A couple of days ago I found myself in How-the-F-am-I-going-to-do-this-land. You know the place... it's right next to Why-on-earth-do-I-keep-doing-this-to-myselfs-ville and just north of It's-been-a-long-day-maybe-I'll-skip-this-ones-town. The workout had been aimed at me all week and I just stood there staring blankly down the barrel like I imagine a cow looks at an oncoming train while it is standing right there on the tracks.5 sets of 5minutes at 400+watts. 3min recovery in between...
This is a workout where 5minutes seems to last an hour and 3minutes is over in the blink of an eye. I found myself rationalizing and thought I would share a new form of calculus I have devised that you can implement on any workout to help hammer it out.
It's actually real science so pay attention...
OK so lets start. There are 5 sets of 5 minutes total where you will be breathing like a mad person and you heart will be beating out of your chest - which seems like a lot of suffering to think about at the start but you really don't count the last set because everyone knows the feeling of being on the last set is amazing and no matter how much pain you are in you push thru it...it's the last set after all, right?
Right! So now you only have 4 sets to do... 4 sets of 5minutes seems terrible still. But think about it rationally with me here: Once you are over the half-way mark the whole workout is basically over... You're killing it at this point. Catch my drift?
Half way point of 4 sets is 2... (Don't forget to show your work)... so now that you only have two sets of five minutes to do you can automatically subtract the first set because everyone knows you can do the first set no problem... It's only the first set after all...
SO after the long division and carrying the remainders and implementing the order of operations we find that the workout really is only 5minutes long...
Five minutes isn't that long but it still can seem like forever - but "forever" only starts after your heart rate gets elevated which takes a like a minute or so once we re-apply the aforementioned "halfway principle" (see above) the only real work you have to do is for about two minutes...
If you are thinking, "Two minutes is still pretty much forever," then you are absolutely right. There is no way you can do something for two minutes.
BUT there's another formula I'd like to introduce you to which will keep you going... It's call the 100 second theory. This theory incorporates the fact that you are a lean-mean-training machine and states that you can pretty much do anything for 20 seconds; so here we go, two minutes minus 20 seconds is 100seonds. So now you only need to make it to 1:40 (or 100seconds).
Once you get to 100seconds you start can imply the law of-"I am almost at less than a minute to go"... And no matter how tired you are you can make it to the one minute mark from the 100s mark... after that you can start thinking about one second, sixty times.
Again you say, "one minute is an eternity" - have you ever starred at the microwave tick off one minute?... Have you learned nothing though? Think back to the halfway principle. You are pretty much at less than 30seconds of total workout time. So you are pretty much not even working out today since 30 seconds is only a few quick breaths... a few more breaths and your workout will be over.
So the final step is to do that... yes, just take one breath. Calm down and get a hold of yourself. Hard workouts are done by not panicking about what is to come or how many intervals you have left to do but just doing your best for one breath at a time and not worrying about whatever is down the line. Because really it is nothing and it'll be over in just the time it takes to inhale and exhale the next breath. Staying in the present moment will undoubtedly help you thru not only hard workouts but any other thing that is seemingly a source of stress in your life. You want proof? See Below...
