Progress can be hard to see

Progress can be hard to see:

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Progress can be hard to see.

Hard to notice.

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You look at yourself in the mirror and you feel the same.

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You think you look the same.

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You think you are the same.

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But you're not.

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You’ve undergone changes.

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Major ones.

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Only you don’t notice it.

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You don’t see it.

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It’s only when you look back do you see how far you’ve come.

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Progress is not linear.

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It’s up and down.

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2 steps forward.

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5 steps backward.

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But as long as you keep moving forward, you will improve.

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You will get better.

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You will make progress.

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You may not notice it.

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But it’s there.

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Take this Ironman journey for example.

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A normal man’s resting heart rate is around 60 beats per minute.

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I learned during med school that a normal heart rate is between 60-100 beats.

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Anything above that and it gets concerning.

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You’re heart is working faster than it should.

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But.

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It’s also the same if your heart is working slower.

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If it’s too low, you have to pace the heart.

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Literally shock it to make it go faster.

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Unless you're training.

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Especially endurance training.

A few nights ago I looked at my watch and my resting heart rate during sleep was 38 bpm.

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38.

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Told my brother and he couldn’t believe it.

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Even I couldn’t believe it.

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A resting heart rate below 40.

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For me?

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This guy?

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This chubby short Indian kid who couldn’t run fast or jump high?

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Insane to me.

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But things like that are when you see progress.

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You see how far you’ve come.

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Today I did my fastest 10k ever.

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Ever.

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Ran it in 57 minutes.

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First time ever running under an hour.

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Completed one kilometre in under 5 minutes.

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Have never done that before.

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Did all of that after an hour and a half bike ride.

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After doing an hour and a half bike ride yesterday.

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This amount of exercise used to feel insane to me.

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Yet, here I am 6 months into Ironman training, one month before the big race, showing how much my body can do.

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What used to feel impossible is now normal.

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I’m making progress.

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Even though I don’t notice it.

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It’s just a reminder to keep going.

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Keep pushing.

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Keep trying to be better.

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You may not see it.

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But it’s happening.

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You’re making progress.

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It’s just progress can be hard to see.

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