The Cultured Warrior #059 | Those who will not risk, cannot win.

Some define endurance as: "the time required and resisting the urge to stop. End. efforts are marked as a pace that you can hold for longer than 90-minutes (when food and hydration become a requirement)."

note the weather conditions for this particular session

As you can all tell, I'm not "built for" running, cycling, or even climbing (though I made that work). Given the above definition of endurance, I've never given a thought to what a "90-minute pace" looks like for me; though I've been trying to be more mindful of what makes a "good" (capacity) session. That is, about halfway through I want to stop or at least realize gravity of the task I've undertaken.

Perhaps, then, an alternate state of mind for "endurance" is that I'm fearing even beginning the endeavor. As was the case in the above session; I found myself procrastinating and dawdling before even putting the pedal(s) down.

Did I leave it all in the session? I don't know. After rest and hydration I probably could have squeezed some more in. The session definitely left something on me though. Rather than gasping for air (anaerobic) at the end I was doing a sort of zombie waddle as if my body had become accustomed to just drudging on.

So, that's pace. What's that got to do with risk and winning? Recently I was working with a client and he processed perpetually "half-assing" things, in short, because this meant that he would never have to face the reality of "you tried your best and it still wasn't good enough (to win)." Your insecurity insidiously defends itself saying, "well I didn't really try that hard anyway"; as if your lack of effort provides plausible deniability for lackluster performance.

Odds & Ends:

"Some sessions are merely exercise, other sessions are exercises in futility, but every once in a while you get a session that changes you from the inside out. It allows you to question and tune your demeanor. The Space Program is dedicated to these sessions and the people who want them."

Savage Zen Athletics

Pace