Saturday, June 15, 2013

June 14: Am I a "Serious" Female Warrior?


Today I did a 20 mile bike ride and followed it with a 3-ish mile run.  In between, Doritos and Cheetos were consumed, I’m not gonna lie.  The run was easier this time, but I was still sloowwww and my foot ached, even taped with KT tape.  Pain: just gonna have to make friends with it.

A friend commented that I am really taking this tri training seriously.  Well, duh.  It never occurred to me that working out for 2+ hours a day could be interpreted as serious, but I guess it is.  I often tell people I love working out, and if someone would pay me (a lot) to do it, I’d do it all day long.  I once had a leadership coaching client who spent some time as an Olympic hopeful, and I secretly salivated with envy when she described to me her Olympic training schedule, which basically consisted of inhaling her sport or some kind of training preparation for 12 hours a day. 

There’s nothing more head-clearing than good hard, sustained exercise.  In fact, since I’ve been training for this tri, I have found that the room in my brain usually reserved for useless chatter and worry seems to have shrunk.  It’s like I’m just not “thinking” as much.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to become a Ryan Lochte or anything (although I do admire his “qualities”), but what a gift to have a semi-quiet mind!  It is easier for me to achieve this through exercising all day than it is through an hour of meditation.

The other reason why I never considered that I am being “serious” about this training is because I am approaching it with a STRONG beginner’s mind (we’re talking pre-school consciousness).  I’ve never done a sprint tri and I haven’t set a goal time.  My outfit matches poorly, I’m clearly no pro.  But I do have goals, and they are as follows:

1.       Finish, and not in last place (any other number is fine).

2.       Be fit enough that my brain is unflappable, so I can stay anchored in the present moment even when it’s tough.

3.       Have fun, yes, fun.

4.       Honor the female warrior in me (actually this goal will be a by-product of goals 1 - 3)

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