Thursday, April 8, 2010

Low on Technology, High on Heart

Matty wrote a sensible piece on his observations about improvements made on triathlon technology versus the tumbling of records. It appears that our predecessors Dave Scott and Mark Allen still scored well in the Ironman triathlon world championships in Kona in spite of their less-sophisticated, prevailing technology on gear and nutrition in the 1980’s.

My sense is that the pros in first decade of Ironman’s history raced at Kona got some of the fundamentals right.

1) They trained harder and longer.

2) They were focused on racing, and not on the pre- and post-race politicking.

3) There was less pressure on them for a budding sport.

4) There is more to lose, than gain for performance.

5) They were much tougher and resilient.

6) They experimented more on what works for them.

7) They relied on their intuition while racing.

8) They relied heavily on core values like patience, respect, determination, persistence, passion and courage.

I think they put more heart into their actions. Imagine racing with Speedos for both the swim and run - the abrasions they must go through! They certainly looked less fancy, in their blinding luminous designs yet they stuck to their guns. It was almost ‘all or nothing’ for their performance and efforts.

What do you think? Do you think that they got their priorities right?

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