Practicing What I Preach
Since my Strengthof Spontaneity post a while back, I've read a few interesting pieces on
the subject or similar thereof. Maybe it is my incessant thirst for
“off-the-beaten-track” articles and books, but I've always seemed to be drawn
literature that is not exactly what you would call mainstream and definitely
not your usual “How To Do Whatever in 7 minutes/day.” This pursuit of alternate
scribes is not limited to sport; some of my favourite books are those of
adventurous journalists/spies/photographers/entrepreneurs et al who have
endured the most interesting and exciting of times whilst existing on a
shoestring budget, sometimes in the face of great danger and/or adversity.
One book in
particular , Frontline by David Loyn, had a lasting impression on me. I
bought this book by accident in 2007 when I had originally intended to get my
hands on some CD/DVD/magazine. They say that you should never judge a book by
it's cover, but I did. More precisely the back cover, which consists of an
image of two British TV cameramen and some beaming Afghans, standing in front
of a Russian helicopter. The mountains of the Hindu Kush form a dramatic
backdrop, to say the least.
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| Frontline: One of the best books I've ever read. |
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| Always judge a book by it's back cover. |
After buying the
book on a Saturday afternoon, I had already finished it by Sunday evening. A
true story of an intrepid group of British war photographers/TV cameramen, Loyn
intertwines the lives and times of these eccentric and off-beat characters with
the volatile environments surrounding them as they pursue their calling:
relaying the brutal truth of the world's trouble spots to the Western world via
their camera lenses. Part adventure story, part documentary, Frontline is
definitely a book apart, with only John Simpson's writings coming close
to the eclectic stories of “derring-do” and sheer adventure on a whim and a
nickle.
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| John Simpson: Adventurous journalist extraordinaire. |
Spontaneity is a recurring theme in many of these books, where being in
the right place at the right time with no advanced planning has sometimes resulted
in a scoop. I've taken this book with me on numerous trips for some easy
reading – I just open it up and read a few random pages – even reading it
whilst sitting at the Department of Home Affairs waiting for a passport
renewal.
Only this past
week did I read the most interesting of blog posts after logging into my
beloved – and soon to be redundant – RSS Feed, Google Reader. Written by
2012 Ironman World Champion, Pete Jacobs, there is a paragraph where he
recounts his first run after injury. Consisting of only a few 100m sprints on a
grass field, he walks back to the start point with his eyes closed for another
repetition, which is part of some sort of “new age” healing technique that he
is exploring with his physiotherapist. Given that this “training run” took
place only six weeks before his first race of the professional season indicates
that Jacobs certainly has the confidence and belief in himself that I suspect
very few of his competitors would. Even more fascinating is the fact that he
has not been able to run since January, yet is totally confident in his ability
to be in sub-2hr40 marathon shape by the time Kona rolls around in October.
Unthinkable within the stifling walls of conventional athletic wisdom. He ends
his post off with some interesting words, reinforcing his confidence in his
totally unstructured training regimen giving him the freedom and ability to
race when and wherever he pleases, free from the shackles of rigid training and
taper schedules. A truly intuitive athlete indeed, and a world champion
to boot.
As I typed the
first paragraphs of this piece in front of the Rodriguez documentary, Searching For Sugar Man, I reflected on how my athletic
plans for Saturday had evolved over the past week. After a surprisingly good
first cross-country league race last Sunday on absolutely no speedwork – which
is totally overrated, by the way – whether to take part in the next race has
been on my mind on and off the whole week. This week's race was scheduled for
Saturday afternoon and I was in the proverbial “rock-and-a-hard-place” as to
scratch my beloved morning ride with friends in order to satiate my reignited
thirst for competition.
I strained my
right soleus muscle slightly in last week's race and was slightly
concerned on the Sunday evening as to whether any further hard-running would be
the right thing to do. I woke up on Monday feeling rather average, as well as
rather swamped by the hectic workload of the coming week. Add a spur of the moment
opportunity to be part of Peak Performance Fitness' massage therapy team for the touring
Queensland Reds into the mix and my weekend pursuits were fast becoming the furthermost thing from my mind.
It was whilst
massaging the Reds players that I started to feel a shift in energy and
attitude. Doing something that I love as a sideline form of employment is a
rare privilege, which induced a sort of placebo effect; soothing the player's
ailments pre-practice definitely resulted in some sort of euphoria and my soleus
strain had virtually disappeared by the time we had finished our respective
treatments. My frame of mind also started to lean towards the positive and once
back in the office, the mounting workload no longer seemed as daunting; we
would get through it. Maintaining my usual extremely low training intensity
throughout the week also contributed to a suitable balance between yin and yang
energy.
Saturday morning
saw a massive fog bank covering the Peninsula as we set off on our weekly
cycling adventure. I felt suddenly lighter and about half an hour into the ride
decided to participate in the cross-country race the same afternoon. Decision
made, I then planned where to turn off early in order to save my legs for the
afternoon's dose of “anaerobic hell.”
As I left my
riding companions at a traffic circle, I immediately shifted down into a 39x19
gear ratio and cruised home at a soft-pedalling effort. The legs felt good and
I took in the view of the perfect surf line up at Muizenberg's Surfer's Corner. After stopping off at the local coffee shop for chat with some buddies,
two of us soft-pedalled home with the guy's seven year old son through the
quiet back streets of the neighbourhood, making donkey noises and “cooh-cooh”
sounds of a friendly owl. That little bike ride probably made the young
fellow's day.
With about six
hours between getting home and the scheduled start time of the cross-country
race, I took a cold shower for some instant cryotherapy. Whilst
initially unpleasant, the cold water definitely had a rejuvenating effect along
with a few cups of tea and loads of fruit.
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| Always use the cold tap for recovery. |
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| Tea: the great revitalizer |
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| Fruit for strength. |
Lining up in the
strong wind of the Swartklip Sports Stadium, the usual pre-race jitters
were conspicuous by their absence. After a warmup consisting of little more
than slow jogging, I was content just to be there and not worried by the sight
of my fellow competitors going through impressive warmup sprint routines. As
they say, everybody looks good warming up.
As the gun went
off, it was down to business; the first kilometre always being a jostle. After
settling down, a feeling of calm and surprise came over me – I felt
surprisingly good! The rest of the 8km race was a blur of tactics, elbowing and
lots of wind on the exposed course. After a titanic tussle with a few guys that
I had been going head-to-head with throughout, I crossed the lined tired but
exhilarated, and with better result result than the previous week's race. Very
surprising considering my early morning shenanigans. But it shows that the
mind-body connection is a powerful thing and is often overlooked in the quest
for peak fitness and race results.
Some lessons
here:
- If you plan too far ahead athletically, you won't listen to your body.
- Roll with challenges that daily life brings.
- When in doubt, go slow and do less.
- It's OK to “go pro” and extend yourself once in a while.
- Don't “go pro” too often.
- Ensure that you fully recover from this athletic extension in order to reap the benefits and maintain optimum health and vitality.
Driving home
along the coast, the sight of a calm False Bay blown flat by the
steadily increasing north west wind was sight to behold. The beaches along
Baden Powell Drive were interspersed with groups of fisherman, taking advantage
of the latest seal run and stocking up on snoek, which they would sell
later on the side of the road for hard currency. Popping by Muizenberg Beach,
the earlier shore break had dissipated somewhat but there was no shortage of
surfers.
As I write the
closing paragraphs of this piece, the weather is starting to come in here, with
heavy rains and winds (by Cape Town standards anyway) forecast for Sunday and
Monday. After a Saturday of extending myself it is definitely time to take the
foot off the pedal, for one of a better expression. I'm not sure what time I'll
run tomorrow; how far or how long I have no idea. What I do know is that it
will be nothing more than a slow jog sometime in the mid to late afternoon.
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| Incoming: The surf will definitely be "up" tonight. |
