Why racing matters

Sports require competition

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Don’t be a practice player

You know the ones I’m talking about.

The one’s who excel in practice, in controlled situations, when the structure overrides the desire of the players, one specific target in sight, and a path largely clear of adversity.

In life, we see FAR too many of these types of people. I’m thinking of the ones who need climate control EVERYTHING, as one example. The person who wishes all year for summer to come and then just complains about the heat when it finally arrives.

A practice player is one who shrinks under the pressure of an opponent. When things are out of their control, they aren’t able to bring themselves to the same level of performance. They prefer to boast about skills, but never about how to use them when everything in the game is on the line.

When I think about adults who struggle, I’m often reminded of the practice player.

For me, I was kind of the opposite. Someone who had talent, but truly needed the flow of the game to bring out the best of my athletic ability.

After competing in races consistently the past 3 years, I’ve seen a similar type of phenomenon unfold when it comes to the clarifying power of competition.

And given that our aim together, me writing and exploring deep ideas in sport and you interested in knowing and then living them out, is the understand and realize sport as a spiritual activity, the competition holds itself out as a necessary component of any athletic life aimed at it’s deepest potential.

As I aim at my A-Race for this year in 1 month, I want to explore all aspects of building towards, caring deeply about, and executing a race as an adult athlete juggling training among all my other responsibilities.

I want to share 3 valuable things you gain when you CARE about competing and make it an important part of you identity as an athletic adult.

Is racing hard, yes.

Here's one big thing I’ve learned reentering the arena: Adults DON’T COMPETE IN SPORTS ENOUGH.

Don’t be a mindless competitor

However, there is another side to this coin that’s almost as bad as not competing, and maybe it’s even worse, the adult who just signs up for a competition to say they’ve done it and moves on like it never happened.

There’s a conversation that’s been repeating in my mind for the past few weeks that’ highlights this perfectly.

I was at a kid’s birthday party and the subject came up that I help train people for endurance events and a father who I’d been talking to kind of brushed it off “Oh yeah, I’ve done all of that stuff, IronMan’s, Ultra’s, let me tell you I’ll never do another ultra ever again.”

Cool story bro, the only problem is you look like every other adult who skips the gym but never dessert and have been complaining about little things ALL DAY to anyone who will listen.

Inside my head all I thought was “You may have crossed the line but you didn’t actually RACE and get anything out of the experience did you” as I smiled as said “Well I get why most people don’t enjoy them, but I love doing them.”

Most adults who do end up competing are aimed completely off the mark. They do it because there’s a bit of a fad (see HYROX overtaking CROSSFIT right now as one example) and the fitness world is dripping with fad jumpers. People who want to capitalize off easy energy to try and get fit but then realize getting fit is everything BUT easy energy after the initial dopamine hits get harder and harder to attain.

The race is basically a belt notch, it’s something to do, not something to experience and learn from. It’s almost like you didn’t even learn anything, other than something else to complain about and say ‘well that’s hard and I’m glad I’ll never have to do anything like that again’

Weak sauce adults, total weak sauce.

Finding your heart’s courage in the arena

But there is a third way, and that is playing from the heart. Actually CARING about the competitions you sign up for.

Instead of just things to do, or things no to do, they are instead moments to become.

Here are 3 ways to get the most out of competing.

1.Orientation

So many people want to make a life change without a lifestyle change. This is especially true in fitness. This is why 6 week bootcamp and 3 month fad diet challenges rule the fitness landscape, but nobody get in shape by doing them.

Racing every year keeps you aligned to a lifestyle you want to live. You get training season, race season, off season, and adjust your life around those training demands.

Training isn’t something to just fit it, it’s who you are, because you are also someone that competes.

This only happens when you CARE about the competition and want to do well for your own sake. This is why LOVE is that all powerful secret weapon.

A competition in an activity you love will keep you disciplined in times when other people quit and give up on their lifestyle goals.

2.Community

Don’t find people to just ‘do it’ but find people who want to gain the most out of taking on the challenge of doing it. Make it serious. Lean on each other. Laugh through the difficulties together, share the triumphs together, become accountable together.

A team can make any struggle seem worthwhile when you’re pulling in the same direction. And bonus, having a community who shares your passion and goals helps with keeping you on the lifestyle and value orientation from #1. Win-Win.

3.Adventure

Competitions are grand adventures into the unknown themselves, but they can take you to extraordinary places and give you incredible experiences.

I was talking with another couple at a different party, and even though they themselves weren’t interested in racing we ended up talking about a bunch of races in cool places that they agreed would be pretty fun adventures and would make training more exciting.

If you enter the arena as a way to take an adventure, you’ll be aimed at discipling yourself all year throughout the training process so you can capitalize on the adventure, not lamenting how it was so hard and how you didn’t properly train (no regrets team).

These are just some of the things that have opened themselves up to me as I’ve reentered the arena with serious care over the past few years. And I know will open up to you if you endeavor to compete with your heart and take the training seriously as ‘who you are’ not just ‘what I’m currently doing.’

I’ll continue to explore competition and bring you inside my training process 1 month out from the race so you can see in real time how values based training and the spiritual aim of competing in sports brings meaning, purpose, and the ‘good life’ to it’s serious practitioners.

Let’s keep winning together team.