An Olympic sized Lesson from the OLYMPICS

Have you been watching the olympics?

It’s one of my favorite times of the year. It only comes around every so often and this year, both summer and winter tee olympics are only 6 months apart. It’s an extra special time to get patriotic (or more like in the sports spirit).

Watching the competitors work hard for the coveted prize that so many are vying for is an amazing thing to watch. Exciting yet sad at the same time. You live to see your team or country win, but at the same token you fee for the other team as you watch them unfold when they don’t get the result they set after.

A bitter sweet moment to say the least.

As hard as everyone works, as hard as they put forth the dedication and energy. And especially postponing that training a year due to the pandemic, makes this years experience that much more special. A true test of brain and will power.

I really got into a lot of different sports as I was entertained and invested in one each day. Table tennis and skeet shooting were at the top of my list (mainly because that was on when I got home from a day of work), the way each person has to focus on such skill. Certainly I couldn’t do it right now. Incredible.

By the end, I was watching track and field, volleyball and indoor cycling. Watching each team member go over long distances and how they managed their field was a treat. Leaders would trade turns being in the lead in order to conserve energy and last the hour or hours needed to finish the race.

How they managed that time was astounding. I’d run a race or play a game of soccer and there’s usually one goal in mind. Score more and get to the finish line before the other person. That’s it!

There was no strategy to the long game, yet these athletes seemed to do just that and plan for it in such great fashion. How do you plan for the long haul? How do you plan for distance and time? These athletes mastered that art and understood the necessity to break from the lead, lay back off the pedal and allow the body to replenish in the middle of an all important, sometimes life defining race.

How?

We know of the supreme Olympic athlete Usain Bolt. If you don’t, he just so happens to be the fastest human being in the planet, hailing from Jamaica, breaking more world records than any in his field. Most of those records being his own. He runs a 100 meter dash in under 10 seconds, equivalent speed to just under a cheetah and faster than a raging bull.

In life, we sometimes treat it like Usain Bolt treats a 100 meter Olympic final. We run as fast as we can and hope we make it across the finish line in record time.

There’s one problem. Life isn’t a 100 meter dash. It’s a marathon. Like every marathoner understands, it’s all about pacing yourself. How do you pace yourself to run a marathon when you’ve been training for a sprint your entire life? How do you pivot from managing seconds to hours?

In soccer one of the drills we used to do was called man up front. A drill where each team member would jog around the field in single file. The last man behind all 22 members had to sprint up front to be the head of the line. After he reached the front, the next team member, who was now last in line, would do the same. On and on it would continue until the coach deemed the drill to be over.

If you took a note from that single exercise, as a sprinter, could you learn to jog? After you learn to jog, could you learn to take a break and catch your breath.

Athletes know the importance of taking a moment to listen to their bodies and notice what it needs to replenish. It's in those moments that they understand with a little bit of care, they can go even further and accomplish olympic sized dreams.

If we could do that, who knows what things we could accomplish ourselves.

I know for sure, I'll be taking a note from the lesson learned by simply watching a world stage.

Cheers,

JG