Summer Solstice Training Meditation

Sometimes, the changes are on the surface. Sometimes, the surface doesn't reflect the changes deep in the core, but the core is changing nonetheless. A minor setback and some reasonable caution on the part of my coach, coupled with my own, recently landed me in a cardio work-up. The results, instead of confirming any problem---fab, since there's a family history of heart disease---did just the opposite: confirmed incredible progress indiscernable at the level of daily corporeal experience. My blood pressure is down to a regular 106/68 w/o medication, from having been 150/100 16 months ago; the HDL's, LDL's, and triglycerides (hmmm, another pun in the making!) are all w/i normal ranges, after having been out-of-control, and then there's the athletic report...my max heart rate is 115% of what's expected for a person my age, and my cardiac recovery rate after exertion is better than 3x faster than considered desirable (Good God, what interval training will do for a body!). I may have asthma, but there should be no doubt now that I am good hearted and good to go! I've been training using an RPE scale, but having gotten these metrics, along with resting heart rates, my coach and I can now incorporate heart rate metrics into the equation using actual performance---clearly using the standard rates would have kept me in the sofa zone too much of the time! Now it's back to The Plan! Jude says, "look, you're just at the tip of your training iceberg!" Sometimes, I'm very discouraged with a slow external rate of change; sometimes, I forget how relatively far I've come in a relatively short period of time...(July 4 will be the anniversary of buying the 2200, and now 60 and 70 mile rides seem just normal); sometimes, I am frustrated by lingering injuries. Sometimes, I need to chill out and remember these things, and honor the changes happening within... envisioning, selecting, planting, cultivating, and watering the seeds that will grow, blossom, and yield fruit at harvest. So many have already had an amazing yield, and I am blessed.