Friday, October 12, 2012

A Healthy Addiction

My training for Beach 2 Battleship is coming to an end.  I’m loving the tapering period.  I have two sessions of yoga planned for next week to replace strength training.  My swim, bike, and run sessions are so short, relatively speaking, that I’m finding myself wondering what workouts I can fit in to fill the extra time without affecting my tapering.  A couple of days ago I was feeling a little down when I would think about what I was going to do if I wasn’t training.  But, thankfully I have a good relationship with myself.  We talked it over and decided that this doesn’t mean the end.  This is only the season finale.  I have other races to look forward to and better than that, I have other things outside of training for a full distance triathlon to look forward to.  Like spending more time with Daniel and friends, reading a book, or watching a movie.  In fact, I’m taking advantage of Daniel going to Brews by the Bay and watching Dirty Dancing.  Sarah and I bought a Groupon for Ballet Barre fitness training classes.  I can’t wait use that. 

So, oddly enough, I was talking with Pete from A-Train this morning as I was on my way for my AM swim.  We got to talking about Ironman (WTC) races and how expensive they are.  Currently, they’re around $625 for the full distance if you get in with early registration.  Then Pete said, “well, at least it’s a healthy addiction”.  Triathlons and races ARE healthy addictions.  I could be spending close to $100 a night every weekend to go out and drink and eat or I could sign up for a race and train for it, forcing myself eat healthier and be physically healthy.  And, I’ll be honest.  Like most girls, I worry about my weight.  I worry about how tight my shirts and pants are.  I worry about things jiggling and my arms looking fat in a tank top.  These are things that I can relax a little bit with when I’m not spending my weekends drinking the night away and ending it with stuffing my face with food until I’m ready to pass out.  Just as a quick disclaimer, I like drinking.  I like beer, wine, and mixed cocktails.  But, I like the way I feel better after 4 or 5 hours of training than I do after 2 or 3 hours of drinking.  So, as long as I can keep a balance between training/racing and the other parts of my life that make me who I am and make me happy then I’m going stick with my healthy addiction.                 

Healthy (Health) – “Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain (as in "good health" or "healthy").[1] The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense in 1946 as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy

(Behavioral) Addiction – “[…] sometimes referred to as impulse control disorders, are increasingly recognized as treatable forms of addictions.[13] The type of behaviors which some people have identified as being addictive include gambling, food, sex, viewing of pornography, use of computers, playing video games, use of the internet, work, exercise, spiritual obsession (as opposed to religious devotion), cutting, and shopping.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_addiction

Addictive Behavior – “Typically an individual becomes dependent or addicted to a substance to alleviate the pain and agony deriving from certain emotions. The phenomenon occurs subsequent to the first trial where the individual derives some pleasure which increases with additional usage. Continual usage leads to psychological strengthening which ultimately leads to psychological dependence or physical addiction.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addictive_behavior

No comments:

Post a Comment