I was listening yesterday to NPR and there was a report on "mil-speak"--the unique phrases that are arising among the US military serving in Iraq. "Semper I," for instance, refers to a Marine who only thinks about himself.
My favorite, though, was "embrace the suck." (This is the title of the book by the author speaking on the NPR show, I think.) War sucks, the logic goes, and so serving in the military necessarily involves hardship, difficulty, adverse conditions, etc. Being a good soldier means embracing this suck as the core definition of the mission. You don't complain; rather, you embrace it and perform your mission assuming it.
Without literally equating the tribulations of military service in an active war zone to multisport training and racing, it seems this notions nicely captures a lot of what we do. Achievement in triathlon is hard. That defines the sport. Those who succeed are able to relish that difficulty. They flip it from something repulsive to something attractive. How many people on this forum see a big hill on their ride and think, "crap, this is going to be hard, maybe I'll just turn around." Nope, more likely we get a little excited about the challenge and actually look forward to the pain. Dedicated triathletes are probably a little masochistic. Embracing the suck comes easy to many of us. But it doesn't hurt to get a little motivation, too. So, next time you or your training part starts dragging, just yell: embrace the suck!
______________________________________________
Outside of my bike, my running shoes are my favorite things. Inside my bike, it's too cramped to run.
My favorite, though, was "embrace the suck." (This is the title of the book by the author speaking on the NPR show, I think.) War sucks, the logic goes, and so serving in the military necessarily involves hardship, difficulty, adverse conditions, etc. Being a good soldier means embracing this suck as the core definition of the mission. You don't complain; rather, you embrace it and perform your mission assuming it.
Without literally equating the tribulations of military service in an active war zone to multisport training and racing, it seems this notions nicely captures a lot of what we do. Achievement in triathlon is hard. That defines the sport. Those who succeed are able to relish that difficulty. They flip it from something repulsive to something attractive. How many people on this forum see a big hill on their ride and think, "crap, this is going to be hard, maybe I'll just turn around." Nope, more likely we get a little excited about the challenge and actually look forward to the pain. Dedicated triathletes are probably a little masochistic. Embracing the suck comes easy to many of us. But it doesn't hurt to get a little motivation, too. So, next time you or your training part starts dragging, just yell: embrace the suck!
______________________________________________
Outside of my bike, my running shoes are my favorite things. Inside my bike, it's too cramped to run.