That one ride.

I was sitting out on Santiago Canyon Road watching traffic not long ago. I do that now and then since there have been quite a few fatal crashes on this particular route, including the one I told you about in Two Worlds With A Foot In Each One. So as I watched some mountain bikers on the trails on the back side of Whiting Ranch Park, I thought about this one ride I did a few years ago. I love being an athlete. What probably produces misery for many people in American society makes me happy. That good soreness after a hard workout, feeling strong and fit, stable on my feet. Combine that with eating clean and you have something (in my opinion) that no amount of money could ever buy. The only part of any of this where money helps is in purchasing good food and any equipment you need for your chosen workouts. You can have a $5000 mountain bike or a $5000 CrossFit gym and it won’t matter. It will do absolutely nothing for you at all if you don’t go out there and use it. So it was in the spirit of getting out there that this ride has so many great memories.

It was winter in Southern California and I was going for a ride on my Specialized Enduro mountain bike that my beautiful wife got for me. I’d had it for a year or two, I don’t remember exactly. It was raining off and on but it was a light rain and I thought that I could get a ride in on Santiago Truck Trail, because the entire trail is hardpack and is a combination of fire road and single-track. It would be muddy but not that nasty, deep mud that I hate because you sink in it and it covers you and your bike and breaks components and is just a huge pain in the ass. I hate that mud, but a hardpack trail that has water on it isn’t so bad. I knew I wanted to be out for a while and I knew where I wanted to go, which was a place called Old Camp. Rumor has it that Old Camp was an old Indian hunting camp, but I haven’t looked into its history much. There’s nothing there in the way of monuments or artifacts that I’m aware of, just a couple of logs and a fire pit near a creek. It is well known amongst the harder core mountain bike riders in the area.

I geared up with long, insulated cycling pants and a sleeveless upper body base layer over which I had a heavier long sleeve cycling jersey and on top of that a cycling jacket that was semi water proof. I packed some extra dry socks, pants and another jersey into my Camelbak, filled the 100 ounce reservoir with Cytomax, tossed in some Clif Bars and a banana and drove to Whiting Ranch. I got set up and hit the trail about 0900 or so and it was cloudy but not raining. As I made my way through the park, I felt good. Not tired, nice pace and most importantly, alone. Sometimes solitude is really nice, and this was one of those times. I could only hear the chain working through the gears, the tires occasionally slipping over rocks, my own breathing, and some gear shifting as the terrain changed. The smell of sage and coastal California brush was pungent. I love the smell of the land, especially in the rain because it’s musty and heavy in the air and somehow more vibrant and present.

I got through the park and hopped over Santiago Canyon Road, up Modjeska Grade and onto Santiago Truck Trail. From the trailhead at the top of Modjeska Grade, Old Camp is about 9 miles out in the back country. So by going out there, I was immediately separating myself from 98% of the population. Not many people go that far out, which is just fine with me. If you see anyone out there, it’s almost certainly someone else that is A- fit enough to get out there and back, B- loves the outdoors and C- has a sense of adventure. It had started raining now and the trail became more wet, but the rain was light and it was staying that way. I came up with a quick plan about what I might do if I got into some nasty weather, which basically involved turning around and letting gravity take me back to the road. I may have neglected to mention that the majority of the 9 miles out to Old Camp is climbing. There are a few downhills, but the overall grade is gradual climbing with a few steep sections.

The rain was amazing. Pat pat pat sounds all around me, and occasionally the sound of water drops hitting puddles I passed. The scent of coastal sage brush was still strong in the air and the trail was wet but solid and there was no nasty mud. And despite the water, the trail was still hard enough to stay in the middle chain ring and hold a comfortable pace. The view from the trail back down to the OC was nice, punctuated by low clouds wafting through the canyons on a light wind. The only reason I knew there was any wind at all was by the movement of the clouds, because all around me the air felt still. I kept climbing and passed the turnoff for The Luge, which is a really, really cool one mile long single-track downhill that drops back down to Live Oak Canyon Road. The Luge would be on my route back home, but in the meantime I pedaled on. I still hadn’t seen anyone else, not even a distant rider or hiker. Some downhill and more climbing went by and some amazing views down into the canyons below Saddleback Mountain. The tires continued over some slick rocks and past the turn off where I could drop down into Rose Canyon by way of Joplin Boys Camp had I wanted to, which I didn’t.

The last mile or so before the turnoff to Old Camp seems the longest, but I reached the turn at around 1030. In order to get to Old Camp from the truck trail, you have to drop down a mile or so into the canyon where it sits. It is protected on three sides by the mountain and it’s pretty isolated. I dropped into the canyon and reached the camp, again seeing no one. Break time. The creek was flowing nicely thanks to the rain and it was cold. I wasn’t too wet except for my socks and shoes, since I didn’t have any booties to keep my feet dry. Not wanting to stiffen up to much, I ate a Clif Bar and a banana, washed it down with Cytomax and got back on the bike about 15 minutes later for the mile climb out of the canyon and back to the truck trail. The rain was still pattering all around, so quiet and so peaceful. I climbed out in the easiest gear in back and the middle ring up front and along about the time I was 200 yards from the turn, I saw three other riders coming down into the canyon. The lead rider spoke up as he saw me, saying “Ahhh, another hardy soul!” A wonderful compliment from a fellow adventurer. People who do this kind of stuff appreciate each other. “Hey guys!” I replied. “It’s great down there, have fun!” And then we were past each other and I was alone again.

I got back to the truck trail, turned right and started back. I didn’t really want to. The rain, the sounds, the smells and the views were captivating. But, I was getting cold and I had to go back down and head for home. The trip down was just as peaceful, but faster since this time it was downhill. I reached The Luge, made the turn and had a really good run. This trail is one of the best single-track downhills in the area, and is basically a trough carved into the side of a canyon, hence the name. I leaned the bike into the turns, pedaled and coasted, turned again, shifted my weight to compensate for the grade and the terrain. The suspension bike did its bit and made the trip a whole lot more plush than it would have been on a hardtail bike. I got back to Live Oak Canyon and dropped down past Cook’s Corner, back up Santiago Canyon, into the back side of Whiting Ranch and hit Cactus Trail. There were a couple of deer I scared up in the park, but no mountain lions this time. I saw a couple of other riders since I was back in civilization now and said hi to them. More turns, more downhill, and a little climbing but not much and I was back to my truck. I changed into some dry clothes and headed for home, letting this one ride settle into my memory. Everything went right on this one.  The trail, the bike, the sights and smells, the rain and the solitude interrupted only briefly by a moment of mutual respect with a fellow adventurer.  And that is why I ride. Because someday, there will be another one just like it.

On the Bike

Bicycles have been a part of my life since I was a little kid. I love the art of the bicycle and the fact that this device turns human effort into motion. Motion for transportation, for fitness and for fun. My dad taught me the basics of riding, and I still remember when he pushed me off one day and I rode my little green Schwinn bike without training wheels for the first time. Getting up on two wheels for the first time is one of those pivotal moments in a kid’s life, a moment of discovery, of newfound ability that carries with it the promise of a larger world. I graduated later to a BMX bike (sort of). I always wanted a real BMX bike with the chrome moly frame and mag wheels like all the cool kids had. But, I had my red Schwinn Stingray that served me well for a long time. I treated it like a BMX bike even though it wasn’t, jumping it and skidding it and sliding it around corners. Next was some kind of Schwinn ten speed that I rode to school in junior high. Then a Schwinn Varsity I rode the first two years of high school. After I got a driver’s license, I hung up cycling for a few years between high school and my early years in law enforcement. I never rode competitively or seriously in those first years, just riding to school and back or around the neighborhood. But I loved being on a bike, going places under my own power and picking my own routes. But once you had a driver’s license, you could no longer be seen riding a bike because that meant you were a loser and didn’t have a car. So, I was on hiatus.
Then in the late 80’s and early 90’s the mountain bike craze hit. Dudes were bombing down mountain trails on steel frame rigid bikes. It was like the kids in the neighborhood grew up and discovered a new way to bang themselves up. Then a guy named Paul Turner invented a suspension fork for bicycles and started a company called Rock Shox. I bought a GT Karakoram steel frame mountain bike and got a first generation Rock Shox fork. It was like being on my old bike again, only bigger and less maneuverable and squishy in the front thanks to the fork. I rode all over the place with a friend and co-worker who later became a roommate. We eventually went our separate ways after some life changes and kind of fell out of touch, but I stayed with the bike. I got more fit and then in 96 I got my first “real” mountain bike, a GT Zaskar aluminum frame bike with Shimano XT (I think) components on it. So sweet it was. I put a Rock Shox Judy fork on it and started riding seriously and then started racing a little. I’ve amassed a collection of scars from various mountain bike crashes, but they’re welcome reminders that sometimes the earth is your tattoo artist.
I should have been more serious about it and trained harder, but life has a way of keeping you from really going all out, unless going all out in your chosen endeavor is your life. Plus I’ve never been completely fanatical about fitness. I’m pretty fanatical. My wife would say I’m fanatical, but not compared to professional athletes or even really serious amateurs. I ate carefully sometimes, then fell off and drank too much or ate too much for a few weeks and got back on it. I didn’t quit smokeless tobacco for a long time and fell off that wagon quite a few times before getting off of it for good. But, all told I got pretty strong for how I’m built. I’m skinny and if I had a little more muscle mass I could have been a lot stronger, or if I had better genetics, or both.
I did mostly local races, some on Camp Pendleton and some in the local area around other parts of So Cal. A couple of the Camp Pendleton races were actually a series made up of three races. One a month for three months for the Summer Series and Fall Series. The races were tabulated individually, but were also totaled for a cumulative score. I ended up 2nd in the Fall 1996 series for Sport Men one year and I was really close to moving myself up to the Expert class. I could have, but my training was mostly on my own and was disjointed with changing shifts and life circumstances. I think I figured that if I got really serious, started getting really scientific, it would be more about the performance than the bike. Then it would be a job, and I already had one of those. I liked riding fast and throwing down with other aggressive riders, but the bike was not only about working out hard but also about fun and freedom. I beat my Zaskar down over the years, but testament to its solid construction and the engineers at GT, that bike kept going. I still have it, the frame at least. Someday maybe I’ll get it going again with a new drivetrain and wheel set.
Somewhere in there, I discovered that road cycling was a great way to train for high end cardio endurance. I got a Raleigh 7 speed with the old shifters on the down tube and rode that for some of my training rides. My first love on two wheels though will always be the mountain bike. Trails are so much more fun and frankly a lot safer than riding on the road. Plus there’s always that connection with feeling like a kid on a BMX bike again. I hadn’t done any big events on the road in the first few years I had a road bike, just training rides. But my department started a Memorial Ride somewhere around 2001 and I got a Trek 2300 to replace my Raleigh and started doing that. This was a journey down the coast of California from Sacramento to Orange County, to raise money for fallen officers and their families. The ride is a great time, but the highlight of the whole thing for me is the section between Monterey and San Luis Obispo.
I did this run on my Trek a few times, but the last year I did it I had a new Cannondale CAAD 10. The Cannondale is my favorite road bike ever and might be my last. It’s black, compact and nimble and it handles like a hard tail mountain bike. Quick and stiff in the corners, fast on the flats and like an extension of my body on climbs and switchbacks. The section between Monterey and SLO serves up by far the most gorgeous coastlines of California in my opinion. Big Sur is my favorite, with San Simeon a close second depending upon the conditions. The first year we did it was crazy. I was hooked up with a former BMX pro and some other crazy guys known as the “A group”. There were also “B” and “C” groups that were made up of riders that weren’t quite as strong but were there for the cause, not so much the pain. All good folks on a good mission. The “A” in “A Group” quickly came to stand for “Assholes”, because we were cocky and rode hard during the day and partied at night when we should have been sleeping.
My first Big Sur run with these guys was phenomenal. One of the organizers of the ride was livid at us because on some of the downhill sections you can hit 45-50 miles per hour. We were so caught up with bombing down the hills, carving the turns, apexing the corners that we didn’t care about taking risks as much as we should have. We passed minivans full of tourists at 30-35 miles per hour on the outside in a turn, more than once. We drafted on cars and slung around them when we could and reveled in the shenanigans we pulled, while trying to be respectful of the fact that the organizers would take no end of heat if one of us got creamed by a car or flew off of a cliff overlooking the coastline. We reached San Simeon on that leg and we had been having so much fun we were all just jazzed. We were hauling butt and switching the pull (the guy in front breaking the wind) every minute and staying strong. We were supposed to be in Morro Bay at a certain time for a political appearance and as we were riding, a van with some of the riders from the C or B group pulled up next to us. They yelled to us that we had to pull over and get a ride in the van, because we didn’t have time to make it on the bikes.
Now, you have to understand that after all this nonsense in the mountains we were a little full of ourselves. Here’s this van with someone telling us to stop. Here we are, riding through San Simeon. An incredibly beautiful area made up of green rolling hills. We were in a two column pace line, one behind the other with a strong tail wind and we were maintaining 28-30 miles per hour without working very hard. And we’re supposed to stop?? We discussed it briefly and calculated the situation… How far away are we? How fast are we going? How much time do we have before we have to be there? We quickly came to the conclusion that we could pull it off and told the people in the van we weren’t stopping, and we hit the gas a little harder. They were pissed, but we didn’t stop and told them we’d see them there. We made it, but our reputation was cast.
In 2007, I did a mountain bike race called The Traverse. This event is put on by a group of hard core mountain bike fanatics called The Warrior’s Society. They haven’t run it the last few years, but it was a point to point long distance race over 46 miles in the Santa Ana Mountains. I took my Zaskar and finished in a good time, and discovered the new “hardest thing I’ve ever done on a bike”. As I rode across the Santa Ana Mountain Range, in my mind all I could hear myself saying was, “Just keep on keepin’ on…” “Just keep the pedals turning..” “If they’re turning that means you’re still moving..” It was awesome. I did it again the following year but I was a lot slower because I had a Specialized Enduro full suspension bike this time. More comfortable to be sure but much heavier. This time though, my beautiful wife Kelley and daughter Emma were waiting for me at the finish. Kelley was patching up some other rider that had crashed and was bleeding from his legs when I came across the line. It was so wonderful to see her and to see her being herself, helping someone who needed a hand. He was out of it and I knew how he felt. I had just finished up several hours on the bike and a minor crash of my own, repeating all those same things to myself that I said the first time.

Though I love the bike, I haven’t ridden in a while because my interests branched out into CrossFit.  But, I do miss my mountain bike. Being on the bike is freedom. I love the smell of the earth, the smell of the sage and other coastal brush in Southern California, the sun, sometimes the rain. The effort of climbing and the exhilaration of fast downhills. The fun of carving a sweet section of single-track, of seeing deer and mountain lions and bobcats in the real world. The clicking of gears and the smell of bicycle grease and chain lube, all so good. I think of the mountain bike as a surfboard for the earth, riding its contours and feeling the gradient of the land and the different efforts and techniques required for negotiating it. The bike is an extension of oneself, an expression of athleticism but also of philosophy. An expression of freedom to explore and to go adventuring, to a new place or a place you’ve already been. It’s time to get outside…

CrossFit!

As many of you may know, I had the opportunity to work at our training academy for a couple of years recently, training new recruits from various agencies that use our program. Since a big part of our training program is physical in nature, we need to eventually go through the California POST Physical Training Instructor School while we’re assigned there. This is so we have an actual working knowledge of physical training modalities and techniques, so we can teach better and we have fewer recruit injuries. Along with that school, I also had the opportunity to go to CrossFit Level 1 as part of my training work up for being on the academy staff. At the time, the academy program was more heavily tilted toward the functional fitness end of the spectrum, with not so much distance running. So, CrossFit methods and workouts were a logical part of the program and hence, they sent us to Level 1.
CrossFit has been around for many years now, and it’s suffered a few criticisms from various places. It seems like much of that comes from the traditional strength training crowd, but others have chimed in too. Critics accuse CrossFit of being dangerous, prone to causing injuries, lacking in real strength training methods, etc. Many have accused CrossFit of being basically a cult, and to be honest, when I went to Level 1 I thought the same thing. The instructors were very good, and used Greg Glassman’s original material and formulas to do their lectures. They also seemed very elitist and very absorbed in their program, almost to the point that I would have been put off by it if I wasn’t being paid to be there. But, I’m an amateur and sometimes competitive athlete, and I’m always looking for a good workout. So, I was excited to learn about this program, even if it was being taught by pretentious elitists.
I loved the scientific approach that Glassman took. I also loved the logical, reality based approach to physical training and movements. Granted, weight lifting (particularly the Olympic lifts), gymnastics and metabolic (endurance) training have all been around for a long time, and so has circuit training. What was new and so exciting about CrossFit is the way that Glassman combined all of it into various interdisciplinary, high intensity workouts and offered science and proof based testing to validate his program. My parents are scientists and although I ended up being a cop instead, I still love the proof based approach to things. So, when Glassman talks in his original, foundational material about certain things, it works for me. This original material is a work of genius by the way and is available to anyone on line. I think what people did with it afterward in the early years of CrossFit is part of what caused the program to have a questionable reputation with some folks, namely pushing people too hard too soon. Simple measurements and a common sense approach work for people. Looking at how the arms and legs and torso move, the angles they follow in these movements, how the muscles move them through these angles is part of gaining an understanding of your own body. And part of realizing what a beautiful and capable machine the body is.
Then, when you start asking questions like: “How much does it weigh?”, “How far did you move it?” and “How long did it take?” you can see a sense of proof entering the picture. Proof because if you measure these things, then when you are training consistently and you come back to the same scenario next time, then perhaps you can move something heavier, or you can move it farther in a set amount of time, or you can move it more quickly. Or, maybe you can move something that’s heavier even farther and faster than what you did before. This is how progress is measured. CrossFit likes to use Glassman’s view that: Intensity is the independent variable that is most commonly associated with maximizing favorable adaptation to exercise. Translation? If you work harder and faster, you’ll get better more quickly and develop a larger capacity to handle hard work. Another buzzword phrase in the community is “Increased work capacity over broad time and modal domains.” Translation? If you’re doing it right, you’ll develop the ability to do more work, more quickly, and in more varied situations than what you could do before.
So, enough with the Kool Aid. I have to confess that I was a big time CrossFit Kool Aid drinker after I got back from Level 1 and started seeing results. But, I also identified some things that didn’t work as well for me and I modified the program to suit my own situation. To set you up for my initial plunge into this, I was a long time mountain and road cyclist prior to CrossFit. I was an endurance athlete, but I also did upper body weight workouts (traditional 3 sets of 10 type stuff, chest, arms, back, biceps, etc.) to maintain my upper body strength because of my occupation. I thought I was in pretty good shape, until the Level 1 staff put us through Fran. This workout is one of the benchmark CrossFit workouts and is also one of the most high impact, in that it is short, fast and very intense. For men, the workout is to do 21 thrusters with a 95 pound barbell (65 for women), followed by 21 pull ups, then 15 thrusters, then 15 pull ups, then 9 thrusters, then 9 pull ups and you’re done. 3 Sets, 21, then 15, then 9 repetitions of each movement. A thruster by the way is when you have picked up the barbell and you have it in the front rack position across your chest. Then, you move down into a deep squat. This is the start position. Then you stand up with the bar and when your knees reach extension you press through with your arms so the weight is all the way overhead. Then you reverse this and compress down to the front rack again and then down into the deep squat. That’s one repetition. It’s very taxing because almost your whole body is involved.
The first blow to my ego was that the trainer decided I didn’t look like I could handle 95 pounds, so they reduced my load to 75. Then, they said the time cap is 10 minutes for everyone.. 3, 2, 1, GO!! I got through the 21 and the 15, completely spent and almost ready to puke when 10 minutes were up. I didn’t finish and I was dejected, but in my haze of exhaustion I realized that I absolutely HAD to explore this program that just destroyed my previously adequate fitness level. I started looking up workouts and setting things up at work. I started buying equipment for our home gym in the garage, because I really don’t like driving to a gym and CrossFit is expensive. It’s easier for me to seek out the best material and training from people I meet, YouTube and The CrossFit Journal, and walk into the garage and hit it. I tried to get my wife to drink the Kool Aid, but she wasn’t having any. So, I plugged away on my own with a couple of guys from work that were CrossFitters.
I think I was ready for a break from cycling and this contributed to my infatuation. I still love mountain biking and always will, road cycling not as much. I like the road bike, but I don’t like cars and asshole drivers. Mountain biking is way more fun for me, but CrossFit was new and exciting. I will say that CrossFit does exactly what it says it will do. That is, it prepares you for a wide variety of things by giving you a broad, general and inclusive fitness (another buzzword). This is because, wait for it…. They specialize in not specializing. So if you want to be a great cyclist, you need to ride a bike (a lot). If you want to be a great swimmer, you need to swim (a lot) and so forth. But what I can tell you is what I noticed the most in my daily life.
The most noticeable improvement I had after a few weeks and then months of CrossFit was vastly improved core strength, a much better ability to lift and move heavy objects, and a much better tolerance for high end cardiovascular workouts. I had used a heart rate monitor when I was training on the road bike, and hit the high intensity range more than a few times, but it just isn’t the same as being in that zone when you’re moving heavy loads and engaging more of your body. Your system has to be stronger to handle the weight I think. We’ve helped our daughters move a few times and I noticed right away how much better I was at carrying boxes from the house to the truck, and from the truck to the new place, then from one place to another and so on. I also noticed that I can carry my equipment at work more easily and I feel better getting in and out of the car many times a day. The overall body strength I’ve noticed has been much better. I have noticed however, that I can’t go out and do the same rides at the same speeds I used to do on the mountain bike. With the high end cardio I’m fine, but like I said if you want to be a great cyclist, you have to ride a bike (a lot).
Where I have noticed that CrossFit has fallen short is in some of its trainers. I think this is probably better now that the program has been around for a while, but at first I think people seized too much on the intensity, loaded people too heavy and hurt them. I rarely time any of my workouts anymore. I know myself and I know that I’m competitive. If I put myself on a clock every time and try to beat my last time, every time, I know I’ll hurt myself. I only time the benchmarks like Fran to keep a grasp on where I am. My primary goal right now, since I’m not training for anything, is to use good form and stay as strong and as capable as I can for the parolee who will try to take my life some day. He’s out there, I know he’s out there, and both of us know that one day we will meet on the field of battle. The broad fitness of CrossFit is more suited to the unknown and to the police, fire and military communities than say, Triathlon or Tennis or Running. So, I am a devotee for sure. My wife discovered the program after seeing me do it for a year, and she’s excited about it now too. She’s noticed big improvements in all the same areas and this has been great for her, since she’s had some work related disabilities and surgeries. Now, she can do some things that she couldn’t do before and that’s a good thing.
I would recommend the program to anyone, but one thing I don’t know about is the community aspect of it. I have never worked out in a box and I don’t know if I will. I’ve always been an individual sports guy and although I like being involved with a group, I don’t want to shell out $175+ a month and I don’t want to drive anywhere. Hence my garage gym. I’m confident that I would get better and stronger with real coaching, but having to be in a particular place at a particular time for a class and the cost keeps me away for now. I need a lot of flexibility, which is why I have my own stuff. Notwithstanding that though, I’d recommend you give CrossFit a try. You might love the classes and the community and the discipline of a regular class time. Either way, you’ll love the improvements. The program isn’t necessarily for everyone, but even if it’s not your thing, incorporating some of the movements into some cross training in your program will almost certainly help you diversify your fitness. Push the intensity, because you have to so you get stronger, but watch your form and learn the movements without any load first, from someone that knows what they’re doing. Then, have fun, stay strong and stay fit!
One thing I haven’t touched on is nutrition. Suffice to say, you really are what you eat. If you eat crap, your body won’t perform as well as it could. You don’t have to go strict Paleo, but probably one of the best things you can do is to eliminate sugar from your diet as much as possible. Eat meat, vegetables, some fruit, little starch and no sugar and you’ll notice the difference. I don’t do as well as I could with this, but I think if you follow the “everything in moderation” theory and combine it with a 40-30-30 based approach or a “more paleo than what you were before” approach you’re on the right track.

The Push

I was talking to my bride the other day about fitness and she told me a story about someone she was talking to about seeing cyclists climbing hills.  Their view on it was that they just couldn’t see why anyone would want to do that.  It looks like it hurts, it’s too hard.  Why would you want to put yourself through that?  The conclusion I arrived at from listening to that view (maybe a little prematurely) was that those people may never know what it feels like to live in a strong, fit body.  They may never know the confidence and quiet satisfaction of knowing that if any physical task comes up, within reason, you can handle it comfortably and decisively.  This is a feeling that, once you’ve had it, you don’t want to lose.  Once you’ve felt that quiet confidence in your fitness and your capabilities, if you let yourself go and become weak and out of shape, it produces a terrible feeling of anxiety and longing to feel good again.  And then there’s the push.

In my case it involves a bicycle, but for many it’s running or some other  kind of training.  When you’re really training, and you’ve prepared for your workout properly by eating right and resting enough on the lead up to the workout, you may arrive in a place where you are working hard in a sustained effort.  Another benefit of good fitness is knowing your body and knowing when you can push and when you can’t.  Now, knowing yourself and being in this place of sustained effort will give you options.  Especially if during your effort a bigger challenge comes up.  For instance, the hill goes on longer than you thought as you round a corner.  Or, it gets steeper as you get close to the top.  Or, maybe someone passes you and you want to chase and from their speed you figure you can probably catch them.  It’s decision time.  One of the best feelings in the world is being in this place and when you decide to push harder, your body responds and you feel the increase but you feel good too.  So you push hard.  You’re at or near your max effort, but you’re maintaining it and you see the goal coming up.  The top of the hill, catching the other guy.  As you reach your goal and move through it, you’re tired but you know that if it would have gone on longer than it did, you still could have cleaned it.

This is a place that 90% of the population will never know.  Effort like this, when combined with proper recovery begets itself because as you get stronger from doing things like this, it sets you up for next time.  Another hill, another catch.  No nausea, no dizziness, no prolonged pain, just a hard and well earned victory that no one except you will ever know about.  But that’s okay, because you can’t do this if you’re working for someone else.  The personal satisfaction in oneself is the big payoff.  Yes, it hurts for a while.  But it’s worth it.  It’s worth it to feel the victory.  And as for those who can’t understand, I wish they could because it’s a good place to be.