Have A Follow Up Plan

​In this episode I explore why coming up with a follow up plan BEFORE you finish your training can be so valuable. 

Episode Transcript:

​​[0:00] Hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are covering the last installment in this mini-series, which has been 20 lessons learned through 20 weeks of training, where I've been exploring 20 different lessons that I took out of a massive training process that I went through last year, and how it relates to me and the struggles I went through, and also how it relates to many people training to a big event, a big hike, a big adventure.
Pressure and essentially today we're talking about what you should be doing after your event, what you should be looking towards after your big hike and a really, really, really important thing you should be keeping your eye on beyond whatever you've been training for.
So let me tell you the story where this came out. Now the event for myself finally came, 20 weeks of training essentially leading up to one single event, five months of hard work, dedication, of sacrifice, so many minutes of training, so much effort, so much attention, all coming to a head for me for ultimately was a 10-minute event, which is absolutely crazy.

[1:03] But the event went off without a hitch. It was really, really good.
It was incredibly satisfying. It was such an awesome experience.
And that was all well and good.
And after the event, in the next 48 hours after it, because I've been training my ass off for 20 weeks, I've been so diligent with my diet.
I've been so diligent with my sort of attention.
I'd been dreaming about what I was going to do in the next 48 hours.

[1:27] I knew exactly what I wanted to do. First of all, I was going to have a sleep in because I had been waking up early for many, many months.
So I was like, you know what? I'm going to sleep in. No alarms, no worries. I'm just going to sleep in and I'm going to laze around.
And I'm not going to have to worry about doing my chores on a Sunday.
I'm not going to have to worry about organizing myself, fitting in a training session, whatever it may be. I just laze around.

[1:50] Over the weekend, end, I drank beer, which I hadn't had much of over the last 20 weeks. I had burgers. I had pizza. I had chips. I had meat pie.
Everything I'd been craving over these five months, which I'd been denying myself, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to have it all now.
And life was good. I obviously ended up feeling a bit sick after all that stuff combined into 48 hours, but in all honesty, life was good. The event was done.
It was a massive success.
As I said before, even before for the event, I was so satisfied with what I'd gotten out of the process, I'd accomplished all the wires, all the things I set out to, life was good.

[2:26] But then, after those 48 hours, as I got into the rest of the next week, with the event behind me, the weekend behind me, I got back into, you know, a regular work week, and I found myself that I was absolutely lost.
Now, the training itself had really tethered me for five months.

[2:46] It had really given me a purpose, really given me something to focus on, to hone in on.
And now that it was over, that I didn't have this hanging over me, that I didn't have this commitment, that I didn't have this dedication, that I didn't have this thing that I've been just leaning up to for so long, I honestly just didn't know what to do.

[3:03] My emotions that week were all over the place.
I was annoyed. I was frustrated. I was irritable. I was happy. I was sad.
I was just like an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. emotions.
For my work, for Summit Strength, which I usually love, in all honesty, I was having a really bad week.
I was just dreading doing my work. I was like, oh my gosh, this is just not for me this week. I had zero creativity.
I just sat down to write an article or an email or do a podcast, and I was like, I've got nothing in me.
I was just getting annoyed at little things, like if my coffee, I had to refill the water in the coffee machine.
I was like, oh my gosh, gosh, this is the worst. I would just get really, really, really annoyed.
And my productivity was just all over the shop. Like, you know, in all honesty, I was working full days and I was probably doing two or three hours worth of work on a good day, which was spreading out to like eight hours.
I was just not going great.
And I was feeling lost. So I was like, you know what? Okay. You know, what's missing? Obviously I've been training all this time. I've been doing all of this stuff. Maybe I just need to get back into exercise.
And I tried going back to the gym. and in all honesty, my body was just like, no.
It was crying out for rest. It was like, you know what, you've just been training your ass off for so long.
You've just done this really physically demanding event and you're trying to get back into training three or four days afterwards.
My body was like, no, you're not doing that and I had aches and I had pains coming out of the event and I was like, oh, that's not going to work and I was just feeling lost, truly lost and it sucked.

[4:30] Now, after about a week of this, a week of just going through all of this stuff, you know, I sat sat down, I was like, in all honesty, this has to change.
This isn't a way to be it. I've wallowed in my misery for a week.
I need to change this and I need a plan and I need something to aim towards.
I need something to kind of get me focused again, get me moving towards again, something just to kind of tether me down.

[4:53] And I thought about the last 20 weeks, and I thought about all that I achieved.
And I was giving myself credit, and I was trying to celebrate all the things I succeeded in, but obviously that only goes so far. But I really, really thought about that process.
And I thought about what I enjoyed about the process, what I not enjoyed about the process, what I wanted to stick with moving forwards, what I realized I needed in my life on reflection, the really, really positive things that just made such a difference for me, and what promises I was going to make myself so I could keep those things in my life, so I could keep moving forward, so I could keep on working on the positive things and all of that.
And I really, really had a deep think about this over numerous days.
It wasn't all in one setting. I sat down. I was like, you know what?
I'm going to really think about this.
Then I went away and came back to it. Then I went away and came back to it.
And it kind of just marinated in my mind for a few days.
And then after a few days of that, I sat down, got a pen and paper, and I wrote down a plan, a plan of attack that I was going to do moving forwards.

[5:54] I'd realized that training, and not just doing training here and there where I felt like it, but diligently training, having a set routine, something I did every single week, was so essential in my life for my physical and mental health, for my work, for my productivity, and just so many other things.
I knew that was a massive win for me through this process, and I needed that in my life.
I also realized that keeping up with good nutrition habits was really important for me.
I don't know if you listened to maybe, I don't know, 30 episodes back or 40 episodes back.
I go through periods of pretty low fatigue in my life. It seems to be this recurring thing every once in a while. I'll just go through a week or two where I'm really, really flat.
I realized through this training process, I'd never gone through that.

[6:36] Yeah, I was tired, but that was because of the training. That was because I was exerting so so much effort. It wasn't just random fatigue.
And I realized that good nutrition habits was a big part of that.
And I needed to keep that up.

[6:48] I realized that previously, before the process, I had been really struggling with just general training, of just training to get strong, just training to get fit.
And I purposely needed something, a big goal, to tie that training to.
So I could say, you know what? I'm training towards this. I'm getting strong because of this reason. I'm getting fit because of this reason. I needed that.
And I realized I actually really enjoyed the concept of martial arts and fighting, and just learning so many weird and wonderful things.
There's so many layers to it. There's There's so much depth to it and something I never explored before.
And just the idea of that, it really appealed to me.
And I also realized having a date, a set concrete date and a set event or thing I needed to do was so valuable.
When I was really, really ruminating on these things, those are the sort of five things that I wrote down. And I was like, you know what?
Diligent training and regular training, so important for so many reasons.
Good nutrition habits, so important for so many reasons.
General training is not really working for me. I need something specific to train for. I like the idea of the fighting, the martial arts, and I also really, really like having a date and event to train for.
They're the five things that I wrote down.

[7:56] Coming out of the process, they're the big things. So with those as ideas, I decided a few things.
I was like, okay, I'm going to use these ideas, these things that are important, these things that are essential, these things that I've identified for me personally, I need to do.
And I decided, okay, how is this going to turn out into a bit of a plan.
And I sat down and I came up with a brainstorm for your ideas.
And I said to myself, you know what? I really enjoyed that process.
It was awesome. It was so great and this and that. And they were running it again next year or this year, as we're talking about in 12 months or six months from now.
So I was like, you know what, actually, I'm going to sort of say right now, I'm going to do it again.
I don't know if it'll happen. Life might come up.
So something might get in the way, but I'm going to say right now, that's the event I'm going to train for. November, whatever, 2024, I want to be in the ring again.

[8:49] And then basically having that date, I could sort of say, you know what, I'm going to use that date as a tether for my own training.
I'm going to say, you know what, all the training I'm doing right now is going to lead towards that. So I have something to focus on.
I also realized, look, because I have this to focus on, there's specific areas of fitness that I was like, you know what, I want to improve for next time.
So I decided over these next six months, from the end of the event to the next six months, I'm going to focus on these different areas, which I felt like struggled and they need a little bit of attention.
And then from there, I set myself numerous fitness goals. I was like, you know what? I want to lift this much weight with this exercise, this much weight with this exercise.
I want to be able to run this far and do this and do this and specific fitness goals that I was going to tick off in the next six months.

[9:31] As I said before, I realized regular exercise is so important for me.
So I made myself the goal that I was going to do daily exercise.
Every single day, I was going to do something, whether it's five minutes of stretching up to multiple hours of hiking or whatever it may be, I was going to do something.
And I chose certain nutrition practices that I was like, you know what?
I can stick with this every single day. I'm going to keep this all up.
So essentially I started with those kinds of things that I got out of the process.
And then I came up with a specific plan of how I was going to go about this.
And I wrote it down and I put it somewhere where I see all the time, literally as I'm recording this podcast, it is on a whiteboard in front of me.
I see that every single time I sit down for work. I see the goals.
I see the things I've committed to myself. It's in my face.
And the pure act of writing this down, it gave me peace. I was like, oh, you know, thank gosh, I've got a goal now.
I know what I'm focusing on. I'm not lost anymore.
Now, when I wrote that out, I was still a bit beat up. I was still a bit sore.
I was still a bit tired. So I still took another week or two to get back into real training.

[10:37] But, you know, I had that goal. And until then, I still made progress.
You know, I was working on my nutrition, and I was doing a little bit of stretching each day, and yada, yada, yada, yada. But I had these goals.
And now, months, months, months later, I feel great. I've still got this goal that I'm aiming towards.
I'm still working on these areas of fitness. I'm still working on my nutrition.
And it's just given something to tie into me, because I've had this plan, and it's kept me moving forward.

[11:00] So that's my story but i'm sure as you're listening to this you can kind of sort of hear you know what the how this may be relevant for you because it's so so so so so important for hikers because so many people i talk to who are leading up to a big trip leading up to a big hike leading up to a big adventure they fall into the same trap they put all this time attention um you know focus into getting ready for this hike they go out do the hike have fantastic time they come back on a high for a day or two they're feeling great and then they feel lost and i call it the post-trailed blues where you're just like i don't know what to do now i haven't got the training i'm good focused you know um yeah and people just fall into this slump so i strongly strongly strongly strongly strongly recommend planning for this this is what i recommend for hikers before you go on your big trip so don't wait till you finish come back like i did with with my event where I waited and I had to figure things out in the midst of that emotional rollercoaster.
Before you go on your big trip, start researching your next adventure.
Start thinking about what are the cool things you wouldn't mind doing next time.
It may not have to be as big as this.
You may be doing this adventure coming up, maybe a big international trip.
You may be like, you know what? I can't do another one of these in the next 12 months.
But what can I do? Is there an overnight or is there a kayaking trip?
Is there a run I want to do?
What is something I want to do? Start thinking about that before your next big trip.

[12:21] Now, the beautiful thing of this is if you can start thinking about it and researching it before your next adventure, when you're on your actual upcoming adventure, you can let them think about that.
You can really let it marinate and get into your head and just have ideas bouncing around.
So get that thought process going before you actually leave.
Then when you're back, you do your adventure. Hopefully it all goes well.
You come back in the very, very, very, very, very first week when you're back, book the next one in.
If you're going on a tour, you're doing a big organized trip, put a deposit down, book something in.
If you're not, if you're doing something else, just put it in your calendar, pencil it in or whatever it may be.
Just have something in there. It may change. It may have to get moved.
It may have to, you know, may not have a definite definitive date, but pencil something in. So when you can look at the calendar, you can say, you know what, in six months time, I've got that.
And then from there, come up with a plan. Ask yourself right now, after this adventure, I've finished this all, I've come off so much training, I'm maybe not not doing something major for another six months.
Right now, what can you keep up with?

[13:26] Can you maintain what you're doing before? Maybe. If so, great.
Write that out, plan it out.
If you can't maintain exactly what you're doing before, maybe that was a lot, a lot of training, and you just cannot keep that up right now, just say, what can you keep up with?
Are you going to do three 30-minute sessions in a week, two 60-minute sessions in a week, 15 minutes a day, whatever it is write it down ask yourself looking back on your last adventure the one you've just come up with what do you feel like you need to improve on do you feel like you need to get stronger do you feel like you need to improve your breathing do you feel like you just need to improve your nutrition whatever may be what are the areas you want to improve on and write that all down and then also write down when you need to get back into that serious mode again.

[14:10] So if you've got this adventure in six months do you want to have two months of casual training and then four months of serious training.
Or if you've got an adventure in 12 months, maybe six months of casual training, six months of serious training, whatever it may be.
But write it all down, come up with a plan, literally put pen to paper, get it down physically.
Don't just think about this, but write it down.
Now, in all honesty, this plan will probably change. Your schedule may change, your adventures may change, you may not have the opportunity, you may realize, look, I'm doing too much, or I plan too much, or I'm not planning enough, or whatever it may be. This will change.
But the key is having a plan, having it there, giving you something to tie to so you don't fall into that trap after an adventure.
You don't fall into that place where you're lost. You don't fall into that post-trail blues.
And ultimately, you don't let that drag out.
Because again, so many hikers I've talked to, they train their ass off their trip, they go on the trip, they have a great time, they come back, they fall into those post-trail blues, they have the week off, they don't have a plan and then all of a sudden.

[15:15] It's a month or two or three months or four months and they've done absolutely nothing and they've lost all the good work they've done leading into their first trip. Their fitness is square back to square one.
Their emotions are back to square one.
They're just not in a good place. So having a plan just goes such a long way.
So I really hope that makes sense and I strongly encourage you to go about this.
Have a think about this before you head on your trip. trip, self-reflect after your trip, and then come up with a serious plan or a definitive plan around what you're going to do.
It is so, so, so, so, so valuable, and I cannot recommend it enough.

[15:53] So, I think I've hammered home that point enough, and I really do hope it helps a few people.

[15:58] So, with that being said, that is officially the end of this 20-episode mini-series.
It isn't the end of this podcast, but it's the end of this mini-series.
You know, I really do hope you've enjoyed these last 20 episodes.
For me, it's been so enjoyable being able to talk about my experience, share my emotions, and really, for myself, have a bit of self-reflection around all the things I went through, all the struggles I went through, and all the sort of things that, you know, either are how I dealt with it or how I'm going to deal with it in the future.
For me, it's been super enjoyable doing this mini-series, and I really do hope you've enjoyed it too.
Now, coming out the other end of this series, we're just going to get back into normal of programming, talking about different ways of getting fit, strong, and resilient for your hiking adventures.
I may come up with another mini-series because I quite enjoyed doing this one, having a bit of a theme, so we'll see how we go.
But thank you so much for listening today. Thank you so much for listening for these last 20 episodes, I hope, and we'll talk to you very, very soon.

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