Do you have the gift of stubbornness?

Before I begin, let me tell you all how GREAT it is to be back on the mats.  I had to skip last week due to an incredibly annoying-headache-inducing-unable-to-breath sinus infection, but I am better now.  I love the process one has when returning after a short absence.  The hugs, the exclamations of joy, the camaraderie, the always understanding ears and nods of understanding when explaining why I have not trained in two (!yikes!2) months.

My timing was slightly off, but my game had more....explosion, more verve.  All those push-ups and pull-ups and sit-ups and all those laps and laps and laps around the track....all the time I spent getting to know my new friend "anaerobic" not only prepared me for SWAT tryouts (which I'll be doing again), but sharpened a few dull edges.  My cardio fitness is better, not that it was awful before, but now it's solid.  Instead of just "getting through" the last roll or two, I have real stamina for the next go-around.  My explosive power is better and I have developed an internal rheostat for dialing that power up or down quickly.    I am thinking about Pan and Mundial No-Gi.....

now, about stubbornness...The art of being your own locksmith.

It's the great secret of life.  The pot of gold.  The perfect wave.  You must keep going back.  again again again.  Go back until the mat, the pool, the track, suddenly animates and slaps you away.  and you go. back. again.

I have been following the olympic trials for diving and now track and field, this past week.  Swimming starts tomorrow (Monday).

These athletes, world class athletes, all have something in common.  They are stubborn, wonderfully pig-headed, and fierce about their passion.  They go back.  I realized as I watched them; they have all suffered injuries that left them on the couch for days.  They have all been sidelined for a frightening amount of time.  They have worked hard and still fallen short.  But they kept going back to work and worked harder until the goal was met.  They have "what it takes."  What It Takes is not hocus pocus or some mystical nether-land that a few chosen get to visit.  "What It Takes" is hard work, perseverance, and the great and powerful Oz factor, a willingness to be outside your comfort zone.  These athletes perform there.   They embrace the whole land that exists outside the safety of aerobic fitness and sun themselves in the light that shines into the envelopes they kick open.

They are stubborn.


Train hard and fierce,
Dag