Intervals and Intuition

Generally if you come to ponder how to get faster/stronger/more effective at something you search out those who have excelled in that area or a coach and listen to what they have to say.  If this area happens to be something to do with endurance, say running as in my case, then you might weave your way to Rich Roll, or Alex Hutchinson, or, if you’re lucky, your own hometown help Mike Neill.

As I was in the midst of an interval session this morning I was reflecting on the fact that they all say the same thing: if you want to get better then you have to stop doing the most common mistake that most amateur athletes do and that is, spending too much time in the middle.  Making most of your workouts the same intensity, an intensity that is just a little bit stronger than you should be doing regularly and that is never as high as you should do periodically and never as low as you should recover with.  i.e. sometimes you need to push hard, sometimes you need to rest hard, but trudging along, neither pushing nor resting, will only get you so far.

Does it occur to you that there is a life lesson here?  Could we apply this to the seasons of our lives and the flow of our day to day?  Do you know when your body and mind want you to push hard and when they need you to rest?  I’ll answer for you, yes, yes you do.  That’s your intuition and your instinct.  You may have lost it, but it’s in there.  Find it and let it guide you through the intervals of life.  What season are you in now?