One of these self-help guru types claimed the key way to success was following a simple routine each night. First, identify your day's challenges. Next, focus on your achievements for the day, and lastly, plan for the next day. So here goes.
Challenges...
Getting to training on time was certainly challenging. My body ached in various random spots. My pre-race anxiety for the Duathlon tomorrow was eating at my brain, cautioning me to not exhaust myself in advance. Worst of all, my gut was still quarrelling with me about the apparently irresistible carrot cake I'd made for a friend's birthday and eaten a slice of (as well of several spoonfuls of the icing) despite the very real presence of an abundance of wheat and dairy products that I clearly still can't tolerate!
The next challenge was getting my son to the barber. His three and a half inch, utterly shapeless afro of an indefinable light brownish colour had finally pushed me over the edge when he melted down over washing it. No shampoo, no comb, no moisturiser...in my world = no more afro! Now it's not that he prized it and loved it, or was using it to express himself culturally or aesthetically. His take was, "who cares what my hair looks like? I don't!" And like his ultimate role model, Einstein, he cannot understand why hair can't just sit on one's head in any old manner without people feeling the need to constantly be commenting on it.
I admire this stance greatly, to really not give a pig's ear what people think of your appearance is an attitude which maybe more of us should adopt. However, when the boy is getting irritable because his scalp is itching, when people look at him and can't get past the messiness and he doesn't have the social skills to override this and when I find more and more bits lurking in the depth of those coarse curls I realise life is a delicate balance. He will be just as happy with a number 2 on the top and number 1 on the sides as he doesn't really care and he will receive more positive social interactions too, so confirming to societal expectations on this occasion may be the lesser of two evils. But sheer logic was not going to convince him!
The third challenge was the carbo loading. I'm sure some people will snigger at this and wonder why that could ever be a problem; however, with this wheat-free, dairy-free diet it's pretty hard to eat enough at the best of times. Added to this is the fact that all the whole oats got cleaned out of the supermarket and I refuse to buy quick oat (I mean what are they?? The residue they sweep from the floor of the porridge factories???) so I couldn't even make my fabulous (to my palette only...but still) cookies.
But achievements were right round the corner...
...I made it to training ...and in time to catch a short but rhythmic swim. We then rode which felt good, despite a bit of mid ride, inability to sprint, flagging. The best was to come last. As I again doubted the wisdom of running at all the day before a race, but went to do it anyway as I was there, I suddenly realised we had a guest coach. He was an incredible man, a natural runner who was 74 years old, with an utterly efficient body. He took us through various stretches, qi gong breathing and effective warms ups...(although I'm still wondering about the exercise he declined to elaborate on which apparently involved wearing rubber boots....) This was marvellous as I'd missed yoga this week and knew I absolutely needed it. It felt so wonderful to be stretching out the many kinks in my posture, as the warm sun caressed us and the tropical, verdant foliage surrounded us. And this stretching routine entirely replaced the run.
...and I got the boy to the barber. It was a huge struggle during which I became increasingly more skeptical about my ability to get him there...but somewhere between my threatening to cut it myself with scissors, and my almost losing the plot when in his reactive state of tensing his body he accidentally kicked me, he got up and went to eat breakfast. So he is now perpetually groomed, with his handsome face shining through, and we've lost one of the morning stressors!
...and I've eaten loads! I bought food, reheated more food, had a protein shake and even tried a ripe Pommecytere for the first time and loved it. The little bananas have also ripened, so I've been gobbling down those. Carbs are loaded!
...and the biggest achievement is I actually washed down and oiled, not just my bike, but a friend's bike too! I did it just before sunset so I could even see what I was doing.
So the plan for tomorrow is to get up, meditate, remain calm, go down to race site, remain calm, warm up, race, lime a little, get son to cousin's house and then lime some more in the expertly engineered, guilt-free 'me' time.... my kinda Sunday. And I will remain calm.
No comments:
Post a Comment