Conventional wisdom is a term that frequently pops up in websites and blogs over the broad scope of health, fitness and sport. Credited to a 1950s economist named John Galbraith, its meaning is essentially those ideas generally accepted by experts in any particular field, the result of conforming effectively preserving the status quo of whatever.
In today’s modern society, particularly athletics, there seems to be an increasing demand for “how to” guides in almost everything: how to complete an ironman triathlon on eight hours a week; how to boost your immune system in seven easy steps; how to ride a bicycle faster uphill. Whilst this plethora of information is no doubt useful to a point, it is important to remember that most of this regurgitated advice - if blindly followed - can actually limit an individual’s true potential.
What about those athletes who approach things differently from the rest? I’m sure we all know a few individuals that fit this bill; independent, maybe a little reserved, self-sufficient. Often dismissed as slightly weird and non-conforming, these folk are becoming fewer and farther between in the increasingly “flatline” world of endurance sports. And it is a pity because these seemingly “non-team players” do have a legitimate place in the greater athletic arena, no matter at what level.
Take a guy like Jonathan Vaughters for instance, the man behind the popular international cycling team Garmin-Sharp. Here is a guy with genius-level intelligence who became a professional bike rider in the most offbeat manner. Riding his first few seasons for a tiny Spanish outfit whilst maintaining his college degree studies, Vaughters was soon headhunted by the mighty US Postal Service in 1998. Yet his quirky personality and provocative nature – Vaughters set his own training schedules owing to his science background, much to the chagrin of the team coach – eventually saw him fall out of favour with the team hierarchy, resulting in his moving to the more progressive Credit Agricole for the remainder of his Continental career. If you are a cycling aficionado, one look at the members of that French team reveals a happy group of eclectic personalities brought together by their sheer diversity. Despondent and dismayed about the realities of professional cycling, Vaughters eventually called it quits. Returning home to Boulder, he dabbled in several projects, including the real estate industry, the profits of which partly formed the nucleus of his World Tour squad of today.
The thing about Vaughters is this: while he was different to most of his contemporaries, he has left his mark in many other ways. Here was a rider who, when frustrated about the mundaneness of daily training, would spend a day oil painting in his Girona apartment, effectively adding some yin to the more predominate yang. I’m pretty sure that many of the new generation of US cyclists would not be where they are today if Team Garmin-Sharp had not evolved from the tiny Under-23 squad it was in 2004.
I consider the people of any particular sporting discipline to be its greatest asset; especially the “different” ones. These are the folks who give sport its character and appeal and we need more them. As a teenage triathlete in the early 1990s, I was fortunate enough to interact with many a seemingly offbeat individual. One athlete that I got to know quite well during this period ticked all the boxes of the “alternate” category. A sports scientist by qualification, he worked as a personal trainer at our local gym, which was host to the swimming squad that I was a member of at the time. An immensely talented athlete in all three disciplines, he never actually attended any swimming sessions with the squad, preferring the waters of False Bay as his aquatic centre (“the pool makes me crazy, Jason – I only swim there when sharks are about.”) Upon hearing of my imminent enrollment in a city-centre tertiary institution and the commuting it entailed, he recounted how he cycled everywhere when he was at university (“who wants to catch the train when you don’t have to, china? I cycled between lectures for years”). His workout of preference was a cycle-swim-cycle, more out of necessity and enjoyment than for conscious preparation (“I’m doing a lot of riding from my place in Obs to the beach. Just get an old toppie to watch your bike at the catwalk and swim across the bay and back”). Not one for conventional sports nutrition, he made his own energy bars, yoghurt and goodness knows what else. One day he passed me on the road at a rate of knots, slowing to chat for a while. Upon my enquiring where he was headed he seemed undecided, commenting that he was “just riding and enjoying the lekker tailwind.”
While this fellow really did epitomize the individual nature of a sport like triathlon, he certainly was not afraid to help and advise others; he just didn’t preach it out loud. The fact that he was a sports scientist is perhaps ironic given his seemingly unconventional and “earthy” approach to his own sporting pursuits. Interestingly, I have found that many coaches who continue to pursue sport in their own time tend to eschew most of the scientific principles that they impart on their athletes. Why is that? Recognizing that their own motivations for exercise are markedly different to those pursuing high performance could perhaps be one reason. Pure speculation of course, but an interesting phenomenon nonetheless.
This coming weekend sees an iconic event on the international triathlon calendar take place. Challenge Roth is home to many an earth-shattering result, especially amongst the pro women competitors. Be it an aerobics teacher from Durban or a public servant who spent time in Nepal, the female component most certainly are performing closer to their true potential than their male counterparts. One bloke who could potentially quash that statement is a bit different from the rest. Pete Jacobs is an athlete like no other, quite possibly one of the most intuitive male triathletes of the present day. Yes it is true – male athletes can learn a lot from the ladies, truly listening to their bodies being but one critical aspect. My experiences working with female athletes confirms this fact; women are far more in tune with their bodies than men, embracing recovery and trusting their advisors in a truly holistic manner. That these sorts of attributes form the basis of Jacobs’ approach makes him different from the rest and often the butt of derisory commentary. He doesn’t seem to care though and I’m sure there is much we could learn from him.
