Tuesday, August 6, 2024 – Courage or stupidity?

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend. No races locally that I know of. Just of course the Olympics!! Some very inspirational stories happening there if you’re tuning in.

I came across this quote the other day and it spoke to me:

“Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that’s why life is hard.” — Jeremy Goldberg

It’s funny because it’s true. I find myself often questioning whether something is hard and good or hard and dumb. Usually it’s only after the results are in that we discover which it was. There is so much upside and reward and growth in pushing and challenging ourselves. But we have to keep an eye on not letting that rule us or get out of control. There is also society’s judgement. We hear people saying “that’s crazy – why would you do that?” But the same activity will get someone else to say “you inspired me to believe I can do it to”. Which voices do we listen to? Endurance athletes are by choice doing hard things and pushing boundaries and comfort levels all the time. Is this courageous or stupid?

I think the answer lies in being able to accept nuance, gray areas and no hard rules. We have a tendency to want to know the formula. Just tell me exactly what to do, and I’ll be able to put my head down and do it. Give me the roadmap and I’ll follow it to success. I see this thinking in teenagers as they discover how the world works and who they want to be. The world is still black and white to them. It’s either hard work or laziness. You have to be either intense or chill. You’re either aggressive or a wimp. They haven’t learned yet that you have to embrace all the sides in order to maximize what you can do in life. And that is not easy because you have to keep evaluating every situation as you go. There is no one right answer or correct formula. You have to be ok with a little bit of unkown and trusting yourself and making mistakes.

I will draw here on a post I saw recently from coach and author Steve Magness:

Elite Performance (and I will add here, all high performance) is about balancing opposing forces:

1. Riding the wave of adaptation and exhaustion
2. Being meticulous without being neurotic
3. Caring deeply but being able to let go
4. Being aggressive without being destructive
5. Giving your all while being relaxed
6. Being confident without being arrogant

You can see how this is a challenge, and takes some deep confidence and knowing of yourself. It is about finding the harmony between push and pull. Again, this is not something that can be taught. It has to be experienced. I hear teenagers say things like “people who do X are Y” or “people who don’t do A are B”.  They like rules and boxes and labels. Nuance and the unpredictable are scary and confusing when you’re trying to figure out the world and your place in it. And I just sigh and think, it’s not that simple. In fact, it’s really really complex. But embracing the complexity is the only way through to success. So be gentle with yourselves when you get the balance wrong. I still do often as the field and goalposts are constantly shifting! And keep doing courageous and sometimes stupid things.

On to tomorrow’s workout. Let’s do a fartlek on the spit! (I’ll be doing mine virtually alongside you as I’m away AGAIN, but will be back next week). Meet at Lakeshore and Leslie at 6:05 for drills, 6:15 GO. (jog to the lights beyond the streetcar barn to start).

1. 6-5-4-3-2-1 min Hard w half the time as rest (so 3 min, 2:30, 2 min, 90 sec, 1 min). Starting at goal marathon pace for the 6 min, then HM for the 5, then 10K, 5K, and hold there or faster for the 2 and 1 mins. Take 3 min rest. Marathoners, finish w another 6 min at MP. People doing tri’s or the TrackSmith 5K, finish with another 3 x 1 min on, 1 min off.

Have a great one and I’ll see you next week!

xo

Seanna