The Obstacle Is The Way

I saw a Strava post today that showed a young friend - who flew in from the mainland yesterday - was out running today. She was stoked that she made it back 'home' one day before the 14 day mandatory quarantine order was officially set to kick in (today). She's probably healthy and fine, but what if she isn't? What if she's one of those young healthy people who have no symptoms but she's actually a carrier and ends up passing the virus along to our local community without knowing it? Is it any of my business anyway? Arguments could go both ways on that, I think. These are the things I am contemplating these days. I definitely see a generational divide of sorts taking place. I'm hard pressed to place a ton of blame/pressure on younger people, bc if I'm honest, when I was in my 20s I very well might have conducted myself the exact same way. I view things differently now.

Being a triathlon coach right now is an interesting challenge. I'm grateful that so many of my athletes have stuck with me to weather out this storm. A few weeks ago I was ripping my hair out, modifying everyone's schedules every day as we learned about another race cancelled or postponed... Text after text would come through.. "My pool is closed." "My race is cancelled." Things seem to be a bit more settled now, because pretty much everything is closed and cancelled/postponed. The reality is that no one has a race coming up any time soon. Very few have access to a pool. Some have access to ocean, but conditions right now are complete shit with high wind advisories and man-o-war blanketing the east side of Oahu. Shoot, there was even a shark right here in Kailua last weekend, cruising just a few meters from shore. Seems like the universe is shouting STOP SWIMMING. Some will still find a way to swim, even if they have to be tethered to a step ladder to get it done.

So there are lots of obstacles right now. But here's the thing- Goals Don't Change. Timelines change, yes, but goals are goals and people who are driven will find a way to work around obstacles. In fact, for some, obstacles present unique opportunities to conquer. I have some ideas flowing that I think will help keep athletes motivated and in the game these next few months. Driven Type A competitive athletes don't just shut down because things are hard. More on this to come very soon.

Personally, I'm still training every day. Mostly riding my trainer, but I'm running too and will find a way to swim again soon too. It's funny. After Kona last fall, my drive to RACE again was really really (really) low. I do love training though, and I told myself that even if I never raced again, I'd train every day just because I like training. It's interesting that I'm being tested on that right now... but ya, even with no races in site, I train every day and still push myself and still go after goals for the fun of it. Like truly, only for the sense of personal accomplishment.

I'm currently on a bit of a bike streak. I actually went back and counted how many days this year (2020) that I had not ridden my bike. You know how many days I haven't ridden? Let's just say that I can count them on two hands. Biking is a very blue collar sport, meaning the more you do it, the better you get at it. So ya we can debate training philosophies and strategies and which session elicits the most benefit for which piece of physiology... but at the end of the day (or year), more is more when it comes to riding. Ride easy. Ride hard. Ride frequently. Ride long. Push big gears. Ride uphill. Learn to descend. Learn to draft. Practice surging. Analyze it some, yes, but not too much. Ride more. That's how you get stronger on the bike. I'm feeling it again too. The last few years I have just watched my cycling become more and more mediocre. That just ATE AT ME because I knew that I still had it in me to be a good rider. So I don't know if I'll get a chance to race this year or not, but I'll keep riding almost every day because I like the way it makes me feel and I like that I'm currently fit/strong enough to ride the way I want to ride. Ten days ago I posted this on Strava. Still stand by it.