A Personal Case Study
In an attempt to provide true insight into the more important factors that make up peak sporting performance, I'm going to document my own experiences preparing for and recovering from a long distance endurance event. In my case, it is the 2014 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. What follows is the first instalment of what I hope will provide an insightful look into the mind of an ordinary bloke who, while extremely competitive in nature, competes for the love of the activity and the process. Attaining one's desired results doesn't have to be all blood and guts, it really can be fun and pain free! Feel free to email me with any questions or comments. Happy National Braai Day!
Easter Saturday 2014. Having finished the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon just outside the mythical silver medal-winning four hour barrier, I was pretty satisfied with my performance. With a busy few months leading up this event, my preparation was very personalised, which many may deem as rather abstract or non-conformist. That is fine though; what works for one person does not necessarily translate well to others. Such is the beauty and intrigue of life!
Whilst satisfied with this performance and euphoric in the journey leading up to that point, I must admit that I was not exactly enthralled with how my body felt. More specifically, my left calcaneus was severely inflamed and was as stiff as hell. In short, I felt slightly crippled for several days afterwards.
Not that this was anything new though. When I was an eighteen year-old student, I got whacked in the back of my left foot by a revolving gate at Cape Town Railway Station. This resulted in the gradual development of bursitis in the calcaneal area, which has flared up from time to time owing to my life of athletic pursuits. Add in many years of excessive uphill running coupled with extended periods of long distance cycling and there is certainly cause for an accumulation of overuse.
The above paragraphs are pretty much symptomatic in nature, where the usual first aid acronym of RICE would no no doubt be the prescription of choice for many. This form of treatment merely scratches the surface though and, while good for initial soothing, does not necessarily address the bigger picture.
For me, attaining peak performance in my own sports of choice has gradually evolved over the past few years. Finishing times and overall position, whilst still important, are no longer the "be all and end all." While I do admit to thriving on healthy competition and am self-driven to improve my personal results annually, my true aspirations are also made up of other factors, recovery and optimal well-being being to the fore.
This past Sunday, I completed the Cape Town Marathon over the standard distance of just over twenty six miles. The warmer than usual weather and tougher new route aside, I was really satisfied with my result. As I have alluded to in the past, my competitive nature is reserved for actual events, where the physical and mental energy required is stored and nurtured by a non-quantitative and loosely structured training approach. Sunday required tapping quite deeply into this resource, which certainly is finite in nature. Building up this well of energy is an ongoing process though and is directly proportional to the myriad of factors that make up daily life.
Many athletes, no matter their ability, are very goal-orientated. This sort of mindset, whilst admirable and socially acceptable, can evolve into an unhealthy and all-consuming approach to their chosen event. Having learned the hard way on many occasions, ignoring outside factors and pursuing athletic performance exclusively by number of hours put in in training more often than not leads to choking at the end point, i.e. the event itself. Embracing one's daily circumstance and going with the flow, however non-textbook and frowned upon, is a far more practical and empowering approach to peak performance physically, mentally and bio-chemically.
Back to April: I must admit that I really did consider abandoning my marathon and ultra-marathon aspirations permanently. However intuitive and soft my training approach had been, I honestly didn't feel that pursuing longer events was worth the structural damage to my body. I've said it before and I'll say it again: daily exercise is an integral part of my existence and I want to be running and cycling for the rest of my life. The physical benefits aside, a healthy body equals a healthy mind and I would be a shell of a person were I not be able to run at all. In light of this wish, I thought that I might stick to the shorter distances in future, which are more my speciality anyway. After a few days though, I realised that my approach was tailored to being competitive at distances of ten to fifteen kilometres anyway, although many of my peers would disagree! I was already limiting myself to two marathon distance events annually and was taking great care to preserve my body. What was missing?
Gert Thys' front running and dramatic abandoning in Comrades 2014 had quite an effect on me. More specifically, his shedding of his shoes together with Dr. Ross Tucker's commentary of Thys' achilles injury woes ignited a light bulb in my head. Reading an article on PH levels affecting bursitis and tendonitis on the excellent Sock Doc website got me thinking more and more. Because I view my own athletic journey as a continuous project, these bits of information tend to get me fired up to help me help myself. For me, education never stops and this period was yet another great window of self-discovery, purely through observation as well as trial and error (yet again!).
In light of this and to summarise, my aspirations for the Cape Town Marathon were therefore as follows:
- address my calcaneal bursitis in way that embraced the triangle of health.
- arrive at the start line healthy and excited.
- arrive at the start line in the best possible shape relative to circumstance.
- arrive at the start line having enjoyed the journey of getting there.
- perform to the best of my ability on the day.
- not feel crippled afterwards; feel like I felt after Winelands 2001.
