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  • Author Author: SamKavanagh
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Rest....a sign of weakness or necessary?

SamKavanagh
It has been a while since I put together an update on life and my only excuse is sleep. Despite a valiant effort to conduct life as usual racing, training, working, traveling and playing Dad/Husband from time to time it turns out 5 hours of sleep is my breaking point. Realizing I was drained did not dawn on me in some dramatic moment of clarity instead it crept into life.
 
First it was the reduced power on the bike that meant only one thing I was not going hard enough…so I went harder. Then it was the mood swings from happy go lucky to distant and missing. These swings were certainly the product of a growing list of incomplete tasks so the only answer was to buckle down beginning in the early morning hours working late into the night. I continued on this path for the better part of the last 1.5 months until it happened. Sara likely never noticed but one evening as we were sitting down for dinner I managed to fall asleep at the table waiting the 30 seconds for her to join Amelia and I. It was then that it dawned on me that my lack of leg strength, motivation and general enjoyment of life maybe missing because my body and mind were exhausted.
 
Naturally, one would expect sleep would be the appropriate reaction to this new evidence. Not this guy, know I deemed what I had discovered was a *** in my armor and instead continued on the path to eradicating weakness from my body. In true champion form I would prevail.
 
Alas I finally broke myself, a tweaked back, sore stumpy with linger symptoms of an infection and a nagging tickle at the back of my throat forced me to rest. I was in Colorado   Springs when this all came to head. Fortunately, for me it was an opportune time to rest and rest I did. I was in bed by 8 nearly every night and despite bouts of restless legs was logging 8+ hours of sleep a night. To my surprise life began to turn a bit brighter and my various symptoms began to fade and once again my legs have some go in them.
 
Now I sit in my hotel in Roskilde Denmark waiting for the start of Road World Championships.  There is no way of telling what the outcome of racing will be in a few days time but I can say that I am once again listening to my body and the body says its time to race.
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  • Congratulations Sam,

     

    I think you put down an important truth about life.  Being disabled is irrelevant.  You have to enjoy your life, every day.  Sometimes you get so focussed on the future, that you forget to live today.

    Since my disablity, I have learned to live a completely different lifestyle.  Yes I miss those physical things I used to do without a second thought, but I am now determined to do what I can as best I can.  I know I will never run again, drive a car or do any of a huge amount of physical tasks I once enjoyed.  But that does not mean that I cannot spend every day enjoying life and others around me.

    Some people think winning is everything.  To me, the real victory is wanting to still try even knowing that just surviving the event is a significant accomplishment.  Yes winning is important, but having the satisfaction of winning a personal goal is better than all of the medals and ribbons I ever won in competion.

     

    So make sure you spend time watching your daughter grow up, enjoy your wife's company and smell the roses and the little joys of life.  They are all as important as anything else you might do.  Life is a journey.  If you hurry to get done first, you will only realize that you missed most of it along the way.

     

    Enjoy life, we only get one chance.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    DAB could not have put it better myself. Looking to the future and setting goals are critical aspects of living a full life but if you fail to live in the moment; What exactly is the future for?

     

    Winning can be measure on many scales and levels and not necessarily whether or not you are on top of a particular podium.

     

    Thanks you for the kind words and stay true to your words of wisdom.

     

    Sam

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  • in reply to DAB

    DAB could not have put it better myself. Looking to the future and setting goals are critical aspects of living a full life but if you fail to live in the moment; What exactly is the future for?

     

    Winning can be measure on many scales and levels and not necessarily whether or not you are on top of a particular podium.

     

    Thanks you for the kind words and stay true to your words of wisdom.

     

    Sam

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