Balance

Training to the 2005 Tour de France

Something that I wrestle with is balancing time with family and the desire to be in shape for the ride. My family is very supportive and encouraging, but I think about the extra work my wife does to take care of (Austin (10) and Abbi (7)) while I'm out training. I took the day off training on Tuesday just to play catch with Abbi in the back yard, and then we hit practice golf balls around with Austin too! It definitely keeps things in perspective, that yes, I am a missionary, but more importantly, I am the husband of my wife and father of my children.

I wanted to hear how you guys are managing your family time vs training. What has worked for you?

Mental Training

Today was my last day (of 5) out of town and as I write this I'm in my own chair at my own desk in my own house with my family!  Ahhh...it's so nice to be home again!

This morning started at a leisurely 7:30 ish AM. There was nothing on the agenda for today except exercise, pack and get to the airport for the flight home. I wanted to have a 'good'work out this morning, so not having access to my bike I was aiming for up to an hour on the treadmill. The actual time was just over an hour and a little over 7 miles covered. That includes walking speed up to 12 mph. No HRM data.

Mental Training

I will typically walk for a 1/4 to half mile and then start running. I like to build as I progress so I'll usually start around an 8 minute/mil pace and then bump the pace up by a half minute after each 1/2 to a full mile. So after doing this for 4 miles, including a brief time at full speed, I stopped running for a recovery walk. I then start back up again but usually go straight to 6 min/mi and a short time at 5 then recover again and repeat--those are my intervals on the treadmill. 

But today was different after that initial work up and recovery. As I was running hard and planning on pushing a little harder for a very short time before recovering, I had the thought of "NO: don't go out in a flash of light, slow down and persevere--No stopping!" I wasn't sure when to stop; I like to have goals of "two more minutes" or "another 1/4 mile", but this thought was "just keep going". I was thinking of the upcoming ride and the perseverance that will be required for it. So, rather than stopping when I was ready to rest, I bumped the pace down and kept going, then bumped it down some more and kept going...no stopping; not sure when to stop.

To my mind came the story where Elisha told the king to strike the ground with the arrows and he only struck the ground 3 times. Elisha was angry with him for not striking the ground five or six times (2 Kings 13:14-25). What did that story have to do with me? And why right now? As I glanced down I saw the calories on the treadmill turn to 667..hmmm, did I just cross the line where when my physical work is having Spiritual implications? Did I just strike the ground once and God is seeing how many times I will strike it for those in the DRC? 

It's a very difficult thought to wrestle with. So I continued to wrestle with it while I continued to press on, backing down the pace if I needed to, so I could keep going. Praying for those in theDRC; praying for the other riders; praying for myself that this would be about God's strength because I want to stop. Passing 777.7 calories and asking for a stopping point but still feeling like I need to keep going. More praying.

At the one hour mark, I felt peace about stopping the running and starting the recovery walking. I felt like I honored what God was speaking to me: that this ride (and my life too) is not a short flash of bright light, but it is about a call for perseverance and self sacrifice; for us the riders, those that give, those that support, and those in the DRC that risk the great physical cost of all that they are and have physically. This upcoming ride is much bigger than just a cool challenging bike ride. It's my belief that what we and others are doing here physically is an answer to a spiritual call. As a rider I expect this ride to be more than I am able to do on my own (in my own strength). So to is the physical and spiritual training for it.

It is a great honor to be in relationship with the Living God!

Those arrow strikes by king Jehoash had meaning and consequence that he didn't appreciate-so too does more in our lives than we imagine. Pray that we all would be more sensitive to the work of Gods Spirit.

[Don't forget to leave your thoughts for the rest of us to read. Photos: two shots out of the plane window today and some sleep (that looks like glass) removed from my eye during the flight.]

The Parabale of 600 Miles

Each cyclist must have at least three things to ride 600 miles: 1) training, 2) equipment, and 3) perseverance. We will need the physical training to make sure we are capable of riding 100 miles a day, six days in a row. We will need the proper bikes, or we will become exhausted and never finish. And we will need the bull-headed endurance to finish the course.

Since the beginning of planning for this ride, I have been struck by the similarities between this and what a translator needs to do his work. It's a gigantic metaphor. In coming blog entries, I will show the correlations. Stay tuned.