It was May 2020. The world was in a shutdown state as we all came to grips with what it meant to have a global pandemic. Here in Brisbane, we were in a mild version of "lockdown" compared to other parts of the country and other locations around the world.
Our weekly social running events ("parkrun") were cancelled until further notice. And we had an allowable travel distance of up to 50km. We had restrictions on why we were allowed to leave the house and how many times a day we could leave.
It was kind of madness. But, I know you know that, because if you're reading this you lived through the Covid-19 phase too.
So, back to the story I'm about to share...
Today I was doing something that had been on my to-do for a loooong time: cleaning up my online files. I have stuff stored on there from a decade ago. There's some stuff I just struggle to let go of. But also, there's so much in there that it feels overwhelming to even start.
But start I must as I keep getting warnings that the storage space is getting closer and closer to capacity and I refuse to pay for more storage for more stuff I really don't need.
I didn't get very far today because I started discovering pieces of writing that I did over the last ten years and realised I get to love them all over again.
So rather than sitting there reading it and grinning it, and then just leaving it in a folder I keep forgetting exists, I thought I'd share it with you all. š
And after the longest prelude in history, let's go to the story. šš
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It was cold, but geez it was good.
I woke with my alarm and did not want to get out of bed. Iād had a rough nightās sleep, tossing and turning, and the thought of bouncing straight out of bed to go bike riding was the last thing I felt like doing. I hit snooze and lay there, trying to work out what I needed to do to help my body wake up and feel better.
The plan had been to go for a bike ride, as far as I could bear, in the forecasted cold, windy weather. I knew I wanted to keep honing my skills on the road bike, and as someone who wants to actively exercise most days, this didnāt seem unreasonable. Last night. When I expected to wake up feeling good.
I did not feel even vaguely decent and even the thought of slowly rolling out of bed and going to find and cuddle my man didnāt make me feel any better. I knew heād be keen to get moving and that just made me want to pull the blanket over my head.
I lay there trying to feel into my body and see what it needed.
I have learned that sometimes the kindest thing we can do is actually BE with our body and what itās feeling instead of expecting it to change or be something different than it actually is.
I knew I wasnāt going to go back to sleep. We had things to do, people to see, places to go. If I was going to make the day work for both of us, I needed to get up. So I asked my body what it needed to wake up.
Immediately I thought of getting in our pool.
That was enough to get me moving and within a minute my bare feet were on the floor, and I grabbed a towel on route to the back door. I said hi to my surprised-looking partner and walked towards out into the cool Queensland air making a beeline for the cold saltwater pool.
With practise from my early Wim Hof days I slowly entered the pool, one determined step at a time, slowly but surely entering with as little hesitation as possible until I was in up to my neck.
And I breathed.
I put most of my attention on how my body was feeling, reminding myself that I could feel safe and calm in the cold, while the remainder of my focus had me looking up at the trees, the sky and the dark, heavy clouds.
I breathed and remembered that the goal with cold water immersion is not to stay in for as long as humanly possible, but rather just until you can feel calm in the cold. I relaxed more, dropping my feet flat on the pool floor and allowing myself to move ever so slightly beneath the surface to test how I felt in the water.
It was time to get out.
After a few minutes of gentle movement to help my body slowly rewarm, I headed inside to dress for a cold bike ride. I piled extra layers on top and then ate breakfast, feeling at least 5x better than I did only 10 minutes earlier.
Iām glad I listened to my body and what it needed.
Within 20 minutes we were on the bikes. Dressed with more coverage than usual, it seemed only sensible to cover as much skin as possible as I prepared to breathe in a whole lot of cold air.
Given the overcast conditions, the still cold air and the stronger than we were hoping for winds, we opted for doing laps near our house. This 2.3km loop allowed Brad to go at his speed without worrying if I, the relative newbie to road biking, was OK. And it allowed me to pull the pin earlier than my goal if I truly couldnāt handle the wind and cold.
As Brad reminded me over breakfast, itās days like this that we have to remember WHY we are biking. Itās not a sun shiny day. Thereās no pretty water views to be seen. Itās not going to be a warm, pleasant ride. He encouraged me to be clear on my goal - Why was I prepared to ride in these conditions? What was I working towards that made it worth doing the ride rather than bailing?
I remembered the goal I had set so many months ago, which had somehow gotten lost in the joy of exploring, the satisfaction of improving and the unexpected changes to our weekends with parkrun on hold ātil further notice. I shared, once again, my specific triathlon goal, with its time and date and distance and it shored up my confidence to get on the bike in this less than inviting weather.
And with nothing left to do but ride, we wheeled the bikes out the door, I affixed the key to my sports bra and down the driveway we rolled. Brad was off before I could even get my shoes into their pedal box (what do you call that thing?) and I felt grateful that I finally felt comfortable enough on this bike that I could ride on my own on the local suburban roads, with the occasional passing cars, side roads and parked cars.
It was cold. Even with these layers. Even at my somewhat leisurely average pace of 18km per hour. I tried, yet again, to make peace with the cold - a trick I had originally learned about when I was guiding in the Blue Mountains over a decade ago. Instead of fighting the cold, hating it, cursing it and wishing the ride was over already, I did the opposite.
I embraced the cold.
And I looked around. As I worked hard up the hills, pedaled steadily on the flats and tried to stay on the bike on the windy downhills, I looked up at the trees, the brightly coloured flowers, the people walking and running by.
The goal had been for me to do 10km before heading to transition inside the house. While it was tempting to just do 9.2km (since it was four laps around our place) I had managed 10km on the last ride that was both hilly and windy, and I was keen to at least match my last effort.
By the fourth lap, I was finally warm. I felt like I was literally āwarmed upā and ready to ride, and I was almost finished! My overachieving mind was immediately egging me on to do more, yet I quickly remembered my rat shit sleep the night before and the motto that has been serving me well these last few months; āLess is moreā.
I cruised up and back on a few close by flat (ish) streets to get me just over 10km as I waited for Brad to finish his sixth lap. Together we headed into the house to change our shoes and for me to drop off a couple of layers and within two minutes we were out the door running.
We did a delightful, easy albeit somewhat awkward feeling, jog through the nearby bush, linking one single track to another to get us over 2km. This was just enough to feel like weād practised transition, or rather for ME to feel like I had practised transition since Brad has done so many triās already Iāve lost count. And finally, my feet were warm again.
It just goes to show that if we can find a way to push ourselves just outside our comfort zone, it usually works out better than we might have imagined.
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Fun story, hey? I thought so =)
I had no photos from that day so I've sourced ones from Unsplash that, I hope, capture the feeling of the experience. All sourced back to the awesome photographers who took them!
Have you ever done a run or a swim in very cold conditions? Tell me about it in the comments? š I'd love to hear about other people doing crazy things like me.