Breakthroughs (What's the Plural?)

I haven't seen the 'Calvin Peeing' stickers a lot in the past year or so. I caught a glimpse of one this week that pretty much blew every other 'Calvin Peeing' sticker OUT OF THE WATER.

These 'Calvin Peeing' stickers are typically placed in the rear window of a car to make a statement. Calvin (the young protagonist from the cartoon strip "Calvin & Hobbes") is pictured from the back to be urinating on something, while looking over his shoulder. Different logos are placed at the bottom of the urine stream in order to display their disdain for a product or person. Fans of John McCain may have put Barack Obama's presidential campaign logo under the urine stream in order to communicate their disdain for Senator Obama.

When I was on the road last week, I sat behind a large red Chevrolet pickup truck, just a lane over. I found Calvin's sticker on the back of that car peeing. He was peering over his shoulder and the word "WORK" was being drenched in urine. In a half arc, the words "Gone Hunting" were above Calvin's head.

What does that dude's boss say when he pulls into work with that thing on the back of his car? Maybe he's a contractor and shows up this proudly displayed on the back of the car. How does his clientele respond to this sticker?

It basically says, "Piss on work. I'd rather be hunting." Not very practical but very literal. No logos just the straight message.

Bravo, Large Red Chevy Truck.

******

After The Door County Triathlon, it became apparent that my swimming wasn't getting easier. And, as they say, "If you're not getting better, you're getting worse."

If there's something else I've learned in training, it's the fact that you can be trained by the best and coached by the pro's but the only person who knows what's effective is you. I was tired of swimming becoming a joke with me. I was tired of my swimming being the thing that adds ten minutes to my triathlon time. Swimming was torture and that had to change. I had worked all winter in Masters Swim class and hit the open water as soon as possible. It didn't seem to click.

Timberman Half Ironman takes place on August 23rd. I only have so much time. I need to take advantage of these precious weeks leading up to it. In desperation, Isent this email to a bunch of triathlon friends:

Subject: Call to Arms

After my rather frustrating Door County Half IM triathlon where they pulled me out of the water, I want vengeance. 

I want to swim every single day in open water possible before Timberman (Sunday, August 23rd). As you may know, it's not safe to swim in the open alone so I'm asking for your help being there to be a swim buddy.

I don't care where I swim but being a working dad, my time is very defined.

I'm looking to swim during these days/times of the week. If you can join me, please let me know. I'll swim anywhere...Mendota, Monona, Quarry.

Monday 5:30AM-6:30AM, 3:30PM-4:30PM
Tuesday  3:30PM-4:30PM
Wednesday  5:30AM-6:30AM, 3:30PM-4:30PM
Thursday  5:30AM-6:30AM, 3:30PM-4:30PM
Friday  3:30PM-4:30PM
Saturday Morning beginning 7AM
Sunday Morning beginning 7AM

I'm swimming tomorrow morning with Ryan G. at Law Park as part of my CCMC membership (membership has its privileges!).

Thanks for any help!

-Donovan

I stuck by this schedule. Every day, there were people joining me. I was extremely blessed with friends who got in the water who haven't swam open water in months or years. Each time, I got into the water, it got a little easier but nothing remarkable ever happened. I didn't expect anything extraordinary to happen. I only wanted to keep working on it. It's only through focus and hard work do we find reward (except for the occasional $20 left in the pocket of a pair of jeans).

Time after time, I would get in the water. Perform my ritual--telling myself that I won't drown and letting my body float just to prove it to myself. Put my face in the water and try to labor through a distance. Soon, I got to a point where I would work a stretch of water then tell myself, "Now do 20 more strokes." Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I was improving in small pieces and my time poking my head above water was still there. The fear was still there. It came in waves where I caught water in my mouth or swam into weeds and I lost my concentration. And my concentration would not get back into it.

I still hadn't swam the 1.2 miles that I needed for Timberman. This would, I believed, help me on race combat any fear that I couldn't go the distance. When my coach Jessica had offered a trip up to Devil's Lake for a distance swim (2.4 miles or 1.2 miles) across the lake, I knew this would be a great time to put in the distance.

Last Saturday, I went with about a dozen of her athletes. Many were training for Ironman and many were training for a Half Ironman. Jessica and Howard were in kayaks. As the group started swimming to the middle of the lake, I started paddling my arms. As I began, Clayton asked if it was ok if he tagged along. Keep in mind that Clay shouldn't have to ask me since he's a very experienced, fast swimmer."Of course!" Howard kayaked near us since he was assigned to the rear of the swim pack.

Things weren't very different. I would swim for a stretch and get caught up in what was happening: deep water with me in it. Fear controlled my body every now and then. I would let it go and continue on. Time and again, Clay would tell me his favorite Michael Jackson jokes. Howard would give me tips on my swimming. One included such loving pearls as "The only difference between you and those guys," he pointed to the swimmers ahead of me, "is that you stick your head up and float around."

Howard also told me, "When you get your head above water take 2 or 3 deep breaths then get back into the water!"

He told me to swim to the boat. As I continued to swim, he slowly nudged the boat backwards every stroke. I stopped and put my head up, "STOP MOVING THE BOAT! I CAN'T GET TO YOU!"

"When you stop, it slows you down. Put your head above water and grab a couple breaths and put your face back in the water!"

"I would but I have to argue with you and waste my time and breath!"

Clay stuck with me through the whole mile/mile and a half that it took to get to the other side of the lake. He reminded me of things like what the difference is between Michael Jackson and a plastic grocery bag (One's dangerous for kids and the other holds groceries).

We got to the other shore line where Jessica was in her kayak. He and I took a little break and talked to Jess. I wondered how I got from this shore line back to the parking lot across the lake. I think she was confused by my question. Maybe wondering why I was asking this. There was no other way. There was only water. Walking back was a possibility if you can find your way. Her kayak was not going to take me across. There was no other way. At least no other convenient way.

Clay and I started back. Howard was long gone and Jess was keeping an eye on another pair of swimmers. He and I kept swimming and something just started clicking. I'm not sure what. Either my emotions just gave up or I found a rhythm or some other type of revelation. I kept going. There were long stretches of swimming that didn't seem to end and I didn't mind. I wasn't going fast but I was lumbering on.

I kept going and when I hit flora, I had never been so happy to see weeds. It had signaled to me that we were finishing up the swim. I stood up and my arms were immediately tightening. I pulled my goggles off. I pulled off my cap. I swam over two and a half miles--some possibly predict three miles since I kept zig zagging across the lake. It was an amazing feat. I was in serious shock over what I had accomplished. I was quiet but happy.

Something changed in the middle of the lake. Maybe it took all that work or maybe it took a long distance with no choice. Frankly, I'm not too terribly concerned. Because since that day, I've been swimming circles around everything.

The next day, I had the Ripon Medical Center Triathlon. The whole swim was a can of corn! I was passing a bunch of people at the first turn. I got to the second turn and I was run over by the next wave's leader and it didn't phase me (much). I knocked it out in twelve minutes--seven minutes off my last sprint triathlon swim.

This makes the 1.2 mile swim on August 23rd seem easy. Amazing.

There was a time when I put my triathlon bike up on Craigslist and vowed that I would never do another triathlon ever again. Today was the first day that I told somebody that I was doing Ironman 2011 and felt like it could be done. No problem. Seriously, WTF just happened?

Comments

[Mindi]

Ha. Excellent video. Especially the talented flautist. A bit F-this, a bit of the good, the bad and the ugly vibe. Nice.

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It is pretty commonplace to modify knowledge how attributions with what I will call "incompleteness" modifiers, because they in some sense indicate an incomplete knowledge state. Some examples: