Volume 10, Week 9: Choices & Consequences

 

"Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."
Romans 6:16 (NLT)

    Another not-so-normal week. New Year's.  Head colds.  Current Snowmaggedon in KS (maybe "real" ring camera footage above and absolutely real pic below).  Lots of choices were made this week.  But first, here's my weekly stats.  With year-to-date totals immediately after.  

Weekly Stats:

• Weight:  178.7 
• -2.0 lbs from last week
• -1.9 lbs from start
• Swimming: (2x)
• 5,000 yards (2.84 miles)
• 1:42:55
• Biking: (1x)
• 11.32 miles
• 50:47
• Running: (2x)
• 7.45 miles
• 1:07:54
• Strength: (x1)
• 47:50
• Yoga: (2x)
• 1:00:04
• Totals:
• 8 workouts
• 21.62 miles
• 5 hours, 29 minutes, 29 seconds

Year-to-Date Stats:

• Swimming (13x):
• 35,500 yards (20.16 miles)
  
• 12:09:42
• Biking (34x):
• 374.54 miles
• 24:58:55
• Running (23x):
• 118.75 miles
• 18:39:20
• Strength (20x):
• 14:14:34
• Yoga (10x):
• 5:52:32
• YTD Totals:
• 100 workouts (nice round number!)
• 513.45 miles
• 76 hours, 59 minutes, 58 seconds

Current view out our front window.  Winter is HERE!

    Another odd-scheduled week   down. Hopefully this week I should   be able to get back into decent   rhythm.  I started off the week last   Sunday not feeling well.  Julie had   been sick and I thought I was   getting it.  Took the day off, and   slept in until 11AM.  Don't think   I've done that in 20 years or more.     Felt better and chose to still get my   workouts in and fight through,   hoping it would clear all the junk   away.  It did.  Got a strength   workout and a run in.  Tuesday I   went in to swim and came across   the sign that told me the Community Center was closing at 4PM and the pool was closing at 3:30, even though the pool schedule said open lanes were until 4:30.  Oh well.  New Year's Eve schedules....Went home and got a good "Yoga For Triathletes" workout in.  As we were heading out to some friends' house for NYE dinner and games, I had a lightbulb pop off in my head.  Might have actually been a blood vessel letting go, but I'll stay with the "good idea" vibe.  Why not start off the new year with a 5K run right at midnight to dedicate 2025 to my Ironman training.  This would be one of only a few reasons I would be up at midnight anymore.  Chad Koerner agreed to meet me and run my crazy thought out.  

    So, had a great night with friends (some of which didn't believe I did Yoga!).  Got home around 10:15 and that was the LONGEST hour and 45 minutes of the day. Just sitting around waiting to run when I should've been in bed.  But the temps were dropping (hit 24 degreed wind chill), then the ball dropped, Chad showed up, and we headed out.  Cold, but perfect night for  run, We were the only dummies out there, headlamps and everything.  Finished a 5K distance at a 9-min per mile pace, which I was happy with considering it was 12:40AM!  Great start to a new year, here's to 2025 and Ironman Florida for the icing on the cake.  

    New Year's Day the Community Center was open and I hit the pool for the first time in two weeks with the crazy Christmas week pool schedule.  Felt great but tired (maybe because I didn't get to bed until 1:30?), so did 

2,000 yards after I decided to get a bike ride in when I got home from the pool.  Why not get all three sports in on day one of 2025?!  Took the mountain bike out since my tri bike is in the shop until this coming Friday getting some much-needed love and new parts.  Thursday I did a 3,000 yard swim and some yoga.  

    Then Friday came.  Went in for some professional development at the school and had some interviews with upcoming 9th graders until early evening. I did not feel well most of the last half of the day.  So came home and slept, and Saturday was just sleep, eat, hydrate and rest. It was hard to not get up and try and go do something, but I knew I had to let my body heal or I'd be fighting it for a while.  So I enjoyed the fire as the ice started forming outside, with full anticipation of the blizzard coming in later in the night.  And did it ever.  I think we're currently around 7" of snow on top of ice (hard to tell because it's blowing pretty hard).  But that's 3 days of no workouts.  I am OK with that now.  But there was definitely some times I was feeling guilty for choosing to rest.  I know I made the right choice.  So....a couple of off-weeks, but I'll start getting back up to speed this week (especially once I get my bike back!).  

Lessons Learned:

    Sometimes you just have to do something on a whim.  I'm usually a spontaneous decision-maker. Last minute trips, randomly driving off the prescribed path to go see something of interest, or random gift ideas for Julie.  **Ask her about her "not-on-the-list" gift**.  Running at midnight sounded like a good idea at 5:30, then it didn't at 10:30, but then I'm so glad I followed through at 12:30.  It would have been very easy to just back out and either run early or just wait until later in the day on Jan 1st, like every other sane person.  And that would've been OK.  But it wouldn't have been as cool as it turned out to be.  Just to be clear, I don't plan on anymore midnight runs, at least right now.  But even while doing things on a whim, I also have to have a plan.  A quote I heard at a youth retreat once was "A goal without a plan is just a wish".  Every workout I do is for a reason--each one has it's own goal and purpose, but each one contributes to the bigger goal. That might not make sense as much in writing as it does in my head, but I try and make everything work towards Florida next November.

Reflections:

    Ironman is all about choices.  Which race should I sign up for?  Is it a hilly bike course?  Ocean swim or down river swim?  Flat or hilly run?  Can I get there easily?  Then once I decide which races to do more choices come during the training.  How far should I run today?  Do I do bike and swim days together?  Should I do swim and strength on consecutive days?  Do I really need to get up and do this workout?  Should I take the day off since I'm not feeling well?  How fast should I bike or swim or run on this workout?  So many questions, and all are choices that have consequences.  Push too hard, and I can get injured.  Don't push hard enough, and I'll be undertrained when the big day comes around.  

Hardcore consequence!!

     Every morning when the alarm goes off at     4:40AM, there's a part of me that just wants to   head right back to bed.  I hate getting up that   early. But once I'm up and doing whatever I   have on the schedule, I love being up that   early.  Knowing that I'm getting it done first   thing in the day so I can prioritize other things   later in the day, including my other workouts,   gives me the motivation to stay out of my   warm, soft, comfortable bed, especially when   it's -1 degrees outside (that's coming this week!).  Are the consequences that big if I don't get up for one morning?  Or, like this week, if I don't do something for a few days?  It probably wouldn't make a huge difference at this stage of my training.  But come September and October, it might become a big deal.  When I make a choice, it will have consequences.  Good or bad.  If I eat well and get my nutrition down, my body will be ready for the long miles ahead of it.  But if I don't swim at all, I will be woefully unprepared for 2.4 miles of open ocean. So I have to choose wisely on each of my decisions.  But knowing what my ultimate goal is drives my choices.  

    We all make choices in life too.  I've made great choices.  Asking Julie to marry me (I know she agrees. Right, honey?).  Choosing to have kids and now having three adult boys that growing into great men. Moving here to Kansas. Making a career change to the fire service after 16 years in law enforcement. I've also made poor choices.  We won't go into those here. Most of those are internal anyway.  Everyone make choices and then has to live with what comes next.  I have a friend who made a choice and is now reaping the consequences.  But that's not the end for him.  My boys have made choices and have learned what happens when they think short term and not looking at the big picture.  Sometimes the consequences of poor choices can be life changing, financial, or loss of status and/or reputation.  The good news, however, is that our choices don't define us forever.  Only if we continue to make the same poor choices over and over.  The scripture at the top of the blog says, "Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."  We can choose death or we can chose living. Even when I make a bad choice, I can learn from my mistake and change what I do next time. That doesn't change what the consequences of my choices are, but I can choose to not make that same choice again.  And I can choose to obey God.  Not all choices lead to life or death, but my ultimate decision does.  I've chosen to obey God (I'm not always perfect at it, that's for sure!), but what I want most is more important than what I want right now.  

    I want righteous living from obeying God, and I want to finish strong in Ironman Florida.  All my choices in life should reflect my ultimate goals.  Keeping those in sight will guide me as I stay disciplined to make good choices daily.  Abe Lincoln was a smart guy.  

    

    That's it for now.  Now back to my regularly scheduled programming.  For those in Kansas or anywhere in the Midwest, stay off the roads. And watch the ice under the snow. It's a doozy.  Stay warm.  Thanks for following along.  I appreciate all of you who take the time to listen to me ramble.  

Keep fit, Stay THE Course, and keep moving forward.

  

299 days, 11 hours, 40 minutes until IM Florida.