If you have ever watched Silence of the Lambs, that Oscar winning movie with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins - there is a scene at the beginning, set in the training facility of the FBI. As the recruits go out for their morning run, there is a motto scribbled on a couple of pieces of wood nailed into a tree.
HURT
AGONY
PAIN
LOVE - IT
During my years of training I have often thought about it, the idea of turning the concept of pain and discomfort during training into a positive thing (the old - No Pain, No Gain philosophy). Most coaches and authorities will tell you these days that is not a good idea, but I think the idea is still a basic entry ticket to the endurance sport community.
Endurance sport is a tough beast. It never lets up (you can't exactly stop in the middle of a 100km trail run; then you're not getting home), you have to prepare for hours and hours (it takes approximately 200 hours to prepare for a mountain bike stage race such as the Absa Cape Epic), and it can hit you with injury at any point during your training just as you think you're superior.
Despite the crappy sales pitch, thousands and thousands of people sign up for it everyday - just look at the Comrades marathon! (90km of pure agony, running from one city to the next).
In order to train for any endurance event, you need to become part of the Lactate Tolerance Society. Imagine a society built around the idea of tolerance. No, not the flower loving, tie-dye hippie slacker variety, but the sweating, hallucinating, dehydrated, so-sore-the-next-day-you-cannot-walk variety. It is a group of people who get to see the sunrise everyday (because you need to train for it almost everyday), who spend large amounts of cash on lycra, carbon fibre and tiny packets of glycogen restoring race-ready food.
Normal rules don't apply here. They will train any time, anywhere. Wind picking up? Don't worry they give it a name (headwind) and train specifically IN it. Howling gusts of rain? Big whoop...They invent the Rain Jacket, that breathes and moves and does everything except help you pedal. Ok, Tornado outside? Fine, they put your bike on a stand with a couple of cylinders tied to the back wheel - now you can cycle while looking at said storm out the window!
You get the idea.
Most normal people describe them as 'crazy' or 'insane' - they just smile quietly, while thinking of the next challenge they are training for. They nod knowingly to one another, each easily recognisable by the shaved legs, premium brand sports watch and peculiar tan.
Oh and one more thing. They are all addicted to coffee. An easy way to find them is to go to a coffee shop with a nice espresso/cappucino (preferably italian) before 10am. There you will find them, speaking a language you won't understand, all sinewy, focused, slow of movement and fleet of foot. They all love the dark roast, for its benefits of increased focus, as well as the relief it brings after a 5 hour jaunt.
They are walking among you, their hearts beating much more powerfully than yours (from all the training). Standing in the grocery isle, they opt for the granola bar, while you load up on the chocolate and puff pastry.
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