This morning I swam over a 1000 meters in the pool. This length is more than half the distance I will need to swim for the Ironman 70.3 which is pretty encouraging!
My coach had me do different lengths, different speeds and different rest periods. Her quote of the day was, “Give me 50 easy and 50 hard.” Working on multiple aspects of swimming she wanted me to focus on form and breathing first, then just swim. For the first 50 meters, I was to take it easy to think through it and during the next 50, I swam my race pace. The whole time we were adding multiple 50 meters and 75 meters along the way all the way up to sets of 200 meters. From isolating the kick to focusing on my pull to swimming different strokes, I did one thing: I kept going.
Many hungry children around the world only have one goal in life: to keep going. For them it is a much more serious issue than swimming. One of the orphans we help feed around the world is a young man named Zoré Issouf in the country of Burkina Faso. His full story is found on our blog and shows the importance of food in the life of an orphan. Here is a short excerpt:
Zoré’s cousin expressed gratitude to the staff saying: “I have come to say thank you for what you have done for Issouf. Because you accepted him at the Hope Center, his life was not wasted. He survived because you cared for him, gave him food, a place to live. Thank you for saving his life.”
“Issouf is the only family member with a school diploma. His sisters were forced to get married and the other brothers are doing small jobs in the village. If Issouf had stayed in the village he would not have had this opportunity to earn a diploma.”
This effort of completing an Ironman 70.3 triathlon is much more than swimming, biking and running. It is about helping others, so they can keep going.
Join with me in helping kids like Issouf keep going. Simply click the button below to donate and choose “#TRI2FEED Ironman Triathlon.”