Rain and Forced Rest

View from the balcony behind my office on the 5th floor at home. The smokestacks are a constant reminder that this is still a big industrial city.

Today it rained the hardest I have ever known in Kaohsiung. At least the reservoirs should be filling as it is generally hot and dry most of the rest of the time. With the pool closed and it being too wet to go out without risking catching a cold, I just stayed at home and worked. As the day wore on and my focus on my work waned, I increasingly began to wonder about the meaning of life and what I was seeking to accomplish with my training and my life in general.

Anyway, I am thankful for these days when nothing seems to happen. In that way I do get some rest, and today was a particularly good day for my shoulders to get some needed recuperation from swimming. As I wrote before, it would probably be wise for me to cut back on my swimming distance, and maybe I should incorporate more variety into a workout, so that it is not as if I am just seeing how many meters I can do. Today my shoulder did not trouble me, but it is still a little sore in places.

One thing I will not be aiming to do this year is to attempt to complete an Ironman. Taiwan has one in October (not sanctioned for Kona slots) at the very bottom of the island. It would be a great challenge, and probably as difficult as Kona as it is both very hot and windy down there. However, I don't have a proper bike yet and the application deadline was the end of May - why can't they just be a bit more laid back about the application cutoff? In any case, challenge or no challenge, I have committed myself to focusing on swimming for now and getting my work done. If I try to train for an Ironman, I could more or less spend the whole day every day just training, eating and sleeping. Maybe some day in the future.