Friday Morning, Early

Posted Fri Aug 20, 2010 in

GingerI woke about an hour ago, rolled over, and tried to go back to sleep. No joy. So, I rose, chided Young Son for still being up, and sat down at the computer to finish the install of my jailbroken 4.0.1 iPhone firmware. All that was required was a restore and then update all of my software.

There is a reason for the update. HDR Pro was just updated and it’s a tool that I find interesting. I use my iPhone for most of my photography (it’s an easy carry-camera) and find HDR photography interesting. Many of the scenes I see are high dynamic range — beyond the capabilities of most sensors (but not human eyes). So there is usually a choice to be made — highlights or shadows. HDR photography combines two (or more) images to expand the dynamic range of the composite image.

My iPhone software is reinstalling now… I should be back up and running in a few more minutes.

The week was a challenge. Today is leg-day for training. I just finished laying out the morning exercises. The cardio workout yesterday wasn’t as good as Tuesday, but I’m on-track there, I think. Trikes and pects are sore this morning — another good sign that what I’m doing is working.

Although I do not enjoy the lactic-acid burn and the mental game of working through that to the point of momentary muscle failure, I know that is where the work gets done. It’s those last couple of repetitions that break down the muscle and force the adaptive change. I’m retraining the mental game to believe this struggle is just for me and will get me to the point I want to be — stronger, more healthy, more energetic, and better equipped to face what is before me.

Part of the mental game and what I really need to get ingrained is that this pain is a good pain. It’s the goal because it will take me where I want to be. It is a small struggle to get past and it isn’t real pain, the kind that means hurt!; it’s the kind of pain that represents growth.

There’s the head game. The body says You must STOP this because it is built-in to resist change. The mind says Keep GOING because I know, intellectually, that this isn’t a bad thing but a deliberate stretch toward personal growth.

So, this time around, I’m working on my head game. I want my head in the game and to restructure my internal dialogue to understand that the discomfort is only temporary and will result in gain. I need to restructure my internal dialogue that I’m not doing this because I need to (which I do), but because it is part of my time to do something just for me. I don’t do a lot of things just for me, that being something I struggle with. But, I do a few things just for me because they are rebuilding.

So, although I’m struggling with this change, I believe it’s necessary. Instead of spending my early-morning time on the computer, I’m spending part of it (most maybe) working on the physical part of myself to support the mental and spiritual parts of myself. I’m doing this because I believe it’s the right thing to do. I want to be strong enough to spend the remaining portion of my life doing the things that need to be done as well as those that should be done.

Those things are a topic for another time.

Edit: Imaged added later… just because I wanted an image in the entry. The image reminds me of the mandrake root from Pan’s Labyrinth. Yes, it’s the visual equivalent of a non sequitur.