After completing my tasks yesterday, I have officially completed four weeks, 37% of 75 Hard. It is surreal that I’m this far into it, but I’m also still disappointed I had to restart in the first place. I would be 45 days in had I not slipped up last month. BUT it’s okay. I’m still proud of myself for restarting and making it this far! I will be halfway through the challenge in about a week.
The challenge has two workouts each day, obviously, but the main benefit is the notable mental shift that is supposed to occur. I have noticed this shift, little by little, day by day.
Let’s take yesterday, for example. Yesterday morning I was driving to Fort Wayne for work. I was less than six miles away when my rear tire on the driver’s side went flat, seemingly out of nowhere. Initially, I was pretty irritated. I didn’t have a spare, so I could not change the tire then and there. The tow truck that roadside assistance procured for me quoted me a two-hour wait time.
In the past, I would have let this ruin my day. I would forgo everything else I had planned to accomplish for the day and wallow. Woe is me. Not yesterday, however. Sure, that flat was a massive bump in the road. But I decided to meet the day head-on and still accomplished everything I set out to do yesterday. When the day was over, I felt pretty damn good, and now I have a new tire.
Performance Assessment
In addition to the mental benefits, your body will go through a transformation. I feel it, see it, and it feels and looks pretty, pretty good.
I spoke last week about data from my Whoop strap, and guess what? The numbers are getting better and better. I’m learning how to balance strain with recovery; I’m getting better sleep while pushing my body harder than I ever have before.
Last week, my average day strain was 16.7 (up from my rolling three-week average of 16.0). I burned, on average, 3,165 per day last week. I slept for an average of 8 hours a night, 90% of my sleep need.
My bedtime variability was down to 45 minutes, compared to 48, and my waketime variability drastically improved at 38 minutes, compared to 1 hour and 48 minutes.
75 Hard requires you to have 10.5 active hours each week, last week, I had 12 hours and 39 minutes spent actively.
Each day I move closer and closer to the finish line. Recently I’ve been thinking about how I will celebrate crossing the finish line. Part of me wants to hit up Taco Bell the day after I finish the challenge, while part of me wants to strap right back in and go after part two of 75 Hard, called Phase One. I will talk more about Phase One in the coming weeks.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and follow along on my journey of self-improvement!
Footy Foster 