Does it get any easier?

A new season of Michelle Bridges 12WBT is about to begin and I'm going back for my third and final round. Already I've had a number of people ask 'Does it get any easier?'.

The truth is, it does and it doesn't.

Yes, 5am starts get easier. Yes, as you see the benefits (losing weight, growing muscle, getting faster) your enthusiasm for health and fitness grows. In this sense it does get easier. But easy is not what we're after here because, if you want to continually improve (lose weight, get fitter, get faster, jump higher) you need to move out of your comfort zone and this requires dedication persistence and above-all, courage.

Over the years people have said 'but it's easy for you because ...'  but I want to put this out there - it's not easy. It's tiring, it's boring and it is so hard. But this is only because I've deliberately made it so by setting new goals.

For me, the hardest thing has been allowing myself to compete (half-marathons and triathlons) when I know I'm not going to win, in fact there are times when I come in last. Times when people who've trained less than me have beat me. But by doing so I've been able to move on both physically and emotionally. I've learned not to compare myself with others, but to measure and celebrate my own achievements. I've learned that the safe place where you know you can win, is not the place you grow and improve.

I can't tell you how hard this has been. Seeing people packed up and going home when I am still finishing my race is hard, in fact it is heart breaking. The temptation to compare myself to others rather than look at my own achievements is persistent. Training for hours knowing that my improvements are going to be modest is the pits. But the lessons I've learned and continue to learn are priceless.

For a muscle to grow and develop, we first need to injure it. By lifting heavier weights, or more reps we create tiny tears in our muscles, but it is in the recovery from those tears that our muscles grow stronger.

Our heart is a muscle too.

So does it get easier? Only if you let it.