Exhaustion

God made us really strong. We saw some unbelievably strong people this weekend at the 5th annual Burnin at the Bluff 12 hour MTB race. The variety in humans is amazing, and just as we vary a lot in height, build, aptitudes, personality, and other traits, we vary a lot in athletic abilities. That was evident from grade school on. There were those kids who always got picked first for baseball, or basketball, kickball, or soccer. There were kids who could run faster, jump higher and farther, for whom dribbling a basketball between the legs and switching hands while moving quickly down court was as natural as solving math problems was for me. For each of us, the activities and tasks we exercise the most become intuitive. It's the learning curve, and where we "top out" that varies a lot.

Endurance sports require a certain mindset and dedication, a tolerance for discomfort, even pain, that is extraodinary. Some endurance sports, like marathon running or doing triathlons, tax the ability to put out a steady effort for a long, long time. I admire those who can get in a zone and pound it out for 3 hours or even longer. For my money, some of the best athletes are endurance mountain bike racers. High aerobic capacity is required, but is not enough. Superb bike handling skills are required, but are not enough. Endurance mountain bike racers also have to be able to endure repeated anaerobic efforts- explosive efforts that may only last a second to clear an obstacle, or may last 20 seconds to carry enough momentum over a steep, short climb. Then they need to rapidly recover while maintaining speed and get back into an aerobic rhythm for 2, 20 or 200 seconds before the next challenge presents itself. When racing at the limit, each explosive effort drives pain a little deeper into the muscles and the mind.

When it is over, there is shared exhaustion, as we are surrounded by people who know. At that level, we're all equal. We dug deep and gave it what we had. In these types of races, the less gifted and those who have not been able to train well for the race suffer more than the winners. Racers stagger across the line, collapse into a chair to recover and when they feel the strength to move again, are wracked by spasms of cramping that throw them to the ground. They left it all out on the trail. And they will do it again. God made us really strong.