"God Grant me the Serenity"

"To accept the things I cannot change.
The courage to change the things I can.
And the wisdom to know the difference."

How about this small modification?

"The courage to change the things I really want to."

The problem with the conventional serenity prayer is that it doesn't deal with the the issue of cost/benefit. Some things simply aren't worth changing. My swimming for example. I realized today that I'm really hung up on the idea of swimmimg 50 metre laps in one minute or less. Just because that's what I used to be able to do without too much effort, and becasue 60 secs is such a nice round number. But that was probably 6 to 7 years, and one illness ago. I'm pretty sure that if I hired a coach, and put a whole lot more time in the pool I could get back to that. But it's just not worth it. My effort needs to be on endurance overall. Today I swam 1500 metres in sets of 50, 100, 150 and so on, and it felt quite good. The last set of 350 metres was in 7 minutes, so if you do the math that is just under 1:10 per lap. That's now my new goal for my longer swims...without my wetsuit.

I think I learned something else today. I wanted to try to ride outside, and soI decided to wait until later in the day as they predicted it was going to continue to warm up as the day wore on. So I decided to go swimmimg in the morning, and as I was heading out the door I realized that I was really starting to develop an anxiety about going to the pool. Once I completed my swim I knew why the anxiety. I think it was solely because I was leaving it til later in the day when I was running out of energy. For the next while I will try to swim in the morning, and keep my running/cycling for later in the day. It worked well today.

Today I also learned many of the advantages of riding inside. First off there's no wind, not to mention no dogs, and no traffic. Riding inside also requires no concentration, and your ass doesn't get near as sore. Regardless, it felt good to be out. I did the 50 km block in 1 hr, 45 minutes. That's a bit slower than I would like as well, but not to worry. It was a bit windy and generally I felt pretty good. I was dressed just perfectly for the 6 degree weather. I also think the trainer has made me a better climber which of course is going to be critical in the Okanagan hills.

A funny bit of motivation during the last part of my ride. With about 5 k to go I figured on making the 1:45 if I worked very hard. Mick Jaeger was singing -You can't always get what you want- in my ear and somehow every time the song was part way through it would start over again. Either my ipod was just messing up or I was pushing buttons with my thigh while pedalling. Either way I defied Mick with 10 seconds to spare

Some other business...
1) good luck peter, break some records
2) thanks teresa for deserting me...just kiddin... good luck in your new job...I will miss you!

I wish to dedicate day 169 to the Bobby-Jo the kids swim instructor, who today promoted Colby to "Dolphin". Way to go Colb!

“Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is."---Thomas S. Szasz

“Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."---Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance."---Benjamin Franklin

love
peter