In a world where we could have just about everything we want at a moment’s notice, we have to pick and choose where we allocate our energy and always remember that while good things are fleeting,

If you’re competing in Hyrox this weekend, HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE. I can’t stress this enough as the most important thing you should do. It’s the number one thing I focus on pre-race. Other than that, have fun. There’s nothing you can change about your prep now. Enjoy the challenge you’re about to face!

Finally, did you miss out on a week of Spring Cleaning? Catch up here and share with me what was the best takeaway, I’d love to know what helps.

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This week, GREAT THINGS is at Golden HOF with Chef Sam Yoo, a Manhattan restaurant named after the bars found all over Korea. A hof caters to a variety of demographics and is comparable to what most of you might think of as a pub. The number one rule? Good food is always involved when drinking. LOVE THAT.

Prior to opening Golden HOF, Chef Sam visited Korea to gain insight into the cooking style there in the mountains, a very elevated style of cooking. But are we surprised that’s the case when grandmothers are involved?

In this episode, he walks me through how to prep Spicy Rice Cake Carbonara and the journey to opening Golden HOF.

Follow Golden HOF on Instagram or dine at their location in Manhattan. Watch the full episode below on YouTube or Spotify

This upcoming weekend, I compete at Hyrox NYC. It’s not my first Hyrox, nor is it my last (probably), but I damn sure hope it goes better than my last one. If you recall, at my Hyrox in Dallas with Andy, I thought I was having a brain aneurysm or going blind. I lost my vision for a brief period during the race for no apparent reason. 

Soooo, yeah. Only up from here.

In that moment and the days that followed shortly after, I was viciously aware of all the things I hadn’t been prioritizing. Could it have been my eyes? My diet? My pre-race prep? Stress levels? There were plenty of things I hadn’t kept up with. When was the last time I had a physical?

Sure, I had felt healthy, but we all know that what you feel and what is actually real can be two very different things. I spent weeks after the fact searching for answers and getting tests. I was living in that limbo where you’re waiting for that other shoe to drop. The reality is that it could have been too little too late.

But this Hyrox is hopefully going to be very different, because I’ve also let some things fall to the wayside. It’s two-fold: for a very long time, I have been focused on being career-oriented. This isn’t a bad thing! It’s been my goal to build a meaningful career. It feeds into a lot of the priorities in my life and works to fight against my biggest fears. I don’t have regrets about building my career because it’s important to me on more levels than just feeling accomplished; it gives me ways to support my loved ones.

Oh, I did it again. I mentioned there were two things to a point and only talked about one… looks like some things never change.

Humans are often conditioned to take the easy way out; it’s a survival mechanism. So the second part of this is when I’m loading myself up with responsibilities, I start to look for ways to have less friction. I don’t want to have hard conversations, and I don’t want to push myself. A lot of things become “good enough” until they reach a breaking point.

I let issues with people build up because I don’t want to address them in the moment, and I have to allocate time to working through things. I let a bunch of things fall to the wayside in my home (like changing my HVAC filters) because I felt too drained to handle a small, mundane task that wasn’t directly impeding my day. But now, friendships have ended, and I had to take a day off for various techs to come to my house and fix issues.

I’ve felt wiped. 

Too much has fallen to the wayside, and it’s becoming overwhelming. The date of the event has been getting closer and closer, and I’ve done less and less Hyrox-focused training. If I focus on one thing, it’s strength work because Hyrox or not, that is what I need to ensure longevity in my career and my life. I’ve gone for a few runs outside of work, but nothing more than a destresser if anything. I’m not attempting compromised runs like I’ll find at Hyrox.

I do have a cheat code; my job is literally running and lifting heavy things while talking. This means that my baseline is already higher than most. I say that to put things into perspective. It’s like a chef at the restaurants in the Great Things series bringing a dish to a potluck; they naturally have a leg up because of their work. It affords me the ability to not train as hard because I know I’m getting acceptable training in other ways. 

This is important to note because, as much as I hate it, I know Hyrox is a comparison game and everyone and their dog loves to look up people’s times. (More on that later)

So why am I doing something that is objectively considered hard instead of lying out somewhere with an Aperol Spritz? (Kinda doing that this weekend at my friend Max’s wedding, so I guess that point is mute.) Why pick an event like Hyrox when it is clear I’m burning myself out? Why not just drop out and wait until I can actually commit my full effort to this?

Short answer? I’m crazy. But I think you already knew that.

If you take my classes, you probably get me. Sometimes my mind is running at a zillion miles an hour, and I can’t get it to calm down. There are times when all I want is to focus on anything else but my problems. I throw myself into a hard workout to give myself some time to not be able to think about anything but breathing, and give me that post-workout high that will allow me to tackle everything on my plate with a better mood. More burpees, more problems is true if I’m using it as a way to consistently avoid my problems.

Right now, I need a challenge, I need something hard that distracts me from all the things I’ve failed at and put off to the side. Like an AED for my soul, I need this challenge to shock me back into rhythm.

I’m calling it now. I’ll finish that event and walk off that stage feeling like a new man, riding the high. I’ll come back here to talk about the energy, the people, the feeling of blood pumping through my body, and I’ll commit to a future event where I’ll give it my all. This time will be different, THIS TIME I will really train for it.

(Yes, I wrote it that way on purpose, exactly how you’re probably reading it. Maybe next time will be different, or maybe I’m going to be making the same mistakes.)

I’ll have a new opportunity to refocus on my priorities. I can start making those small tweaks so that when the next Hyrox comes along, I’m not in this newsletter walking you through everything going wrong in my life. Clearly, the glass isn’t half full or half empty; I just dropped it on the ground and let it shatter into a million pieces. Pour from what cup? I need a damn towel over here to mop myself up off the ground.

This Hyrox is all about reminding myself about what I love in this life, and re-inspiring me to make the changes I need. No matter what, I’m going to be walking away from that event with something that’s going to change things for me.

But I swear on all the dumbbells in PelotonHQ, don’t ask me about my damn time. It doesn’t matter. Look it up if you want. I’m not trying to hide anything; there is no artificial inflation of times over here, and I will own whatever time I get. As I said before, everyone and their dog is so concerned about someone’s Hyrox time because all they want to do is compare. 

Of course, that metric is helpful when you want to see how you’ve improved or how hard you worked, but it’s also an incomplete story. If I have a good time this weekend, great for me. I’ve also tanked some relationships, forgotten to take care of myself, and haven’t committed to the task at hand. Comparison of times can become a pissing competition to determine who is better than someone else, or whose journey is the most successful, or who is the fittest, and it can be a total lie.

Do you remember two weeks ago with Angel? “You're comparing your life to someone else's highlight reel.”

Someone who focused on training, who made changes in their life to be healthier in whatever way that looked for them, is going to get more out of the whole process than someone like me. The times are helpful when you’re looking to see a certain type of progress. If you want to get faster, you need to know the time; you can’t just go off of vibes.

Don’t get me wrong,  I do want to have one Hyrox or competition where I can see what I am fully capable of. To commit to the training and see how hard I can go. If I do that, I promise I’ll be screaming it from the rooftops, because there is nothing wrong with being proud of something you worked hard for.

But this weekend? I’m hoping to walk out of the competition with a renewed sense of purpose and dedication towards not waiting too long.

I won’t be waiting too long to have hard conversations or tweak how I show up in my relationships. I won’t skip appointments that are important to my health, and I for sure as hell will stop skipping ways to give myself a break. 

Sometimes there is more to life than a quantifiable result, sometimes success is just knowing you moved a bit farther in the right direction

If you only pause to reflect on your life for one moment today, do it now.

I put off hard conversations and other small tasks because of the friction they would cause my life. For some, it’s hard to go back and fix what I’ve broken, the damage has been done. Had I sat down to think about the worst case scenario of not tackling things, I might have had a change of heart and focused on the hard parts.

Your turn! Journal your answer, or if you find yourself sharing the progress of your Great Things on social, tag me at @greatthingswith_adrian so I can join in on cheering you along!

Because no matter what, there is always something to smile about.

This past weekend I was in Italy for my friends’ wedding. You remember Max and Karoline? The power couple behind Siegelman Stable? When not at the celebrations, I spent time doing nothing… something that I haven’t done in awhile. It’s not often there isn’t an impending to-do list. If you can try a break from doing things and being mentally full, I highly recommend it. But I get it’s hard for many of you due to responsibilities.

The hotel I stayed at was Il San Corrado Di Noto. It felt like a sign of something good to come: my first car was a Corrado. Below are some highlights of the trip. Remember, it’s the highlight reel, not included are the deep conversations I had with myself where I question everything!

After 6 years with Peloton and I received the kindest card from the ThunderSquad. Just picture me sobbing over 42 pages of kind messages. Hearing how we’ve all grown together never grows old (even if I do). Good thing this card was digital or it would have been soaked with tears.

Like most men, I waited until the last minute to get my tux for the wedding. Also pictured below, my favorite way to take a break in the city, my coworker Johanna on the lululemon storefront (!!!), and getting my sleeves dirty for an upcoming Great Things Episode (yes, I wore sleeves, it is possible).

BMW track day with Andy (think he can handle my driving?) and chatting with BMXer Billy Perry, who will be featured on an upcoming Great Things episode. Boys and our toys.

From products I love, to routines I follow, to tips and tricks, I'm here to answer any questions you might have. Don't overthink it. If you want to know it, I'm sure someone else does, too.

Questions will be answered in upcoming newsletters