Humility

First a couple of photo’s.


This is the pool at FlatIron where I’m training. 2 days earlier I’d been out in mid 70’s loving the sun. On this day we had about 12-15inc of snow and the air temp was about zero. I had to laugh as we swam and the coach stood on the pool deck dressed like an Eskimo.

The first two don’t do justice to the views I see each day as I train, but hopefully give you a little taste. The mountains are pretty imposing and loom on the horizon all the time… I cant wait to get up there once the snow melts!

SO to main theme of this post…..

Being here in Boulder is a lesson a day in so many ways. But in the last couple of days I’ve been made really aware of one particular lesson I can try to learn…..

As a Christian, one of the things I really try to focus on, pray about (and for) daily, and know is a real key to growing as a Christian, is Humility. In the bible God says that without it, you miss out on wisdom and can’t grow closer to God – so it’s clearly something that’s important to me. But when the opportunity comes… it actually takes it, to receive it…. If you know what I mean.

So how does this all relate to my first week here in Boulder? Well in 2 major ways:

1. The altitude here in Boulder is nearly 6000ft (2000m) which means the air is pretty thin. This has a HUGE effect on you in a number of ways. When training you just can’t go as fast, as hard or as long as normal. The reduced O2 means your body can’t produce as much energy in your body and your muscles therefore can’t work as hard. So when out training and riding with people, I’ve been forced to accept that I just cant climb a mountain as quick as I could… or more importantly as the other people on the ride. Granted, I’m riding with some of the best athletes in the world (current and former world champs, Olympians etc), but it’s still tough to ask your body to do something you expect it to…. And have it reply with a firm NO WAY!!! I’ve had to accept that I can’t go as fast as I expect to just yet and that others will be dropping me pretty easily. The altitude also means that I can’t DO as much as I’d normally do and recovery is WAY more important too. Sleeping, eating and hydrating become a real focus. But also realising that until I adapt to the altitude, I need to NOT push as hard or as much as I normally would. I might want to do the extra session, or even feel like I could, but deep down I know that I cant beat the altitude… or should that be “cheat” the altitude. I have to accept that it’s bigger and more powerful than me and I’ve just got to go with it for the ride as I adjust to the lack of O2.

2. The second way I’ve been “humbled” this week, is by people. Boulder is a “hub” of world class athletes and this is one of the reasons I’ve come here. It struck me this morning in the pool as I was hanging on for dear life to the times for our main set. I was swimming in a lane with a world champ and 2 time Olympian, in the lane next to me was one current and 3 time world champ, and one 4 time world champ and Olympian… and there’s me…. VERY cool I’m thinking…. In between desperate gasps for breath as I take all of 2 seconds rest at the end of the current 100yrd interval. I can’t help but be humbled that I even get to train with these people, of just how good they are, and that they let me train with them.

But as I said at the start, humility something that’s pretty key to my faith. The opportunity to hopefully grow in it is a good one. I have to accept that right now, confronted by my current surroundings, I don’t have much choice. Altitude doesn’t care for pride and world champions certainly don’t either. I only hope I can use the opportunity to its fullest.

Focus

As I write this next Blog, I’m sat in a Julie and Mike Dibens house… in Boulder Colorado USE. I’ve just finished a nice 3 and a half hour ride with Chrissie, her coach and all-time-great triathlete Simon Lessing and numerous other top class athletes. We road on perfect roads, through what looks like “Little House On the Prairie” scenery and it was 70+ degrees… yes, it was a VERY enjoyable ride.

And it’s exactly this kind of thing that is why I’ve decided to head over here for 6 and a half weeks. The location at 2,500m above sea level, is tough at first, with breathing and pushing anything harder than steady not possible just yet; but I know that over the next few weeks I’ll adapt and come back stronger when I “come Down” to sea level to race. Boulder is FULL of other triathletes, swimmers, cyclist and runners of world class pedigree so there’s never a shortage of great training partners. And the location is amazing with great roads, flat, rolling or mountains (should you wish to go up any further and deprive your body of even MORE O2!) I’m really excited about what the next few weeks will bring in terms of training and improvements in me as an athlete.

It also allows me to continue what I mentioned in my last blog about being successful in what’s necessary. Being away from home isn’t great that’s for sure – I miss my girlfriend, family and friends; but being able to solely focus on the work at hand (and not find excuses or get caught up in “other stuff” that means I don’t end up doing a “full days work”) is really important for me. This focus comes more easily to some than others. For me, I find that, just like chocolate, I need to remove the temptation or not put myself in a position where I can be tempted – either to eat the chocolate… or miss that nasty session that needs to be done, but is easily skipped in favour of “other stuff”. So whilst to many, it might sound cool and exciting to travel to Colorado, the reality of it can be far from ‘cool’. The next 6.5 weeks are purely and simply about getting down to the business of training, eating and sleeping… and not a lot else really.

It’s also much easier to train and train HARD around other people who are in the same position as you. And especially understand what you mean when you say that you’re “smoked”. Being able to simply go home and sleep when this is the case, and not have other “stuff” pulling you away from the importance of recovery and rest is a vital part of it all. I read a quote recently from Mark Cavendish (the best road cyclist sprinter in the world right now) that I think really sums it up well (to para-phrase it and remove some of the colourful language)

“'People ask you to come here and there and I say, "I can't." And they say, "Yeah, I realise you're tired, I realise you just want a bit of peace and quiet." And it's like, no… I… Am… smoked!!!. I'm totally, utterly exhausted. My body is eating itself because I'm so tired.”

When you look at the best there is out there, in both sport, business, life generally… they all have a real focus on doing what is required to succeed. I’m looking forward to exercising this focus over the next few weeks and just glad that people here don’t mind when I can barely say more that ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when asked an open question and know that you just cant do normal stuff a lot of the time.