Good evening, Gabriel! Congratulations on being 50 pounds down in the first quarter of 2025! This takes discipline, tenacity, and grit, which you have in spades.
"If you're going through hell, keep going." Quote most often attributed to Winston Churchill.
Thank you for sharing your journey. It's tremendously helpful to so many people struggling with many things in their lives. In this post, you touched on many topics that are worthy of discussion.
Recovery and what I call plateauing. Everybody is different in terms of how their body adapts to physical stress. We push our physical limits to get better, stronger, faster, etc. Only you can determine your limits, and you're doing an outstanding job. This cannot be measured against anyone or anything else other than your benchmarks. You're taking a break this week because you need it physically and mentally. The decision begins and ends here.
Plateauing occurs because your body needs to rest and recover before moving to the next level. Be kind to you and your body; it's not a machine.
Managing the stress. Accepting that you need rest and recovery is managing some of the stress. I was a middle-distance runner for years, and it just about drove me nuts to take a few days off. One of my coping mechanisms was to change the routine. Instead of running, I would swim or walk, two things that I loved and made me feel I was doing "something." This week, you may plan a leisurely walk in a park or nature trail. The one thing I would avoid is procrastination. There is nothing more debilitating and stressful than procrastination.
What is enough? Enough is what you can accomplish today!
You've done an amazing job so far, and I admire your progress and your analysis of what works and what doesn't work.
Confronting one's limits is a hard one: I used to race bicycles in my youth (as an amateur) and ended my career by pushing myself too hard and wrecking my knees. Then later in life I got into trail running and reinjured my knees from running too much.
These days, as I approach 70, I'm much more aware of my body telling me to slow down when I get too enthusiastic. It's great that you've figured this out before you got ancient like me :-) .
Thanks Gabe. I trained for an extreme multi-week sporting event about 15 years ago and pushed myself so hard that on the rest days I was delerious. I could not even set up my tent properly and just collapsed into the half set-up tent and slept for about 14 hours straight. The next day I could barely make it out of the campsite before I was exhausted and still had 12 hours in front of me in extremely challenging conditions in some of the most beautiful vistas on earth.
If I had to do it all again, I would just relax, take my time, and enjoy the view.
Haha, it seems to me that you're accomplishing your stated goal: microdosing failure. Why would you have named it that and then take it as a setback when you push yourself until you fail? That was exactly what you set out to do. So pat yourself on the back. You're getting better and better at failing! Pretty soon you'll be a failure expert and fail three times before breakfast!
Gabriel, you are a champion! I know you will achieve your goals. However, it is a day by day, sometimes hour by hour and minute by minute gig. Step by step. If you're tired, rest. Take a day off when you need to. The body needs that time. Stay hydrated. And YES, above all else, do not get injured. Nothing screws up a fitness plan faster and meaner than injury. And lastly-- you are so positive. Even when you feel down! It's amazing and inspiring. So know that even having the down days is actually very positive. That will ferry you through the rough currents faster. Aloha!
Great job on the newsletter and your performance to date. Thanks for sharing.
Good evening, Gabriel! Congratulations on being 50 pounds down in the first quarter of 2025! This takes discipline, tenacity, and grit, which you have in spades.
"If you're going through hell, keep going." Quote most often attributed to Winston Churchill.
Thank you for sharing your journey. It's tremendously helpful to so many people struggling with many things in their lives. In this post, you touched on many topics that are worthy of discussion.
Recovery and what I call plateauing. Everybody is different in terms of how their body adapts to physical stress. We push our physical limits to get better, stronger, faster, etc. Only you can determine your limits, and you're doing an outstanding job. This cannot be measured against anyone or anything else other than your benchmarks. You're taking a break this week because you need it physically and mentally. The decision begins and ends here.
Plateauing occurs because your body needs to rest and recover before moving to the next level. Be kind to you and your body; it's not a machine.
Managing the stress. Accepting that you need rest and recovery is managing some of the stress. I was a middle-distance runner for years, and it just about drove me nuts to take a few days off. One of my coping mechanisms was to change the routine. Instead of running, I would swim or walk, two things that I loved and made me feel I was doing "something." This week, you may plan a leisurely walk in a park or nature trail. The one thing I would avoid is procrastination. There is nothing more debilitating and stressful than procrastination.
What is enough? Enough is what you can accomplish today!
Keep smiling and moving forward...
Big hugs :)
You've done an amazing job so far, and I admire your progress and your analysis of what works and what doesn't work.
Confronting one's limits is a hard one: I used to race bicycles in my youth (as an amateur) and ended my career by pushing myself too hard and wrecking my knees. Then later in life I got into trail running and reinjured my knees from running too much.
These days, as I approach 70, I'm much more aware of my body telling me to slow down when I get too enthusiastic. It's great that you've figured this out before you got ancient like me :-) .
Thanks Gabe. I trained for an extreme multi-week sporting event about 15 years ago and pushed myself so hard that on the rest days I was delerious. I could not even set up my tent properly and just collapsed into the half set-up tent and slept for about 14 hours straight. The next day I could barely make it out of the campsite before I was exhausted and still had 12 hours in front of me in extremely challenging conditions in some of the most beautiful vistas on earth.
If I had to do it all again, I would just relax, take my time, and enjoy the view.
It's shocking how much weight you're losing so fast.
Haha, it seems to me that you're accomplishing your stated goal: microdosing failure. Why would you have named it that and then take it as a setback when you push yourself until you fail? That was exactly what you set out to do. So pat yourself on the back. You're getting better and better at failing! Pretty soon you'll be a failure expert and fail three times before breakfast!
That's very true 😁 though I wish it was as fun in practice as it can be in theory!
Gabriel, you are a champion! I know you will achieve your goals. However, it is a day by day, sometimes hour by hour and minute by minute gig. Step by step. If you're tired, rest. Take a day off when you need to. The body needs that time. Stay hydrated. And YES, above all else, do not get injured. Nothing screws up a fitness plan faster and meaner than injury. And lastly-- you are so positive. Even when you feel down! It's amazing and inspiring. So know that even having the down days is actually very positive. That will ferry you through the rough currents faster. Aloha!
Thank you Keala for your kindness and encouragement!
Great to hear from you as always 😁