I am the type of person who likes to see just how far I can drive that car on empty. I also find myself getting excited about just how long my phone battery will last on 1%. Whether you can relate to this or not, my addiction is encouraged by the fact that every time I do this, I always find I have more “in the tank” than I thought possible. I have yet to run out of gas, and trust me, I have pushed it.
As I was pushing to finish a call before my battery died recently, I started thinking about this concept as it relates to training and life. If you follow my messages frequently, you have heard me reference Tim Noakes’ “central governor” theory which states that the brain is what limits endurance performance. You have probably also heard me reference a popular study where cyclists were asked to ride until they absolutely could not push the pedals another turn and then immediately asked to sprint. All were able to sprint to some capacity. These examples show the body does not reach complete failure before the mind forces us to stop.
This has tremendous implications for your training, but that is not the primary message I want you to hear today. With COVID and all of the challenges of 2020, my guess is that many of you are running on empty right now and wondering just how much longer you can keep going. I want you to know that you are stronger than you think. Your mind might be telling you that you are done, but I want you to know that you have more reserves – more “gas in the tank” – than you could possibly imagine. Keep moving forward.
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