Motivation

It's been tough to train these past few weeks. It's dark when the alarm sounds in the morning and it's dark by 5pm in the afternoon. And race season is a long time away.

I know the importance of being consistent with my training and 'banking' the work that I do now for next summer.

Still, it's tough to get out the door when the temperature drops and the snow is falling.

But I'm still walking with Luka every day and I consider him to be a key to maintaining my fitness through these short winter days.

There was a story in The New York Times this week about the benefit of walking a dog. Here's a small excerpt:

New research from the University of Missouri has found that people who walk dogs are more consistent about regular exercise and show more improvement in fitness than people who walk with a human companion.

Here's the link for the story:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/the-best-walking-partner-man-vs-dog/

Before Luka arrived here earlier this year, I didn't really have a clue how much time we'd need to invest in him every day. Margreet talked of walking him three hours a day and I thought, geez that's more time than I train and I struggle enough with that. In my mind, I nominated her as chief executive dog walker.

We now split our dog walking duties. Because of my work times, Margreet has the morning shift. And I take the little guy - he appears to have hit his adult size - in the afternoons.

For quite some time, Luka intimidated me. I just wasn't sure how to interact with him. Something has changed in me, though I can't say exactly what it is. It's a confidence issue. And I have great confidence in my ability to manage him.

That sounds far too clinical. If you have a dog, you probably know what I mean. We've had a melting of the minds. In simple terms, I'm thinking more like a dog. His needs are simple: food, water, play, sleep - repeat, not necessarily in that order.

The simplicity with which a dog approaches life has provided me with the gentle reminder that I need from time to time when I let some life stress take too high a priority.