An Object (not) at Rest

The buoy-less, merciless, Lake Herman treated Mr. T. well.

Volunteering in a first grade classroom and watching a lesson on force revealed a pretty profound truth to me this week: objects at rest, stay at rest. Thanks, Mr. Newton.

Since I'm definitely taking a backseat to any official training, this blog will focus mainly on Mr. T.'s preparation for IMCDA, which will take place in seven short weeks. 

This past week brought some wonderful memories into this year's training: 

• The first solo outdoor swim. I'm pretty sure the water temp was warmer than the air temp on this particular day. Friday once the seven-year-old graced us with her after-school presence, we packed everyone up and headed to the beach. Only one of us wore a swimsuit, and I'm pretty sure everyone who drove by thought he was a little crazy. The rest of us wore jackets and kept ourselves appeased with digging for treasures, finding cool rocks, and practicing our drawing skills with a stick and the sand. Mr. T. simply swam back and forth on the buoy-less swim area. I'll say this: the man has some perseverance. 
• The first five-hour ride. Mr. T. opted to take this one inside early Saturday morning. After

  

  Even the watch applauded Mr. T.

  having two different friends suffering serious bike accidents separately (one broke his hip and the other broke several ribs, his collarbone, and his pelvis), I all but threw a parade in Mr. T.'s honor when he opted to stink up the basement rather than brave the elements. Riders on trainers don't typically crash. Best of all, Mr. T. finished this ride by 12:30pm, all so he could recover and then play the role of superdad so I could take a break from the wonderful family and go to a play with a couple of friends. Like I said, this man has some perseverance. 
• The choice to keep the basement water-free over running long on Sunday. Massive storms hit several parts of our our flat state Sunday, and so instead of finding a time for his uber-long run, Mr. T. opted to man the shopvac and the persistently leaky window in our basement. 

So, we got a little rain . . . 

These two were the highlights of the week. Mr. T. had his regular training opportunities throughout the week with nary a wrinkle in the plan. He continues to strength train, and his biggest problem right now is trying to figure out how to get enough calories to fuel his system. Around nine o'clock nearly every evening, he looks at me and says, "What's for supper?" 

I had something triathlon-related and kind of fun happen this week as well. Back in February I signed up to volunteer at Coeur D'Alene. I received my official volunteer email with instructions this week. Memories flood my mind when I think of all the volunteers in Chattanooga last September. Mike Reilly, the voice if Ironman, said that having volunteers is like having your mom with you all day long. He's right. I'm so excited to be a part of that team in June, to have the opportunity to encourage people and help them achieve their dreams. 

Back to Newton: Mr. T. has been anything BUT an object at rest this week. In my own semi-inert state due to self-imposed resting after a rough day of first-trimester fun last week, I cannot help but dwell on Mr. Newton's law of motion. Any one of us, including me in my compromised state , can remain an object at rest. The whole law says, "An object at rest will remain at rest UNLESS [emphasis added] acted on by an unbalanced force." So this makes me wonder, what is the "unbalanced force" that makes any one move? Sometimes it's a scary doctor's appointment. For Mr. T., back in the day, it was a series of unflattering but realistic photographs. Sometimes it's just the desire to reach a goal. Last year the fear of not finishing something I had started made me at least complete the long workouts of the week. So I'm thinking that the key to keeping moving, to staying active despite not feeling like it lies in finding that unbalanced force right now. 

I'll be spending the week looking for my unbalanced force. 

Only seven more weeks 'til IMCDA!