Checkin’ IN!!!
This has been trolling thru my mind since I saw it, the comic. It is interesting in life and in training for endurance sports the dynamics portrayed above. There is an ebb and flow where I believe expertise and confidence can intersect. It is in that intersection where we see brilliance or catastrophe. Example, I see in the comic, from my interpretive point of view, potential misogyny, generationalism, general stereotyping and body language depictions to name a few. I posted the following on IG and FB with the following words:
My swim tonight – Purposeful. Mindful to not over do it. Man, sometimes it feels like I am swimming through potatoes and other times I feel like I am slipping through Jell-O. It’s all part of the process. One stroke, one pedal one step at a time. Breathe, find flow, remember the love.
And so it is with life, relationships, family, acquaintances. Life is precious, and fragile, it’s too short to be a douchebag and break trust and walk over folks. I suspect I offend my fair share of folks, and hope when I loop back they are kind enough to pardon my shortcomings. I have a great family and those whom I am priveleged to call friend, I am grateful. Yup, I guess swimming is still my sanctuary.
I was also listening to another Crushing Iron Podcast (Click here for podcast) for while heading to/from my swim. Sorry, when I swim, I tend to find a headspace where I can distill all the noise and chaos, process it and then discard or keep the necessary bits. Anyway, with all the swirling tragedies that come and go, I find that the comic represents a paradox. Paradoxes are becoming harder and harder for folks to resolve. I personally find, sometimes there isn’t just a right or wrong answer but varying levels of grey in between the two normative maxims, and sometimes there are some dimensional sideway twists that bend those norms.
That being said. My current life circumstances are quite wonderful. We are anticipating the arrival of kidlet 4 in April/May and the other 3 kidlets are healthy, active and generally ok. My wife, still keeps me around, even though I infected her with a 9/10 month parasitic relationship that will never end (yes that’s a funny folks, it is funny, if you don’t find it funny, lighten up). So, while in the pool distilling my thoughts, and swimming through what felt like potatoes and Jell-O, I recentered on the headspace – am I comfortable with me?
Yes! and no! I am comfortable and grateful for where I am in the headspace and how I am dealing with things. I am comfortable with my life strategies and how I can approach different circumstances whether I anticipated them or if unexpected how I can adapt and deal with those situations and encounters. I am physically not comfortable. I have not felt like this for a while, but I frankly burnt out. I am off the mark and need to adapt and re-calibrate. I have written about this multiple times, but I am at the point where I have to act.
So, nutrition, I started by returning to using this product – Garden of life (SPORT Organic Plant-Based Protein), and I am using an application that my wife signed me up for – Avatar Nutrition (click here). I have no affiliation with either, but the GOL Sport worked in the past, and tracking helped and this tool is a little more in my face, although I wish they had a mobile application and that their scanning worked better, but the ecosystem and followers they have align well with what I seek.
So, change has started. Also, I am not swimming as hard as I used to, I need to dig in and crank up the volume again. Last night I did swim my fastest 25 yds to date, but that doesn’t matter if my ROI isn’t a comfortable 2.4-mile swim at the event I would like to do, that enables me to be fresh enough to come out of the water and bike purposefully and within my capability for 112 miles so that I can endure and perhaps have a great 26.2-mile run. At the end of the event, I want to accomplish two basic things, complete the journey of finishing an Ironman branded full and to do it within my capabilities and be strong. I don’t know what I want to chase if anything beyond those two main parameters because there are so many factors that my confidence and expertise in life and in triathlon has no capability of controlling.
This phrase below resonates with me all the darned time:
Unrealistic expectations are just future resentments!
From the time I first heard this line resonate and burn my ears and cranium from Coach Robbie Bruce, it has burned into how I approach things. I have often been labelled a pessimist because I have realistic gauges in my approaches in most things. I don’t often get stuck in a mired depression (thank heavens I have not had to deal with what many friends and colleagues do – by choice, or many other circumstances, and although I have not, I just try to be there in their times of need). But I do get my fair share of cranky and resentment woes when I fall out of being reasonable. The Ironic thing in my professional life, I am often spinning doubting folks into looking for opportunities and attempting to re-calibrate the expectations of colleagues and customers. But I’m the pessimist.
So, this blog is for me mainly, with the hopes that anyone that happens upon this may glean not only triathlon type advice from reviewing what I went through, but for me to speak to me.
So, Shane, its time to reduce and unplug a bit. And this I have done, but I think I overdid it and my belly and activity/fitness is telling me to get back on track and identify and land at the correct amount of discipline. It’s time for me to identify what is right with purpose and to be more aware of what I need along with family first and other adult responsibilities.
This above Waitley quote really hit me at a good time. I paired it with a specific picture of me during an event that was captured by my photographer father. This picture goes back to this post (click here). This event really shook me up. In summary, I PR’d my swim- which I beat again, then PR’d my bike – but I fumbled nutrition which in turn I almost walked off the run. If it wasn’t for a fellow Pathetic Triathletes friend (Sarah – that I met the day prior to the event) and long friend Chris (Buddha) – I would have walked off, but each called out to me in separate places at the event during the run, when I was in a very dark place – ready to pull the plug, but I kept it all together somehow and still finished well within time parameters. Many. many lessons learned since that day. Many!
The photo above is great. It’s right before dropping off my bike at t2 transition. Juniper wanted to go in and help with transition 1, but rules say no go. Dennis was all sorts of – dude, I have to do Ironkids! It’s so WARM!!!
I skipped the swim the day before this year as this was my fourth go and I had plenty of swim volume going into the event. The event at St George has become a family outing for us and we have made some solid memories along the way. It will be interesting to see if it continues or what other things we choose to do along the way of life. Dennis and Juniper and Astrid:
These kidlets are just awesome. It’s a wonder why we had to wait so long after Dennis but it happened and kidlet 4 is nearly here. The kiddos are a handful, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. It will be interesting to see what each decides to do and be through life, for now just being kids keeps me and Liz at our wit’s end and on our toes.
The kiddos and wife are definitely external motivators that carry me through the journey and the day of the event. They are also the reason I want to come home safe from every swim, bike and run I do. I also like to come home from each corporate trip I have. My sherpa/wife, the true athlete, it’s a wonder how she keeps it all together. Some days I know she is an absolute mess, but most days she keeps on game face on holds her ‘jazz’ together as long as she can. She’s always in pain and doesn’t often break to show how bad it is, so if you know her, and read this, please be kind, as she is probably holding back and doing the best she can to keep the kiddos happy and the house in order especially while I travel. Although I have been concentrating on family first, and Liz’ sanity through this fourth pregnancy, we make a motley crew and our family is important to me.
And so again, this is where expertise and confidence intersect for us. Liz and I follow the 200 % model, at times we have to carry the other, and sometimes she has the expertise and I the confidence or vice versa, it gets even more fun when we both bring it all at the same time and we’re not in the same book. But that to me is where the most growth occurs, in all those scenarios, I have to be patient, tolerant and logical enough to step back, climb the proverbial balcony and survey the situation. It isn’t always perfect, but most times, our family is better for it.
Similar to training, I have to roll with the hand I am dealt, stay in front of what I can and control the things I have the power to control and adapt to the things that just collide into me. Hopefully, the collision will not be physical while I am on a bike or running. That would not be fun.
So there I have it, and those who happen upon this too. Life is fragile but quite beautiful and full of opportunities. Distilling selections to the most important and critical pieces among the noisy chaos. So giddy-up. I hope I don’t overstep my boundaries as I interact with other great humans. As imperfect as I am it is clear I am not alone in imperfections. Tolerance for self, and others is ever critical for me.
#zentriathlete #familybalancetri #zenfamily #fitbalancehealth #lifestylenotjusttraining #desire #Dedication #determination #discipline #grateful #gratitude #LifeLessons #c26 #sanctuary #justbreathe #perspective #itisntalwayspretty #consistency #fearthebeard #sharetheroad #wildtriathlete #wildrunner #walkthecliff #burntheisland #beatyesterday #garmin #hydratefaster #smithoptics #speedfil #teamzealios #teamzoot #teamzootmtn #zealios #zootsports
Activities –
I use the following trackers:
- Garmin Connect (which pushes the files to the following services):
- Training Peaks
- Strava
- and the ones I don’t remember (Map my stuff via Under Armour and things like the Great Bicycle ride initiative stuff)
Honestly, I mainly use Training Peaks as I pay for an annual subscription on it now, and it is the most detailed in data and other helpful information to keep me where I want to go. Use the ‘Links’, then ‘Track me’ section to find and stalk me if that’s your thing.
Relevant Pics
#2020 #triathlonlifestyle #swimbikerun #trilife #Checkin #roadtoimca2021 #teamzoot #triathlonlife #ironmantraining #familybalancetri #triathlontraining #teamzootmtn #triathlete #triathlonmotivation
