{"id":4513,"date":"2016-06-23T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/?p=4513"},"modified":"2016-06-23T08:58:26","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T12:58:26","slug":"better-than-you-were-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/","title":{"rendered":"Better than you were before"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
I don’t know what this kid just did, but it looks pretty awesome. StartupStockPhotos<\/a> \/ Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While at the pool recently, I paid attention to a guy swimming in a lane near me. \u00a0He was an older gentleman, and to be honest, he wasn’t the best swimmer. \u00a0But man, was he dedicated. \u00a0And the longer he was in the water, the better he got. \u00a0I’m not sure if he was battling arthritis or tight muscles or just struggling to wake up in the morning (I certainly know that feeling), but it was easy for me to look at him and think “Oh, that guy’s not very fast,” and yet by the end of his workout, he had built some good speed, and given that he\u00a0got into the pool before I did and was still there when I left, he probably put in more distance than I did.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to look at someone and underestimate them, and it’s also easy to underestimate yourself. \u00a0Now, it’s one thing to understand your abilities and limitations. \u00a0There’s nothing wrong with that, and I think that there’s strength in that. \u00a0If you’ve never run a sub-6 hour marathon and you start proclaiming that you’re going to run a 3:30 marathon next summer, well, you might be a bit off base. \u00a0But you can say “Hey, I’m going to be faster next summer and set a new PR.”<\/p>\n

And those small victories should be celebrated. \u00a0Doesn’t matter if you’re still one of the slowest runners in the race – if you’ve made improvements, you should be proud of that and you should be allowed to shout it from the rooftops.<\/p>\n

It’s all too easy to say “Well, I’m slow. \u00a0I’ll never get faster.” \u00a0It’s harder to work at trying to get faster. \u00a0And mentally, it’s harder to say “Well, I’ll never be what some people consider fast, but if I work at it, I can be faster than I am today.” \u00a0Get yourself out of the comparison trap and only compare to who you were before and who you want to be. \u00a0Are you now slower than you were two years ago? \u00a0Well get out there and work! \u00a0You can get that level of fitness back. \u00a0Have you had a health setback and are struggling to get back to where you were? \u00a0Then set a new normal. \u00a0Don’t worry about where you were. \u00a0Where are you now? \u00a0Start there, and work towards improvement.<\/p>\n

It’s one thing to accept your limitations, but it’s another thing to artificially create them for yourself. \u00a0Just work on being better than you were the day before. \u00a0One day at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While at the pool recently, I paid attention to a guy swimming in a lane near me. \u00a0He was an older gentleman, and to be honest, he wasn’t the best swimmer. \u00a0But man, was he dedicated. \u00a0And the longer he was in the water, the better he got. \u00a0I’m not sure if he was battling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nBetter than you were before - Elbowglitter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Better than you were before - Elbowglitter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While at the pool recently, I paid attention to a guy swimming in a lane near me. \u00a0He was an older gentleman, and to be honest, he wasn’t the best swimmer. \u00a0But man, was he dedicated. \u00a0And the longer he was in the water, the better he got. \u00a0I’m not sure if he was battling […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Elbowglitter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-23T13:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-23T12:58:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/victory_1466686404-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6\"},\"headline\":\"Better than you were before\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-23T13:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-23T12:58:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Fitness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\",\"name\":\"Better than you were before - Elbowglitter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-23T13:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-23T12:58:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Better than you were before\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Elbowglitter\",\"description\":\"Getting back to running and other adventures\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6\",\"name\":\"Megan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4db1c919d5cef58581b42cbf04a4878?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4db1c919d5cef58581b42cbf04a4878?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Megan\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/author\/megan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Better than you were before - Elbowglitter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Better than you were before - Elbowglitter","og_description":"While at the pool recently, I paid attention to a guy swimming in a lane near me. \u00a0He was an older gentleman, and to be honest, he wasn’t the best swimmer. \u00a0But man, was he dedicated. \u00a0And the longer he was in the water, the better he got. \u00a0I’m not sure if he was battling […]","og_url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/","og_site_name":"Elbowglitter","article_published_time":"2016-06-23T13:00:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-23T12:58:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/victory_1466686404-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Megan","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan","@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6"},"headline":"Better than you were before","datePublished":"2016-06-23T13:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-23T12:58:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/"},"wordCount":452,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6"},"articleSection":["Fitness"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/","url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/","name":"Better than you were before - Elbowglitter","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-23T13:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-23T12:58:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/better-than-you-were-before\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Better than you were before"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/","name":"Elbowglitter","description":"Getting back to running and other adventures","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f22c797e4ef4db1718a066ac354deba6","name":"Megan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4db1c919d5cef58581b42cbf04a4878?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4db1c919d5cef58581b42cbf04a4878?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Megan"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/author\/megan\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfIrH-1aN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2795,"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/26\/happy-memorial-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4513,"position":0},"title":"Happy Memorial Day","date":"May 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 There's a meme going around today with an image of Arlington National Cemetery with the caption \"Just in case you thought it was National Barbecue Day.\" Today is the unofficial start of summer. \u00a0It's a day that Americans like to spend outside. \u00a0I will be outside myself, taking advantage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holiday"","img":{"alt_text":"Flags on the National Mall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/CIMG0493-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4489,"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/types-people-pool\/","url_meta":{"origin":4513,"position":1},"title":"The Types of People at the Pool","date":"June 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm lucky enough to be able to do one swim workout a week with Team Fight, but my other swim workout is at the public pool. \u00a0You definitely encounter an interesting mix of people at the pool. Of course, there are the normal people of varying paces. \u00a0Fast people, slow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/pixabay\/2\/swim_1426254122-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2779,"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/06\/swimming-attire\/","url_meta":{"origin":4513,"position":2},"title":"Swimming Attire","date":"May 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I swim at a local community pool on Tuesday mornings.\u00a0 You can tell that there are a lot of triathletes there at this time of year, based on what people are wearing in the pool and the water bottles at the side of the pool (bottles and swim caps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"Pool lane rope","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/pool_lane_rope.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1757,"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/26\/early-morning-swim\/","url_meta":{"origin":4513,"position":3},"title":"Early Morning Swim","date":"April 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I get to the pool relatively early on Tuesday mornings.\u00a0 The local youth swim teams have a bunch of lanes reserved from 4:30-6:15 am, but open swim starts at 6, and the kids are typically out of the pool and into the locker rooms by that point. Typically, I get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/medium_703041790.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4625,"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/25\/just-keep-swimming-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":4513,"position":4},"title":"Just keep swimming…","date":"August 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The next two weeks of my training schedule are a bit screwy, specifically with regards to swimming. \u00a0As we're nearing the end of the summer (at least in terms of school starting back up and such), the county indoor pools, where I normally swim, are closed for maintenance, so three\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Triathlon"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2825,"url":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/10\/thoughts-while-swimming\/","url_meta":{"origin":4513,"position":5},"title":"Thoughts while swimming","date":"June 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"When I swim at the pool by myself, I sort of get lost in my thoughts.\u00a0 I focus on form and all, but I also find my mind wandering.\u00a0 And man, it wanders in weird places. I probably should have eaten breakfast before swimming.\u00a0 I'm hungry. I wonder what that\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4518,"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513\/revisions\/4518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elbowglitter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}