Triathlon

Tomorrow, I head into my first triathlon race... ever. My feelings are a collaboration of excitement, anxiety and wonder... As in, I wonder if I'll be able to swim that far without needing a rescue?

Papa Bean tells me the wetsuit will help me float, so I can rest if need be. Perhaps it would have been better to test out said wetsuit to know that A) it'll help me float, and B) I'll be able to swim in it. Hmmm... it's a bit late to test it now. I think the knowledge that it'll work is not as important as having a dry wetsuit come time to approach the start line.

Other than the wetsuit ordeal, I haven't trained at all in three weeks since I was traveling and otherwise occupied. Some people call it 'tapering'. I call it a mix between procrastination and forgetfulness. Regardless, I think my lack of dedication to training might cause my lungs to explode prematurely. And if that isn't enough, in the wee bits of training I managed to squeeze in, none of it included a full-on attempt at swimming, biking and then running. Only twice do I ever remember biking and then running for a small spell.

So, am I doomed? I think there may be a base layer of training that will keep my head afloat (no pun intended). It's like a base layer of fat to keep you warm in the winter, but it also helps you float in the lake. I do carry around a 25 pound child all day long. That's gotta count for something, right? And even if I go as slow as a snail, at least I'll still have my lungs (typo: lunch) and my lunch! at the end.

My dear friend wrote me an email describing her experience with her first triathlon:

Try not to worry about your race on the weekend.  It's your first so it will be your personal best!  Just think of my half ironman experience if you need a pick me up:  [Papa Bean] did the swim and was out of the lake pretty fast.  Caught me off guard as I was waiting by my bike.  Off I go wearing one of those clear rain jackets because it had been raining and it looked like more was coming (no rain came--so I think the jacket just ended up eliminating any aerodynamic properties I might have had on my ride, plus lots of sweating was going on).  I was always really bad about not taking a drink on my bike--so I set my watch to beep every 20 minutes to remind me--I think after my first drink, I accidentally dropped my water bottle in the ditch.  Somewhere along the way, I bumped the bicycle computer magnet on my pedal so I had no cadence or speed or distance (I can't even remember if I had a stop watch working).  Also because [Papa Bean] was out of the lake so early this meant there were a lot of racers behind me (probably wondering how the hell I was ahead of them).  I ended up being passed by at least 500 people (and some were yelling at me to move the f#ck over!  Somewhere along the course I could hear someone yelling at me (encouragement?).  It was [Papa Bean] yelling "work harder" in his very best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression.

That was my first (and last) team half ironman.  I rode my personal best.

 

Reading this passage makes me happy because no matter what happens I'll have fun, and there might just be a fantastic story to tell afterward.

Natural Healing and Motivation

Source

I love my Osteopath. She's intuitive and fun. And she helps my body heal itself. What more could I ask for?

Well, it appears she's also good at motivating me to write.

After a short email exchange where I described some changes happening in my body and how I sometimes write about things like that on my blog, she wrote back to me, "It is essential for your health, and that of your readers, that you continue to write from your heart. It is the deepest truth that we all long for, but unfortunately, have lost touch with."

I feel so fortunate and grateful to have her in my life, gently guiding me along in the direction I am already going.

Squeezing out the not-so-good to make room for the good

Source

I have a photographic memory, and as such have vivid images rummaging through my mind quite a bit during my waking, and dreaming hours.

Of late, I've noticed images from movies I've seen come up in my awareness. Not of a movie that I watched last week, but one I watched 15 years ago or more (e.g. Pulp Fiction). It seems that some of the violence and negative scenes are etched in my existence forever, and remain quite clear and intact. This is rather incredible to me. I wonder why I watched those movies in the first place, and had I known I'd be so tied to their images years later, would I have been so nonchalant about the violence I was watching?

Instead of questioning my past, I'm moving forward with intention. I've not watched violence or extreme drama (is that a category?) on television (not having a t.v. helps a lot) or in movies, and I find this intention streaming into my book selections.

What do I want to be putting into my mind? How does it affect me? Is it going to support me in my life?

When I look at those three questions, it's easy to say, "No thanks" when faced with two hours of violent 'fiction'. I realize that violence is violence; whether it's fiction or not, my body can't tell the difference.

What am I doing with my spare time, if I'm not watching t.v. or movies, or reading the third installment of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" series? I'm reading about adventure travel. I'm reading about yoga and psychology. And better yet, I'm making my own plans for adventure travel with my family, and I'm practicing yoga and making plans to set up my yoga therapy practice. I'm squeezing out the not-so-good of brief 'entertainment', be it violent or not, and making plenty of space for the great things that support me and my interests.

My mind is thankful for the peace and inspiration.

It's all in the mind

I rode my bike to the aquatic center to go lane swimming this afternoon. The ride is less than five kilometres, and there is ONE BIG HILL. The whole ride, I was wondering if I should scoot down this road or go down that trail to attempt to bypass the ONE BIG HILL. I spent a lot of time and mental energy pondering my route all associated with the assumption that the ONE BIG HILL would be, well, just awful to ride up. In the end, I took the shortest route (which is typically the best route, in a cyclist's mind) and came up to the ONE BIG HILL, and rode up with a teensie bit more effort exerted than going up a regular sized hill. At the top, I wasn't even breathing hard. All that mental energy spent for what? one big hill, that in the end, wasn't THAT BIG.

This lesson could be extended to other situations in my life where my mind spends a lot of time thinking some goal is going to be really difficult to pursue or complete, in terms of time, energy, money, whatever... And in the end, it's usually way less of a big deal than I made it out to be. I keep learning this lesson and then letting it slip by the wayside when thoughts of difficulties with the next goal come barreling in.

To Be Happy

Source: http://vividlife.me/ultimate/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/happiness.png

I recently read about 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy.

It is a succinct and wonderful list. My top five are to give up the need to always be right, to give up my need for control, to give up on my resistance to change, to give up attachment, and to give up my living my life to other people's expectations.

What kind of a person would I be if I tried to let go of these things? Happier, yes, but I also see a softer, more peaceful version of myself with patience and wisdom and lightness. It's all there inside me, waiting for me to open to it all in my own time.

Riding

Today's bike rides filled me full of fun, of light, and of energy.

Let's Dance!

Check out this fabulous video. It is all-inspiring for me. I love to dance, and I love to walk. Heck, why not do both! I think I've actually been caught doing this before, but it was on the outside deck of the ferry from Vancouver.

Get your groove on, baby! Let's dance!