Without setbacks, where would we have to go?

We train hard for a race, then rest for months after the race. We lose fitness that we then get to build up again.

We workout regularly, and then fall ill, losing strength lying in bed. We then get to start getting active again to see the strength build.

We train using a power meter and then go on vacation and need to recalibrate, training a little bit less hard as we build back up.

To throw in something not exercise related, we get caught up at work only to take a vacation and lose a coworker and get buried under it again.

Perhaps we should strive to always ‘be better’, but in reality how far do we really have or want to go with any one thing? Sometimes it’s good to embrace the cycles of life and keep building again, maybe pushing the envelope a little bit more each time until we head down the other side at old age.