Finding Comfort in Discomfort
On Saturday morning I decided to do hill repeats in my favorite State Park—Nisene Marks—redwood forest nirvana. I woke at 5:00 am to rain pummeling my roof and noticed that yummy agitated sort of feeling in my gut. Not only would the time of day allow for my training partner and I to have the place to ourselves but the weather would keep those who choose conventional comfort snug at home.
I came to the realization many years ago that the genre of life in which many find discomfort—dirt, sweat, the pain of prolonged physical duress, weather, remote spaces, and difficult mental negotiations—to me feel like home base. When I’m physically/mentally throwing it down is when I feel most in balance with my little universe. I find a familiar sense of comfort in the discomfort.
One obvious reason this might be is that I’ve continued to up the ante in my endurance life since age 10. That’s a lot of time to ponder an assortment of uncomfortable predicaments repeatedly. Right, wrong, healthy, unhealthy, soothing, painful, comfortable, or uncomfortable—do anything long enough and it starts to grow on you.
A less transparent reason involves the medium in which I resonate in day-to-day life. When I go to a mall, for instance, I often feel disconcerted. Not because I dislike shopping—quite the contrary. The surroundings at the mall including visual advertising, food, sales people, and written messages all reach out and work hard to place me in a socially constructed box. I can choose to participate in that box but it tends to feel disjointed and distant. The antithesis of the mall is the connection I get with nature and self in whichever way I desire to assemble my play time. The latter offers no preconceived voices or messages. What I create is purely authentic. Ahhh.
On my second 4-mile hill repeat, the silence of the forest was vociferous. It required me to sink deeper into that womb of breath and aching muscles and battling mind because there was no other presenting stimulus. That realization brought me an unparalleled sense of ease. It was simply me. Among the rain and wind and mud, I found comfort in the discomfort.
Schneider at Telluride...
I came to the realization many years ago that the genre of life in which many find discomfort—dirt, sweat, the pain of prolonged physical duress, weather, remote spaces, and difficult mental negotiations—to me feel like home base. When I’m physically/mentally throwing it down is when I feel most in balance with my little universe. I find a familiar sense of comfort in the discomfort.
One obvious reason this might be is that I’ve continued to up the ante in my endurance life since age 10. That’s a lot of time to ponder an assortment of uncomfortable predicaments repeatedly. Right, wrong, healthy, unhealthy, soothing, painful, comfortable, or uncomfortable—do anything long enough and it starts to grow on you.
A less transparent reason involves the medium in which I resonate in day-to-day life. When I go to a mall, for instance, I often feel disconcerted. Not because I dislike shopping—quite the contrary. The surroundings at the mall including visual advertising, food, sales people, and written messages all reach out and work hard to place me in a socially constructed box. I can choose to participate in that box but it tends to feel disjointed and distant. The antithesis of the mall is the connection I get with nature and self in whichever way I desire to assemble my play time. The latter offers no preconceived voices or messages. What I create is purely authentic. Ahhh.
On my second 4-mile hill repeat, the silence of the forest was vociferous. It required me to sink deeper into that womb of breath and aching muscles and battling mind because there was no other presenting stimulus. That realization brought me an unparalleled sense of ease. It was simply me. Among the rain and wind and mud, I found comfort in the discomfort.
Schneider at Telluride...
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1 Comments:
So tell me what is a good basic training regiment to prepare for an adventure race? I imagine its pretty intense so how do I mitigate the risk of injury?
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