La,la,la, not listening!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I had time to sit down and write and all because of my “La,la,la, not listening” attitude.

I’m happy to work hard and I hate letting people down but when a scratchy throat started to emerge I convinced myself it was just a bit of a cold, carried on working and in fact took on more work. Three weeks later, the cold/virus is just about gone. Allan had the same thing and it was over in a few days so my “La,la,la, not listening” approach did me no favours.

A host of other warning signs were also there, my resting heart rate rose 13 beats, I was shattered and falling asleep just about anywhere I could close my eyes and I wasn’t motivated to train at all, but I still didn’t listen and, dare I say, put it down to being ‘older’. Naughty, naughty!

I know I won’t be alone in taking this ‘not listening’ approach to my body, many Ironman athletes would be just the same but it’s worth considering the obvious benefits of having, ‘listening ears’.

1. I wasted three weeks of quality training because I was sick, not just a bit off but genuinely sick.
2. I probably spread the virus all over the place – plain selfish.
3. I risked potential long-term damage to my heart because this wasn’t just a cold it was a pretty bad respiratory virus – just plain dumb.

Also like many athletes I’m selective in what advice I take, to suit the situation. Jan warned me about over-committing to work. She warned me to take it easy on the training front and she warned me not to get back into training too soon or too hard, all of which I claim to have listened to and then dismissed, not because she was wrong, but because I thought I could defy the odds.

There’s also an element, even at this vast age of having to prove myself, maybe even more so than in my younger years. I want to be the one who can work through a cold, proving that I’m not more vulnerable as I get older, but some kind of superhuman, which of course I’m not. I also secretly like the challenge and some of the kudos, if it works, of working through adversity – I think it’s called an ego! There I’ve said it, I have an ego!

All too often egos are seen as a negative attribute such as a Donald Trump or Boris Johnson’s egos, but regardless of your political views these two men have made waves with their egos, they’ve prompted discussion and change, if not always for good.

I’m a firm believer that you can’t make a mark in society or push for change unless you become a cage rattler. When I look back I’ve always been opinionated, a bit of a cage rattler. I detest inaction and apathy and believe in speaking out, even if it’s deemed as bossy or aggressive, it has to be better than doing nothing at all, surely.

With the cage-rattling comes criticism and admittedly sometimes that criticism hurts, although with age comes the, “I really don’t give a rat’s arse anymore‘ attitude. I guess that’s why I pushed through the virus. I didn’t listen to my coach, my ego took over and they quite rightly could say, “I told you so”.

Having admitted to the ego and not listening I am at an age where I don’t worry much anymore and that’s liberating.

Over the past weeks, we’ve seen catastrophic bushfires destroy hundreds of homes and claim innocent lives across Australia. We have seen our treasured wildlife killed in their thousands.

In New Zealand, innocent tourists looking for a thrill visited White Island, an active volcano and lost their lives or were horrendously injured. We all take risks, if, we live life to the full.

It’s sad to say that most of my family are by and large not risk-takers, they have made the most of the opportunities that came their way in the past and in some respects, there were risks involved. The difference between them and me is their attitude to risk as they age which has become debilitating for them. They fear so much and yet time is running out, not for trips to White Island or even being daft enough to want to swim/bike and run as I do, but to enjoy the simple things in life like watching the sun come up or walking barefoot along a beach, watching children play or scream the house down in the supermarket, I love these moments.

Recently the great New Zealand 800m runner Peter Snell died and fellow athlete Barry Magee said in his tribute that Peter always realised that ‘health is wealth’. Peter was an amazing runner and suffered from heart issues in later life, saying he found himself “mindful of his mortality” at the time, but there was no fear.

We can all be mindful of our mortality, it’s inevitable, but each morning we wake up we have an obligation to honour the life we’ve been given, the body that we have, tall, short, thin or fat, it’s a gift for a very short time and we should use it, or lose it.

And age really has nothing to do with how we feel about what future we may or may not have, it’s about the NOW and how we make the most of the time we have

Have a happy, safe and fulfilling Christmas and New Year.  Be kind to others, but most of all be kind to yourself.

Oh, and Jan maybe next time I will listen – well I’ll try:)