Wake
The Cultured Warrior #066 | Sometimes you don't want to and it's smart. Sometimes you do it anyway.
Wake and see the world differently. Â Did you rise from sleep? Â Celebrate postmortem? Â Get caught in a fluid aftermath? Â Some people see the world differently and it's shown in their actions.
I was supposed to run for 50 minutes yesterday. Â I went that far into the trail, and of course, had to come back. Â I was far enough away from people that I stopped and stared down a doe that made eye contact with me.
1,000 calories, 2 hours, and a sleeping dog later I tried to count the number of times I told myself "f* you, keep going." Yes, there was some walking, not a lot of stopping.
More importantly though, I realized that a technical descent required more energy to "break hard" but that you couldn't cut the lines completely as you needed agile (not broken) ankles for steering.
On the drive home I wondered if my $140 running shoes were worth it, but eased that thought down with "I've broken legs for less." Then, I settled on the idea that I still hate running, but being 10 weeks into a 12 week program I'll finish even if it's crawling and crying.
"If you aren’t destroyed by today’s session, you can get more done tomorrow."
~ Climbstrong, October 2022
Do you want to be good or feel good? Do you want to get stronger or get tired? This is the reason New Year's resolutions fail. Showing up is none of the battle. Not that it doesn't matter, but if you're at the stage where it does, you can't be concerned with winning.
Real "wins" can't be shortcut. So, we have to pay, with time. That's going to mean coming back tomorrow, and next week, and for the next 10 years.
You won't be able to do that if you're content to write "new year, new me" on a white board, starve yourself for a week, and try to build a roof (sweaty flexing IG pics) before the foundation is laid.
New on YouTube:
Nutrition:
No one reading this newsletter probably needs the reminder, but just in case – there is no reason to fear saturated fat, in fact, the brain needs animal fat.   A new meta-analysis reviews 10 years of literature to debunk the claim that saturated fat causes cardiovascular disease.
"Findings from the studies reviewed in this paper indicate that the consumption of SFA is not significantly associated with CVD risk, events or mortality. Based on the scientific evidence, there is no scientific ground to demonize SFA as a cause of CVD. SFA naturally occurring in nutrient-dense foods can be safely included in the diet."