I am the kind of person who throws myself almost too deeply into projects and goals. If I'm working on a story, I'm gone into it. Just ask my husband. It's like I sink in and you can't get me out. In a sense, it feels like I could do this with the triathlon project, except I can also tell that it won't work for any length of time, and that it would only burn me out. I just enjoyed a beautiful strong yoga class, only 60 minutes, which is shorter than I've gone for months, and it was so worth going. I'm not sure it made me stronger or quicker or gave me endurance, but it stretched out my achy tight running muscles, and even more importantly, it gave me a quiet mind and some peace. I must remember to make room for quietness and for doing things unrelated to the end goal. Which I do all day long, but with some distraction, and I don't want to be distracted from the many other things in life that bring me joy and completion.
A friend sent me a link to Tim Ferriss' talk on learning to swim as a non-swimmer. It had some good tips on body positioning underwater (and the swimmer he shows IS underwater, not riding on the top, which I'll admit gave me the willies. I must begin by getting myself used to being underwater, perhaps even HAPPY underwater). I woke myself up this morning practicing breathing in the water. I tend to take very long controlled breaths in and then out, but in swimming, the breath needs to come in faster than it goes out. And then I got up and went for a run. I used Google Maps to map and measure my daily run, since I generally go around the same paths, and was pleased to discover that I've been running about 8kms. Today I ran nearly 8kms in just over forty minutes, but it was a harder go this morning, and I felt sluggish, not weightless and filled with enthusiasm.
My next running goal is to add an additional kilometre, and work up to 10 by perhaps the week after that, and then add some difficulty with hills and sprints. My plan is to run about 10km for the morning runs, unless I end up improving my pace, and then I'll add on as needed, shooting for approximately an hour of running. On weekends, I may take the opportunity of more available time to go for a long bike ride or a longer run.
Swimming is going to be my main focus this fall, and I hope to swim three times a week. I'm heading out tomorrow early with two friends, swimmers who can watch me flail around in the pool and give me some more tips. One friend would like to join in the try-a-tri quest, which pleases me to no end.
I have talked to my agent as well, and she suggests writing this project as a magazine article or articles, or possibly a blog; she thought that would potentially pay better than a book, though she didn't completely rule out the possibility of a book. But I need to complete the project before pitching the book. After all, if I don't finish a triathlon, the story loses some verve.
My focus right now is the 8km trail run, which will be more difficult than my usual daily run, even though it's the same length, because I run on a very flat and easy path. I remain excited about the challenge, and the immediacy of the challenge.
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