Staying Fit While Traveling
Here is a comprehensive guide to help you stay fit and feel your best, regardless of where your travels may take you.
More Than Our Story
Why I Love Triathlon
Table of Contents
Triathlon has become a cornerstone of my life. It has imparted invaluable lessons, provided an outlet through which I maintain positivity, helps me feel a sense of accomplishment, makes me part of a community, and most importantly, it has helped me come to terms with my illness. It’s also not just me, triathlon is full of competitors that have gone through transformative events, whether health-based, addiction, disability or other challenges, triathletes strive to better themselves, to overcome the challenges they place before themselves. In doing so, they find their true selves, their self-worth, and a community that’s warm embrace matches the feeling of accomplishment the sport can offer.
About Me
I was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer in December of 2020. In January of 2021 I had an operation to ressect (or remove) as much of the tumor as was safe. Over the next few months, I worked on regaining my strength and control over the right side of my body, which was greatly impacted post operatively. Always stubborn, I pushed on; graduating from walking to the end of my street, to around the block, until I made myself a promise that I would complete an IronMan race. I had previously completed a HITS Triathlon Series half-Ironman distance race in Naples, Florida in 2016, after which life got in the way, and triathlon and I parted ways.
Triathlon As Outlet
Triathlon is a great outlet, not only for the body, but also the mind. Physically, training (and competing) is a fantastic outlet – nothing feels better than working up a hard sweat and relishing the satisfaction of well-earned exhaustion. It also serves as a useful outlet mentally and emotionally. Even though my mind and memory aren’t as sharp as they used to be – there’s something comforting in knowing that within limitations, my physical capabilities are still intact. Whereas I get overwhelmed in crowds, or situations with too much stimulus, when training I can easily put these limitations aside, transporting myself to another place; no crowds, just me, my goals, and my stubbornness to overcome the challenge that lies before me.
Triathlon As Reward
Triathlon has given me a lot. The sense of accomplishment I get when I finish a race can’t adequately be put into words. It reminds me I’m still in control, that I’m still here, and I can do this. There’s also the inspirational aspect of it – hearing my family and friends say I’m an inspiration drives me on further. On the topic of inspiration, I met a competitor at a race this past weekend who was dealing with her own health struggles. She was competing in her first triathlon, and she said something that resonated deeply with me: she wanted to “change the narrative” of her story, something I found truly inspirational. Hearing other people’s stories of challenges and their accomplishments, their desire to change their narratives, reminds me of why I do triathlons, and why I started More Than Our Story in the first place.
Pushing Myself
It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you reach your limits and push through them. Triathlon presents a unique challenge in that it’s not just one sport, but three, and mastering them all is a lifelong challenge. It’s more than that – there’s the dedication involved – not just to training, but to nutrition and sleeping – in essence it’s a lifestyle. The other thing that attracts me to triathlon is its physical nature; my mental capabilities may have been diminished by my illness, but with triathlon it’s simple – swim, bike, run – that I can remember!
Positivity
Positivity is so important when you’re going through something as I am. Setting goals, dreaming big, and maintaining a positive state of mind can make all the difference between being happy and healthy, or fighting off depression or worse.
LINK BETWEEN POSITIVITY AND HEALTH:
Research has found a link between an upbeat mental state and improved health, including lower blood pressure, reduced risk for heart disease, healthier weight, better blood sugar levels, and longer life.1
Sense of Community
The first thing my wife noticed when she accompanied me to her first triathlon was the tremendous sense of community. Everyone cheers on everyone, regardless of age or skill – and that goes for competitors, crowd and volunteers alike. Triathlon is full of people that have gone through transformative events, and this sense of community helps them overcome and rise to their own challenges through it’s unquestioning support and camaraderie.
Triathlon’s Lessons on Acceptance
One of the stages of grief is acceptance. This isn’t to say that I’m happy about my diagnosis, rather that triathlon has helped me find peace with the grief; given me somewhere to focus my attention and energy, and allowed me to look forward to, and plan for the future. I chose to take on triathlon, which is itself a microcosm of the stages of grief. Not every race can be finished, and not every goal can be accomplished. Being at peace with why I set out on this challenge in the first place has instilled an important lesson in me – that failure makes the greatest teacher. We often learn more from our greatest failures than our greatest achievements, and I will undoubtedly experience failure as I continue my journey with triathlon. Case in point – I will be facing my greatest challenge to date on July 9th, when I will be competing in the Muskoka Ironman 70.3 – I will be going in with high hopes, and do my best, but only time will tell if my best will be good enough on that day, and giving my best is good enough for me.
RELATED ARTICLE
For more information on the stages of grief check out the article: Moving Beyond Grief.
My Health
Undoubtedly, triathlon has helped contribute to my continued good health and strengthened my immune system. Training keeps me in shape, makes me physically stronger, my heart healthier, and helps contribute to better sleeping and eating habits. I would like to think my journey with triathlon is helping keep me on top of my health challenges. Perhaps you should give triathlon it a try.
TRIATHLON RESOURCES:
Interested in getting involved with triathlon? Check outTriathlon Magazine for more information.
SOURCES
- Triathlon Magazine
- NIH, Positive Emotions and Your Health1, August 2015
Daniel
Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit.
Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.
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