“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights” – Muhammad Ali

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“When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.”
Emil Zatopek

The difference between a good alpinist and a great one is will. The great climber exercises the discipline required to know himself. He trains to be stronger than he thinks necessary. On a route he eats to sustain energy levels even if it makes him gag, and he drinks regularly to stay hydrated. He stops in the middle of a pitch to pull his hood up if the spindrift gets bad instead of waiting to reach the belay, and he stays dry because of it. He maintains the discipline needed to melt enough ice each night to fill the bottles, and sweeps snow out of the tent instead of letting it melt. He doesn’t care if his partner’s pack weighs less. He wakes up and starts the stove when the alarm goes off. The great climber recognizes when he’s having a bad day and admits it to his partner, then he relinquishes leads where he might slow the team and follows as fast as he can. He does all the cooking that night. A strong-willed climber will fast for a day or two without complaint to wait out bad weather.

Where does this strong will and hardness come from? It derives from recognizing desires and goals and then enduring whatever it takes to fulfill them. A strong will grows from suffering successfully and being rewarded for it. Does a strong will come from years of multi-hour training runs or do those runs result from a dominating will? There is no right answer because will and action feed one another.

Suffering provides the opportunity to exercise will and to develop grit. Replace recreational climbing with specific training to develop confidence. Climb on local crags in weather conditions far worse than any you would intentionally confront in the high mountains. Austrian climber Herman Buhl carried snowballs in his hands to develop his tolerance (psychological) and increase capillarization (physical). He climbed on his local crags all winter long, even in storm conditions, and rode his bike for hundreds of kilometers on the way to the mountains for training. It paid off, of course, when he climbed alone to the summit of Nanga Parbat.

The mind and body adapt to both comfort and deprivation. The difficult experiences of mountaineering may appear irrational and risky from the comfort of the armchair, but learning to deal with them is essential. Relish the challenge of overcoming difficulties that would crush ordinary men.

Michael Gilbert and Scott Backes got soaked to the bone climbing The Waterfall Pitch on the north face of the Eiger. When they stopped for the night at the Brittle Ledges, they discovered their sleeping bags had been drenched as well, Michael asked, “What are we going to do now?” Scott replied, “We’re going to suffer.” And they did. But it was a little thing compared to the suffering experienced intentionally and otherwise during the evolution of alpinism.

Learn to suffer.

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I bring this prayer to You, Lord,
For you alone can give
What one cannot demand from oneself.

Give me, Lord, what You have left over,
Give me what no one ever asks of You.

I don’t ask You for rest,
Or quiet,
Whether of soul or body;
I don’t ask You for wealth,
Nor for success, nor even health perhaps.

That sort of thing You get asked for so much
That You can’t have any of it left.

Give me, Lord, what You have left over,
Give me what no one wants from You.

I want insecurity, strife,
And I want You to give me these
Once and for all.

So that I can be sure of having them always,
Since I shall not always have the courage
To ask You for them.

Give me, Lord, what You have left over,
Give me what others want nothing to do with.

But give me courage, too,
And strength and faith;
For You alone can give
What one cannot demand from oneself.

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This is the time of year when many people are training for their first marathon. So here are my 10 easy tips to running a faster marathon time. It’s not aimed at expert runners, nor is it for people who only want to cross the finish line. The list is for people like me – normal people who are willing to work hard but without being ridiculous about the whole thing!

1. Get some decent shoes. Visiting Profeet solved my knee, shin and hip pains instantly. Money well spent!

2. Cut down on the junk food and booze. Here is an article on simple race nutrition. Get your head round the fact that for the next three months you need to run five or six times a week. Sadly there are no short cuts to fitness.

3. Start stretching properly. It’s very boring (and I never do it), but it really is worthwhile.

4. Get your head round the fact that for the next three months you need to begin embracing a bit of pain. Being fit is easy, it’s being hard that’s hard. Think about thriving on the last mile. Reflect on how sweet the finish line will feel if you have given your all to get there.

5. Once or twice a week do whatever length run you feel like. Keep this up until a few days before the race.

6. Once a week sprint up a 100m long hill then walk back down. Do it as many times as you can. Next week do one more rep than the time before. This is non-negotiable. Keep this up until 3 weeks before the race.

7. Once a week go for a long run. Increase the time you run by 20 minutes each week. The aim is that three weeks before the race you will be on your feet for the same amount of time as you expect to complete the marathon in. Go as slow as you like on these runs. Non-negotiable.

8. Once a week do a medium length run at marathon pace. Increase the distance a little each week until one week before the race. Non-negotiable.

9. Once a week do some fartleks. Build up the length each week. Wind down a couple of weeks before the race. There are three aims to marathon training and fartlekking brings them nicely together:
- learning to run far
- learning to run fast
- learning to run far, fast

10. Print out a wristband calculator. During the race do not think about the 26 miles you need to run. Just make sure you are on target for each mile. One mile is easy at that pace. Repeat that 26 times and you’ve nailed your best ever time!

Good luck!

Disagree with my advice? Have your say in the comments…

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I’m in the fast lane of the motorway, zipping past all the souls in less of a hurry than me. The winter sky is blue and sharply cold. But I have the window wide open. I am relishing the noisy buffeting of the freezing air. The cold gale flays my post-race, glowing face and feels so good.
I am driving home from a triathlon and I am high on life.
My feet are wrinkly, white and still numb from three hours of winter wetness. So I have the heater on full blast at the maximum heat, coaxing some life back into them. The hot air swirling around my toes feels hedonistic.

The radio is on full volume. It’s definitely an X-fm day not a Classic-fm one. If I was less sensible I would be driving at 200mph. I’m freezing my head in a winter gale, I’m roasting my feet. The passenger seat is strewn with food and I’m shovelling it into my face, groaning with pleasure at the delicious replenishing of calories. Pork pies and Haribo and all the random health bars you get in the goody bags at the end of races.

I realise that I am relishing experiencing things to the extreme today. And perhaps this is the attraction for me of entering races or going on expeditions. I cannot even imagine what exhilaration I would be feeling had I actually won the race! But I have never won a race in my life so that is never a factor for me in entering events.

This morning’s triathlon was tough. Off-road running, mountain biking and kayaking for three muddy, wet hours. I didn’t win. Never have, never will. But I tried my hardest and I was exhausted at the finish line. I had put all of my effort and energy into the race. How often are we able to say that honestly to ourselves after a normal day?

The self-satisfaction of doing something well, the restorative energy of time spent exercising out in nature, the polished sharp focus on the world that I feel right now, the desire to feel life’s extremes. And the sweet prospect on an afternoon wallowing on the sofa reading a book, drinking tea and enjoying the tired ache of well-used limbs. I squeeze a decibel or two more from the speakers, sink the accelerator a little lower and give thanks for life in the fast lane.

(I originally wrote this piece for Tim Moss’ blog)

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