May 11, 2016 Training Day and Navy Seal Jocko Willink

So my plan was I would get up at 4:45 am and row for a 5k at a moderate pace, and then do tabata row.  But my little 2 year old baby girl decided she wanted to crawl in bed with daddy.  My wife got up for a 5am class, so I was the only one available to cuddle with this little one.  Needless to say, got skipped.  Which I'm a little bummed about. 

When my buddy Greg came over, this is the workout we decided to do:  Also it's the first workout using my new Concept 2.

The intention was to do the first 500 meter row at about 90% intensity.  My time was a little slow for the first one.  We did rush the warm up and my legs were really lactic acidy.  Then my goal was to maintain that pace as best as I could.  It ended up being a small battle to stay under 1:50.  I found out after all of this that is attainable fairly easily.  1:45 would have been hell.  Even 1:47 would have been hard.  I think I could have somehow managed 1:47.  Needs to be the new focal point for stuff like this.  ok...time to claim...

CONFIDENCE: aim for 1:47 500 meter row splits on interval training. 

Man 6 rounds of that was an ass kicker.  And that's where having a workout partner really helps.  Because after a few rounds it would have been tempting to just say DONE.  But what 6 rounds teaches is that I can maintain that pace.  And I could have done it a 7th round, and an 8th round, and a 9th round etc.  I can keep going.  It's all mental.  That's all it is.  Mental workout along with physical. 

Listening to this podcast.  Talk about two men who are the best of the best in their fields.  One of them is one of the most feared Navy Seals, Jocko Willink.

Jocks says this in this article http://www.businessinsider.com/why-this-retired-navy-seal-has-three-alarm-clocks-2015-10 "Discipline starts every day when the first alarm clock goes off in the morning, he writes.  "I say 'first alarm clock' because I have three, as I was taught by one of the most feared and respected instructors in SEAL training: one electric, one battery powered, one windup.  That way, there is no excuse for not getting out of bed, especially with all that rests on that decisive moment."

also.....

"The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day.  The test is not a complex one: when the alsrm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep?  If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win -- you pass the test.  If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail.  Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions.  But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life......"

"Waking up early was the first example I noticed in the SEAL Teams in which discipline was really the difference between being good and being exceptional."

"....they never broke this habit."

"The temptation to take the easy road is always there.  It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in."  Willink writes. "But discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team."

Quotes taken from http://www.businessinsider.com/why-this-retired-navy-seal-has-three-alarm-clocks-2015-10

This is a bad man. 

He has had the singular focus all his life that he was born to do one thing: and that is be a commando for our country.  He had that OBSESSION, that I talk about, that drives a person into the extraordinary. 

All I can say about this video is, "wow".  What an inspiration.  What drive and what purpose.  What singular focus in spite the odds.