When Slower Seems Faster

Nigel Chua posted this on my FaceBook Wall:

‘It is the illusion that we can go no faster that holds us back.’

KENNY MOORE, American athlete and journalist

In systems thinking, sometimes slow can mean faster, and vice versa. Fast or slow – these are interpretative terms for time. How we pace ourselves, move with our rhythm, and manage our overall sense of time determine how we value our time.

In recent days, I had to exercise a copious amount of patience. I had to learn to express this value differently – in my healing, recovery and my athletic performance. There are some things in life that you just cannot rush, as they have to abide by the laws of nature. You cannot force-feed your body with exercise, nutrition or rest.

Having read the interview with ultra-Ironman Tobias Frenz, I have learnt to appreciate more the notion of patience. Tobias rode for 280km in then double-Ironman triathlon before he overtook the ex-professional cyclist. That was his prize after many hours of painstaking stalking of his prey. If you are a hunter, bad news for the hunted!

I have waited for almost two weeks, to let my body heal and scars form. My physical scars may be indelible, yet it has not left a destructive permanence on my psyche. I am open to riding again, albeit carefully as my hands are stiff and rife with pain. No swimming until next weekend (doctor’s advice) for that means an earlier taper. There is little point to batter my body into hopeless submission. In this case, this pain signals my recovery and not my incapacitation. I will need to stretch my skin and joint back to normalcy, albeit gradually as I cannot force this process.

I hope that, despite my slow road to recovery and recuperation, I will still perform at a higher level of physical and mental excellence on race-day. By pacing myself slowly now, I should in effect pace myself faster on that day.

I look forward to that Day and its Outcome.

Afterthoughts: By the way, we received our highest number of readership hits for a day through Part 2 & 3 of the interview with Tobias Frenz. Thank you all for making time to recognize and appreciate a humble yet amazing athlete!