Progress Doesn't Always Look Like You Expected

I have been thinking over the past 2 weeks or so (the privilege of taking time away from big training blocks!!) about when things don't quite hit the intended target.

There is always learning in these times and I am focused in on this because I have very recently had this exact experience and at the time I had the very human reaction of disappointment and jumped into being hard on myself, because I am the over-achiever type.

The goals I actually hit

What's interesting really for me when I'm working through it is that the disappointment was so unwarranted! I absolutely achieved the primary goals… I signed up to, trained for and completed a marathon (a distance that I tell clients is never to be taken for granted because 26.2 miles is a long bloody way!!).

I also set a fundraising target of 500 euro, achievable but substantial, and I have raised in total at the time of writing 595 for my chosen charity.

So why the disappointment?

So why then was I so disappointed? And even worse, frustrated with myself at that finish line 2 weeks ago. I was irrationally disappointed by how much of the course I had walked and how long I had been on the course. Irrational now I admit as I sit on my couch sipping tea and typing away!, but at the time very real and I really felt it for a day or two. I don't know if it was ego, maybe it was that to a degree. But I just didn't feel that it reflected the 4 months of work that had gone into that race day. All of the hours of training, of pounding the roads alone during a very hot summer.

Along the way though, during this training block, I have been the most consistent I have ever been with strength training while marathon training and I have had some PRs in the gym… That's pretty cool because one of my main goals for this year was in fact to get stronger.

I was sick in the lead-up to race day itself, 7 days of antibiotics for a chest infection, so I went into race day pretty fatigued and worn out with a gut microbiome that probably resembled a desert… not ideal conditions.

Where transformation really happens

This has set me thinking about the transformation that happens when we sign up to big adventures and things don't go quite to plan…

The hardest part of the endurance event, or big life change or anything really, isn't the main act… it's the lead-up to the big act. That's where we sit with discomfort, doubt, fear, and this is where all of the hard work is laid down in preparation for 'the thing'. This is where transformation comes from!

It's in the small but consistent acts we do when we stare down that uncertainty and tackle the task head on, even briefly. The action creates momentum and the doing helps us start to believe we can achieve something for the first time. And that's where the magic lies, it's held in the self-belief.

I think this is where my frustration came from at that finish line. I had held such belief in myself and my capabilities, and then it didn't happen the way I thought it would on the day.

The goal that snuck in

But when I reflected on things over the following days, what I did see was that my body felt great. I barely had a strain walking around afterwards, and that was a first. A pretty clear sign that I have, in fact, gotten stronger this year, even if I haven't necessarily gotten faster.

And wait… getting faster was never actually one of my goals this year! Somewhere along the way, that goal had snuck in, even though it didn't really belong there. And that's okay. Because there's learning in that too.

It reminded me that we can hold more than one goal, but we need to be intentional about what we're actually training and preparing for. I can absolutely work towards being stronger and faster, but if I want both, I need to train and prepare for both.

Progress doesn't always look how we expect

And I think this is such an important lesson, not just in training, but in health and in life. Sometimes the thing we thought we were working towards isn't the thing we actually needed most. Sometimes progress looks different from what we expected. As a health coach, this is something I come back to again and again: we don't need to judge ourselves by whether everything went exactly to plan. We can pause, reflect, notice what did improve, and use that information to decide where we want to go next.

Because there is always something to learn from the plan not going to plan.

Work with me

I offer one-to-one coaching for people who are ready to pause, get clear on what they really want, and take meaningful steps forward.

If you're curious about what coaching could look like for you, you're welcome to book a discovery call with me. It's a chance to talk, ask questions, and see whether working together feels like the right fit.