Workout Math

If you know me, you know math isn't my strong suit. I mean, I can figure out 20% off in my head at the mall, or get close enough, and I rarely overdraw my checking account, but I've also taken the "Finance for Non-Financial Managers" class twice. And should really take it again.

As I was counting laps in the pool today, it occurred to me that I spend a great deal of my workout time working the numbers.

Whether I'm on the treadmill, in a swim lane, on my bike, I'm forever doing a little figuring in my head.

Am I the only one?

Example: The plan is to run 5 miles. At a mile in, I think, "I'm 20% done." Then at the next mile, I think, "40% complete ... close to 50%. Wow. Essentially halfway there." By the next mile, I'm at 60% and that makes it seem like there's very little left to go.

I did it tonight in my swim. My intent was to go 100 lengths of the pool. Or 50 laps. I chose to count lengths because I could rack a bunch of them up faster. And once I'm 20 in, it seems like there's not too far to go.

In my head, I'm thinking, "I'm 10% done, 20%, a quarter done!"

Then, "A third of the way through and only 17 lengths to be halfway there! Oh, and 17 is only half as far as I've already been." (Are you following this?)

When I hit 60 lengths, I know there's only 28 more to get to a full mile. And I know that once I'm at 88, getting to 100 is only 12 more and 12 will seem easy knowing I already have 7 times that much completed.

Or, on my bike, the second "half" of my intended distance feels like downhill ... inherently easier ... than the first half.

The benefit of this, for me, is that all the calculating takes up time and keeps my brain busy. The busier my brain is, the less I pay attention to the work I'm doing and that makes the workout pass by faster.

It also lets me set and achieve goals. In my head, I know that if I can get to X number or X% done, I can finish. I can go the rest of the way. Today, every 10 lengths gave me a feeling of accomplishment. That feeling gave me the push to finish.

Is it any surprise to you that I lose count of the lengths every once in a while?