Workout Wisdom Peloton Edition - the end

We’ve come to the end of the road and are finishing this workout wisdom series with a bit more reflection. And if you know me, you know I don’t miss an opportunity to bring my dogs into everything. Please enjoy small dog and bike.

1. Not everyone loves high fives or shoutouts

2. Plans are written in pencil during a pandemic

3. You will find your pack

4. Trust yourself

5. We’re all doing the best we can

5. We’re all doing the best we can. I’ve worked out regularly for over 20 years. I’ve run ultramarathons. I’m in good shape. Yet I am almost always deep into the bottom half of each ride I do. I can be celebrating hitting a new personal best and then see that I’m 37,541 out of 53,279. I was really demoralized by this when I started. Then I remembered that at 51, I’m probably on the older end of the Peloton population and at 143lbs, I’m probably smaller than most other riders, therefore at a disadvantage for how much power I can generate. When I filter results by age and gender my relative placement goes up, but I’m still mid-pack. And that’s ok. I find myself downloading my ride data often so I can see how today’s me compares to last month’s me. I look at my monthly average output rising, and know that some days it’s just enough to do something - that it’s my best for that day. And it really doesn’t matter what the 10,000 other people on the ride “with” me are doing.

I can only really compete with myself. And some days I’m not able to come close to what January Claudia did, much less what the other 3,000 women in their 50s on the ride are doing. But I’m there. I’m working, I’m getting stronger. I’m sweating out some stress. And I remind myself why I’m there and what my goals are, and I keep riding that bike to nowhere. 

Some days you may reflect on where you are in your career, or your to do list, and feel frustrated. You may think about your college roommate and how they have a bigger house or a more impressive title. All you can do is remind yourself why you’re there (anything from ‘change the world’ to ‘pay the rent’ works), take inventory of what’s going on in your life, and give yourself credit for doing the best you can do. Today.