I climbed on the treadmill yesterday, ready to conquer the world. I knew my workout schedule next week would be messed up, so I was going to “up the ante” this week.

When I’m running, I don’t like to see the numbers. It makes the time drag by and I don’t feel as productive or focused, so I put a towel over the screen. I know it should take nine songs to hit my running goal. At the end of the ninth song, I take the towel off, see where I’m at, jump up and shout (not really), then slow the pace so I can cool down.

For every song, the pace changes. I start slow, speed up, slow down, speed up. It’s great for my heart rate, and changing pace is known to burn calories faster.
Yesterday I decided I would speed up the pace without slowing down.

There are good ideas and bad ideas. 

That was a very bad idea.

Song number four came and I was doing great. Then came song five and I was holding onto the side of the treadmill. During song six, I had slowed the pace down, but had already burned myself out. I had three more songs to go and no clue how I was going to make it.
I overdid it and took myself beyond boundaries I needed to. I finished in 10 songs, but I didn’t hit my goal because I had to slow down the pace in order to stay afloat. I was tired, felt like I wanted to pass out, and my energy was depleted. I knew there was no way I could muster up the strength to do Monday leg exercises.

We can learn from our mistakes. 

Instead of beating myself up, though, I’m choosing to learn from it.
Do you ever find yourself in this situation, trying to do life at a pace you’re not ready for?
When we try to get ahead before the time is right, we often end up burned out and in last place. (Tweet that)
I’m a dreamer. I’m a go-getter. I’m a goal setter. Though these things are great, sometimes they get me into trouble, because I want everything to happen right now.

I wanted to run at a pace I wasn’t ready for, especially when I only started running again 2 1/2 months ago. I wanted to make up for time I would lose, but I ended up losing time because of it.
This applies to every area of our lives: health, weight loss, career, etc.
If you’re not ready, don’t try to make yourself ready. Failure will meet you at the front door. (Tweet that, too)
We all have to start somewhere, and we won’t always start in the same place. Don’t use that as an excuse not to start. Find your pace in life, follow it, and do it one step at a time. You’ll finish the race faster than you thought.
Where do you need to slow down the pace? Leave a comment below…