Coming Back

Training, like life is not a straight line

Let’s tackle a specific moment in your training. You are a successful endurance athlete.  You have conquered your sport.  You have run great races and excelled at grueling endurance events.  It changed your life.  You became a different and better person.

Then something happened.

Maybe it was a chronic injury, or a life event, or a motivational issue or just a scheduling problem!  Now you’re at the bottom of the mountain again looking up at your fitness.  You are wondering how you were ever that fit and you doubt yourself and your abilities – it’s only human.

You worked so hard as you look down at your jiggling adipose tissue, now you feel lost.  How will you ever climb back up that mountain and regain your fitness and more importantly regain your ‘endurance self’?  That lean, hard, indestructible athlete that you were?

The things that one time were easy, are now hard and you are shackled by self doubt.

I have some advice for you athlete’s who find yourselves in the ‘out of shape’ phase or even a slump of motivation.

I’ll summarize: Get over yourself.

What? You were expecting more detail?  OK, I’ll disassemble, reassemble and de-clarify it for you but seriously: Get over yourself.

Get out of your own way and enjoy the process of climbing the mountain.  Yesterday was yesterday and there is nothing you can do about that so you should stop obsessing over it and get on with your life.

Step one: “the winding road”

Accept that training like life is not a straight line.  There will be ups and downs.  Sometimes the highs will be quite high as you blast through your goals with nary an effort.  Sometimes the lows will be quite low as life knocks you down with a haymaker from your blind side.

It’s all just part of life.  It’s a rollercoaster ride and you can determine to either scream like a scaredy-cat baby or throw your arms up in the air and laugh like a maniac.

Accept the non-linear nature of training and life.  Decide to enjoy the ups and the downs both as unique celebrations of your existence.  Own it.

Step two: “never stop”

Don’t give up.  I guarantee that you are strong person if you have had endurance success.  You are going to need that strength.  It is much harder to fight a retrograde action on your training and fitness than to compete.  Every day you have to assess where you are and how much you can do.  Every day you have to get up and do what you can even if no progress is being made.  Even if you can merely slow the slide out of fitness it’s a win over entropy.  If all you can do is a 5 minute ride and a half-dozen pushups then do them and be grateful for the opportunity.

The doctors may say you are permanently broken and cannot be fixed.  That is never true.  I speak to people every week who have overcome some ‘you’ll never walk again’ life event to regain their endurance lives.  Surely you can outlast some pesky tendonitis or fasciitis?

It may take months.  It may take years.  But you have the strength and discipline to smile back and say “It’s ok, I’ve got all the time in the world.”

The only injury that can really stop you is a broken human spirit.  It takes great mental strength to keep pounding away at an intractable door, but this is what you must do in the interregnum.  Never give up.

Step three:  “easy does it.”

Take your time.  Those of us who have achieved endurance success will try to skip steps in our recovery.  Doing too much too fast is a sure way to get yourself injured and set yourself back.

It’s hard when you look at where you were versus where you are.  The chasm between the two states seems immense and you want to rush over it as quickly as possible.  In truth the slower you start the better your chance is of getting back to the summit.  It’s going to be a long process and you need to focus on getting strong first before you leap back into training and racing.

Play a long game.  Do the things now that will make you successful in 6 months and a year.  Do the disciplined stretching.  Do the yoga.  Do the meditation. Do the balance and core work.

The miles will come.  Patience is your ultimate weapon of personal strength.

Step four: “Don’t compare yourself to your prior self”

We all do it.  We remember the Personal Records and those days when everything clicked and we kicked the race’s ass.  We long to live, to exist in this state of superhuman achievement.  But, in recovery, we have to set that person aside.

There is no benefit to comparing yourself negatively to that earlier version of you.  For sure you can celebrate them in your reminiscences, but they don’t exist anymore.  They are like the water in the river and have flowed out to sea – the Buddha said that you cannot step in the same river twice – that person is gone.

But the strength of that athlete is still you.

No, really! You are an amazing athlete with an amazing machine.  That is inside of you and no injury or life event can change that.  That previous athlete is not mocking you in your current state.  That previous athlete should be the seed and core of your inner fire and confidence.  They are still there.

Comparing yourself to that previous athlete cannot help your today.  Today is today.  You are who you are.  Celebrate that fact and work with it.  Partner with that older version of yourself to build confidence for the slow climb back.

Step five: “learn”

The unique opportunity of having to climb the fitness mountain from the bottom is learning.  Each step of the way you get to find and consider learning moments.  Expect them and cultivate them.

After you have set your prior self aside, and come to peace with your current state you can approach the recovery with the mind of a child.  Be bright eyed and interested in the way your body responds to training.

Find wonder in the rise and fall of your heart rate, the aches and pains, the soreness in your core.  When you are on top, you are a passenger.  When you are climbing, you are a student.

Instead of being frustrated, be curious.  Be grateful.  Embrace the journey as you have the opportunity to learn deeply about yourself and your machine.

Find learning moments.  Find the valuable lessons in your recovery and rebirth.

Step six: “help others’

The history of humanity is shared experience.  When we are faced with challenges we pull together to pool our strengths.

In recovery athletes have a tendency to hide.  To pull away from their athletic world because they don’t feel worthy of it anymore.  “I can’t run anymore, why would real runners want to talk to me?”

This is nothing more than some cheap form of self-punishment.  The more you stay engaged the faster you will be pulled out of your slump.

There are people out there, thousands of people, young and old, who have gone through what you are going through, are going through it too, or will go through it eventually.  Get out of your self-pity cubicle and go find them.

Seek help from the community.  Offer help to the community.  Be of service.  You are in a unique position to face challenge with a group of people like you.

Pool your strength.  Stand shoulder to shoulder and fight the dragons of injury and recovery together.

Shared experience is a deep and valuable tool in recovery.

I have ridden the injury and recovery cycle many times throughout the years.  Every time it seems like the end of the world.  Every time I wonder if I will ever be able to run again.

Every time I keep moving forward.  Because I know its not my body, my performance or even my training that makes me indestructible.  It is my mind, my life force and my stubbornness that makes me indestructible.  Life can do what it wants to me because I know that when the smoke clears I’ll still be here, smiling and moving forward.

Your endurance achievements are not the purpose of life.  They are part of life.  Whether you can run or not does not define you.

1. Life has its ups and downs – expect it and manage it.  Enjoy the ride.
2. Never stop – Time is an illusion, keep moving and you will get where you want to go.
3. Take it easy – Recovery is a game of patience.  Don’t rush it.
4. Embrace the now – Don’t compare yourself to your former ‘greatness’.  Today is what you have. Celebrate it.  Be grateful for it.
5. Learn – Teat your recovery time as a series of learning moments.  Have the open-mindedness of a child.  Be a student.
6. Bring value to your community – Throughout your recovery have the intent of service.

See you at the top.