Sound Barrier

One of my favorite movies is “The Right Stuff,” which is all about the early Mercury space program and man’s quest to break the sound barrier and beyond.  One of the primary characters profiled is Chuck Yeager, one of America’s true heroes.  Chuck was the first to break the sound barrier after piloting a jet that everyone thought would crash like all the others before him.  The sound barrier was considered by many to be impossible to breach by man. 

What does this all have to do with running, health, etc.?  We all have our own sound barriers.  And I’ve been thinking about mine quite a bit lately.  Today I had even more time to think about it because I had a miserable run to start the day off.

So here it is publicly: my sound barrier is 200 lbs.  It has been so difficult for me to get under this weight; I relate it to that which at times can seem impossible.  About eight years back I was on a pretty good health kick, and got close to getting under 200 lbs.  I didn’t quite make it, and ballooned back up (and down, and up, and down) again.  This current period has been my most successful period to date where I’ve lost over 65 lbs., and again I’m close to it (and have been for a couple of weeks).  I’ve been stuck, though, and just can’t seem to get under.  I know with effort and time it’ll happen, it is just frustrating to see it right in front of me and not be able to get there.

I’ve switched things up this week in order to break through.  I have abandoned my slow-carb diet and have gone back to Weight Watchers.  This was not an easy thing to do.  Slow carb took me down all this weight, so moving away from it is a bit daunting.  I had stalled on slow carb, though, and I think it may be due to my body becoming accustomed to the plan and me not getting enough calories/carbs to support my running.  So I figure I’ll try WW, which has worked for me in the past, for a few weeks at least to see if it kick starts a loss. 

Day One did not go well.  Might have been something mentally, but I didn’t stick to it very well.  I didn’t eat well at all this last weekend, and this morning my run was awful.  My nutrition likely contributed to it, but the heat was also fierce.  I struggled after two miles, pushed through to four, and quit before my goal of five.  So those excuses probably contributed, but I still think a lot of it was mental more than anything.  Ugh.  That barrier. 

I’m staying positive.  It will happen.  I have no choice but to keep pushing.  Barriers are meant to be broken.  My nutrition for the next for today and tomorrow will be good, and Wednesday morning my run will be awesome.

Enjoy your progress,

Travis