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Saturday, 01 April 2006 00:16 |
 I have been swimming a lot lately. A whole lot. So much so that I can hardly lift my breakfast from the plate to my mouth my arms are so tired. I’m up early in the morning to meet my training buddies down at the pier. Then it’s off into the deep blue ocean, sometimes over 2000m out to sea before turning around and heading back. Then some evenings it’s off to the pool for the Masters workout under the direction of a coach who makes sure you go home without even the energy to suck you dinner up with a straw!
A reasonable question would be “Why?”";"About 8 years ago I was sitting in a restaurant in Cour ‘d Alene Idaho enjoying a post race meal at a large table with a dozen or so other pro’s. No, I should be honest; I wasn’t enjoying myself at all. I was pretty depressed! We had just raced an International Triathlon that morning and I had placed 11th. Not too bad I guess but the race had paid down to 10th! I had needed the money, but more importantly I was frustrated that I was just outside the top places. In fact, this was the 4th race in a row that I had placed one out of the money. If the race paid to 10th I was 11th, to 5th I was 6th, 3rd I was 4th! So there we were, sitting at this big table. The other athletes were all laughing and chatting, sharing stories and planning their next races and I was just sitting there. Miserable, frustrated and depressed. The guy next to me, who had just placed third, must have realized something was bugging me and asked “How was your race today?” “Were you satisfied with how things went?” No, I wasn’t! And I let him know just how frustrated I was. I told him I had lost almost a minute and a half to the lead group in the swim and it had taken a hard bike and run effort just to get back up to 11th. “How much swimming you been doing?” he asked. I told him about 3 000 to 5 000 meters a week, but I’m a strong swimmer and don’t really need to train that much I assured him. He smiled, but was a real gentleman as he quietly explained to me that most of the guys in the top ten that day were national or Olympic calibre swimmers but they all still trained in excess of 20 000 meters a week!!! Right then I realized what it was going to take if I wanted to really succeed at the elite level. I guess I had two choices. I could either just compete in amateur races, have fun and enjoy regular success, or I could apply myself and raise my standard to the required level to excel at the elite level. For me there was only one very obvious choice. I flew back home, trained hard for 5 weeks, and won my next 3 races. As a Christian I have found that mediocrity has had far more severe consequences than simply placing me out of the prize money! The most miserable people in the world are those who profess to be Christians but who do not commit themselves wholeheartedly to God. Their reward is the worst of both worlds. There have been times when I was the king of compromise. I did what was right in my own eyes; all the time convinced my relationship with God was “good enough”. I was neither hot nor cold, yet convinced everything was still okay! But God’s blessing left me, and all I knew was frustration. Now I realise how repulsive such an attitude is to God. The Bible tells us it is better for those who have not heard the word of God than for those who have heard it but do not follow its commands. “ He who is not for me is against me”, Jesus said (Matthew 12:30). A stern warning with serious consequences. Living a Godly life without compromise requires a lot more effort than 5 weeks of hard training. It is a lifelong commitment to putting God first in all you do. That’s harder than any swim workout I have ever done but the rewards are far, far greater!
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Last Updated on Saturday, 01 April 2006 02:18 |
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