I find myself having conversations with other athletes every day that go something like this:“I’ve been training really hard and I’m making good progress but I don’t understand why I’m still not as good as Fred. I train much harder than him!”
It is at this point that I somehow tactfully need to bring up the point that the athlete in question may not be as genetically talented as Fred and that they can never hope to be as good. For some reason we have no problem accepting that some people are more intelligent than others, some are good at working with numbers, others are really great artists. But when it comes to someone being physically superior it is viewed as discriminatory.
Having to accept that you are not going to improve indefinitely with more training can be a hard pill to swallow. We realize that we will never be able to ride a bike as well as Lance Armstrong or run as fast as Paula Radcliffe, but when it comes to comparing ourselves to those that line up next to us at the local race for some reason we don’t accept that some people can fall out of bed and run faster than you without even trying.
I have been there too. I had my rude awakening last year when trying to qualify for the British Age Group Triathlon team. I had been doing Triathlon a few years and was steadily improving. I even managed to climb onto the podium at some small local races. Then I showed up at the first qualifying event and it was a different story. Not only did I get so soundly beaten that the winner had probably already showered and gone home by the time I crossed the finish line, but I also saw the bodies of the girls I was racing against. There was no way I could hope to be as good as them, my bones were not even of the right shape to manage that.
It was a bitter pill to swallow at first and I was considering throwing in the towel then and there. But I persevered, started to race for me and taking delight in improving my own performance (and hoping the really fast girls didn’t show up!). I made it onto the team eventually and went to the World Championships. There I was pleasantly surprised that all the countries attending had brought along my kind of athletes, as well as the genetically gifted ones that were battling it out at the front.
Of course it can be difficult not to judge the worth of an athlete by the time they posted in the last race. After all, that’s what races are for, right? To be able to judge the achievement you need to consider the genetic gift of that person, how much they have given to the training, what else they have going on in life (for example, it is harder to get lots of quality training in if you have several young kids than if you don’t) and what they want to get out of the race. And it is also important for the athlete to set realistic goals to allow them to enjoy training and racing more. For example, I would love to be able to run a 3 hour marathon one day, but I can confidently say that is never going to happen. So if I choose to run a marathon I would set a different more achievable goal and then be extremely proud when I get there.
It is not just race performance this applies to, but many things in life like body shape. If you spend all day around super-skinny beanpole running machines it is natural to think that you are too fat, too short or any manner of other things. But if your body shape is different then you need to apply different standards to yourself. For example, compare yourself against how you were a year ago or two years ago. If you were noticeably fitter/thinner/more energetic then you know you can make improvements.
I guess the message is to not put yourself down for not living up to the high standards of those around you, but also don’t hold others to your standards. That way we can all train and race together and all get great achievements and fun from it. And I will wait before I attempt a marathon.
Corina
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