Wild week that it’s been, I somehow managed to upload BOTH Episode Zero AND Episode One of The Conscious Pilgrim video series to YouTube. This gives me a brief reprieve from the camera lens and puts me back in front of the computer screen as I start piecing together the next episode which will be centered around food & nutrition.
After a little across-the-kitchen brainstorming session it seems that there’s way too much I’d love to say to ever compress into a single video that caps our around 10 minutes. After all there are entire YouTube channels dedicated to that topic, so (a) how could I possibly say what I want to say in such a short amount of time? And (b) What can I possibly say that hasn’t already been said? These are things to be pondered another day.
This Week in Training has been good.
Continuing along with our new approach to swimming, with markedly improved timing and technique was great, yet not without it’s challenges. Lu & I learned in no uncertain terms that if you’re planning to warm up before your swim, that you should absolutely warm up in the same water you’ll be training in. The public pool where we warmed up and the lane pool where we swam our required 400m was a rather cold transition. We did what we set out to do and it felt great to complete it.
We’ve renewed our memberships to our neighborhood Recreation Center, which means all training is now happening there with rare exception – and just in time, as the climate turns on us. It’s very difficult to film in the Commonwealth outside of some short clips, but not impossible, and I have some footage of my basement weight training that is yet to be used. The access to some of the equipment that we now have as a result is fantastic.
Today we were running outdoors. We’re certainly on borrowed time in regards to running outside, but to me, there’s nothing like it. Our training program indicates that we should be shooting for 15-20 minute runs at this stage but we enjoy it, so we go much longer. Truthfully our biking is closer to what would be required for an Olympic Distance, rather than a Sprint Distance, too – if there’s an obstacle to overcome, it’s swimming – so we’re meeting that challenge head-on.
This week outside of training has been one for the books. It’s been a busy work week for Lu, who works evenings, and between the final touches on these episodes, as well as preparing for my band, The Confusionaires‘ Halloween show this Saturday, it’s been busy. We’re learning the importance of rest and balance this week – but sometimes things are like this, and it’s important to be fluid. All of these things are great contributions to our lives – they just add up, and the first thing to get sacrificed is sleep, which is a detriment.
The full training program is here.
At this stage of the game, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to complete the challenges beset us. It’s now a matter of efficiency, technique, and timing and I believe this is all within reach.
The Conscious Pilgrim 