When it’s time to live more expansively, do more things well, pursue greater challenges in nature, the lines we draw in modern life can start to limit us. In nature, we can retrain our minds and tune in to more expansive patterns. In the last post we discussed the basic linear wavelike patterns of progression. When we tune these patterns in to ourselves they can be devastatingly effective. In a few years of diligent practice we can develop substantial levels of strength and endurance by following the patterns. However, linear patterns of development can eventually lead us to being a bit stuck in specialized ruts and meaningless cycles. This in many ways reflects the underlying dilemma of modern life. We can be well rewarded for being high performance specialists but our lives are also very limited and our holistic capabilities and connection to nature’s power has been severed. Whenever we focus on one capability or outcome, other vital areas don’t get the attention that might be optimal or that we yearn to give them. As frustrating as this is, we shouldn’t kick ourselves. Our modern minds and logic systems are not built to support conflicting priorities and metrics at once so it’s really not our fault. Rather than waste our energy being frustrated we can train towards building more expansive patterns. This same dilemma comes up when we train for and explore nature which makes this an ideal training venue to open our minds to more expansive patterns. Nature is complex and fluid. Focusing too much on one strength or skill will limit us and we must learn to balance the inherent tensions between the various pieces that demand our attention. Luckily the human brain actually has the architecture to handle all of this; that’s what being a survivor in nature was always all about. It is thus healthy for our minds to rebuild those pathways a bit. We can approach this in a few ways. The simplest way to think about it is as a progression of more difficult experiences in nature that continue to add layers of challenge and depth. This fairly clean framework helps us organize our efforts over the long term. It’s also helpful to be able to frame our training in a more expansive way so that we can be better at developing multiple capabilities simultaneously without losing our minds or leaving gaps in our overall preparation. How do we build multiple capabilities effectively for the long term? As we work on this, one of the training dials we inevitably find ourselves playing with is control. One thing many athletes try to do is control multiple separated progressions at once. We see this a lot in the highly structured training schedules of triathletes which, although impressive, can start to become a bit like a cancer of scheduling. I don’t know if there’s truth behind it, but this may help explain why triathlon has a reputation as being a “divorce sport.” Once we go deeper into nature and add more elements, trying to establish rigid and scientific control over ever-more variables seems at some point to become a recipe for madness. From my perspective, the more we introduce into our training the greater the call to start pulling back the veil of control and shift training into more of a dance. One of my favorite books about training, “Primal Endurance” by two former pro triathletes Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns, essentially recommends intuitive and semi-structured training. I agree with this approach for many athletes and this is basically how I train myself. However, I also feel that we need to learn our bodies really well and need to practice and internalize our body’s rhythms of progression enough before our intuition can really guide us well. When it comes to training, experienced athletes (and especially triathletes) that have been training their bodies in organized ways are going to have a major advantage with this. Most of the rest of us in modern life are so disconnected from our bodies and training rhythms that moving directly into intuitive training probably won’t take us very far. It makes sense to be somewhat cautious as we adopt the intuitive approach; injuries and overtraining are a real risk when we haven’t yet developed sufficient training wisdom. Intuition is a powerful coach but it also seems to be something that we cultivate. In my experience, we can bridge the gap out of our modern control-oriented linear mindsets by learning basic patterns of progression until they become instinctual. Then, much like a juggler adding flaming torches, as we get to know ourselves better we can layer on additional training elements and make little adjustments to integrate and optimize the whole. As we do this, we can increasingly loosen our grip of control and listen and respond to signs where we can improve. When we learn to do this well, training will be a lot more fun and better at enabling us to interact with nature. As we expand our training and tune back into nature, we can actually learn a lot by studying snails. As nature’s mystical wanderer, the snail provides a tremendous example of slow and steady growth. As we’ve explored in previous blogs slowing down, taking things at our own pace, and becoming more strategic and thoughtful about our efforts really helps us from a long term developmental perspective. As with all things, in order to move forward and grow, like snails, we need to come out of our hard shells and explore new areas with more vulnerable parts of ourselves. The expanding spiral of a snail shell is an ideal representation of what a good pattern of overall training progression really looks like for a nature-based athlete. In training, we continually cycle through the same patterns, repeatedly addressing all of the elements that we need to practice at appropriate cadences, and gradually we expand these capabilities or start adding additional skills into the mix. As we continue the cycle, we stay responsive and keep improving the whole. Much like life.
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