Shortly after starting to write this post, I fell asleep with my laptop on my lap. You’ll realise by the end why that’s ironic.
At the end of January, I attempted a swim expedition that I had been working toward for a number of months: the first recorded swim from the top of Coromandel Peninsula back to Auckland. It wasn’t a big, hairy, audacious goal; I hadn’t held this dream in the soil of my mind for years. But it was a goal nonetheless and one which I had committed myself to. During the latter stages of the training in preparation for this expedition, there was a considerable demand on my energy and time. I was putting in up to 80 kilometres of mileage per week. This was on top of the daily demands of family, work, and preparing our house for sale. It was a lot.
But I discovered, or rather rediscovered, an interesting phenomenon during this time. The pressure of what I needed to undertake each day did not tire me; rather, it gave me energy. The necessity of these large goals coinciding (namely, selling our house two weeks after a significant swimming goal) meant that I had no choice but to put in a serious amount of physical work each day. To do otherwise would lead to probable failure, for either one goal or both. For some, a situation like this may lead to an overwhelming sense of stress. For me, it focused my energy and attention. I had to do both, and so I did. Was it sustainable? No, likely not. But it was certainly doable.
Contrast that with my current situation. I decided immediately after my swim attempt to give myself at least a month off from swimming. It’s now been slightly more than a month and I’m likely to extend that hiatus a month further. There are two reasons for this: firstly, I have medial epicondylitis (also known as golfer’s elbow) in my left arm; secondly, I need to find my love for swimming once again before stepping back into the ring. One reason is for my body, the other is for my soul. And so, this period of rest has involved sleep, and plenty of it. It’s not unusual to now wake at 7am on the weekends after a 9-hour sleep. You might say that’s not much of a sleep-in at all, but when it wasn’t unusual to wake at 4am during the latter stages of my training you will appreciate that it is quite generous. Yes, I am doing some level of aerobic exercise combined with sauna sessions to keep my body activated, but it’s hardly strenuous.
This is where it gets interesting. The more sleep I get, the more tired I am. I am less energised now than two months ago when I was sleeping less and expending considerably higher levels of energy. Of course, there is nothing wrong with indulging this period of sleeping and lounging. As important as the season for training overload, so is the season for rest. This intentional and extended rest ensures that the cycle remains sustainable. But here I come to the core observation of my lived experience; the paradox that is inherent in our daily lives: energy leads to more energy, rest leads to more rest. And to me, that is fascinating.
As Newton’s first law states, “a body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion”. I guess I didn’t realise it to be so literally true.
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