In my years as an athlete, founder of a tri club, and internet based coach with a national reach, I’ve mixed and mingled with a very broad range of athletes. And I’ve seen how the performances of many of these athletes have been limited by their perspective. By their perspective and definitions of “fast,” far, hard, and what is possible.
In my experience, that perspective is largely a function of the people you surround yourself with. The peer group that you train with, seek advice from, etc. This peer group is especially powerful for the new athlete. If you grow up, as an athlete, in a world where 18mph is fast, 40 miles is far, that hill is too steep, you shouldn’t run too fast because you will spontaneously combust, the perspective that this world forces upon you creates a box of what is and is not possible. Your peer group and your/their perspective puts you in this box and slaps a big sticker on it: “You Can’t.”
These are my “Yes You Can” notes:
- Just because you are beginner doesn’t mean you have to train like a beginner. Back in day, before there was a ton of quality training information on the interwebs, yours truly trained kinda stoopid. I did some things smart but I spun my wheels a good bit, learning what did and did not work through trial and observation. It doesn’t have to be that way…but it’s still not easy. The problem? When the triathlon world labels you as a beginner, it immediately dumbs things down for you. Everyone speaks slowly, makes no sudden movements, and writes training articles in crayon. It doesn’t have to be that way. You, regardless of your experience, can stand on the shoulders of the dumbasses like me who have gone before you and avoid our mistakes. Just because you are a noob doesn’t mean you can’t train with the smarts of a vet.
- Force yourself to train with faster people. This is easiest on the bike. Show up to a faster ride, lock yourself onto the back wheel of a faster doode with a tractor beam and hang on for dear life. Back in the day, I did intervals on a local dam Tues/Thurs mornings. Tired of killing myself by myself, I put the word out that I was out there and was looking for company. A guy, Jon, showed up one day and lasted about 100m on my wheel. But he came back, again and again. Within 3 months we were drag racing side by side. Show up, get your ass handed to you, and come back next week. Again and again. You WILL get faster.
- Seek out limitless personalities and avoid limiting personalities. Find the gal or the group that isn’t afraid to do whack stuff, stuff that will shatter your perspectives of fast, far, and can’t. If you are with a group or in a situation that is holding you back, get out. If your current training resources tend to dumb things down for you, go someplace else. Find the guy or the group that will discuss with you, in a civil manner, the what and why of the how things really work.
These dynamics above are an integral part of Endurance Nation. We’re told that Endurance Nation isn’t for everyone. They are absolutely right and we and our athletes wouldn’t want it an other way. We believe training with power is a great tool. If you have a heart rate monitor, no worries. But we’re not going to speak slowly to you and write our stuff out in crayon. We’re going to talk to you about heart rate (free ebook) from the perspective we’ve learned as power-based coaches (free ebook). Why? Cuz it’s scientifically sound and it WORKS. We will not dumb it down. We challenge you to come up to our knowledge, we don’t come down to yours. You want a guy to spoonfeed poor, “customized” training advice to you? Go for it, but you’ll pay that guy about 400-500% of our fee. Up to you to decide if doing a little work between the ears is worth saving $250-300/mo.
We are going to present to you, daily, the performances of other members who were just like you back in the day. You’ll interact with people who have improved their power by 30-40% in their 12-18 months with us. When you doubt yourself or say can’t, they are going to smack you in the head, grab you by the neck and will you to see the world through OUR perspective: Work WORKS.
Rich Strauss
Endurance Nation Coach
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