I have been getting a range of feedback from folks over the last little while. Many of them are worried that I might be doing too much.

One guy on my board asked if I was overtrained. I think what he might have meant to ask was, “Are you doing too much?”

One lady on my board, who seems a bit sad in all her posts, commented that other people’s training logs made her feel inferior. At least that was my interpretation of her post, it wasn’t quite what she said.

Yesterday a good friend asked, “Do you ever sense burnout or a vague wondering if you can do this many more years? How long can you continue at that level? I find this fascinating from more than a physiological/performance perspective.”

That was an insightful question and triggered an avalanche of thoughts in my head. In order to address the questions, I need to explain a little bit of background. Some of the thoughts in this piece are intended to challenge the standard beliefs that people have. Don’t take me too seriously.

Why do I train? Basically, I train because it’s my favorite thing to do. There is nothing that I’d rather do. Everything in my current life is secondary to my training.

With goals and achievement — it’s been this way since I was about 17 years old. At various times, I’ve focused on academics (first class honors at Uni), relationships (deep bonding with a few ladies), work (youngest partner ever in my firm), wealth (learned the lessons of luxury first hand) and athletics (close to world-class in a sport that I began when 30 years old). In achieving these different things I’ve learned that achievement in itself is a joke — it’s the process that matters.

Elites around us, have a formula that they apply instinctively to anything that interests them. They aren’t interested in being average. They dive right in and do what it takes to become proficient. By persisting for a long time, they get quite good. In order to achieve the highest level of success in any field, I believe that this is the only course of action. You must embrace your mission completely and ruthlessly remove any obstacles to achievement.

In my life, I have nearly always been successful when I completely focus on a goal or objective. When I am working towards a goal, every aspect of my life supports that goal. To the extent that a person or situation moves me away from my goal, I reduce its influence on me or blow it out of my way. This seems normal for me and is what I’ve always done.

So why doesn’t everyone achieve success in life?

Most people are unwilling or unable to take the actions required to achieve their goals. They simply can’t do it.

So why bother? Because in simply trying we learn and grow. Even if you never achieve your ultimate goal, you certainly achieve something by giving it a go.

Lazy people don’t like to be called lazy. Quite often the achievement of others (or simply their taking actions towards achievement) makes other people sense their own personal inadequacies. Sometimes these inadequacies are imagined, but quite often they are real.

I see endless debate on the best path towards achievement — most of this driven by people who are unwilling to take the steps necessary for success. Elites take action first, and then based on results, refine their approach. This predisposition towards action can get me in trouble — it works well in non-emotional spheres. In the emotional sphere a more feminine approach works. I tend to see traditional achievement (action, domination oriented) defined in terms of masculine traits.

Do you define success in the terms that truly matter to you? Many successful people feel impoverished because they have directed their energies towards areas that don’t really matter to them. They get too caught up in the process and don’t take time to consider the larger picture. I know a number of unsatisfied millionaires.

Likewise, some people that don’t appear successful at all are quite satisfied with their lives. They live according to their code and have all they require.

OK, those are some thoughts on achievement. Possibly not related but perhaps they set the scene.

With my training, what I am I really trying to achieve? If I had to define my mission right now then it would be to discover my ultimate performance limits at Ironman racing. I am lucky in that my joy of training seems to fit well with what’s required to have a shot at getting close to my potential.

Note that what I am trying to do is achieve my potential, not beat everyone else. I think that if I come close to my potential then I will do quite well relative to everyone else, but it’s not the goal.

The most satisfying events of my life have come when I come close to achieving my potential. People that define their success in terms of others, never tend to be happy.

OK, let’s come back to the question….

Do you ever sense burnout or a vague wondering if you can do this many more years?

Sure, I get smoked but that’s the point. If you are not riding the edge of what you can handle then how can you know that you are nearing your potential? I’ve learned to spot the warning signs when I am getting over-reached and now I ease off a bit. Of course, it’s not easy, but I do enough training that easing off sometimes isn’t the end of the world.

Many more years — I think that this is a key point that I think many elites and their coaches miss. My view is that the destiny of a true elite is to work towards their ultimate potential in their chosen field. A lot of excellent coaches hold their athletes back and develop them over time — funny thing is, when they were athletes themselves, they constantly worked to improve as fast as they could. When you are talking about elite achievement at the highest level, I think that we should aim for improvement at the fastest possible rate (note this is different from training athletes looking for life skills).

Many more years — I might burn out, I might not. Still, if I don’t work towards my goals at the maximum pace possible then chances are that I will not achieve my ultimate potential. Also, there is a limit to what we can do. It is a very rare person that can do everything. In fact, there is always more that we can be doing. So we need to do everything possible, but keep it fun, watch for signs of fatigue and keep heading in the right direction.

How long can I continue to “go hard”? I’ve been rolling since I was 17. My most satisfying periods of adult life were the ones where I was working the hardest. When I took it easy, took the long term view, bided my time — these were the periods of least fulfillment (and lowest personal integrity).

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Balanced Life

What about the ideal of the balanced life? When I look at people that have balanced lives, they are equally average at everything. For achievement in one area, performance in (attention to) another area likely suffers. Personally, I don’t want to be average.

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Commitment

Many people talk about their other interests because they are unable to commit to their true passion. In failing to commit, they greatly reduce their ability to achieve.

Again and again, I see people beating themselves up on their performance when they never had a chance to achieve in the first place. When we truly commit to a task, the end result becomes less important (in the long run). Perceived failure in the short term still hurts, but time shows that the lessons learned in true commitment were the source of value in the journey.

Most people have no concept of the level of commitment required to achieve success in a chosen field. The people at the top of every field work their butts off, however, if they are in the right field then they are filled with a feeling of satisfaction most of the time.

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Why

Why do I enjoy massive training? There is satisfaction to be found in pushing through self-imposed limits. So long as I have enough time, I now believe that there isn’t much that I can’t get through.

To be honest, at a certain level, there is satisfaction in being able to achieve things that only a limited number of others can do. However, this is a somewhat risky platform to base one’s satisfaction.

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Relationships

Deep emotional bonding and the highest levels of personal athletic success — I don’t see many examples of this in elite athletics. During the periods of intense preparation and performance, the secondary partner tends to take a back seat.

While there may be exceptions to this observation, above average achievers are often below average partners. Thankfully, there are people willing to be #2, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

When I am performing at the levels required for the highest success (in most fields), I simply don’t have the emotional energy to devote to a needy partner — and nearly all of us are needy. Athletes in emotionally challenging situations are placing themselves at a performance disadvantage. One’s head must be clear to perform and train at the highest levels.

You might get a divorce because you are training for Kona, but it’s tough to get to Kona during a divorce.

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Sacrifice

If you think that you are sacrificing a lot to get to your goals then you should reevaluate. There is little sacrifice in fulfilling one’s destiny.

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Wear-Out

More than burn out, I fear “wear out”. I do some seriously high volume training. Well beyond my design specifications. At those levels of volume, it’s only a matter of time before things start to wear out (the challenge of the veteran athlete). However, I started late. Also, my “life list” contains plenty of things that I can do if elite IM is no longer viable. I’ve never had a shortage of challenges or areas to focus.

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Fun

I was in a clinic the other day and a coach said that triathlon isn’t always fun. I objected and said that perhaps some people need to adjust their definition of fun.

Life might not always be fun, but a life with commitment and focus will always be rewarding.

There are no short cuts, if you can’t handle the work required to excel in your chosen field then find a new field or get used to being average.

gordo – 7 July 2003

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