The Perfect Sunday?! Love, joy & satisfaction

Thinking back about yesterday, it feels I can write a whole book about it. This “training” day contained everything to call it a “perfect Sunday”.

A day full of love; for myself, Bart, and for friends.

A day full of joy; while practicing, in nature, and with each other.

A day full of satisfaction; from training, healthy food, and taking good care of myself and people around me.

Some elements that made it such a wonderful day:

• Kick off with a cold shower to consciously start my day.
• Continue with a beautiful yoga practice. Check in with myself, connect, feel and fuel myself with positive energy and love.
• Taking time for a relaxed and healthy breakfast together with my love.
• Going for a nice ride on the triathlon bike. Cycling together makes me smile: without a lot of words we both deeply enjoy the ride.
• Some intervals to make it a ‘proper’ training and after pushing the body a little, a feeling of true satisfaction pops up, both physically and mentally.
• Coming home after cycling, Bart asks if I might want to run to Alexandra, where we are going to spent the afternoon for a nice “Sunday Roast”. I feel fit and energised and if I can choose between a car and my own legs, I’m happy to go for a nice relaxed run.
• However, it’s Sunday, no rush. We first take time to brew and drink a specialty coffee and enjoy our garden.... already here I feel this is going to be such a good day!
• During running, I feel the sun on my skin, the wind along my body and fresh air full of oxygen. The weather is inviting people to go outside, to open up and smile. Positivity is all around me!
• The estimated 8 km appears to be 10 km. Nevertheless, It didn’t feel like any effort. Following my breath, mentally chanting my mantras, enjoying the view and running barefoot, it feels the earth is carrying me.
• Once arrived, I was ready to “cool” down. Together with Alexandra, we went for a lovely swim in the open water. Feeling the water surrounding my body, listening and following my breath to move through the water and once in the flow, feeling one with the water... I feel respect and love for the purity of nature around us.
• When we came out of the water, the Big Green Egg was warm and the champagne was cold. The rest of the afternoon we spend preparing beautiful food and enjoying every sip and bite of it!
• All the food and drinks definitely tasted even better after the bike-run-swim exercise.    ‍♀️‍♀️
• And... just because we can, Bart and I go for our favourite Italian ice cream in town.
• To end the day, I bake some food for coming week: a banana-dates-nut cake and “nocciole” (pure hazelnuts with raw cacao powder, like Nutella but better!)

If this is life as a triathlon athlete.... I can easily get used to it.
Combining training for the triathlon with yoga, quality time with good friends, spending time in nature, amazing food, and of course being with Bart!