The psychology of completing ultra endurance events is one of staying in the moment. but looking deeper, why are we participating in the first place ? What drives us to push our bodies far beyond our preconditioned limits. Lance Armstrong has said “All endurance athletes are running away from something”. Is he right? This video uses images from ultra endurance cycling and considers “suffering” in the makeup of an endurance athlete.
I hope you enjoy this inspirational cycling video – Please take a moment to comment afterwards and give your thoughts on Phil’s view of endurance cycling psychology, what drives you to complete ultra distance events ?
For more information on Phil Deeker and to read the interview on ultra endurance cycling psychology that he did with Rapha CC please visit the web site www.rapha.cc
Credits for the images used in this movie about ultra endurance cycling belong to James Burger, raoterri, and Ross Woodhall.
Please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to comment on this cycling film about suffering and also tweet or share it. Help Luke to spread the word. The buttons are below:
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About ‘a life which seldom inflicts crisis upon us’, John Dunne said something similar about hard trad climbing that always rang true for me. Its that little bit of risk, little bit of escapism we need, our world is too safe, too easy.
I’m not an endurance athlete but am training for my first marathon. I think Lance Amstrong maybe had it backward. Perhaps endurance athletes are running towards something rather than away from it. Maybe looking at connecting with a deeper part of themselves that has been lost in the commuting, multitasking, networking, daily grind aspects of our lives. Running towards that part of yourself that in the course strips all pride, lust, and greed from our makeup and leaves a more real, more human being behind.
More aptly described by Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm author ) in his 1999 article in the National Geographic Adventure: Colter’s Way
A very short excerpt:
“Modern society, of course, has perfected the art of having nothing happen at all. There is nothing particularly wrong with this except that, for vast numbers of Americans, as life has become staggeringly easy, it has also become vaguely unfulfilling. Life in modern society is designed to eliminate as many unforeseen events as possible, and as inviting as that seems, it leaves us hopelessly underutilized. And that is where the idea of “adventure” comes in.”