This past week I read Diana Nyad’s book, Find A Way, and not only did it inspire me to swim a million miles, or at least get in the water, more importantly it inspired me to ask for help. I suspected that she had a decent size crew helping her along the way for her 5x swim attempts from Cuba to Key West, but I had no idea how extensive the effort was for many of her crew throughout her entire training process.
Diana and her team.
She had handlers who needed to be with her in boats alongside every training swim for feedings and for simply monitoring her well-being. She needed crews and navigators to operate said boats in exotic locals like St. Maarten and Mexico. Then she needed to recruit the world’s top mind on jellyfish in order to come up with a plan to protect her from the lethal box jellies that infest the waters between Cuba and the US. The list goes on and on.
She made it!!
On the other hand, I am flooded with guilt when asking people to come spectate at one of my races, marathons and/or triathlons, because it takes so much time and effort on their part, too. In fact, I have shied away from longer races that require support because I can’t imagine asking anyone to do that for me, but is it fair to my loved ones not to even ask?
I try to do as much as possible on my own, but I do need help sometimes. For example, if Marion hadn’t of been with me the night of my first Ironman St. George finish, you might not be reading these words today. I had a severe electrolyte imbalance that threw me into a tailspin, and all I wanted to do was sleep, but he made me drink water with NUUN and stay awake until I had my wits about me again. Who knows what would have happened if I had fallen asleep by myself in my hotel room? So, if Diana Nyad, the ultimate endurance athlete can ask for help, so can I.
On a related note, does anyone want to visit beautiful Lake Placid New York over the weekend of July 23rd and 24th? My place has a pool.:)
My trusty Smash water bottles.
I am happy to report that last week was a triumph over the heat! I was outside every day for all of my mid-week work-outs in order to acclimate to the calamitous climate and it paid off HUGE on Sunday. I was able to finish a solid 6-hour bike ride, and 2 mile run with focus and full energy stores the whole day. Consequently, California did fall deeper into the drought after my 3x water replenishing pit stops/ingesting my body weight in H2O and electrolytes, but every drop was worth it! Plus, I have been keeping an eye on the weather in Lake Placid, and even though things may change of course, if the temps stay below 100 degrees I will be chillin’ like a villain on race day.
In the mean time, I am looking forward to this marvelous 4th of July holiday weekend, my favorite of the year, and my first podcast interview on Saturday on the Martin Lastrapes show, more on that next week!
Happy training!
Cheers,
Taryn
Two of my favorite ladies, Chelsea Handler and Diana Nyad.