Bring on the Boring – Master the Mundane.

Bring on the Boring – Master the Mundane.

Part of getting training right is learning how to deal with the mundane and having the ability to change the meaning of the word. I do the same run pretty much every Tuesday, same route, same hills, same scenes. Pool swimming can get boring. You watch tiles go past you as you swim 25 meters out and the same tiles go past you on the 25 meters back. Cycling up endless hills can get boring. The downs are fun, but you can spend at least 4 to 5 times more on the ups because you are significantly slower on them. Eating correctly is boring, chasing down 1.7 g/kg worth of protein per day gets boring. Low Heart Rate training? Meh.

Let’s begin to flip this a bit. Investing toward your retirement is boring. 30 or so years of putting money aside with marginal gains each year. Studying was and is boring. Page after page that you need to assimilate. Driving to work is boring. And yet these habits, joined together day by day make a huge difference. Malcolm Gladwell’s 10 000 hours come up time and time again as a true recipe for success. There are no short cuts, no hacks. Beetroot juice might just help you run 0.001 percent quicker, but true speed is gained over the long term. It’s proposed that Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes are so quick because they start running so early in life. Rent paid on the necessary muscle damage and recovery is done early in life. As a child growing up on a farm in Ethiopia, Haile Gebrselassie ran 10 kilometers to school each day and another 10 kilometers back home. Years later he still runs with his left arm crooked, the effect of years spent running with books under his arm. Quality takes time and consistency and 10 000 hours it seems.

What do you do with the boredom? How do you Master the Mundane?

You need to learn to change your thinking.

1. It’s a privilege to have the health to train just as it is to have the skill set that enables you to save money toward your retirement.
2. Get into the moment. Looking at your watch every two minutes and trying to figure when you will be done will be a form of torture. Ryan Hall wrote a book entitled, “Run the Mile you are in”. I love that title. It speaks of being present, focused on the here and now. Robert Persig, author and philosopher puts it this way, ‘The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality.’ His argument is that the more we immerse ourselves in the present the more alive and connected we become. The mundane gives you an opportunity to do that.
3. Appreciate nature. The cold air of Winter, the rusty colours of Autumn, the sweet fragrance of Spring. I love Louries and chuckle to myself every time they squawk. I have been known to squawk back at them, but enough of that now. I highly recommend Florence William’s book “The Nature Fix” for more on this subject.

1. Realize what you are doing. Deep down, on the insanely complex cellular level you are increasing both the amount and quality of your mitochondria. These are the ‘batteries’ that power movement. Tiny capillaries are being built around your muscle cells so that more oxygen and nutrition can get to them.
   Bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments are all strengthening. If that wasn’t enough, your brain is learning how to get you moving more efficiently. The process is so complex that it would take a lifetime of study just to begin to understand the process.
2. Realize that routine is powerful. This is what William James writes about the topic, “There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volitional deliberation”.
3. Lastly, you are paving the way to a better race when you get out there to test yourself.

I sincerely hope that this blog about boredom was not too boring.

Regards,

Mike Roscoe.
Coach and Kinesiologist.