You have heard it’s a fun place! It’s on your map, but it crosses 7 pages of map and it’s hard to determine the most efficient route to get there because it’s about 1000 miles away. If you use your map you will get there eventually, well maybe… You may get lost and find yourself thinking that it’s probably just better to turn around, back to the safety of home and Points B-Z. But then you hear about a GPS; it tells you the most efficient route from any point on the map. If you take a wrong turn it says, (annoyingly I might add) “recalculating” then tells you the most efficient way from your new point. So, now after discovering this GPS, you have taken it out for some trial runs to your usual spots and you begin to trust the GPS. It takes you the routes you know to be most efficient and it actually begins to ease your mind that you don’t have to think about when to turn since it tells you. You decide it’s time; you have heard Point 1 is so awesome and you just have to go there! You set off on your journey with your GPS. At 100 miles in you see a place you would like to rest, relax and drink a celebratory beer; proud of yourself for venturing and doing something you’ve never done. This place is 50 miles off the original path, the GPS said “recalculating” and has your new path lined up. As the trek continues, you take similar stops. You start to make decisions that are closer to the route that is already laid out by the GPS, and spend less time off the path. There is another neat thing about your GPS, it tells you an estimated time of arrival, and you begin to notice you are getting close. You can now see the terrain changing around you. It’s beginning to resemble more and more the Point 1 brochure pictures. You begin to get excited and you only stop and rest for things you absolutely need because you are so excited to finally arrive at this point you have been working so hard towards. After a week of travel, you arrive at Point 1 and it’s even better than you imagined. You relax there and you think of the whole journey; all the neat places you stopped to rest and all the hard work you put in along the way. You find yourself feeling a sense of pride for making the journey. After staying at Point 1 for a couple days and enjoying the sights, sounds, and activities , you decide you would like to go on an adventure to Point 2 which is another 1000 miles away.
In this story who pedals (does the work) the bike?
Was it necessary for you to rest and relax during your 1000 mile trip?
Could you do it without a GPS? Would it have taken you longer?
If you arrived by teleportation, would it have been rewarding to you? By Airplane? By Car?
You pedal the bike in the story, you are doing all the work. The map is any fitness book; it shows you all the options all the routes, but doesn’t tell you which one to take. It can give you an idea of where you might like to go or what goals you might want to accomplish. The Point 1 is 1000 miles away, it is a big goal. The GPS is your coach, pointing you in the most efficient way to arrive at your goals, and telling you how long it’ll take to get there. If you take a wrong turn they recalculate. The reason you purchase the GPS is because it only has 1 job, and it’s to tell you how to get where you want to go in the most efficient manner. The GPS has stored in it all the maps, and if it’s up to date or a self-updating version, it has the most up to date maps, which mean there won’t be any unforeseen details along the way. This is just like your coaches. Good coaches like good GPS cost more, but they are constantly improving updating using the most current information to get you where you want to go. You could look at 50 maps and there could be a million routes, and your coach is going to lead you. 1000 miles is too far for you to make without resting, or leaving the most direct route. When you leave the direct route it’s the same thing as having a cheat meal, having a couple beers on the weekend, but each of those things takes you further off track. If you had taken any other mode of transportation you wouldn’t have physically done as much work as biking, and you wouldn’t reap the same mental and emotional benefits as having done the work yourself. This is similar to asking your coach for a pill or a supplement to do it for you. Even if those things could do it for you, you would lose the most important adaptation of training, remembering and believing that YOU ARE CAPABLE. BZ
