Monday, May 08, 2006

Thinking..thinking..and more thinking.

You would expect after Sat's brutal bike ride, I would just rest for Sun. I didn't. In fact after Church, I bailed on Sun school and went on a ride with Jen and Julian (they are a couple that go to my Church). Along the way, we met up with a rider and he asked to ride with us. It turned out I met him in the pool before (he was an instructor). We started to talk tri and he suggested we hammered and chase the group down.

He hadn't even done a tri yet. I am now training for an Ironman..let me show him what cycling is all about.. [BAD THOUGHTS]

I just let him go. I let him lead the whole way. The ride was my recovery ride. Ego had to set aside. I also want to spend time with Jen and Ju. I do what I can so they could draft off me.
What really kept me slow down was that my main training for yesterday was the run. The bike ride was just a warm up.

After riding with Jen and Ju, I drove over to the community centre and ran the trail. The planned was suppose to go for a run then went to the pool. Pool was closed.

Like Sat, the first 20 min of the run was brutal. Breathing heavy and legs were heavy. I just press on. One step at a time. Kept up a good form. I bonked along the way. I stopped off at a University campus, went to the vending machine, grabbed some M&Ms and a rice krispy. Good stuff. I walked for 20-25 min and let my stomach devoured the junk food. Then steadily ran back to my car. My legs were aching. I was smiling though. I realized that my body is now ready for half ironman distance.

My HRM died and my mp3 player died during the run. Without any technology my mind started to wonder. Just a warning, this is quite philosophical. I thought about:

- if tomorrow I stop training. Really,would any one care? My friends would be glad that I stop training and start to spend time with them. My boss will be glad I can put more time into the company. Some members of my Church will be glad that I can help out the Church more.
- How come some Christian don't live a fulfill lives? Are we all just talk and no show? How come when the scripture says "to invest in your talents", some Christians take it as relax, take it easy, watch tv and have fun?
- Is it possible to explain to others that fun is going hard in what you believe, strieving for the impossible and go after a dream?
- How come in our society where individualism is so important and at the same time we have to accept what society expect of us (get good job, be a good person, go with the crowd)? Why we expect everyone to respect our own individual rights yet at the same time we make fun of others who don't believe what we believe and do what we do?
- Can I really explain what I do and why I train so hard [I don't even know why I train so hard]? Is it possible to share with others what your passion when they are clueless as to what passion is [the clueless stare]?
- Why is it that some friends are encouraging yet others are not? Am I like that? If my friend wants to become an actor or something that is out of nowhere, would I support him or kill his dream?

...before I went to bed last night, I watched John Q. I just saw part of it. It was about a father (Denzel Washington) whose son need a heart transplant. B/c he just turned part time he was not insured. He went through all the rules and follow all the procedures and no one would help him. He decided to take matter into his own hands and hold hostages until they give his son a transplant. Since I had a transplant, it really got to me. If I was in his shoes, would I do the same thing? Probably.

My perspective really fell into place after watching the suffering he gone through for his son. Just to get up and train is a luxury already.

100' Bike Ride (Recovery)
150' Long run and walk

One more week till I recover...this base phase is really good. Thank God for that ;)

9 comments:

William said...

M&M's and Rice Krispy squares, yum yum, bonk food.

Too bad you bonked. That really sucks and is humbling too.

Hilda said...

No one will care but your body, your heart your mind.

The question would better be, what will or what could stop you from going on!! No, who will care, since almost no one can understand what you feel when you do it.
It's an adiction. I Liked the phylosofical part

Nic said...

It sounds like you were really able to get everything out of that run, Cliff. It's good to take off the headphones and the watches and the Garmins every now and then and let your mind wander. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

WildWill said...

Some profound thinking the Cliff

and as always more questions than answers, but that is what makes life so interesting .... birth and death are not important, its the journey inbetween that counts

Habeela said...

Way to recover on the run. Such good thoughts too. Yeah, I think one of the cool things about the triathlete blogging community is that it's a passion we all share and do not share with a lot of people IRL (in real life).

Lucky number 7 said...

bonking is bad!! Yuck!! You will get through it!!

Comm's said...

I think it is strange that Christians take some passages of the bible so seriously, like vainity, yet disregard passages like your body is a temple. As a strong Christian I am very aware that our own 'group' has some serious hyprocritical standings.

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