Tuesday, August 24, 2010

THE SOUL OF THE COMPETITIVE ATHLETE

The soul the competitor drives his or her behavior. I have been reading various blogs and stories about injury and so forth. All I can say is listen deeply to the body. The body will win over the mind and soul, at least in the long run.

Think about when you were a kid and were less invested in sport. When you hurt your knee or whatever, you would simply let the injury go away on its own and most likely would refrain from whatever activity you were doing that caused pain. Eventually, the pain would go away and in some natural manner, you would get back to running or whatever.

Perhaps, simply resting and doing nothing is what is best when the body says no mas.

Alas, the soul and mind of the developed competitor says different and pushes. As we mature and become aware of our abilities, our egos grow, too. Our ego then pushes the body, perhaps too far.

The moral of this diatribe is unless your paycheck depends on winning the race, an injury happens due to over exertion and or over training and perhaps, ample or all out rest is the best way to fully heal.

this comes from someone who works daily with the wounded athlete and the medical world that is paid to keep them going.

6 comments:

Matias said...

Here's a good quote from an athlete on maximizing potential

"The motivation is personal. It's great to be a sponsored athlete, great to be a World Champion, but I don't race for those reasons. It's personal, I race for myself, for my family and motivation comes from within. It's not about winning or losing, it's about maximizing and fulfilling potential."

No regrets.

Chris Vames Sloane said...

I think the mind and body need to work together and be on the same page. They both need to know their current boundaries. If the mind says "lets push from x to z" and the body says "I can only push to y right now in order to get to z eventually"...the body controls the mind but the mind pushes the body.

RM said...

I think it was Aristotle, or perhaps Lisa Turtle, who once said "I ask, if I think not, am I not? I think not. Don't you think?"

Matias said...

I hear RM came out of recovery at Luray or Culpepper Triathlon sporting the speedo on race day. Nice work boss, if only I could find race photos.

///MM said...

Or take a tip from Jens Voigt just say "Shut up legs and do what I tell you."

Matias said...

Found it (with the help of Dirk's blog)

Ronald McDonald (I personally would have gone with Hamburg, Germany. Baltimore and that swim time gave it away).

All that to see a guy in a speedo

http://www.backprint.com/view_user_event.asp?PID=bp%18sC&EVENTID=71185&PWD=&BIB=405