Don’t make things HARDER and just FLOW

Ahhhhh, it feels so good to breathe the fresh air again…

Spring finally emerged from the long, drawn out winter here in Toronto and on the first sunny day I dusted my bike off, pumped up the tires and went out for a spin.

It was sunny but crisp and the cool air felt great on my face as I cruised around, enjoying the freedom from the posture-destroyer that is the driver’s seat of my car.

It was also a very windy day, unfortunately, due to another cold front blowing in that would give us one last taste of winter (and snow!) before we’re finally free from its icy grips.

I rode around for maybe half an hour, maybe more, then made my way home, the final stretch being north on Jane Street, which is a long and gentle uphill perfect for getting a hard final sprint in.

As I started the sprint, I felt the wind pick up directly opposing my progress.

The wind didn’t relent and it kept pushing me back, trying to slow me down.

Combined with the gradual uphill, any letting up would slow me to a crawl and on a fixie, it would be a slow and quad-burning ride.

There’s something about riding a fixed gear bike, perhaps it’s the fact that the rider is in perfect rhythm with the bike, that allows insights to flash into my mind when I’m fully present and feeling the flow.

On this ride, which under the conditions could’ve been the brutal struggle it’s been in the past, I realized the power of accepting what IS.

Yes, the wind was blowing hard in my face and it is uphill the rest of the way.

Yes, I wasn’t in the same riding-shape I normally am in.

Yes, my butt is kinda uncomfortable because I’m wearing the wrong underwear and jeans.

Those things are all true.

NO MATTER.

I can’t do anything about those things.

What I can do though is focus on breathing and efficient pedalling.

And that’s what I did.

And I surprised myself (and a few passengers in cars I blew by) at just how fast I ripped up that hill home.

I know for a fact that if I’d thought,

“Oh man, this is gonna be tough,
and I’m already kinda tired,”

… the ride would’ve been a lot slower and less enjoyable.

So the insight was that I realized that it’s NOT so much a summoning of superhuman feats of physical fitness.

I definitely was in worse shape than before.

It’s more about letting go of normal human thoughts that often occur automatically that make things harder than they have to be.

Those thoughts often include fighting what is, or reacting to it.

But, when you accept instead of fight or react, you can move on.

And what you can move on to is to direct all of your energy and thoughts to the only things that matter, which in this case for me, was breathing and efficiently pedalling.

When you do this, SUPERIOR results and performances can occur, almost like magic.

I don’t have a formula or system for you to follow to make this happen.

But I do know that it won’t happen without practice and faith that what I’m saying here is true.

So keep practicing.

Keep accepting what is.

It’ll come.

If you’re doing grueling interval work, stop thinking about how hard it is and how you didn’t eat the right meal exactly 1.5 hours before the workout.

This is what IS.

Just focus on the things that matter: breathing and running efficiently by letting go of any tension that isn’t contributing to your pace.

If you’re in a fight, it doesn’t matter who’s standing across from you.

This is what IS.

What matters is having “NO-MIND” and breathing and trusting that your training will get you the result.

Hey – it looks like there’s a commonality to all 3 scenarios I presented here…

You might want to pay attention to this a little more.