Filling up the Cookie Jar
Did you really think this through?
So let me get this straight - you are about eight weeks out from tackling one of the longest, single stage, unsupported, ultra-marathons on the planet, and you’ve entered a two-day CrossFit competition? For the best part of a year you have been honing the craft of being able to physically and mentally go long, real long, in the depths of the Arctic - and this competition will put you deep into the hurt locker of high-intensity, short timeframe workouts, smack bang in the middle of an Aussie summer.
What the hell are you doing?
Well I’m glad you didn’t ask - allow me to explain.
REASON 1 - NOWHERE TO HIDE.
“WE BURN A HOT FIRE HERE; IT MELTS DOWN ALL CONCEALMENT.”
― ARTHUR MILLER, THE CRUCIBLE
It was workout number 9, it was only 8 minutes long, I was into my second set of kettlebell swings (after doing a whole heap of other torturous stuff) about 6 minutes in and almost every single fibre of my being was screaming at me to put the damn thing down and take a break. Almost every fibre. That very last fibre was in my head reminding me that only a few feet behind me, my comp partner Ricky was rowing his guts out, he wasn’t taking a break, he was rowing and staring straight ahead - at me.
So I gave myself two choices - you can keeping swinging until you hit the required number of reps, or you can keep swinging until you literally burst into flame and are reduced to nothing but a cast-iron kettlebell and a very small pile of immolated athlete. Either way, we are going to swing. So swing we did.
Partner workouts are a beautiful psychological tool for coaches - I use them all the time. It is amazing the degree to which people will push themselves when they know someone else is reliant upon them. In an ultra-marathon you can generally ride out the lows, drop the pace a little, take a break at the next checkpoint. CrossFit comps give you no chance, no quarter. There is no checkpoint for a break, there is no time to walk for a bit or cruise for a bit. The clock is ticking, the judge is scoring and your partner is there, right there, sweating and suffering and striving right next to you.
There is a great power in putting yourself in the pain cave and reminding yourself what it feels like to fly right up to that red-line and push and push and push. It exposes the cracks not just physically, but it also helps expose that inner dialogue. As Miller said, ‘..it melts down all concealment…’
Sometimes you need to get thrown into the crucible and face the scorching sun.
REASON 2 - ADDING TO THE COOKIE JAR.
“…IN TIMES OF SUFFERING WE FORGET HOW HARD WE REALLY ARE…”
- DAVID GOGGINS
David Goggins talks about having a cookie jar in his head. When the going gets tough, really tough, he steps back mentally and goes to his cookie jar. In that jar are notes, that remind him of the amazing things he has accomplished, of how hard he really is. So when the chips are down and the hurt is on he takes that moment to remind himself just how much he is capable of.
Great Cookie Jars don’t fill up overnight, they take years. But more importantly, they take suffering. You have to take the hits and go the rounds to punch your ticket and place that note in the jar. That doesn’t mean you need to get off the couch and hit the Hawaiian Ironman next week - start wherever you are, if that first 5km or 10km from nothing nearly kills you, but you do it - then drop that punched card into the cookie jar. It doesn’t even have to be fitness or sport related. It’s not the magnitude of the task from someone else’s point of view - it’s the magnitude from your point of view. It’s what it took for you to punch that ticket. It’s your struggle - it must be yours and it must be real and it must be honest. The greater the challenge, the better the cookie.
REASON 3 - MATESHIP
When you’re training for a big ‘A’ race or event it’s easy to get lost in the metrics and the hours and the demands. Sometimes you simply can’t see the forest for the trees. So when a great mate asks you to throw-down for no other purpose than getting sweaty, leaving it all out on the field and just having some fun - with total disregard for the outcome - you need to jump at that chance. For me it was the perfect reminder to have fun, to not take it all too seriously, that sometimes you need to relax and roll with it and that that is sometimes the way forward.
Ultra runners and adventurers can be a solo, potentially reclusive bunch - every now and then the opportunity to be put in the spotlight. challenged by others, inspired by others, to motivate and be motivated by others - is the perfect medicine, the perfect supplement to recharge us and send us renewed back into the fray.