The View from my Bicycle [COLUMN]

Balance and Brawn

Over the past few days I've been fortunate enough to have read Clinton van der Berg's biography of Ryk Neethling [Read my Review]. This has lead to a sudden amount of introspection, some of it painful, some of it inspirational. I was struck by the fact that for all Ryk's discipline, he has maintained a healthy balance in terms of going out, and having fun. Somewhere in the book I think he describes life is Tucson, Arizona - train hard, study hard, party hard.

I have to say I have never had a problem with training. Once I am out there, I love it. I often suffer from over-training for this reason, or train too hard, too fast. Right now I realise that my biggest problem isn't training, it's the distractions around training, which sometimes means getting to be in the wee hours of the morning.
Discipline is not just about the work, but cutting down on the fun. I suppose it's obvious.

Having said that, I have struggled not to become obsessed in order to stay super-disciplined. I mean focusing 100% on sport and cutting out every other thing. When I trained for the Ironman in South Korea, I took it so seriously, I went completely vegetarian; (not fish, not eggs, not even cheese). For someone who likes Burgers and braaivleis, that was a very difficult regime to maintain. I guess what I am saying is I admire Ryk's ability to train so hard, and to keep a sensible balance with a few other distractions. It's something I need to learn still.

Over the last 2 weeks I have been swimming a fair amount. I'm very unfit but it's encouraging to see how quickly you can improve on your own 'records'. In one of my first sessions I swam a 2:50 for 200m (10 lengths of the Melrose Arch pool). A few days later I thought I would challenge that time, and on the 7th length suddenly became overcome by the hypoxia and stopped. It was a mixture of a million thoughts, mostly negative, growing in momentum with the increasing oxygen debt. I bailed on the set, but for just a moment. I tried to get it together and swam the last three lengths hard. I came in 2:49. Tonight I thought I would make another go of it, but I was worried that I would choke as the oxygen debt got worse. I went for it on my third set, and did a 2:44. I could barely believe it.

In South Korea I did a 250m in 3:03 so I know I can still improve a lot.

I think the first few workouts, the first changes we make to our lifestyle, are by far the most difficult. Once you get past those awkward feelings (they feel like withdrawal symptoms) it gets easier, even though you are still improving. Overcoming these feelings of "It's too hard"and "I can't" is a mindgame. The body is there waiting for permission to push itself. The mind is always in charge of moods, thoughts, much of what we do. To perform physically, even to be happy, the mind needs to step aside.