WHY TRAIN?

I work as a teacher at a sports school in the south of France. In the morning the kids go to school and in the afternoon they train for four to five hours in tennis. Some of the kids are quite talented and will go on to be professionals. Others less so but are still competitive. All of them benefit enormously from being physically active and outdoors for most of the day.

After working at this school, I don’t know why every educational system doesn’t adopt at least two hours a day to physical training. I’ve never met a bunch of healthier, happier kids in my life. They’re not perfect and they have their own set of problems but as far as general well-being and health goes, I’ve never met a batch of kids that comes close to these ones.

A few weeks ago one of the kids remarked on my Uto Swimrun sweatshirt and started asking me about the race. After I explained it, she asked me what place my wife and I finished the race.
“I have no idea.”
She was shocked. This is an athlete that is used to winning and is one of the top under 16 tennis players in her country. She is not used to showing up unless she is going to go home with a cup in her hand. In other words, she is not getting out of bed unless she’s sure she’s going to win. I could see the wheels turning.
“Have you guys ever won a race?”
“No.”
“Have you ever won a race?”
“No.”
“Oh. So you just do these things because you like it?”
“I suppose so.”
“huh”
The thought of just doing a sport because you enjoy it was as foreign to her as the truth is to Donald Trump. Eventually she let that concept of participating just for the sake of it roll around in her head.
“Oh cool.” Which could be teen speak for ‘I don’t get it.’

So I thought I’d come up with my own list of reasons why I train.

1. I love training for swimruns specifically with my wife because it brings us closer together. I’ve gone into detail about this before but I can’t get over how it makes our bond stronger. Knowing Hvar was out of the question really depressed me over Christmas simply because I knew we’d be missing out on a few months of training together. That link we get while out training together for hours on the weekend is great. Fortunately, it looks like we’ll be able to do some smaller races in the summer and have our eyes on the new Otillo race at the end of November.
2. Mental health. I need to run to keep myself mentally healthy. I have had long bouts of depression and training keeps it at bay. It’s not a magic pill that makes everything better but it certainly doesn’t make it worse. If I can’t be active for more than a week, my mental outlook starts to go downhill. I don’t feel productive at all and I don’t see the purpose in doing much, including going to work. A general cloud of ‘why bother with anything’ starts to settle over me.
3. That feeling I get about two weeks before a big race. At 1000 Lakes, Thomas and I were talking about this phenomena. We both feel the healthiest and at our peak about two weeks before a race. That’s when I feel my leanest and quickest. I’ve put some really big training days behind me and I’m just starting to rest before the race.
4. Travel. I love traveling. I love going to airports, flying and staying in hotel rooms and seeing some place different from where I live. Going to any race allows me to do all of these things while seeing the area in a way I wouldn’t otherwise have the ability to. 1000 lakes in Germany is beautiful and it would be great to stay in the cottage we stayed in without even doing the race. But going there and then swimming in the lakes and running in the woods allows me to experience it at a new level. A colder and wetter level full of mud but a new level nonetheless.
5. Training allows me to be closer to nature. Even when I lived in LA and ran along Mullholland drive which runs through the spine of the city, I could see wildlife in the early hours of the AM when I ran. Deer and coyotes were especially common. There was even one morning when a young coyote ran beside me for about 100 meters as though he was a trained dog. I don’t know if he was having fun or trying to figure out how to eat me but it was pretty cool. When I went to school in Ottawa the entire reason I started cycling was due to the Gatineau Park. This is a national park with about an 80km loop of road that runs through it. In the winter it’s closed to traffic and becomes a cross country ski course and in the summer it’s closed to vehicular traffic on the weekends. I’d shake off a hangover and get out there early on weekends and see foxes, deer, coyotes in the early AM.
6. Hanging out with Thomas and Jasmina. When we do races with them, it’s like we’re going to go visit them but we also get a swimrun sweatshirt for the weekend. Spending time with them and Elvin and Vivi is an extra special treat.
7. Accomplishment. As stated before, there are so many factors that can derail your life. A race allows me to have a clear and definite goal and if I put in the work, I can usually finish. It’s one of the few things in life where hard work and discipline have a great chance of success.
8. Ego. Sports is good for my ego and I’m not talking the “I think I’m so great” ego boost. The last person I want to be is that guy who has an Ironman trademark tattoo on his calf. I find my participation in sports humbling. There have been a number of times when I have been feeling pretty good about my performance in a marathon or any other race just to be passed by a 70 year old. As quickly as I am humbled, I am inspired by something like that. I want to be that 70 or 80 or even 90 year old that is still at it.

Years of training have taught me what my limits are and how to train. I am in awe of the fact that Jasmin and Thomas are planning on doing Hvar, Uto and Otillo. Even if I did not have a job, I know there is no way I could mentally and physically tackle those three races in one season. I can only mentally take on one big race per season. Also, I can’t even think about training for a race unless I’m truly ready for it mentally.

When I have finally made up my mind to do an ultra or a swimrun and I feel it in my bones I like to take about five months to train for it. The first two months are spent shaking off the rust and losing some pounds. The following four months up to race day are spent piling up mileage and getting faster. I try to do at least two speed interval training sessions while training for a race. I find that any more than that and I am prone to injury.

I wish I didn’t have to let life hamper my training but there are certain realities I have to face. I have to be at work fairly early and I live 20km from the school. While training I try to bike to school a few times a week and also run home from work every now and then. However, I am a morning person when it comes to training. I have the most amount of energy during the day about half an hour after I wake up. As the day moves on, I lose my energy and drive. After I’m done teaching there is not much left in the tank so I really have to kick myself in the butt to get going. When I really don’t feel like training at five or six, I have to ask myself honestly, “Am I truly tired or just being lazy?” Most of the time, it’s the later and I try to motivate myself with a cup of coffee and some loud and fast music.

I also like to do some substitution training. Throw in a bike instead of a run or a tough core workout instead of doing speed training. I find mixing it up keeps me from being bored and injured. When I’m not training for a race, I still like to keep an eye on my nutrition so I don’t pack on the pounds but I’m not so religious about my workouts. I rarely wear a watch for running or swimming and will do what I feel like doing. I still try to be active for about an hour to two every day for five or six times a week but that might mean more jiu-jitsu and less cardio or even just more stretching.
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On a final note, got some good news this week. The Osteopath is quite happy with how my back is coming along and gave me the go ahead to start running again. I’m only allowed to do a couple of 5K’s next week but I’m ecstatic. She has advised against doing Hvar in April but if I keep up my physiotherapy, it looks like we’ll be able to do the new race in the Otillo series at the end of November. Woo Hoo!