Saturday, August 22, 2020

Where were you 10 years ago?

Me? I was deep in the final preparations for Ironman Canada. Doing the last taper workouts, nearly terrified of injuring myself somehow. Gathering stuff together for packing. You can see the various related blog posts here if you're new to the party.

It doesn't quite feel like yesterday, but certainly not 10 years. Lots has changed since then. I almost don't know where to begin. In fact, as I'm sitting here, drinking coffee, defending my breakfast from Curtis trying to help me eat it, I'm at a total loss. I'm quite sure you don't want a retelling of the various races and adventures along the way. Many of them are already on the blog.

Neither do you want, I'm pretty sure, a history of my life over the last 10 years. There are many good stories, but lets just say they have to be carefully tuned for the audience. Many of them are better for being shared over beer. I was just starting out as a contractor, ending a long drought of not working, and since then I've pretty well worked as much as I wanted to work, at some of the best jobs ever.

But I will say one thing. I'm still proud of that guy that went from being sedentary and overweight to completing an Ironman. I still get the feels when I think of completing the race. Look up at the top of the blog, there's a reason I haven't changed that photo. It's probably the single biggest discrete goal I've set for myself and accomplished. It's a huge achievement, both physically and mentally. For some  enormously fit people, it's routine, just a big day. But you, dear reader, are probably not one of those people, at least not now. I know a number of my readers have done Ironman, some more than once.

Many people think that you have to be impossibly fit to complete the race, and that's not true. After all, it's just a swim, bike, and run, 3 things a child can do, so how hard can it be? Plenty hard, is the answer. You do need a certain level of physical fitness, that's true, but you don't have to be superman. The pace needed at each event to complete the race in time is actually not that fast. Just don't stop. And thats the hard part, being mentally tough enough to keep going. Preparing for what could go wrong, dealing with what does not go according to plan. That's what gets people doing their third one in trouble; they think they've got it figured out and push harder than they should, then they fall off the cliff.

For a while that was a question. Would I do it again? After the race is recovery and I didn't even think about it. Then I was working lots, and it seemed difficult to fit in the required training. I didn't want to do it again just to prove the first time wasn't a fluke. There were some other races afterward, and mostly they were somewhat disappointing for one reason or another. At some point along the way it became clear I didn't want to do it again; other things were more important. I didn't even want to do the shorter distances.

Now I'm mostly retired (though work is happening big time just at the moment) and it's become clear that I couldn't do it again from a physical standpoint even if I could summon the fire in the belly. I could put in the time, starting extremely gradually, but I'm quite sure that I'd start breaking down quite soon. Something would get cranky about it. I don't want to do that.

Is there any related goal I didn't accomplish? The general one is that I never got up to being a mid-pack finisher for my age group. The specific one is that I'd hoped to run a full marathon, and that never happened. Somewhere along the way the training would break me down. The one marathon I actually signed up for I downgraded to a 10 K. Yes, an Ironman has a marathon, but I walked a large fraction of it, as do many people. I wanted to actually run a marathon. It's not going to happen.

Part of that is the age and condition I was when I started the fitness thing.  I was 52 when I finished and it took nearly 3 years of focussed effort to get to the finish line. It only gets harder as you get older, and I'm more in awe of Sister Madonna Buder than ever before, finishing an Ironman at 82.

So two learnings for you young whippersnappers reading this.

One. Start now if you have physical goals. Today. At the least, go for a walk, as brisk as you can. Make the time. Build a plan to get more active, no matter where you're starting from. It will pay off in overall health ways you can't imagine now. Don't say that you'll start next week/month/year/whenthekidsleave/whatever. That next never comes. There is only today. Don't go crazy on the diet front, unless you have specific issues that drive specific medical advice from a real doctor or other real medical professional. Just gradually get better at your eating, by cutting down on the crap (processed food), and eating more nutritionally dense foods.

Actually, as I think of it, regardless of your goals, start today. Do something today that leads you to your dreams. Then do another something tomorrow, and every day after that. Even the biggest dreams can happen if you work for them step by step.

Two. Consistency. Not just for the training. For the work life. For the family life. Whatever the plan, be consistent. Show up ready to go when it's time. If the plan is to run 3 times in a week, totalling some number of minutes, do that. Don't run once for that many minutes; it's not the same. It's like reading bedtime stories to your kid, they would far rather have 10 minutes every day than an hour once a week. If you're working for an employer you are never fully in control of staying employed, but you can put yourself higher on the "keep" list by consistently showing up on time, ready to work, actually working and meeting your deliverables before deadline.

As I look back, the last 10 years have been the best yet. I was in pretty well the best shape of my life. I really enjoyed social fitness stuff with buddies and a new best friend. I was fairly actively involved in the triathlon community, first participating, later doing photography for it. I've met a ton of interesting people through photography. I've gradually been transitioning towards being permanently retired, but it's a harder thing to do than I thought. I'm working on making the next 10 years the best ever!

How about you? Any big goals you set that you accomplished? Any that you didn't?

I actually went out looking for photos to illustrate today's blog, and found these. Do I really have to explain? I think not, my readers are a literate bunch and can get a visual metaphor.





Of the Day
Curtis

Flowers
From this morning. The day lilies are still going strong.

White Peony

Driftwood

1 comment:

  1. I still want to do some multi-week walks, and that is something I'm working towards. Cheers, Sean

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