Warriors and Scholars
What is the perfect personality for an endurance athlete? Is it more warrior or more scholar?
I got to thinking about that subject a few weeks ago after the triathlon at the E.P. Tom Sawyer Triathlon. I watched the athletes cross the line. The next day we put on our kids triathlon and I also watched those athletes. The difference was amazing.
As the adults crossed the line on Saturday most of them were in fairly good shape. They congratulated each other and talked about their races. On Sunday as the kids crossed the line it was a different story. When they were done, they were done. Five out of the 60 kids actually threw up at the finish.
The kids were without a doubt warriors, while the adults were the scholars. Is one better than the other or is there a blending of the two that creates the best performances? The answer to me is obvious. There must be some of both of these in every athlete. You must study and learn as much as you can about the sport you compete in. You must learn your strengths and weaknesses and work to maximize the one while minimizing the other. You must know tactics in order to win races. Armed with this knowledge the warrior in you must constantly be doing battle.
There are of course times when one aspect must take over completely. When the finish line is coming up and you are locked stride for stride with someone you better be 100% warrior. On the other hand if you find yourself in difficulty early in a long race, you had better be able to block out the warrior and figure out what you need to do to get back on track.
In the end it is very simple. Know how to give it everything you have, every step of the way, while knowing how to get the most out of each one of those steps. At the finish line cross with the last bit of everything you have.
On a light note while the those young warriors were out there giving everything they had I noticed something very funny. As they left the transition on the run they grabbed a cup of water or Heed. Without being told everyone saw a trash can about a hundred yards away. They all carried the cup with them, dumped out what was left and threw away the empty cup. How many of us would do that? Let me be the first to admit that if there were a trash can right in front of me I would use it, but I would not have looked for it like these kids did.