Reaching The Threshold

Everyone who achieves success in a great venture, solves each problem as they came to it. They helped themselves. And they were helped through powers known and unknown to them at the time they set out on their voyage. They keep going regardless of the obstacles they met.

W. Clement Stone

Bumps & Bruises

Prior to this week I was incapacitated by numbness and depression. The lack of feeling and apathy overtook me. The previous 6 weeks of training caught up to me and I had overreached. The typical effects of overreaching had hit me like a train moving at hundreds of miles per hour. 

Being a coach, my energy is highly contagious. Athletes feed off of my energy. They can immediately tell when I'm low and when I'm high. It puts a big damper on my feelings towards myself when I am in the numb and depressed state. My creativity is zapped and all I can think of doing is hiding. 

The previous 6 weeks of training was intense. I broke many personal records and challenged my own ideas of the limits. My strength, work capacity, and mental toughness drastically improved. And then the train hit me. Anxiety, depression, and fear drowned my days. I felt like staying in bed and avoiding things. After a period of time, a much needed visit from my loving mother, and a few organizational changes I started fresh. 

This week was wonderful. I felt like myself, waking up excited to attack the day. My coaching was much better. My training was better than ever as I had 5 PR's in one workout. Surprising myself on a lift by doing 20 more kilograms than previously.  

And that is the yin and yang of training. The give and take. Am I at the point where I NEED to overreach to break plateaus? I'm not sure. But there may be alternative ways to break plateaus not involving the symptoms of overreaching. Or maybe there aren't and that is the beauty of life. The ups and downs of training are indicative of life and if we can overcome these plateaus by going beyond what we have previously done there will be trade-offs. And right now it seems worth it. During the suck, it doesn't seem worth it. But maybe that is training. And maybe knowing is half the battle. Selecting training around a couple weeks where I am not obligated to do a lot of things may be an alternative.

Take-Aways

1. To break plateaus you must work ridiculously hard

2. Before the reward of breaking the plateau there will be a huge drop-off 

3. Training is indicative of life 

4. Ask yourself - Is it worth it to grow stronger?