What I Learned While Climbing WAY Too Many Stairs Last Weekend
I went into last weekend's Step Up For Cardiac Health event with zero expectations. I was just there to put in my best effort and support a good, local cause. To end up finishing as the first place male and second place overall was honestly quite a shock.
I can't remember the last time I was first place at anything. I honestly don't know that I've EVER been first place before. Maybe sometime in grade school at a Sports Day event...?
Let's put it in perspective though - this was not a "competitive" event, really. It was a pretty niche, charity fund-raiser event, and there are MANY people I know of locally who would have almost certainly absolutely smoked me if they were among the entrants.
That said, there was a small group of folks who looked to be / ought to be pretty fit and competitive that I fully expected would walk away from me regardless (and the overall winner certainly did that - she was AWESOME), so I still take satisfaction in the "win" on the day.
Anyway, here are a few things I learned along the way:
No Expectations = Success
Having gone into the event with no expectations and no idea what it would be like, it really wouldn't have mattered to me where I finished. My only goal was to give my best effort and hopefully finish. Having done that, it wouldn't have mattered if I was first or fifty-first - it would have been a success either way.
So, with that mindset, I was more easily able to check my ego halfway through the first lap of the event and back my pace down to something I felt I could sustain instead of continuing to chase after the front-runners.
That would prove to be a crucial decision that led to success being an unexpectedly good result, rather than simply finishing, but I wouldn't have been able to make that decision if I was too focused on competing.
Form > Fast
Because I was able to let go of my ego and work *just* within my limits rather than trying to just go as fast as possible, or "race" those around me, I was able to consciously be mindful of my form throughout.
I focused on staying tall, keeping my head up and my breathing regular all the time. On the ascents up the stairs, I was very intentional about fully planting my feet to spare my feet and calves rather than driving off the balls of my feet. On the descents, I tried to keep my feet, knees and hips aligned and load share evenly between both sides. On the brief flat sections, I tried to always move faster than a walk, but not flat-out run.
There was a really fit-looking guy that passed me at one point who was totally cheating - he was short-turning each ascent and descent, using the "slow/medium" lane instead of the "fast" lane. I had noticed him doing that in the lap or two before he caught me, and he *almost* made me push harder than I should have to try and prove a point, but thankfully I was able to keep my ego in check, and actually said out loud to myself, "Forget him. Focus on your form. You do you."
I had to say that kind of thing to myself, both in my head and sometimes out loud, several times. At least once or twice EVERY SINGLE LAP.
I would like to note here that the first person I noticed quitting, around the 1 hour mark, was the cheater. It was only after seeing him sitting out that I had a good look around the arena on the next few laps and realized everyone ahead of me except the leader had also stopped.
That focus on continuing to execute properly contributed to me being able to continue at pretty near the same pace for the better part of 90 minutes without any issues, while the "faster" people that had been ahead of me all fell to pieces and quit.
The last 30 minutes were definitely tough, but again, focusing on those bits of form allowed me to continue moving forward, albeit at a reduced reduced pace. Execution matters!
Sometimes, It's Just About Not Quitting
Shit gets hard sometimes. If everything is always easy or goes smoothly, then you're not learning, growing or progressing.
You need to step outside of your comfort zone and experience some difficult things, physically, mentally, and emotionally from time to time, or you will not only stagnate but decline.
For the last 30 minutes of the event, I was suffering. Due to some planning errors on my part with regards to my fueling, I was running out of gas and my calves, adductors and quads started cramping badly.
I had moments of doubt nearly every lap in that last 30 minutes, feeling like I couldn't make it to the finish.
By that point, I was fairly certain that, aside from the leader (who absolutely BLEW past me on the stairs a few times), there was nobody else ahead, and the guy that had been behind me in 3rd appeared to have quit as well after I put him a lap down earlier on.
A part of me was saying "you've done enough" and "you'll probably still be first (for the men) even if you stop now."
But I had committed to not quitting. Somewhere along the way, that also came to include not stopping. Whether I was going to be first or fifty-first didn't matter to me if I quit or stopped.
So, I trudged on, still trying my hardest to stick to the form, even if the pace had slowed dramatically.
In the end, not stopping and not quitting were the things that I was proud of inside. Finishing first was just a byproduct of not quitting when so many others gave up.
In Summary
So, to sum it up, here's what I learned:
Approach things with an open mind and no expectations of how things "should" go. You'll be happier, more relaxed, and able to make better decisions that could pay dividends down the road.
Focus on executing well, do the best you can, and see where that gets you. Don't be tempted to take shortcuts even when you see others around you doing so.
When things get tough, continue to focus on execution, adapt as needed, but see it through to the end.
Apply these ideas whenever you're faced with a challenge, and the results might surprise you!