No Stress, No Pressure, Just Enjoy the Effort

I can't believe that I haven't blogged since October. Of course, I was consumed with the sale of my business for the last 6 months of 2010. On December 1st I was no longer the stressed out owner of a large company. The amount of stress that came off my shoulders was remarkable, I never really realized how much stress I carried around with me and what an impact it had on me. I have felt good and relaxed for the past 6 weeks. My training shows it! In fact, a few weeks ago, my swim coach had me do 4 x 50 yards fast and I started to say, "I'll do them in 40...", I was going to say 40 seconds. Instead, I said, "I'm just going to go fast and not focus on the time". I did the 50's in 34 seconds each! More often than not now I try not to set specific time goals in my training. I really focus on the effort. The result? I'm going faster in my swims and runs, and I'm producing more power on the bike. There is a lesson in life here. Stress does lots of bad things to us. It isn't healthy. It slows you down. Taking the stress away can be transforming. I'm really trying to remember this when I'm working out, racing, dealing with patients, spending time with my family. There's no point in letting the stress get to you.

My journey to make myself a better person, husband, father, and triathlete has begun. I'm loving it. I'm doing workouts in the pool that I never thought possible. I'm fitter, stronger and faster than I was a year ago (at which time I was just 10 weeks off of breaking my hip and shoulder). This bodes well for all of my races. However, I will really try hard to avoid thinking about specific time goals. I just need to go out and enjoy the work and the results will come.