Train like a Slave, Race like a King!

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Sunday, 22 August 2010 00:00

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Train like a slave, race like a king

These words descended on my eyes like a slalom skier whilst reading recently, reveals Glenn Macnamara.

This pearl of wisdom is attributed to a top pro cyclist in my native South Africa who I shall refer to as a Rodent of Irish heritage and give him the name of Anon O'Mouse.

I picked the pearls up, wrapped them in a brown paper bag and handed them over to my Acimom or Always Craving (for) Information To Mull Over Mind.

No instructions from me, no deadline, just observe the pearls as a jeweller would peruse a precious stone and assess its value.

Almost like the greying bearded Man, puffing on his pipe, in reflection.

Observation: I thought slavery was abolished?

It was a gross exploitation of human rights in my understanding. Slaves did as they were instructed and often physically beaten.

Slaves had freedom of choice stripped from their magnificent torsos.

In this day and age, why would we choose to be a slave?

They were mercilessly overworked for no money.

Where is the sense in that?

 In my mind, its a simple math equation:

Ovw= Ovt or Overworked equals Overtrained in a sporting sense

Training like a slave implies little or no enjoyment. I'm not sure too many slaves loved their work.

Rigidly following instructions.

Is this the training we want?

Do you really prefer to be a slave to the training schedule?

The second part of the quote says, ''race like a king'':

implying if we train like slaves we race like kings.

That’s like saying ''here is the Promised Land''.

I doubt we would be in any shape to race like royalty in a state of fatigue and under oppressive heaviness implicit in slavery.

And on days when training is ''heavy'' or feels like a ''mission'' ,the Promised Land seems like a mirage... always in sight, never quite getting there

I like to ''feel'' what training I'd like to do.

My training needs to suit Me.

My training needs to Honour Me.

If you really love what you do, be it sport or keeping/getting fit, then training needs to make you feel like a King.

There are sessions which challenge you... that’s the Joy of training, where We set the challenge or Give someone permission to set our challenge .Where we explore and even extend our preconceived mental barriers.

That’s feeling like a King.

Some days , the challenges can seem overwhelming. As far as possible, grant your training the permission to Enhance who you are.

Kings delegate the work to their subjects.

In this case, my body (our bodies) is a willing subject and loves to work.

At the end of the day, Body and Mind join up like a King and Queen and Feel like Royalty.

If your training does this for you, chances are, you'll race like the King.