Since my last update, I’ve been swamped with studying for midterms after fully making use of Reading Week (March break for us Canadians) by reading The level of focus, clarity with what needs to be covered in my Consolidations and Corporate Tax courses has taken precedence of what would normally be training regularly for my half-marathon. But for anyone else during these times that require intense focus, you shouldn’t drop everything that isn’t related to my studies.

Originally uploaded by eduardo.peiro

While I don’t have my new running shoes that I ordered from eBay in my possession yet, I’ve supplemented some of my long and tempo runs by cross training with swimming. So far I’m up to 22 lengths consecutively, where I add an extra lap for each week.

Squeezing in a workout during midterms is challenging but not impossible. It doesn’t need to be a full fledged workout. It can be a brisk 30 minute jog, a few laps around the pool to get the heart pumping or some core body work for the abs. You just need to keep in mind your priorities and stick to your schedule.

I’ve been experimenting with Parkinson’s Law and Pareto’s Principle (80/20 rule) just not just studying for midterms in order to increase my productivity but all areas of my life as well. So far, it’s working great, but I need to be conscious of these principles as well as visual reminders of those principles. The results have been positive so far, and I’ll explore these concepts further in a future post.

Why I insist on training during studies is that it keeps my mind sharp and my energy level up in order to what I need to get accomplished despite having a full day’s worth of studying, and more… which reminds me – I have to go to the pool now.

I’ve got some awesome articles on cultivating charisma, leadership and improv coming down the pipeline. Stay tuned!

- Will

During the time, I was able to keep it up for about 3 weeks straight back when I trying it out in late Dec ’07 up until Mid-January 2008. That was when I caught the cold and had confined myself to bed for a few days.

Whatever momentum I had built up over the past few weeks of waking up at 5:30 AM, I felt I had lost. It was like having the wind being knocked out of me while running full-speed ahead.

While I thought it was something minor where I could recover on my own, boy was I wrong. It taught me an important lesson that when you build up so much momentum – a routine that you feel is working for you – becoming sick can just throw everything you’ve worked for up to that point into turmoil.

By day 4 after I had caught the cold, I took some DayQuil medicine in order to alleviate the symptoms, which helped me feel better, but I didn’t feel I was my same ‘great’ self a day prior to becoming sick. What it boils down to is that being proactive about your own health is something that needs to be addressed immediately so you minimize the loss our most precious resource – time. I’ll be adopting the use of ColdFX – a daily cold/flu prevention medicine available in all major Canadian Drug stores.

I have to admit at this point of my life, it’s a constant struggle and battle to sustain that positive change especially when you’re coming from toxic cycles of waking up to an erratic schedule.

I’m going commit myself to waking up at 5:00 AM for about the 2nd time now, and I’ll report my progress and what make use of the time I have to myself in the morning, within a week.

- Will