So I survived my first ‘official’ training week on my road to full training. I did a total of 3 training sessions and 2 active rest sessions and generally felt ok. I had 3 days of feeling completely exhausted, but managed to get through my daily tasks ok. My final session was a push doing a total of 1400m with the main set being 10 x 50m sprints. My rest was between 50and 90 seconds and the whole session took an hour! Considering my average swim pace for a long distance event is 15 minutes per km that was slow. But, I trust my doctor and team who are helping me conquer this burnout and so far so good. This week is my rest week and I am looking forward to it, considering as I write this my glands are swollen and my body is tired.
Thankfully this week was a short week, which was a perfect way to start my training process. One of the biggest changes this week has been my desire to train, I have been so excited to push my body again and test it even in such restricted conditions. My anticipation for each training session has built from session to session and that is a big step in the right direction. I think this week of rest coming up will just increase my capacity to work a little harder the following week and build my anticipation further. So with 46 weeks to go and a rest week coming up, my focus will be on building the profile of ‘Breathe Conservation’ non-profit company and working on fundraising strategies.
A big thank you to my incredible doctor, friend and training partner for showing such a genuine concern and spending hours of extra time researching on how to get me better faster. I trust her implicitly with my dream and that is a major responsibility to carry, which she does with such confidence and capacity. Another friend, training partner and sports psychologist has also been a major influence this week in keeping me grounded and making sure I don’t do too much as she patiently rested with me after every hard set waiting for my heart rate to drop. She has kept me focused and stopped me stupidly taking on more than I can chew in other areas besides just my training. You guys know who you are, I appreciate you guys so much. There are so many more that are journeying with me in this walk, but I felt a particular need to specifically thank the two mentioned above. As a patient of mine reminded me this week. Success is not achieved by an individual, there is a community around each of us that help us get to where we are going.
Success is not achieved by an individual
I want to finish off with a thought provoking quote from a movie called ‘The Crow’ a friend of mine shared with us this week:
What if your dreams and your fears existed in the same place?
What if to get to heaven you had to first brave hell?
What if everything you ever wanted cost you everything you ever had
Would you still go?