Deprivation

So, I’ve taken one for the team. I always thought it was a bad idea to deprive yourself of the great things in life, but now I know that it’s definitely not a good idea to do it, thanks to a self-imposed eight-week challenge.

Let me provide you with some context.

Three months ago we flew to New Zealand for a lovely three week holiday. We definitely did not deprive ourselves of anything – tripping around the country to see as many sights as we could, catching up with family and friends, attending a wedding, and amongst all of that enjoying some great Kiwi food and drink. It was fantastic, and then for me it was also extended by a further five weeks thanks to visa delays (that is a whole other blog post that I’ll probably never write about). That extra time at home was fabulous, seeing more of family and friends and doing more than I thought I would on that trip home. But I also over indulged. Like A LOT. Although I was working, every day felt like a Saturday, so I wasn’t afraid to treat myself to glasses of wine (or rum), cheeses, chocolates and plenty of other treats. It was lovely, but after a while it also felt a little bit much, so I set myself an eight-week challenge. I just wanted to give my body a little break and force myself to choose the healthy option.

The premise of this challenge was to consume no alcohol, chocolate, excessive cheese and avoid refined sugar in general. When I set out to do this, I had a couple of exceptions planned in (farewell drinks, celebrating-my-new-job drinks and a ball) and during the challenge there have been a couple of unplanned exceptions. I’m now six weeks into this and I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I won’t lie, it sucks. Sure, when I first started I felt great mentally – I was really proud of myself for turning down drinks and treats and selecting the healthier option. “I can do this” I would think. And I could! I was doing it. But over time, while I feel like it’s still easy to say no to chocolate biscuits and order water at the bar instead of gin, I’ve realised that depriving yourself is just the worst. This life and everything in it is supposed to be enjoyed, and I haven’t been allowing myself to do that.

There was another reason behind this silly, self-imposed deprivation. Just before I left to go on holiday, an idea was floated at work to set up a challenge to honour our company’s late founder. I thought it was an amazing idea – participants have three options: they can run a half marathon, cycle in a 67-mile race, or do both. Both events are to be held around March/April next year, and as one of the organisers of this I decided I would commit to both events. The cycle race doesn’t worry me too much (yet), but I knew the running would be a tough task for me – I’ve never been particularly good at it, but with an end goal in mind I really felt like this was something I could, and wanted to, achieve. So as the commencement of my marathon training would coincide with my return to England, it seemed like an even better time to be doing this eight-week challenge – “healthy” myself up while I improve my fitness.

Physically, I can’t honestly say if cutting those treats out of my diet has helped me train, as I have nothing to compare it to. What I do know is that not depriving myself of the opportunity to move my body was a great decision. I may not always feel on top of the world during my training sessions, but one month into it I haven’t yet completed a run without feeling good about it, and on the days when my alarm goes off and I don’t really feel like getting up to run, I remind myself of that.

Mentally, I don’t think this eight-week challenge was a good idea, and I don’t recommend it. Don’t worry, I’m not about to have a breakdown because it’s 25°C and I can’t pour myself a nice cold gin and tonic. I just think that life is short, and if you want to treat yourself you should. So, if you’re considering ever doing some sort of challenge, my advice would be to do one that adds to your life. Do a 30-day squat challenge, spend eight weeks getting up early to watch the sunrise, or challenge yourself to go for a walk a few times a week. Just give yourself something, don’t take something away.

The only challenge I am setting myself now is to continue to train for this half-marathon and integrate cycle training into that. If you’re at all interested in seeing how this goes for me, I’ve set up an Instagram account to track my progress. I’ve created this for me to be able to look back and remind myself how far I’ve come, but if you want to follow it you’re more than welcome. It’s @marathonmilestones.

“If you can, you must.” – Emma Carey

That's all for now,

​Jordyn x