BREAK THE ROUTINE- try an OtillO
Familiarity is useful and valuable but routines need to be broken periodically to expand mental and physical horizons. I did just that this past week when I flew to Stockholm to try a new race event with my brother called SwimRun. (To read a bit more…https://www.runwithmestockholm.com/blog/swimrun )
The Stockholm SwimRun is a 23km trail run (appox 14 miles) a 4.1km open water swim (approx. 2.4 miles) event broken up into 10 legs of each, swimming and running, all different lengths and all through forests and bays in the Baltic Sea. The fun twist is that participants are tethered to each other; about 3 meters in length. Basically, I was stuck next to my brother for over 4 hours.
I enjoy finding out about new endurance events and SwimRun appears to have grabbed the attention of the serious triathlete crowd while pushing out some of the more complicated adventure racing challenges. A participant does not need a lot of gear. When I was not spending time obsessing over the swim temperature and deciding whether I should wear a thermal swim cap (I did and I was glad I did), I asked this question to very fit Swedish athletes, “why a SwimRun?”. The responses made sense. “It is unstructured, like fartlek training”, “It is more FUN because I am doing it with my wife! And she cannot fall behind!” (remember the tether), “We get to play in the beautiful countryside!” and “Everyone is doing it now, so I must do it too”.
The way I see it, what makes the SwimRun enticing to many is that it is a team sport happening in a beautiful outdoor setting. Both you and your partner, be it your brother/sister, son/daughter, girlfriend/ boyfriend or your most favorite competitor, each cannot be more than 3-5 meters apart the entire time. You support each other, cheer each other and basically, experience the race together. To me, this connected addition reflects the increased desire for ‘community’ seemingly springing up in every type of activity among the generation (or three(!) that follow me (yup, I am nipping the baby boomer crowd).
So I did it, this SwimRun thing and the entire experience was colorful! I did not know what to expect, and had no idea the brackish water (Baltic sea) around Stockholm was so COLD. The race experience was invigorating. I popped in and out of various bodies of chilly water and when doing so, felt astonishingly refreshed and saw a beautiful area of Stockholm countryside. Everything was all very proper. ‘Couplets’ of runners clad in wetsuits jogged thru city parks and outdoor picnics, and one wedding, and nobody seemed very perturbed. I became in closer touch with my brother too, I think.
The trip was shy of a week and i returned with ideas on how to apply my experience for business. It would be a lot of fun to market a SwimRun trip to Stockholm next year as there are varying lengths for different abilities. Also, IF one could work thru all the regulations and fees surrounding the creation of a SwimRun race right here in the lakes of Mpls, think of the interest such a fun event could generate.
Lastly, I just enjoyed experiencing the subtle differences of a Scandinavian country and hope to bring back some of their organization and clean design to my own, moderately disorganized office and life. Effort I spend to take me somewhere different, or experience something not so familiar, never fails to inspire me to do better.