Finding Peace

"What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." -- Otto Rank

After Robyn had the swim of her life on Monday, a few of our other workouts this week have proved to not be quite so inspiring.

On Tuesday, Rachel witnessed two loud and obnoxious arguments - one between neighbors, one between parents of a small child - during her warmup run and then slogged a bit through strides. On Wednesday, Robyn huffed and puffed through a seemingly low-key swim and began to wonder if indeed Monday's progress was real. And throughout the week, we've both felt just a little extra tired.

All of this reminds us of why we're incorporating yoga into this season's training. Our coach, Sage, is also our yoga teacher. During this week's class, we focused on santosha or contentment -- one of the niyamas or fundamental principles of yoga -- and an important part of our endurance training.

Contentment with our bodies -- just as they are, today. Contentment with our workout -- even if it didn't go as planned. Contentment with our lives -- even when they are complicated and messy.

So with this in mind, we're embracing the long workouts ahead this weekend - content to accept the challenges they pose and ourselves - just as we are.