Spring Cleaning

Things in life tend to fall into one of two categories: what we can control and what we can't. While one of these categories is pretty narrow (things that we can't control), the other is really quite broad; some things we have just a little control over and some things we have much control over. It seems quite simple, but of course things like this never are. A prologue of sorts: I am going to try to explain myself as clearly as possible all the while being relatively vague.

Recently, my life has been dominated by things over which I have no control. As an intelligent, rational person, I recognize that I cannot control what is going on. What I HAVEN'T acknowledged (until now) is how these events have been controlling me. In a nutshell, through all of this I have given up control of things that should be entirely within my control.

So I've had this "great" revelation, now what? Time for a little spring cleaning. (I know, there's still one month of summer left, but "late summer cleaning" just doesn't have the same ring.) Normally as we clean, we get rid of things. However that won't work right now - I can't simply get rid of what is going on. Instead, I will be doing some organizing and prioritizing to make room for the misplaced (and I know it's around here somewhere!) control.

Stay tuned!

S#I@

Four-letter words ...

• a "set of words written with four letters which are considered profane ... slang ... offensive"
• The term "four-letter word" itself has become a euphemism for more offensive words (which I won't share).
• Occasionally the phrase "four-letter word" is "humorously used to describe any word composed of four letters. This is the case when used to mean the word work, alleging that the speaker's or writer's audience treats work as unpleasant, or when the game of golf is noted as a four-letter word because the player's chosen entertainment pastime becomes an exercise in frustration".
  

There is a word that, up until now, I have never thought of as a four-letter word, yet somehow it has gone from being a word with a pleasant connotation to one that sparks all sorts of less desirable emotions. The word is SWIM. That's right, a swimmer is having a tough time dealing with the word "swim".

The problem isn't the word swim, the problem is actually swimming. I haven't spontaneously forgotten how to swim or anything like that - it comes down to MOTIVATION. More precisely the fact that I have none.

I have a great list of excuses as to why I'm not swimming right now and I think it's time I expose them. There is some truth to these statements, but not enough to honestly keep me out of the water. Here they are:

• No short-term goal.
• It hurts.
  
• My swimming buddies have found new / more swimming friends, so it is no big deal if I don't show up.
• I'm slower than I was last year.
  

A little background ... I was all keyed up to do some pretty huge swims this year - 26 km Lake Cowichan, 5 km Kelowna, 8 km St Croix. Things were going great until one day in March I was in so much pain during a swim that I had to get out of the pool (I've NEVER had to cut a swim short before). This completely threw me for a loop. I also found out that I would be starting Prolotherapy in May and would have to cut back on my training. So I didn't have much choice but to abandon my goals for the summer. Training was too stressful at the time. It was not an easy decision, but it was the right one.

Now I find myself at an interesting place. When I did my first ocean swim this year, I was relatively pain-free (as opposed to swimming in a pool which is not because of pushing off walls 100 + times in a hour). This was an exciting discovery! So I started thinking ... maybe all isn't lost. But for some reason, which I can't quite figure out, I have little desire to get back in the water. The pain thing is a bit of an issue right now; when I take time off from swimming my left shoulder often does not want to start again (impingement). This isn't new and if I'm smart (short, easy pools swims - which I hate), and do my prehab, it will work itself out in a few weeks. It WON'T work itself out if I stay out of the water or try to swim through it on 90 minute open water swims. This should be enough to get me going but frustratingly, motivation remains elusive.

So now I look to you, wise readers. To be honest, I'm not even sure what I want from you ... Should I even worry about this? Should I just let things happen? or should I figure out a way to get my you-know-what back into the water? Stories, anecdotes, challenges ... I'll take just about anything... post a comment or email me if it's personal.

Blog Cabin

When I was invited to spend the long weekend at "The Cabin", I could not turn down the offer. "The Cabin", as it is referred to, belongs to my friend Jenn's family. It is located about 30 km east of 70 Mile House on Little Pressy Lake. Jenn's Grandfather built it in the 1970s and it is a cabin in the true sense; no running water, no telephone, no cell phone reception, no cable. It does have electricity, so we're not entirely "roughing it".

When you head up to The Cabin, if you need it, you'd better make sure you bring it with you. Otherwise you do without or you make the trek into 70 Mile House or Little Horse Lodge. So the Escape was packed to the gunwales with everything necessary for four people for three days:

I think what I enjoy most about being at The Cabin is the way that time becomes meaningless. We get up when we wake up, eat when we're hungry and go to bed when we're tired - even if it is in the middle of the day! So the "Cabin Schedule" looks something like this (modifications encouraged):

Get up
Drink coffee
Have breakfast
Go to lake / for a walk / canoe
Have lunch
Nap
Go for swim
Happy Hour (OK - more like Happy HourS)
Dinner
Shower
Bed

Any "free" moments should be spent sitting on the deck, admiring the view, listening to music, reading, enjoying the company and savoring the atmosphere.

I must mention a new addition to The Cabin: The Shower. Until very recently bathing was either a dip in the lake (which can be very quick and uncomfortable as the water often doesn't warm up until August) or the more painstaking method of heating lake water on the stove and having a sponge bath. The Shower is the brainchild of Jenn's dad. I remember being at The Cabin a couple of years ago when the first edition of The Shower consisted of a Coleman burner and some copper tubing. A few modifications later, et voila:

My favourite time to shower was around 9:30 at night - just as it starts getting dark. There is nothing like showering outside by the light of a single candle. Very relaxing indeed. I am now trying to figure how to get a shower onto my townhouse patio. But then again, even if I could sneak an outdoor shower past strata I just don't think it would feel the same ...