Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Journey to Kona Day 18: Some Things Never Change

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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