What Are You Training For?

“What are you training for?”  I hear that question often in the casual conversations on race day. It is one of my favorite questions. There is something downright magical about training for and then achieving a goal. It also just might be one of the most pointed existential questions we can ask of others and of ourselves.  “What are you training for?”  Some people in our community are training so they can finish a full mile without stopping.  They are training to give up old habits and old perceptions so they can see themselves as athletes.  Some people are training to complete their first 5K or to run their fastest 5K, or to set a personal best for a time of life they are now in, not languishing in their glory days, but appreciating how their aging body adapts.  They are training by getting to know how their bodies work, adapt, change and improve. Some people are training for a first 10K, fast 10K or a 12-mile ruck race.  There is a plan to follow, casual or precise, and training is an added-value proposition that also trains the muscles of resilience, perseverance, determination, grit and service.

PRFS athletes train for first sprint triathlons and for multiple Ironman Triathlons. They train for half-marathons, marathons and ultra-marathons.  Shreya Agrawal trained for nearly a year for her first Ironman 70.3, first learning how to swim from ground zero.  Scott Letourneau trained to cycle 100 miles in the Cornhusker State Games century ride after training for his first Ironman 70.3.  Martin Seme celebrated his 50th birthday with his first 50K, as did Dixie Smeltzer and Linda Kramer.  Billy Tolstedt is training his body, mind and spirit in a progression of distances, starting with a half-marathon, then a full marathon, a 50K, and just this past weekend, his first 50-Miler.  Zach Merritt trained and went from his first race, a 2-miler, to a 100-mile race through the Big Horn Mountains a year later. Wayne Wallace extended his competitive life by learning to train as a triathlete rather than solely as a runner.

Maybe the best answer I’ve heard to the question, “What are you training for?” however, isn’t concerning a particular event. The best answer, I think, is “I’m training for life.”  Can there be any event, any distance, any challenge more worthy of our truest efforts, our highest devotion, or our greatest measure of purpose than to train to live a meaningful life?  The something we train for becomes the worthy cause that reveals our strength, exchanging our hard-wired want of comfort for a growth-producing acceptance of discomfort.  In a culture that idolizes success, we train for something for which there is no guarantee. Life can be like that too. We train knowing that a “did not finish” designation is a possibility, but we move right up next to the uncertainty, trained for whatever may come. I believe that is where we find courage. Living a good life requires courage. We train to do hard things because it makes us able and capable of dealing with the struggles that are a natural part of life. 

Training is hard.  Racing is hard.  Life can be hard.  But when we have a devotion to our training, follow our plan with flexibility and a growth mindset, the reward is in the struggle and in the community of others who share the same devotion and the same struggle.  There is true beauty in not struggling alone. When we race, we are not alone. The reward for our efforts in a race… and in life, is sublime.  What are you training for?