Here I go again. Traveling this past week has afforded me the opportunity to read, write a lot of notes and then of course gather these different inputs and combine them into some sort of squabble that might benefit all of us. I know it goes deep at times and thank you for enduring my rambling. BUT - It was also interesting that while I was reading two books (J. Krishnamurti, Think of These Things & The Perfect Mile by N. Bascomb) it seems some of you have been getting restless - both these books addressed some of the simple facts you are getting too analytical about in your training and racing. While it is that time of year where we start thinking more about our races and analyze our 'feeling', there are some Truths that we seem to accept more when races are far off on the horizon. Why is it that we start taking all our inputs, from heart rate to eating habits and break them into fragmented pieces that are supposed to tell us something - show us we are improving, give us a pat on the back and let us know we are strong, healthy and fit? Why do we not think of these data points in the fall or the off-season? Why do we need validation as we get closer to race day?
Because we fear the simplicity of this entire process. Some of you have heard me say in the past weeks "this is all so simple, so easy". Not easy in effort but easy in how this process works. Most of you then shake your heads and figure 'that's easy for him to say' or 'he is soo full of himself'. Well, I have written this comment before and it exemplifies the ultimate Truth to me and how simple it all is:
There is no easy way -- there are consequences to every action, if you define sport in terms of process, then the fact that the path is difficult is the whole point! All athletes have assets and liabilities -- the only path to true satisfaction is by striving to achieve 100% of our own personal potential. Whether we achieve anything in life is 100% our doing -- no coach can create success, the athlete is responsible.
There is no easy way -- I love that sentence. If it were easy, why do it? The reason most of you enjoy this endurance sport is because of the challenge of it as well as the lifestyle of being fit and on an almost permanent fitness 'high' - knowing one can go out and ride any mountain or a 100+ miles is a great feeling. But is is not easy, nor is it supposed to be. Life provides us with a natural filter, those that want to sacrifice and suffer for this privilege of fitness and those that don't. It is that simple: suffer and sacrifice gives us a reward.
There is no easy way -- Why do we look for a magic formula? Why do we question our training, our inputs, our results, our data points? Why do we wonder about strength vs. power, how one person is faster than someone else, why too hard is so disheartening and too easy is just not the right feeling? There is only one way - to just do it. It might seem boring, but it is that simple. Go out and consistently work the miles.
There is no easy way -- We all have our motivations, our reasons. These don't have to be crypto-religious reasons - for most of you it should be this simple: to cover ground fast. Not only to better than the next competitor, but better than yourself...That is the true simple nature of what this sport is - a challenge to cover ground faster than you did previously. While training is for many of us is a rite of purification, that feeling of it being a lifestyle because it feels so good, from it comes speed and strength. But training also needs to simulate racing - and racing is a rite of death; from it comes knowledge (Krishnanurti). While this sounds intense, this rite demands a certain amount of time spent precisely on the Red Line - where you are riding the edge and there is nothing but hurt, suffering and pain on the other side. It is a knowledge of this experience that will prepare us better for that race day. It is not easy to train/race on this Edge - but then again, if we can spend a significant time on it...well, you know that answer.
There is no easy way -- We all make our sacrifices but we also need to keep it simple. We are all athletes (and some of you really are!) with an absurdly difficult task. This daily toil is arduous; satisfying on the whole, but not the bounding, joyous, happy-day nature romp we read in magazines. We listen carefully (??!!) to our bodies and heed strange requests. We all know what the mystic-athletes, the joggers, the water-cooler triathletes and others of their ilk say. But we also know that their euphoric selves are generally nowhere to be seen on dark, rainy mornings - especially not on the early weekends. They primarily want to talk it, not do it.... Simple: the true athlete trains even when he does not feel like it, races when supposed to, without excuses and with nothing held back. One does not question strength and power, heart rate and zones - they just go out and do the miles, do the work, put their head down and remain within the process - there are consequences to every action - if done honorably and consistently those consequences are positive result in our own personal definition of positive.
And the simple Truth -- We all have to go out and do it. As Roger Bannister said (um 50 years ago yesterday) the Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. The true competitive athlete, simmering in our own existential juices, we endure our melancholia the only way we know how: gently , together with those few others who endure/understand with us; yet sometimes very much alone. We have to do it. Just get through it with all we know how. Trial of Miles - they do add up, the hours of work, the cold, simple fact that our toil will result in a better race - but not guaranteed. Miles of Trials - there are ups and downs, days where things all fall into place and days where it is impossible to get our of bed or climb that hill fast, or work that interval as hard as you should, or h-a-n-g on to that wheel. Days where it all seems to fall apart and we see the lady in the lake or the wheel in front of us fade over the hill in front of us. You just gotta do it - it's that simple. There is no magic formula, there is no easy way...
And finally - take this tidbit of information from the book I just finished with you: The main point/difference in Krishnanurti's book is that he doesn't espouse any particular path, belief system or other dogma. His view is that there is a universal truth within us all - we simply need to quiet our mind for this truth to become apparent..... He also talks quite a bit about the only real truth being what we experience for ourselves and that it is not possible to follow anything, anyone, any creed to a truth... truth is a pathless land... get it? Simply put - there is no easy way, just our own.....
Word.
Chris
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