Continue reading »]]> Came across a great post from the uncompromising Paulo Sousa this morning.

I heard this story about Tony Dungy from Warren Sapp in some radio show. When Tony Dungy was coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they went to play an away game and they lost… by a lot. On the plane trip back, the players were rowdy, partying, playing poker, just screwing around. The next day, coach Tony Dungy had a players meeting and told them just one thing: he didn’t mind the partying, but what troubled him was that by the way the players behaved, he didn’t know if they had won or lost the game.

I was reminded of this story after reading/seeing some reactions after Kona. If you had a bad race and you’re acting like it was nothing the next day, you just don’t want it bad enough.

So true. And I think it applies to situations beyond sport.

Continue reading »]]> I don’t have many words to express how I’m feeling going into Nationals tomorrow so I’m just going to use Jordan Rapp‘s words in response to a post by Paulo Sousa about training:

Training, to me, echoed the story of Orpheus descending into the underworld to retrieve his love, Eurydice. The journey to get her was obviously scary; a trip that required, to borrow a phrase, “engagement” and also hard work. But the trip out of the underworld was equally challenging, more from a mental standpoint, which reminded me of the process of race preparation as well. Just like Orpheus, you cannot “look back.” There is a great amount of faith required that the work you have done will be good enough on race day. I remember before the 2008 Olympics, training with Simon, I wondered, “how do we know if he’s ready to win a medal?” I think I realize now that we didn’t know. We just knew that we had done our best to do the best job we could and that the answer to whether that was enough would be answered on race day. Ultimately, I think that’s what makes Olympians so special. You wait four years to find out if you faith was enough. It’s a four year journey to the underworld and back. But, like Orpheus, you never really get to look back and see if it works. You get indications of course, that Orpheus did not. You get to race in between; you can tell if training sessions are good or not; but ultimately, you have to pick what you think is the best path and commit to it. And trust it.

No looking back.

Continue reading »]]> It is three days now until my first crack at an elite triathlon in Sooke and, unsurprisingly, I am coming across words and wisdom that seem to speak to me.  From Girard Vroomen‘s series on the traits of champions:

Trait 5 of champions

“Not afraid to fail: To a degree, we are all afraid to fail. The champion seems to be willing to risk it in spite of the possibility of catastrophe.”

From Simon Whitfield on the same post by Girard:

“Trait 5” really stood out to me having met so many athletes who just don’t believe in themselves, they are afraid to fail, playing safe for zero because it’s better then minus one.

Belief leads to true commitment, “the relentless pursuit of”.

There is a possibility of catastrophe this weekend, a good chance of a minus one. My own mom even recognized it last weekend when, after asking if I would win, she jokingly asked if I was going to finish last. “I’d bet a lot more money on that than me winning” I responded in jest knowing it wasn’t a joke.

And that’s ok. I’ve watched enough elite races from the sidelines. I’ve accumulated enough zeros. I don’t want to finish last or embarrass myself but it’s time. Might as well…

Continue reading »]]> Couldn’t say it any better…

Cynisism is easy.
So is retreating into historic grudges.
So is looking at a world in which what were once borders are now dotted lines at best
and believing it doesn’t really matter what you call yourself or where you live.

It does matter.

Or at least it can.
It is important to have a shared history.
There is power in the collective experience.

And admit it: it feels good, it feels good to let your heart show.

- Stephen Brunt

So don’t let your red heart go cold.

Continue reading »]]> Some great comments by former hockey player Jim Peplinski (Joel Otto’s  accomplice in the kick in goal that cost the Canucks the ’89 series against the Flames…not that I hold grudges) about the real benefits of sport courtesy of Sport At Its Best:

What is the purpose of sport?

Sport can make people great athletes…

Or

Sport can make athletes great people.

Many people participate in a sport or get their children to participate in sport, invest countless hours and thousands of dollars with a view to becoming a great athlete or raising a great athlete.

This can work.

Is there another objective? A better objective? An objective that can cause you to play longer? An objective that increases your chances of reaching your athletic potential while improving personally through the lessons of sport?

Should we change our thinking on how we coach and approach sport?

If you approached sport with a goal to enjoy what ever sport you chose to participate in, to do your best and enjoy it, would you play longer? Would you be better rounded? Would you get more out of sport? Would you be a better person? And maybe become a great athlete too?

I believe so.

To me sport teaches character. Character is doing what you said you would do when it costs you!

To me sport teaches discipline. Get discipline. Get better. At anything !

To me sport teaches the value of fundamentals. Get great at skating, shooting, passing and you reach a high level in hockey. Get educated, you reach a high level in life.

To me sport teaches the value of health. Look after your body it looks after you.

To me sport teaches commitment.  It is rarely the most talented who succeed. It is regularly the person who does the work and hangs in longest who is rewarded.

To me sport teaches empathy. Know how you teammate feels, instead of only thinking about how you feel.

To me sport teaches performance. Keep score. Measure yourself. Get better.

To me sport teaches mental toughness. Fall down. Get up. Push yourself through discomfort.

To me sport teaches responsibility. Take responsibility for your actions. Entitlement doesn’t win in sport. Entitlement doesn’t win in life.

So, get involved in sports. Stick with it.

Get good at a sport. Be a better athlete. You bet.

Get good at what makes you good at a sport, be a better person. You win both ways.

Best athlete, best person. Absolutely.

Continue reading »]]> “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.”

- Ayn Rand

Continue reading »]]> Out for drinks with an old friend the other night I was asked what music I have been listening to lately (a common theme when we get together). I was able to come up with a couple of examples but it got me to thinking what has really caught my ear this year.

So since the year is coming to an end and thanks to Grooveshark I have been able to put together my favourite 12 songs that I came across this year (not necessarily released this year) along with my favourite lyric from them. Some are not of the greatest quality but that just means you’ll have to go out there and buy them if you like them right?

Enjoy (especially the cameo by Stephen Colbert).

1. Dan Mangan – Road Regrets

It’s all business in the left hand lane

2. Junior Boys – Parallel Lines

If you found the words would you really say them?

3. Joel Plaskett – Through & Through & Through

You be Israel and I’ll be Palestine

4. The National – Apartment Story

Tired and wired we ruin too easy

5. Lisa Hannigan – I Don’t Know

I don’t know…if you eat what you’ve been given or push it round your plate. I’d like to cook for you all the same. If you want to, I am game.

6. Ben Harper – Fly One Time

Now I’m caught in between what I can’t leave behind and what I may never find. So fly one time.

7. K-OS – I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman

My shadow weighs a ton, call it baggage but I use it all to advantage

8. Alicia Keys feat. Stephen Colbert – Empire of the State (Part 2)

My community is gated, my shorties are all private school educated

9. Wintersleep – Weighty Ghost

Where would my body go? Africa or Mexico

10. Dan Mangan – Robots

Sing your stupid head off to the ones who are not listening

11. You Say Party! We Say Die! – Laura Palmer’s Prom

My heart needs a love dance

12. Matthew Good – True Love Will Find You In The End

This is a promise with a catch cause only if you’re looking will it find you

Continue reading »]]> I can’t remember how I came across this last week but I found this great free ebook full of wisdom by Seth Godin called What Matters Now. Each page is a small piece about things like adventure, meaning, and tough-mindedness by various authors from around this maze of interconnecting tubes we call the Internet.

The one that really caught my eye was a piece on excellence called the 19 E’s of Excellence by Tom Peters. While it may be somewhat directed towards a business crowd, it no doubt applies to anything you try your hand at, especially triathlon.

The page in the book is much more eye-catching but here’s the content of the page from his website:

If Not Excellence, What?
If Not Excellence Now, When?
The “19 Es” of Excellence:

Enthusiasm. (Be an irresistible force of nature!)
Energy. (Be fire! Light fires!)
Exuberance. (Vibrate—cause earthquakes!)
Execution. (Do it! Now! Get it done! Barriers are baloney! Excuses are for wimps! Accountability is gospel! Adhere to the Bill Parcells doctrine: “Blame nobody! Expect nothing! Do something!”)
Empowerment. (Respect and appreciation rule! Always ask, “What do you think?” Then listen! Then let go and liberate! Then celebrate!)
Edginess. (Perpetually dancing at the frontier, and a little or a lot beyond.)
Enraged. (Determined to challenge & change the status quo!)
Engaged. (Addicted to MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around. In touch. Always.)
Electronic. (Partners with the world 60/60/24/7 via electronic community building and entanglement of every sort. Crowdsourcing rules!)
Encompassing. (Relentlessly pursue diverse opinions—the more diversity the merrier! Diversity per se “works”!)
Emotion. (The alpha. The omega. The essence of leadership. The essence of sales. The essence of marketing. The essence. Period. Acknowledge it.)
Empathy. (Connect, connect, connect with others’ reality and aspirations! “Walk in the other person’s shoes”—until the soles have holes!)
Experience. (Life is theater! Make every activity-contact memorable! Standard: “Insanely Great”/Steve Jobs; “Radically Thrilling”/BMW.)
Eliminate. (Keep it simple!)
Errorprone. (Ready! Fire! Aim! Try a lot of stuff and make a lot of booboos and then try some more stuff and make some more booboos—all of it at the speed of light!)
Evenhanded. (Straight as an arrow! Fair to a fault! Honest as Abe!)
Expectations. (Michelangelo: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Amen!)
Eudaimonia. (Pursue the highest of human moral purpose—the core of Aristotle’s philosophy. Be of service. Always.)
Excellence. (The only standard! Never an exception! Start now! No excuses! If not Excellence, what? If not Excellence now, when?)

There is so much there I wouldn’t even know where to start with my commentary. There are certainly pieces there that stand out as things I’m good at and others which I’m not.

But I think it all gets summed up in the end with “If not Excellence, what? If not Excellence now, when?”.