On May 24, 1930, Amy Johnson completed a flight from England to Darwin, Australia. "The aircraft was made of wood and fabric, with an open cockpit, and contained only four instruments: an altimeter, an airspeed meter, a compass, and an indicator for turning and banking. There was no radio... She took with her only her bare necessities, including a spare propeller, a revolver, and a knife. (1001 Days that Shaped the World; Peter Furtado)" Her journey took 19 days and covered 11,000 miles. Amy Johnson became a household name.
A couple weeks ago, JE and I were listening another cyclist talking about a couple of races he had just completed, back to back: the Everest Challenge, and the Furnace Creek 508. The Everest challenge is 29,000 feet of climbing in a couple days and Furnace Creek is 508 miles in 24 hours or less. Mad, mad, crazy stuff! This cyclist was talking about watts monitor vs heart rate monitor. He trains constantly--plugged in.
If I am an athlete, I'm a lazy athlete. I can't remember the last time I checked my pulse or heart rate. I recognize the need to get my heart rate up during my training, and I am not always very good at keeping it up for the beneficial time required. I've been wondering about picking up a gadget or two, but I hesitate. What do I really need? There are devices that measure watts, cadence, mileage, calories, steps, distance, time, etc... and connects to your computer where it puts it all into neat tables and graphs. It will even map where you ran/biked/walked--whatever!
I think my approach to my training is much more in line with Amy Johnson. Take what you need, do your best, and finish what you started. Adventures can only happen when we wrestle with uncertainty.
Perhaps my life has become overly simplistic. We don't have a TV (there tends to be two trains of thought when I tell people that. The first is the romanticized, "Oh, I wish I could do that..." The other is, "What? Are you nuts? What do you do at night?"), we have one car, we like each other and have a good time together. The way I see life in general is akin to good machinery: the more moving parts something depends on, the more of a chance for break down. In other words: Keep it Simple!
Josh the bike-man saw my compass/thermometer key chain I keep on my handlebar bag and asked if I always travel with my GPS. Yah, I do. A couple times on my bike tour last summer, the only way I found my way out of urban and suburban sprawl was to follow the needle south. I still use it frequently, even though I have digital maps on my phone.
Admittedly, if Amy Johnson where alive today, her instrument panel and bare necessities would have been much more. But that is the point, do the necessities grow in number and grandeur, or do we become reliant on things that aren't truly necessary. Athletes today are all plugged in, creating a kind of super consciousness in athletes and stronger performances than at any other time in history--honing natural talent and skill. Is that what I want?
Tonight is an "unplugged night" with an exception for my record keeping. A few months ago, when I wasn't working, I spent the day getting the house in order. Everything was soft and shiny with candles. Home felt really good. When JE got home, dinner was really close to ready. We sat together and chatted over a nice meal. For the rest of the evening, we just caught up with each other, chatted, played a board game (when was the last time we had done that?). We didn't answer the phone or turn on the computer. I don't recall what we ate, but we have been having occasional unplugged nights ever since.
Foodwise: Intake 2478 calories including super yummy leftovers pizza (crab with cream cheese, sweet peppers and fresh tomato dipped in sweet chili sauce. Pork roast with fresh apple, caramelized onions, zucchini, pecans and Tia cheese--no red sauce on either.) Output: 1168 calories burned in addition to my daily life calories. We woke before dawn and walked over to the heated pool for a swim, but found the door locked with a chain and padlock. That left us to wonder if we should run or go for a cold pool swim. We were already cold... We drove down to Laguna Beach, walked through Heisler Park and watched the storm pass over the ocean. Later, I rode my bike home through dirty, but dry trails.
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