Take this photo for example. You see a Thunderbear in full release. The guy is so excited its palpable in the photo. Its not pretty. I would imagine the noise that came from him was Chewbacca-esque and sounded like it was being played backwards in slow motion. Here is what you don’t see…

This is a guy who would only record the training he did “in the zone” – he did not measure warm-ups and cool downs. He ran with an ice glove, in full longs after years of research in chambers being pricked and prodded to work out he had a cooling problem – fatal for Hawaii. He worked meticulously at his running for years after being the strongest biker in Ironman. You don’t see that. You cannot imagine that the release is a part of all that. He didn’t even win – this release is a release of overcoming, which is why its one of the most beautiful madness pictures there is.

Hawaii is pretty, right? This picture is 28km into the run at Ironman Hawaii. In battle in the right of the picture are Craig Alexander and Andreas Raelert. You can’t see Chris Lieto ahead somewhere. They are chasing him. There is nothing to distract them in this picture. The Energy Lab is stark, its ugly, its bare and raw and its hot and windy in there. It’s a place which saps energy from you like a hungry swarm of mosquito. Ironman is a lonely sport. If you can’t work that out in this picture…

Again, in the Lab. Potts has on granny socks and has a waterbottle perched in his bum and at this point is making the 2km stretch (uphill) out of the Lab. He has recently lost his father-in-law. On his right show, the name of his father-in-law reminds him to keep going. As he approaches the finish line, he removes his shoe and points to the name. It’s been a break through race for Potts. He has his reasons. Have a dig into the emotion and find your power when you are out there.

One of the most powerful photos for me. You see Lieto, just been passed for the lead at World Championships. His face shows utter despair, his entire year he has only thought about winning and suddenly he is hanging tight for second. Fellow pro Lovato has stopped on the opposite side of the road to watch his mate being passed and you can see in his face that he knows its over for Lieto. Crowie looks only forward, I think his face shows he is running scared, that he is at his total limit as well. His form though, perfect. It an ugly picture if you`re a Lieto fan, a beautiful one on being the pro’s pro if you are a Crowie fan.

+++

The story behind the story and the beauty in the madness. Go out there and find it this weekend. It’s out there. Find the wild eyes and the scary moments. Turn them to work for you and don’t look back. Just keep the pedals turning, the arms moving and make sure to keep the nutrition going. You are so much more than you know…

Ever felt like that? You have an absolute crisis and nobody around you can even begin to understand what you are on about?

Cant understand the crazy data on your powermeter?

Your coach not making any sense?

Struggling for reasons to get up and out and run in the dark before work, and your significant other is just not understanding she/he needs to kick you out of the bed?

Take solace in this: It happens to all of us. We all appear lost in translation at times. There are times when I look in the mirror and the voices in my head don’t even make any sense. There are times when my legs really just don’t want to do the work anymore, when they are pleading that they are sinking to the brain, but the brain is too busy listening to the following songs or telling the legs to shut up, like Jens Voigt says.

and then always remember…

that it all for today… have a good one.

So it happened. Thanks to you. I bow and thank you. Urban Ninja made it back into the top 10 sports blogs in South Africa. Suprisingly, as I never nominated the blog for an online marketing category, I appear in there too. Assume nothing, pursue everything is the motto, so go after it we will.

If the process wasn’t drawn out enough, I now need you to click the button again and vote again. Until the 17th it seems you can vote every 24 hours, so come back to this page and click the button every day and make a vote count for me, please. I know its lame to ask you to vote every 24 hours, but the reality is that its the rules and states it on their website and if someone with 500 votes gets those votes each day, then if I get 10 000 individual votes, I still wont win. Seems a weird system to me, but hey, these are the rules. Also, if you have more than 1 email address, then register each address. That’s allowed too. I wonder if someone is going to register 1000 email addresses and vote for themselves each day. Oh, wait. I have a normal job and train silly hours and this is just a blog. Back to reality.

Thank you for the continued support. Now set a reminder in your Outlook or Gmail to daily go and vote for the Urban Ninja. I, in turn, promise to keep going above and beyond for content. Raoul

Back tomorrow, with wisdom and insight….

Who’s coming?

‘A few strong instincts and a few plain rules suffice us.’ ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Life can be ridiculously complicated, if you let it. I suggest we simplify.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s quote, which I’ve stolen as this site’s subtitle, is the shortest guide to life you’ll ever need:

“Smile, breath, and go slowly.”

If you live your life by those five words, you’ll do pretty well. For those who need a little more guidance, I’ve distilled the lessons I’ve learned (so far) into a few guidelines, or reminders, really.

And as always, these rules are meant to be broken. Life wouldn’t be any fun if they weren’t.

the brief guide

less TV, more reading
less shopping, more outdoors
less clutter, more space
less rush, more slowness
less consuming, more creating
less junk, more real food
less busywork, more impact
less driving, more walking
less noise, more solitude
less focus on the future, more on the present
less work, more play
less worry, more smiles
breathe

Such a beautiful way to begin the week, I had to share. The article was originally published here.