I was looking back at blogs I wrote over 10 years ago and realized how some things never change! I wrote about knowing my body, dealing with stress, and all of the challenges that seem to be part of life. At the time, it seemed that I was figuring these things out, but I look back and wonder if I was really paying attention. Why? Because I seem to be figuring out the same things just 10 years later. My wife says that I don’t know how to slow down, and she’s absolutely right. I tend to have one gear, and that’s all in. I will push until I can’t, and at that moment, I’ll crash. Ironically, I remember metaphorically evaluating my bicycle crash in 2009 as a message that I needed to slow down. I don’t want or need another bike crash to remind me of this. And so I blog. This may be one of the major positives of blogging regularly. It is a way to get thoughts out onto “paper,” and hopefully remember them.
Today was an interesting day. I’ve been intermittently finding myself anxious lately, which isn’t surprising as we’ve bought a new house, selling our home, figuring out what to do with my life, and training for Kona. Some days I wake up feeling anxious or “off,” and today was one of those days. Fortunately, I know what to do. Exercise! I spent 90 minutes on my bike, focusing on relatively low intensity (I don’t need the added stress of intensity as I’m building my volume). I then ran for a half an hour, also comfortably. This settled my nerves, but they acted up again in the early afternoon and I was able to go for a short swim before going to the accountant (tax time). I finished up my training day with another 45 minutes on the bike. Three days in the week and nearly 9 hours of training. My goal for the week is 20 hours (last week was 15). Tomorrow and Friday will be a little tough as I’ve got meetings and lots of driving (my wife is right, I need to better pace my scheduling, as I have the problem of putting too much on my plate).
So, some things never change. In looking at my first blogs over ten years ago, I mentioned low back soreness. Wow! I’ve fought this for as long as I can remember. Perhaps my herniated disc will always make me susceptible. Maybe my body needs an outlet to tell me when to slow down. I don’t know, but sprinkled throughout the last 10 years of training and racing are my low back episodes. Fortunately, they rarely last more than a few days. I also wonder whether they’re an outlet for stress. While my training has gotten back on track, I’m reminded that I need to add meditation to my daily routine. One thing at a time.
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