The photo above was captured during my first 8 miles of this challenge. It started off super strong while surrounded by a lot of amazing people. As in the picture the wind was at my back. As quickly as it began it suddenly had come to a screeching halt. The wind shifted. The smoke came...
For a dude with lung disease that is related to particulates getting into your lungs and creating an immune response this is no good. However I have miles to do don't I.. If I get to far behind right now it will be nearly impossible to catch up later. So what is a guy to do?
Adapt... Adaptation is all we really can do in life. We have to be in the moment and make decisions based on what we see and feel at that time. However some people suffer from an overly fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset we get stuck in a trap that there is only one way to do something. We also tend to avoid things if they are not going to go as we hoped. This often leads to self sabotage or creating goals that are not actually attainable giving us the excuse to back out at any time. Other people have what is known as a growth mindset. With a growth mindset, we see every obstacle as an opportunity to learn. Obstacles are merely a chance to get better and of course grow as an individual. Most of us are a little of both depending on the task at hand.
In being honest I generally have a strong growth mindset. I take things as they come well, I crash and fail all the time. No big deal. This is my mindset for all things until, I set a goal. When I get an idea in my mind that I want to do something or compete in something it becomes all encompassing for me. I have often self sabotaged and set unrealistic goals so that I would have an excuse for why I did not succeed. In this last week I have had to ask myself is this goal of paddling 1000 miles in one year one of those self sabotage set ups? It is only week two and I have already started questioning can I do this. The answer is yes!! I will just need to adapt and take the punches as they come.
I have had to add a rule to my training and mileage. If it is unhealthy for me to be outside paddling on the water or in other extenuating circumstances (frozen lake) I will accept alternative miles. People who know me know I hate indoor cardio... However I do believe in order for me to be successful with this challenge I need to adapt my goal a bit. So the piece of equipment that I will use is the Ski erg. It is about as close as I am going to get to actual Stand Up Paddling inside. So there you go... Today I had to grind out about 3.8 miles inside. I have to be okay with that. I have to adapt.