Week 30
August 1, 2016
Day 197-198
OFF - recovery
Day 199
Exercise: Run
Time: 1 hour 1 minute
Distance: 6 miles
That one extra minute...I don't want to talk about it.
Day 200
Exercise: Swim
Time: 40 minutes
Distance: 1 mile
There was a band-aid in the bottom of the pool. Now, I know this is not a new phenomena. I think I've written about this exact occurrence multiple times, but here's the problem: I was not at all surprised or disgusted by the band-aid today. In fact, I felt like it was pretty much a part of the status quo. THAT SHOULD NOT BE OK. I should not be comfortable sharing a pool with a nasty, disease-infested, wart-covering, vomit-inducing band-aid...but here I am. Totally at ease with the band-aid stuck to the pool floor beneath me. Something is wrong with me.
Day 201
Strength Day
I have big news...I did a pull-up today. That's right. One. Whole. Pull-up. This is a pretty great day in my books, and what makes it better is that I was so jazzed about having done one pull-up that I did another right after it. That's right. Not just one, but TWO pull-ups today. Alright, that's all I have. I'll stop. My back is turning red from patting it so much for myself.
Day 202
Exercise: Open Water Swim
Time: 40 minutes
Distance: 1.1 miles
Today would not have been possible without the expert supervision of my paddle-boarding guide. Andrew led me around the cove in the lake while I choked and gagged through the waves, and although he did not offer any assistance as I suffered he successfully kept me from getting hit by any boats, which I guess is enough.
What I love about this training is that I do almost all of the work by myself, but I am in no way self-sufficient. I am still, and always will be, dependent on the people around me. While support from others is not always as tangible as it was this afternoon, it's been consistently present through the encouragement of friends and family. Today, I want to say thank you. Thank you to Andrew who kept me safe today, and thank you to everyone else who has encouraged and supported me. I couldn't do this on my own.
Day 203
Exercise: Bike
Time: 40 minutes
Distance: 10 miles
The ride today was not a long one, but it was a big one because it was my first time riding on the roads around my house. Lots of bikers ride around here, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me because the roads are two lanes with little or no shoulders. This area is not particularly safe, and these roads have certainly been a fear of mine since I started riding. So after avoiding them for the past 202 days, I finally got out there today and turns out it wasn't that bad.
Isn't that true of all our fears? I'm not saying it's comfortable or easy to conquer fears (it certainly wasn't today), but I have a tendency, and I bet most people are the same, to exaggerate the difficulty of things I am afraid of. Earlier this week it was pull-ups. I wasn't particularly scared of them, but they were harder in my mind than they were when I set out to physically do them. Today, it was biking on the roads. It wasn't nearly as scary as I imagined it was going to be. If you're reading this, I want you to be encouraged to know that life outside your comfort zone isn't as bad as you think it is. In fact, it might be the best place to live.