Since January 2023 I’ve written 45 posts on topics like pain, gratitude, morality, free-will, consciousness and discipline. I’ve tagged every post with a ‘ing’ category. So far I’ve used: Writing, cycling, dreaming, eating, lifting, moving, racing, reading, rowing, running, speaking, surfing, swimming, thinking, working.

But wherever possible, I try and relate what I’m talking about to triathlon.

Here’s my directors cut for the past year, roughly organized into themes.

Moving

• Animal immersion – We should take advantage of our innate understanding of animals, like actors do.
• Fighting the water – We tend to fight the water when we swim, rather than let it do the work for us. 
• Keeping in touch – Exercise (especially outdoors) strengthens your senses as well as your muscles. 
• Mirror muscles – Social media encourages us to sculpt our bodies into artificial and unhealthy shapes.

Thinking

• Partly cloudy – Reflecting on bad moods and some ideas on how to prevent them.
• Conditions – Conditions are directly interfering with your happiness
• The objective professor – We will do almost anything to get out of something painful (like learning Spanish)
• Excuses – Judgmental thoughts are usually what prevent you from starting, finishing or continuing your exercise.

Feeling 

• Swimming with discomfort – Cold water gets more uncomfortable the harder you fight it.
• Pain face – Cyclists should tell their mind to shut up, not their legs.
• Nowhere to Hide – Rowing demands a lot from someone who is not a practical ‘sensing’ type.
• Toughing it Out – Comfort seeking is built into us, but it is ruinous. 
• The Terrible, Horrible Wave – When fear isn’t faced, it makes everything (including surfing), much harder.

Eating

• Eating until you are 100% full – Reflections on 5+ years of obsessive calorie counting
• Eat first with your stomach – Throw away your calorie counting app and rely on something infinity smarter – your stomach. 
• Filling in the gaps – Before you try your next diet, see if you can stop automatic eating.

Racing

• Peace & War – What’s stopping us from always being ready to race?
• The Trouble with over control – How to avoid post-race disappointment