'training'

Ah.  Today was my first 'official' training session with fellow 3 Summit climbers - some of us walked, some jogged, the set of stairs off Howe and 10th Ave.  Crisp air, the sun slowly sinking into the Olympics, and  the city skyline sparking against the deep blue and yellow sky created one brilliant evening for training.  Using the word 'training' doesn't wholly capture the experience I have when I perform an activity now, with a more ultimate goal in mind.  Likely because tonight I was not thinking about our July summit attempt.  I received an email invite to do a stairs workout tonight, and thought 'uh, yeah!  Sounds like fun.'

It is difficult for me to strike a balance between the many interests I gravitate towards.  I want to do the stairs workout as powerful as my muscles are capable of, and go to spin class tomorrow at 6 AM, and go to  my somewhat regular Thursday evening yoga class, and on and on... often I do get to fit in all of the things I want to do.  My body adapts as does  my mental capacity for balancing and pausing when things feel overwhelming.  For instance, last night in my vigorous yoga class, during a sequence that required much balancing on one leg for an extended period of time, one which I whole-heartedly and confidently labeled as 'brutal',  I cried softly and quietly to myself.  My body prompted my heart to whimper "I'm so tired.  I don't want to do this right now."  My mind responded quickly in the instant before I put my knee down, first with a generic "just do it, you're almost done", then " its ok - you don't have to.  You can make it, here, put your knee down, you know that will give you the rest you  need."  My tears stopped and I noted 'this is what I am really practicing.'    Ahhh.