit I truly need to hold to.  In fact, that may be my most important resolution going forward.  Don’t plan anything that forces me to set the alarm clock!  I then made sure I got on the treadmill for anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes before having breakfast, taking a shower and heading to the meeting.  Once I got to the meeting site, my plan to find time to rest totally failed.  I’d find myself busy, either going to sessions or talking to people until somewhere around 10 or 11 pm.  Oh well, the best laid plans, although I have to admit that there was little time wasted.  I also think I did a better job pacing myself.  Yesterday was an exception.  Accidentally woke up at 4:30 am (thought it was 5:30), and didn’t get back to my hotel until after 10 pm.  Didn’t stop in between.  But, I didn’t set my alarm this morning and woke up around 7:30 am.  Not too bad.  

Using my time effectively.  Whether it’s a race, training or life, this is a good thing to aspire to.  Pacing is critical.  Being a Type A personality and having a knack for doing too much too soon, it really takes some planning and thought to maintain a good attitude that will allow me to do this.  At the same time, it’s always good for me to relate my training and racing goals to my life’s goals.