WHO'S WORLD OF FANTASY WILL YOU DIVE INTO NEXT?

MASSIVE, MASSIVE THOUGHTS coming in hot in my private chats on the last article on ‘Working out: The Conducive Environment’. Asante sana! Remember, if you can’t exactly reach me in the comments (possibly too shy – wink emoji), you can always hala at me through my email. Keep up the good work guys, bless up!

Now, a DISCLAIMER: this next article may feel like it is also tackling relationship manenos. If you feel yourself touched in any kind of way in this regard, that is not my intention! Even then, I may or may not make some analogies that may or may not exactly be linked to relationships…I suppose the only way to find out for real is to keep reading ;).

How about a story? So, you have probably been eyeing a particular goal when you get into a workout program or even a sport of your choice, and for the almost very few, the goal is to go professional. This means playing the sport at an elite level where one could potentially earn a living. Oh, and just so you know (in case you didn’t), sport is a big business – if done right, of course.

Well, that was the goal of one of the athletes I had the chance to be acquainted with. Her plan was to be a competitive cyclist, with the ambition to race the World Championships and even possibly qualify for the Olympics. She had big dreams. I speak in the past tense because it’s been quite a while since I have heard from her after she suffered from burnout.

And speaking of burnout, this is not about roasting goat meat like we do at Christmas in shags, and it definitely isn’t something worth celebrating let alone go through. You have probably come across it in one form or the other, perhaps after a loooong day at work, or even after forever in a career that doesn’t seem to be taking you anywhere. Depending on the severity, burnouts can break you to the point where life can even stop making sense to you. Coming back from it in the sporting world is one of the greatest personal achievements ever!

Anyway, so she had big dreams and had been motivated to run them down. Unfortunately for her, it was at a time before I had begun my coaching career, and so hadn’t been much help to her in that regard. Nevertheless, she went for it!

Here’s the thing though: do you suppose you would have made it through school (either elementary, middle, high school, or college) without the assistance of the teachers? I mean, if there had been no one to teach you the content or motivate you to keep learning or tell you whether you were on the right path or not, do you suppose you would have managed to clock in all those years? This question also applies to whether or not you were homeschooled.

Suppose again you went to a hospital or an office building for whatever reason (consultation, visiting…), do you think you would be able to find your way without the help of the receptionist or the signs or the security guards who you could potentially ask for directions to a certain office? Basically, in unfamiliar territories, what is the probability of making it through on your own with zero assistance?

Let’s call this athlete Tanya. The name is from Mortal Kombat, which by the way was one of my favourite pc games back in the day, hehe. Anyway, moving on, Tanya delved into the world of competitive cycling on her own: she would attend races, ride her bike to her place of work, look for training hours over the weekend…the whole thing. Just before the COVID pandemic and the resulting lockdown, she had decided that she would specialise in the time-trial discipline. For us more ordinary people, it simply means the race against the clock – the fastest time on a given course wins.

As the rest of us were huddled indoors (and discovering that we indeed needed to do something about our health and fitness), Tanya would be on the road early in the morning racing her time trial bike, training to get into the aero-tuck position and pound in the power on the pedals. Rarely does one interact with others on a solo ride. Still, she did take the necessary precautions of wearing a mask and sanitising when she could.

But,

She started struggling. In fact, she had been struggling for some time, but had persisted in the pursuit of her objectives. I mean, not having a guiding hand is one thing; having people talk you down as far as your goals are concerned – hating – is another. Again, although she seemed to be making progress according to the numbers she was clocking in, the margins were a little too small to seem significant. Not to mention that as she continually pushed herself harder each day, her performance seemed to dwindle.

As the story goes, one day as she was on one of her training rides, she got hit by the question “What’s the point?”, and that was the last day she was on a bike…. And it was bad: her emotional and mental state suffered, her body was beyond fatigued, and depression was kicking in. Oh, and are you familiar with that Voice inside you that seems to overly critisize you, and tends to get louder when things aren’t exactly going according to plan as if it is confirming what it already knew in the first place? Her will had been the last defence between that Voice and the haters’ voices. When the fort crumbled…well, I suppose you can imagine.

Hold on to that thought.

Recently, when I was interning at a particular school in the Sports Department, the term’s sport was rugby. If you are familiar with the sporting grading systems in most (reputable) Private and International Schools, then you know that your active participation in the term’s sports earns you awesome grades. Even then, not all the learners are predisposed to certain sports, and it becomes a bit of a struggle to get them to learn a few things here and there in (this case,) rugby.

In fact, I remember a student asking me why we were ‘forcing’ them to play rugby instead of giving them the football option that had been present the previous term. After our little chat, his attitude shifted, and by the middle of the term, he was training with the U15s rugby team during their PE lessons. I’m pretty sure he’s enjoying his grade and well earned Summer break somewhere, especially also since the football option was awarded to them toward the end of the term :).

Anyway, listening to the tv commentators in the 2nd edition of Tour de France Femme Avec Zwift (the ladies’ Tour de France), it was mentioned that as much as the racers pay special attention to their numbers – speed, heart rate, power… – this changes in a race scenario where one of your main objectives is to stick to the wheel in front of you. In other words, are you able to match up to the demands of the race you are in?

Love.

Love of the sport.

Love of the activity.

Both stories have been leading up to this four-letter word. I have heard it said – and I would echo it here – that love is not just a feeling (oops, here comes the relationship-advice sounding part); rather, it is a commitment to something regardless of how you feel about it. But for that to happen, there are the initial stages of infatuation and dating, right? Ok, my bad, I hadn’t intended to make it sound so relationship-oriented, but really, there’s no better way to bring out my point. Shall I continue?

Ok, so let’s say you watched cycling at the Olympics or the World Championships – which by the way, are about to begin – or perhaps even the Tour de France, and you fell in love with it. You know what? Pick whichever sport or activity you’d like and fill it in here. Using cycling as my example, purchasing a bike and power meter and trying to put out all those numbers is akin to an early marriage…definitely not a good idea.

If, instead, you purchased the bike and got into the habit of going out for rides even with your mates, you would stand a higher chance of persisting in the sport. Perhaps this is also why we tend to quit working out in the gym after jumping into it with all the motivation in the world. Haha, ever seen those memes of someone pumping a lorry tyre with their mouth after watching a motivational video?

Coaches do play an important role in this process, especially those who work with children in the elementary and preparatory levels. How the sport is introduced to them and how well they bond with the coach could determine whether or not that sport is considered as a potential career sport or lifestyle choice – for those who play recreational sport over the weekends.

Once you can put in all those kilometres without being forced to or looking at it as a ‘task’ to be done, then you can safely bring out the data gadgets to ‘up’ your game. And as tedious as training gets, you will have managed to develop that strong foundation that enables you to say “I accept you, warts and all”, or in this case “I accept you, pain and all”. 🙂

Had I known then what I am telling you now, I would have encouraged Tanya to start by enjoying riding her bike for its own sake. Truth be told, there’s a lot more to riding than meets the eye of the non-cyclist observer. I mean, riding your bike in the estate is pretty easy; riding 50kms is a milestone; riding to accumulate mileage (150km, 200km) in a single riding session is something else. Once you can do this comfortably, then we can begin talking about how to get faster and stronger. Do you recall the article on ‘progression’?

Finally, have you ever wondered why children don’t seem to get bored with a certain game even after they’ve played it for a month or longer? A game such as “What is the time Mr. Lion?” will elicit the same levels of enjoyment as if they are playing it for the first time in their lives! Oh, and what about the game where you’ve got to run after them, catch them and possibly tickle them? You could play these games for an entire term and they still won’t get bored of them…provided, of course, you can match their (very high) energy levels :).

Lol, please remember my disclaimer; this is not a relationship-counselling blog. Regardless, go out there and (learn how to) fall in love with your sport or activity. If you are new to jogging, forget about the time limits to run the 5K or the mile…just jog! If you are new to working out, forget about the weights…use your body weight first! If you are new to swimming, forget about the strokes and completing lengths…enjoy being in the water for its own sake!

Ama what is the definition of ‘fun’? All the best!

Cheers!