Type 2 Fun

 Some people seem to be attracted to “type 2” fun, that is to say, activities which require hard work or fortitude, and which don’t always result in an obvious payoff for the efforts expended.  For these people, the joy is found in the process as much as in the results.  For some, that process is months or even years long: day in and day out, putting in the miles on the court, or the trail, or the road, embracing the long game, accepting that often the activity just feels hard, no matter how much preparation has gone into it.

But there is a delightful mystery to the process.  Because, at some point, you begin to take pleasure in the difficult moments, you look forward to them, you lean into them.  Over time a shift occurs where once a ten mile run was daunting (if not impossible), and now you look forward to it.

Plunging into bitingly cold water never really feels easy.  I almost always dread it, in fact.  I get the sense that some code deep within my DNA is telling me that it’s a bad idea!   My body is desperately pleading with me to protect my core organs, to get out swiftly and retreat to a warmer place.  And yet, the plunge is always deliciously invigorating.  When I exit the water I somehow embody more aliveness than I did before.  I get the sense that mentally overriding that deep coding has empowered me mentally and physically.   I get a rush- it’s fun…type 2 fun.

I don’t always cold plunge when I do a session at The Springs.  Sometimes it just doesn’t sound appealing!  I’ll often cap a long run with a Springs session, though.  I love how the cold plunge not only stimulates blood flow, but quickly brings my core body temperature down, and my joints and muscles really do seem to benefit from the contrast between hot and cold.

- Vincent