Don't Think. Jump

A fellow triathlete training for a big event wrote that it was hard to adapt to getting out early to train. It was good to hear that because that is probably my number one problem in training. And now with summer on us it is even more important to get out early. There seems to be an inertia to be overcome. There are tendencies and downtime habits that have permeated my own response to the morning. I want another cup of coffee. I want to watch the birds feed or that deer. I like the time to be at peace in a peaceful setting. to rummage through my thoughts like going through a cluttered closet. It’s fun. It is satisfying, but it is killing my training time in the cooler part of the day. All that peace and tranquility in the morning is good stuff, but as Stephen Covey wrote, “the enemy of the best is the good.”

The first week into training and I haven’t even set my alarm clock yet. I am still doing normal things until ten or ten thirty at night; and if I ever hope to get out of the bed earlier, I must get in the bed earlier - no-brainer. My Dad was a fireman and he told me of a saying at his firehouse about getting to fires: “You can’t make up the time on the road that you lost in the firehouse.” Point is: it is hard to recover from a bad start on a day.

I know what has to be done. I know how to do it. Set the alarm. When it goes off: get out of bed. Have the gear ready from the night before. Get moving, get myself and everything together, and get out of the house. “Don’t think. Jump!”
Funny but that is same thing I told my granddaughter as I encouraged her to jump off the edge of the pool into the water. “Don’t think. Jump.” I had told her as she hesitated. “You’ll never learn to swim up there out of the water. Don't worry. I am right here to catch you."

“Okay”

“Then, don’t think. Jump”

And I have been served the same lesson in getting out the door in my training as well as in my faith walk. When I know God is in it: when I know He wants me to go on and get in the game and get wet: why I am hesitating?

"Don't worry. I am right here to catch you. Don’t think. Jump”

"Yes, Lord."