What I do is not hard, I honestly believe that so many people out there have the physical capacity to go far beyond what they do now. The majority of people have the physical ability to be a cat 3 racer. The majority of people have the physical ability to run a marathon. Now of course to go pro or qualify for Boston Marathon takes a bit more physical ability. So what is the missing ingredient? What is holding people back?
Determination. Yep, that is it. Maybe I think this because I focused my studies as an undergrad on sports psychology and exercise science. So what brought on this post today? I was talking with a friend, Winnie, who used to coach soccer at the collegiate level. She asked how my cycling season was going and gave her a quick update. To be honest, it has been rough. I have landed in the hospital three times this year. I told Winnie I was about to head out for a 3.5 hour ride and she called me crazy, I corrected her and said I was determined. And the rest is history.
I mentioned this article I read a couple weeks back on determination and Winnie wanted to read it so I did some searching. First place I looked was my RSS feed which includes this awesome website called Peak Performance. I stumbled upon a great article which I thought might be what I was looking for, not exactly. Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing article and I highly recommend you to read it, just not the one I was looking for. This article talks about the various theories of motivation. After reading it is pretty obvious I agree with Edward Deci and Richard Ryan theory known as self-determination theory.
I was lost for a bit so wandered around my apartment, cleaned up some, was mid-dishes when I had that aha moment, the NY Times! Yes that is where I saw the article. With the power of my droid phone I found it here. Now the main idea of this article is that determination is what sets successful athletes apart from others. It is the athlete that is determined to be on the bike every day, to do those long runs, and get in those 6 hour rides on the saddle. It is the athlete that dedicated their life (or a good chunk of it) to an activity that will succeed.
Are you determined? Do you agree with my views on motivation and determination? Am I way off here? Either way today's workout kicked my butt and I am pretty tired. Was a hot humid day making training even harder. My training buddies and I climbed the biggest climb around (which is not that big). They turned around at the top to head back home, I went down the back side, climbed it again, and then chased like hell for 20mins to catch them. Yeah in case you were wondering that effort hurt.
I think you pretty much nailed it. Alsmost weekly I am told that I'm crazy or insane to do the rides we do, one need to just look at the awe in the eyes of people as Ashton and I rode up Whiteface, anyone can do that, but people looked at us like we were super-heroes, undoubtedly the same look Mike and Erik received. I think all of us have shown a degree of determination this year that illustrates our level of dedication. Tim has had to overcome injury after injury, I have juggled selling and moving homes, and trying to be a decent father/husband. Ashton has repeatedly had to stomach very hard ride pace being set by riders that have been riding for years, and has taken his subsequent beatings with a great attitude and just come back the next day with a smile on his face. Doug...poor Doug, Doug was set to have the season of his life and become the strongest rider around, only to have the great majority of his season snatched from him. Despite the set back he spent hours on a trainer and did one 3 hour ride in aerobars on the road. Jeff has ridden like a champ. Doing long rides...hitting hill after hill, and then shown up and put down some damn fast t.t. times. So yeah I think you nailed it. We are determined, passionate, crazy, and it's awesome. As we enter the twilight of the race season, lets make it a point to ride together as much as possible...do some training camps, crush some races, and share our insanity in the company of other crazies.
ReplyDeleteAnd how!
ReplyDelete