New Ways To Go

This weekend while in Northampton, MA, I happened to catch the Cycle Smart International Cyclocross Race.

Briefly for those who don’t know, a cyclocross race consists of numerous laps over a course of 1 1/2-2 miles.  There are separate races for women and men.  The course is varied and curvy.  It consists of pavement, grass, wooded trails, steep hills and obstacles, such as low barriers and sandpits.  Cyclists often dismount and carry their bikes during tough sections of the course.

The weather was about 70 degrees.  The crowd was exuberant, ringing cow bells and shouting out encouragement to the riders.  One guy sat on the ground beating a tom-tom.  He had positioned himself by the steep hill.  When a cyclist struggled to make it up the hill, he increased the tempo to a furious rhythm.  It spurred the rider to push harder, onward and upward.

As three or four riders were heading up the hill a woman shouted to one of them, “Hey babe, power, power, power.”  Listening to her and the furious beat of the tom-tom in the background, I thought how great it would be if we could all summon our own call to action.  Power, Power, Power.  Imagine if we said those words to ourselves and magically we were able to summon our own physical, mental and spiritual energy to kick in when we needed it the most.

The thing is that we have the power.  We were born with it.  We didn’t know back then that we couldn’t do something, say something or become something.  But we let things get in the way.  There are our limiting beliefs, expectations for us set by others and self-doubt to name a few.  We need to liberate ourselves from these sabateurs.  Support systems and encouragers are one way to get in touch with our power, but we also need to fire up our internal cheerleader.

One way to get back in touch with our powerfulness is to practice short-burst training.  In fitness and sports training, SBT is high-intensity, short duration exercises interspersed with lower-intensity movement.  It occurred to me we could modify this approach in generating our own call to action.

When you find yourself facing your next steepest hill or slippery slope, start by thinking no one is here to impose their rules, standards or boundaries on my ambition.  Be in the moment and repeat to yourself, Power, Power, Power.  Then go all-out for a brief period to accomplish your goal.  Push harder, onward and upward.

In a fitness program, you would repeat a cycle of going all-out followed by a brief recovery period of lower-intensity movement throughout the workout.  But if you develop a consistent, sustainable routine of calling up your inner cheerleader for short periods of intense duration, I believe you can crest your hill.

Remember that not only do we have physical power, but we have the power of our intellect and the power of our soul.  Our powerfulness includes our unique beliefs, character, talents and skills.  When we use all of our power, we are taking control of and being responsible for our own lives.  If we practice using the idea of short-burst training in our lives, we might become super-action takers, master accomplishers or change artists for the purpose of making the world a better place.  When we claim our power, we have the fuel that is necessary to follow our dreams.  How powerful is that?

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