Kona 2007

I spent the last weekend with Robbie Ventura in Chicago and that photo above is my new TT position. Just in case you don't believe it... that really is me, Robbie says that I don't even look like a triathlete -- high praise. Even Monica couldn't recognize me when I sent over the shots -- said the leg looked "too big". ha ha

I will share my thoughts on his operation when I give my talk on coaching business models at the November Coaches Clinic. It was a fun weekend observing a successful businessman (and business) up close. It's impressive what the Vision Quest team have built. I've nicknamed the CEO... "Hurricane Robbie".

Thanks to Jim Sauls, you will find more velodrome photos HERE.

Once I get the data I'll pass it along to Planet-X for them to post up. You can read my 2008 plan over there now.

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Kona 2007
I learn something each time I come to Hawaii and, this past trip, I had a few insights that I’ll pass along.

The island is an extreme place and the thought of racing here again is frightening for me. The only other course that generates a similar level of anxiety is Lake Placid. What these courses share is the fact that any pacing errors will be punished. In Kona, you get punished both severely and publicly. Of course, learning to cope with that is a useful skill, even if you never really ‘overcome’ a situation.

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Bike Workouts
I’ll share a couple of workouts that I picked up. These are supplemental to the ones that I outlined in my Power Presentation that goes with my podcast on EC-Radio (right margin).

Non-technical readers may wish to skip ahead...

12/3s – typically, I do these as 15 minute continuous cycles of 12 min steady then 3 min mod-hard. Bob Korock was nice enough to share one that he uses that is done as 12 min mod-hard (Half IM avg watts) then 3 min easy. This is specific preparation workout, rather than general endurance. Most people would see the Tempo 12s as superior to the Steady 12s. That depends on your needs and the time of the season. Even in Kona, steady state stamina and a superior endurance physiology at the metabolic level are fundamental limiters that I see in the field.

For a few years I’ve suspected that certain strong (and large) athletes have the aerobic capacity to perform at a work rate that exceeds their metabolic capacity. Put another way, the athlete’s fitness across an event duration exceeds their capacity for fueling. Post race analysis of power/pace data shows that the athlete “should have” been able to tolerate the efforts.

Watching, and talking to, athletes in Kona – it appears that there is a risk that we spend too much time developing our threshold performance and neglect to maximize our metabolic efficiency both in terms of output and input. I have seen some speedy Ironman performances done off the back of throwing a ton of volume at an athlete. I wonder about the stickiness of training that maximizes the ability to process carbs and oxidize fat. I also expect that there are genetic, nutritional and training factors that influence these limiters to performance.

The persistence of metabolic efficiency adaptations is an important consideration because it might explain why I’ve done some ripping IMs fatigued with sub-optimal threshold training/performance. Perhaps I maximized my real constraint which is metabolic in nature. We’ve got a lot to learn about what’s really happening in 8-17 hour events. Robbie talked about RAAM-pace // the speed that results from your maximal rate of glycogen synthesis. After two days all RAAM athletes are running on empty -- we have seen RAAM speed in athletes that tried to lose weight at Epic Camp. In ironman terms I call it POLAR (Pace Of LAst Resort).

Anyhow, my second workout tip for you is one that Joe Friel shared with me. The mainset is a doozey… four hours at goal IM wattage within a race simulation workout that is done on a flat course. If you get more than a 5% heart rate deviation (at the end) from the steady-state heart rate achieve (in the middle) then you are either… (a) aiming too high in terms of wattage; or (b) lack the ‘depth’ of fitness required. Either way, you must lower your wattage target. I think that this is an excellent session because (if you use the data) you greatly increase your probability of running well.

FYI, these sessions are late-season workouts. I won’t be trying them anytime soon.

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Karlyn
Some swim tips that I picked up from super-swimmer Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen… I will share them without a lot of explanation. Remember that you simply need to enter down and pull straight back. Most people overthink swimming.

She’s teaching straight-arm recovery, too avoid crisscross and overshooting on entry she instructs outside edge of hand entry (I tend to go pinky).

In starting the stroke, engage the outside edge of the hand and the base of the palm, rather than fingertips. This should engage the lat rather than firing just the deltoid.

I’m a deltoid dominant swimmer and felt the difference immediately.

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Competition
Every year, the race in Hawaii gets more and more competitive in all categories. It was impressive to see how fast the over 50s (men and women) race. If you are in your 30s, then consider what's going to happen when all the 35-39 elites age-up. Look at the ages in the Top-30 // how fast will this guy go at 45 or 50? What a race!

In a few years, we will see guys like Ken Glah and Greg Fraine racing in the 50+ category. It will be fun to see what’s possible. As for me... I don't plan on denying you the chance to take me down in my 40s... ;-)

I received a great quote from Jo Lawn right after the race… “to win here you can’t have a bad _minute_ let alone bad day. The girls are going for it the whole way”.

Even if the fields are getting more competitive, there remains a lot of room for performance through superior pacing. Powermeters are going to become standard for most athletes -- as a coach, you need to be building your experience with power. There are a lot of smart people sharing tips on maximizing Ironman performance (2peak.com's ideas on power output bike vs. run). The sports scientists are catching up on what really drives IM performance.

Less than 5% of the athletes I watched climbing Palani used their powermeters. That’s a lot of ammo to use in the first twenty miles of the bike. I'm speaking from recent personal experience here... you gotta trust me!

I’ve been fortunate to work with Ron Ottaway (winner of the 70-74 agegroup) for the last six years. I will share my thoughts on The Aging Athlete in an up-coming letter. For what it’s worth, Ron was fast when he came to me (five times on stage in Kona). However, he did win his agegroup by over an hour so I feel qualified to comment on what works (at least for him).

Ron was 20-minutes down at Hawi and started the run right beside 1st place (probably his best bike pacing, ever, in an Ironman). I’m looking forward to reviewing his power file. The challenges that face the ageing (speedy) athlete are unique as hanging onto developed fitness is a lot easier than building it up.

The fastest elite times may be similar to what Mark and Dave put up but the depth of the field is greatly increasing. Track the Top 10/20/30 (M/F) overall times to prove it to yourself. Top Ten used to be a reasonable dream for me... now I'm not so sure!

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Dr. J
Some neat posts from Dr. J over on his blog – he lays out (what I believe is) the most effective way for an athlete to improve their run performance.

Most people that do run camps target an average pace/intensity FAR too high. This time of year I am running 8-9 min per mile with my heart rate <145 bpm. There are many reasons why running faster is counterproductive for your IM time.

Jeff is also talking about his recent experience with a VO2 test as well as sharing thoughts on the difference between efficiency and economy. FWIW, I’m willing to bet that there is material upside in his VO2 Max test (done at altitude a few weeks after a sea-level IM). He's coming to town today and I'll be watching his test personally. We're not letting him off the treadmill until we see at least a 20% improvement over last time.

gordo

Lab Work, Career Beginnings and Entitlement

I was in Kona last week and the artist of the above print (Mike Field) took me out on his sailing canoe. Heck of a good time.

A Reader Asked...
...my question to you is what one book (or if that is too tough) what several books have had the most impact on your beliefs, thoughts, views, etc. I feel like I am in a significant transition point in my life where I have achieved a lot but still feel like I’m not sure where I’m heading

I Replied...
The book -- that's easy for me -- The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron -- I read the book (and did the program) the first summer that I spent in Boulder (2000).

Seven years later, every single thing that I wrote on my Top Ten list had come true. I thought that some of the items were a bit of a long shot as well. The interesting thing about that book (and the program) is that it is a tool to unlock whatever is lurking inside of us. It's a powerful program -- it seemed pretty goofy at the start but seeing it through changed my life.

FWIW, I would have described my life in 2000 EXACTLY as you laid out in your question.

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Lab Work
We have been playing in the lab this past week. I did four tests (bike lactate step with fuel; max aerobic run; resting metabolic rate; and a brick where I held AeT wattage for 80 minutes). So far, no ground breaking insights and I appear to be pretty normal.

Running the fuel test in tandem with the lactate test is very interesting (to me at least). In some athletes we are seeing material divergence between their lactate profile (AeT/FT) and their met-cart profile (AeT/VT1/FT). Often times the lactate test indicates that the athlete ought to be training more intensely than the fuel test. The fuel test has given us an insight into why using top end performance to determine endurance training zones is prone to error. We'd kill Alan if we used a 20 min max effort test to set his endurance zones on the bike -- he can really rip when there's plenty of glycogen available. I'm sure that he'll write more after we arm him with a bit more data. For what it's worth, this is where in-the-field experience is invaluable -- the testing provided us with a metabolic reason for him being so whipped all the time.

Given that nearly every athlete wants to know the pace/power/intensity at which their fat burning is maximized we're putting together a progressive test to determine that point for recreational athletes. My sister-in-law runs daily on her treadmill so she's the perfect candidate to test our protocol. In an up-coming letter I will share ideas on burning more fat, and storing less.

Visiting various labs and speaking with a range of PhDs, it is surprising to us that every lab (and just about every sports scientist) has a unique protocol for VO2 max testing. We've arrived at our own consensus and will be running it past a few personal contacts. A few more weeks and we will publish where we ended up. Seems that there is a fair amount of "art" in the testing science.

Drop mat "at" endurancecorner.com a line if you are interested in some testing.

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Career Beginnings
I read pmarca's blog from time-to-time and came across an interesting piece on where to work. Thinking back to my own path, it is excellent advice.

I stumbled into Private Equity in 1990 -- I was hand-trained by a founder of the British venture capital industry (Jon Moulton). I think that Jon would say that the article I linked up is reasonable -- the amount of cash that flows into all segments of the finance industry is unbelievable. Many of the players within the game believe that they actually deserve it, others stay quiet and earn their money below the radar. Jon comes out and says what many of us have been thinking for years.

Jon plays a game at which he is a world-class player -- it's fun to do things when you are better than most your competition. I think that he's the only person in the world that's built two leading private equity firms from scratch. He makes a lot of money but could make even more if he felt like pushing things. His business serves his desire to work with great people and play the game -- financially, he's had more than he needed for the last twenty years.

He knows a lot lot about money and I hope that he sits down and writes out his thoughts one day -- that's a book I'd love to help write. We have access to Warren Buffet's annual reports but there's a ton of great stuff that's scattered amongst the memories of Jon's employees, partners and managers.

Here's a bit on how I met him... against the advice of the senior partner that interviewed me, Jon decided to hire me straight out of university. These days, nobody really gets that chance -- the industry players are, for the most part, established players and it is VERY tough to get a seat at the golden table.

Back in 1990, I was cheap, graduated with first-class honors (Econ/Finance) and Jon knew my Dad. The first two points were a key part of his buying decision -- Jon likes to hire smart people. He figures that if you can score well at a good school then you should be "useful for something". Knowing my Dad limited his downside because he could recoup his investment via satire.

From the early days, I was fortunate in that he found most of my flaws entertaining (there were many). Jon likes to be entertained. His wit is so fast that it took me six months until I was able to understand what he was saying. His partners used to translate for me and, even today, I probably miss many of his jokes. He's operating at a pretty high level.

My starting pay was less than the cleaners and my desk was the only one in the firm that Jon could see from his own. That made for interesting times as he would lean forward and shout "Byrn! Heel!" when he had a task for me. I'd drop everything and come running. Whenever I was given a task by Jon, I'd work non-stop until it was done. One management team nicknamed me "the rottweiler", I had a lot to learn about people skills.

Jon's done more for diversity in the financial services industry than any other person I've met in my career -- I'm surprised that no one ever talks about that. Hand ups, rather than handouts. To see this, you would need to look to the man's actions rather than his words -- Jon would probably tell you that he only hires the best people and doesn't give a stuff about backgrounds. That's true but doesn't explain the texture of most of his competitors.

I worked in London at a time when capital under management was benefiting from rapid portfolio growth and a shift in asset allocation. We knew that the industry fundamentals were good but we failed to grasp just how fast our world was changing. We were lucky to have some very bright Harvard MBAs on the team that provided strategic background -- Jon was at his best adding value to the firm by doing good deals, rather than strategic oversight.

The American players were the Big Boys (with their private jets and stretch limos) but we held our own in terms of net returns. The concepts of portfolio management and net returns were in their infancy. I was one of the first people to build a full-fledged model of a private equity fund, Jon's idea, not mine! Because our returns were great, we were in a position to educate our investors without risking our P&L, rare in financial services!

Another great idea Jon had was to calculate the equity IRR from doing a buy-out of the FTSE index and rolling all interest (after dividends) for five years. He loved it when my calculation (looking back five years) showed an equity IRR of 30% per annum. This was 1992 and the parallels to today's hedge fund industry are clear -- making money from leverage rather than sound investment judgment.

I worked internationally, first in London then in Hong Kong. When I'd plateaued in terms of personal development, I headed out on my own and have been involved in founding start-ups since then (property investment, property development, consulting, human performance, tourism).

Operations aren't my forte. As you might guess from reading my stuff -- what I do best is take a range of ideas; assemble them in the language of finance; and structure a deal/company so that good people get involved in supporting the plan. I do the easy bit -- the people that execute daily do the tough stuff.

As I emphasize to Alan and Mat, make the most of your learning opportunities. Boulder, 2007, human performance, alongside an experienced coach/investor/athlete. I didn't realize how unique my situation was until years after working for Jon.

Similar to my piece on the future of the coaching industry; I have a piece in my head on the future of Human Performance consulting. I'll write that up because there is an opportunity to create a world-class business in Boulder and I need help with the day-to-day.

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Health Warning
I'm being pretty direct below and when I re-read it... I sound a little negative on "living the dream". I suppose that is because most of the elites that I meet are a bit clueless on what they are heading for as well as the long term implications of their decisions. Still, poverty isn't fatal and athletics is a lot of fun.

My decision to seek to maximize my athletic potential in 2000 was an outstanding life decision -- in a sense, I saved my life. However, the financial benefits that one forgoes in following an athletic path are material. Nobody (coaches, athletes, race directors) goes into triathlon for the money.

If you think that you are too "poor" to afford health insurance then I recommend that you reconsider. I have many friends in our sport that have sustained medical bills in excess of $10,000 within the last five years. The highest that I know about is more than $100,000. If something happens to you then it's going to be pretty major -- a high deductible insurance policy costs very little relative to the financial impact of most cycling accidents (Alan/Mat pay ~$150 per month for a PPO plan that includes dental).

Taking $2,500 or $5,000 on the chin is nothing compared to a six figure bill landing in your lap. For my family, I self-insure the small to moderate stuff with a gold standard plan that backs me up for anything major.

When deciding what constitutes major; consider it as a percentage of your personal Net Asset Value.

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Entitlement In Sports

A listener observed:

It continues to amaze me how difficult it is to be a pro triathlete and the sacrifices you have to make. Perhaps in the future you could discuss what needs to change in our sport in order for elites to make a fair wage?

So many ideas come to my head when I read the above observation. Please know that I am speaking generally rather than replying directly to you. Your question touches on the fundamental issue that many people have with entitlement.

What do we truly deserve? Start here for ideas on that!

Fair wages – elite athletes are volunteers and no one has an inherent ‘right’ to train all day in the sun // I recommend a trip through rural China and India for anyone that believes otherwise. Elites are free at any time to get themselves a job in the traditional workforce – most “pros” in all sports have at least a part-time “real” job.

We all are susceptible to a feeling of entitlement in our lives – I feel it in myself. An early dose of random misfortune can often be a blessing.

The national associations (like New Zealand) that make it “hard” on their elites are doing them (and their taxpayers) a favour. If an athlete’s prospects are poor then we certainly don’t want to make it easier for them to hang on – a trip back to the traditional workforce can be educational and do wonders to motivate those on the edge.

If you want to make a living as a world-class athlete then you’d better be a world-class athlete. Most elites aren’t world-class, they are proficient and hard working.

Making It – you don’t “make it” as an elite triathlete – with a few 1-in-1,000 exceptions you make a bit of money for a few years then you retire (often with a beat up body and a smoked immune system). Winning a few races isn’t like making partner in a law firm – you will be heading back into the workforce (probably with short notice and before you want).

For most elites (and fast AGers), fast racing is great marketing, rather than income earning. The athletic "class" that make the greatest return from their racing are the “athlete coaches” that place consistently in their divisions. They represent achievable success in their local markets and share their experience with increasing life satisfaction from racing. As a "class", elite triathletes make nothing. My lifetime prize money is equivalent to two months current expenses (maybe less, I'm probably overestimating).

If the goal is to make a decent living then channeling the energy spent on athletic excellence into just about any other field will result in superior financial returns.

However, it is the challenges that make the pay-off so rewarding – whether competing for money, a Kona slot or simply to finish. Most of us would do it for free – actually most of us pay to do it!

Rewards – as a society, we place a tremendous value on physical beauty and athletic power. We have been conditioned for our entire lives than a lean, fit body is the ultimate achievement. As I age, I take comfort in having a better body in my 30s than I did in my 20s. I expect that the “reward” that many elites receive stems from the way we perceive an elite athlete.

Change – I’m not sure than anything needs to change in the sport of triathlon. If the athletes were to organize themselves and take charge of race promotion then they might be able to capture a larger share of the sport’s revenues. However, I see this as unlikely for a few reasons:

***lack of skills // as a class, elites are great athletes, not great businessfolk. The federations and race organizations have a massive edge and strong financial incentives to maintain the status quo. As a practical point, even if an athlete had the skills – why does it make sense to put a lot of effort into helping a group of second tier pros make more money? Pretty low return for your personal charity investment and, I expect, that you would get a lot more bang for your buck in other fields.

As an aside, my personal experience with Bradventures, NA Sports and HFP Racing is that they get money to athletes that support their company vision and add value to their businesses. Graham Fraser has done a tremendous amount for elites (as well as others) but we don’t hear a lot about it. He’s probably learned that critics exist to criticize.

Many young pros focus on explaining why they should be given money – a far better proposition is to demonstrate how you can add value to the company by being an ambassador of their brand mission. I had ten years of investment experience when I came to triathlon and it took me years to figure this out. One thing I did figure out was that using my skills to beg for free bike shorts was a low return activity.

***the events are bigger than the athletes // There are very few athletes that can benefit a race director by their presence.

Life Lessons – the lessons that we learn with a personal quest for our maximum potential are highly valuable and the training is a lot of fun. At some stage of our lives, I think that everyone should spend a couple of years trying to be their absolute best at something. The lessons are independent of outcome.

Remember that sport (and a meaningful life) is challenging – that’s the point!

As Ms Rand noted... China, Russia and others have tried a system that tried to be fair to everyone -- it had all the wrong incentives.

More next week,

gordo

Network Effects

Here's a shot of the Coffees of Hawaii sailing canoe in Kona. We were dealing out hot/cold espresso as well as water/sports drink during Ironman Hawaii race week. I'll be sharing more thoughts on Kona in the next few weeks.

Before this week's letter. A few bits and pieces...

A.R. Asked...
Sorry to bother you – a while ago (2 weeks?) – you interjected a short comment about what to look for in an ideal woman ( you mentioned something about high self esteem and a few other things? ). I am going through some decision making currently with regards to the opposite sex and I was hoping to find that bit of wisdom you imparted but I can’t seem to find it – do you remember what the few important things that you listed as important were?

Get yourself a copy of "Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart" -- there is a chapter on this exact subject. Gordon explains it much better than me.

For the cyclists that are looking for more information on training with power -- I recently read the Allen/Coggan book on Training with Power. There was a lot of interesting information and tips in there. If you apply their tips then remember that the physiologically optimal plan is the one that you can consistently apply across a number of seasons. Most athletes have a bias towards overwork and there is no better way to fatigue yourself (mentally/physically) than chasing watts in your training.

I've been giving some thoughts to my presentations for the November 2nd/3rd clinic on the Business of Coaching. We are going to be sharing the tools that I use to help coaches increase their revenues, and satisfaction, from coaching.

Finally...the City of Boulder is soliciting input for Valmont Park facilities. Please fill out the on-line comment form. In question 3 you might consider casting your vote for a 50M x 25M pool with separate dive tank and spectator seating. You can access the form HERE.

In the spirit of Aloha, Alternative Perspectives is a piece by Kevin Purcell -- Kona Blue. Only Kevin knows what it truly took to follow his vision of Hawaii.

Alan's blog has a piece on VO2 Max testing for Ironman athletes -- I expect that we'll learn a tremendous amount over the next few years. I used to be highly skeptical on the benefits. Now I am lining up -- Alan should have my 2008 benchmark results written up by the end of November. I need a few weeks to get moving again -- right now, I sense that the testing would be poor idea.

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Network Effects

A friend was recently talking me through the cascade of impacts that occurred following the rape of a young lady. The disruptions to her family, the cost of starting the wheels of our justice system as well as the support that it will take the lady to heal from the experience. Overall, a huge level of disruption, pain and expense resulting from a single action.

It got me thinking...
...about the compound effects of a series of kind actions over an extended period of time
...about my own participation in the transmission of negative, and positive, acts
...about my personal responsibility for how I choose to think and act

Small actions of kindness -- opportunities for bold strokes of greatness in my life are rare. However, hook all of us up to an internet connection, support each other and, perhaps, one of us could do something truly special. Even more powerful would be getting thousands of people to undertake a series of small acts.

One of my habits is to pick up five pieces of trash every day. I don't hit it every day and I probably average 20 pieces of trash per week. Now 20 pieces of trash doesn't seem like much but last week Monica started picking up trash too. Strange hobby to share with your wife, eh?

So my 20 pieces could be up to 30, or 40, by the end of the year. If even five people reading this note decide to pick-up as well then we'd be well on our way to making a material impact on things.

This isn't about litter -- it is about accessing our collective power to shape the world around us.

Our role as a transmitters. In my inner circle, I tend to be the most adverse to traditional media. As part of my Personal Review this past September, I decided to chop some more media sources from my list of approved outlets (good-bye CNN.com).

We are impacted by every person, thought, action, image, sound and mood that comes into contact with us. It is tough enough for me to keep my head straight without all the consumption; faux-righteousness; violence; false imagery; etc... pumped out by the bulk of the media.

I can't always see the damage that is being done to me (and you) by the media. Our continued participation is what sustains these vehicles -- your eyes (and therefore your mind) is what they are seeking. Inactive participation isn't possible -- your anonymity isn't a factor for a force that, ultimately, seeks to control the masses.

What I can clearly see is that nearly all print, television and internet content fails to move me towards my goals. The "dead time" insight is easier to sell to myself then facing the reality that a website is poisoning my character (though listening to many of you talk about how certain forums make you feel it should be pretty obvious -- to your spouse, if not to you personally).

To achieve our goals we need to limit our time spent on achieving nothing. I've found that it is far better to "do nothing" than spend my time on junk food for the mind. I achieve a lot more insights when unplugged.

Once I have an insight that I may be holding myself back, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to sustain my current path. It's the main reason behind my incremental progress with my nutrition. I see the true impact of "treats" in my life. Binging loses (most of) its fun when I deeply understand its impact. There is no true satisfaction in being slack.

Those of you that read Mat's blog will see his take on this shortly. He gave me a preview and asked me if it made sense. I told him that he came pretty close to describing every September of mine from 2001 to 2006 -- and probably -- a few bonus months in between.

Small actions count,
gordo

Regret and Personal Power

Mat and I spent a couple of hours sorting through email and admin yesterday. I'm currently on my way back to Boulder for a night before heading to Kona in the morning. In Hawaii, I'll be working with Albert and the rest of the Coffees of Hawaii team. If you see me then come on up and say 'hi'.

The piece below was written in early September. It is more about how I feel than what I plan on doing. Mark and Brant didn't have any magic advice but the retreat (and the two weeks completely off-line that followed) provided the space for me to consider a bunch of different things. As the physiological peak from the summer waned, the magnitude of the last year's mental commitment became more clear. I'm still pretty tired!

I'll share more over the next little while. I also have a list of topics (not all about me!) that I'll be writing up.

Mat told me that the Planet-X site doesn't have my Power PodCast live any more. Give us a couple of days and you will be able to access Endurance Corner Radio by clicking -- HERE.

Also -- you'll be able to download my PowerPoint presentation (on Power) by clicking -- HERE. Should only take a couple of days for us to get live.

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A man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on Earth for the people to see.

-- Black Elk

The above quote is from a book called Black Elks Speaks. It’s an interesting story about an Indian Shaman who lived through a turbulent time in American history. There is quite a bit going on in the book and, I’m guessing, that I will see something if I continue to read the book as I age.

Sitting here, at 38, and considering the lessons of the old man’s story. There are a few things that stand out…

***Within his circle he was a famous and powerful healer. Across his life he was able to help a great many of his people. However, as an old man, what he most regretted was his failure to do his best to follow a powerful vision that he had as a youth.

The parallel of this in my life is clear. The September that was filled with the most regret was 2005, when I didn’t race Ironman Canada. We receive far more personal peace from action than than not trying at all.

***Within his tradition, the power of visions/dreams can be diluted by sharing them widely. When Black Elk told his story to the author, it was the first time in his life that he shared his complete vision. Even then, there were elements that he wasn’t able to put into words and remained his alone.

Here I think my lesson could be to temper my desire to constantly, and publicly, prove my ability to achieve my goals. I’ll need to ask Mark and Brant about their thoughts here.

What I'm getting at here is immediately publishing my "best stuff" (spiritual/physical). Mark mentioned that I might want to absorb them for a bit before sending them along.

As a first hand account of “how the West was lost” – the book made for informative reading.

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Throughout my life, I have had callings, often ignored, to go on a solo retreat in nature.

The last one that I did started on September 11^th, 2001 – a personal retreat in Olympic National Park. That retreat had FAR too much exercise for immediately after an Ironman but was a great experience for me. The solitude on Day One had me hearing voices in my head that didn’t settle for hours. I thought that I was losing my mind!

Aside from Peaceful Listening, a goal for 2008 is to complete a series of retreats close to nature. I haven’t decided if these are going to be formal, informal, solo or group. Brant and Mark have a fair amount of experience here so I’ll ask them for guidance.

The recurring drive to get close to nature needs to be heeded. It is a big part of what led me into endurance sports.

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So what’s next? Well, I’ve sorted out my goals of learning to listen and retreats.

Athletically, I’m not really sure. There are some things that I can improve. I have no idea whether I will enjoy, or be able to sustain, the work required to achieve them.

Will I head back to Penticton in August? I have no idea right now.

No regrets,

gordo

PS -- If you are looking for an interesting read on investment theory (much shorter than Rubin's book) then CLICK HERE. Thanks to JS for sending along to me. Interestingly, EV is one of the lessons that was hammered into me by the McGill finance faculty. It's also why I've sold out of successful (highly leveraged) investments -- I wasn't willing to live with the slight probability of a highly negative outcome. Borrowing from Taleb, even if you are playing Russian Roulette with a gun with 10,000 chambers -- losing remains a highly unattractive outcome.

On Holiday

Hi Gang,

I'm on holiday so won't be publishing for a bit longer.

In the meantime, we have published another article from Clas -- click through the Alternative Perspectives link to the right. This article explains his view on how he runs very, very fast in Ironman. I hope you enjoy.

Cheers,
gordo