Snotty and juvenile as it might sound – “Compared to what?” might be my favorite question. Context is so brutally important, and it seems to be that way now more than ever.
We hear ‘this food is healthy’ or ‘this activity is dangerous’ and the circumstances of the statement are always so vague that the message is never questioned, when being questioned is actually what validates the statement in the first place.
Contextually, I’ll say I’m a fast runner. With no unit of measure or no comparison to relate, I could just as easily say that I’m a slow runner. A more honest statement would be ‘I’m faster than I was last year at this time‘ and just as easily I can say ‘I’m slower than my girlfriend‘ and both statements are affirmed.
That light example gives context to why certain claims can be made without question, and the fact is that we hear those claims so frequently that they stick with us for our whole lives – sometimes they’re even put to music to embed the message even deeper for even longer.
People often conflate advertising slogans and scientific research, and it problematic because of the inequal financial situation of a chain fast food restaurant that would love to let you believe their product is healthy, vs spinach farmers who have a healthy product and no revenue with which to promote it.
All this to say: its important to be objectively critical of what we’re reading and looking at, and when in doubt – follow the money.
Training this week was interesting and brief. I had a great, long workout at a gym I dropped in to while on the road in Grande Prairie, AB performing w/ Robin Kelly. It was fun because I had nowhere important to be for several hours after, so I thoroughly beat myself to a pulp. Upon my return home, I managed to get a real good 900m swim in before I started showing symptoms of COVID-19, and everything came to a halt on Wednesday.
For all those concerned, my symptoms are totally manageable so far. We’ll be taking the time to rest and recover; naturally, and look forward to putting this illness behind us.
Through the coming months, we are extending our swim, bike, and run lengths. Our swim is up to 900m in length, and we’re roughly trying to add 100m per week as we go. We’re extending our Bike/Run combination workouts as well, and as these sessions lengthen, we have to perform them on non-work days.
A lot of the source material is still in development, so I haven’t posted the latest training schedule yet – but with my newfound Covid-19 isolation time, I imagine it will be along shortly. It’s going to get a little more specific than the last one, so hang in there. We’re 14 weeks away!
The Conscious Pilgrim 