Jon Rankin: If I Had It All
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #12)
Posted May 7th, 2008 at 6:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin
Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of The Final Sprint’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Be sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry at http://jonrankin.thefinalsprint.com/
Before I took a nap this afternoon I thought about how tired I was from what turned out to be a very challenging interval session I had earlier this morning. Basically, as I sat on the edge of my bed I wondered why it was so hard. I mean, I was running pretty hard and quite fast, but I didn’t think that the workout warranted the type of reaction that my body exhibited. One of the first thoughts that I had as Coach Cruz described the workout to me was ‘this could be a great workout if I could hit the times.’ In retrospect that would be asking a lot more of my body than it was willing to give me on this day.
To say the least the workout wasn’t a great workout. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. So, what if the workout had been the ‘great workout’ that I was hoping to have? Would that have changed anything? . . . . . . Maybe. Maybe not. No matter the case, I did learn that, to have the type of expectations I had about my ability to execute a great workout upon hearing what the session would be, I had some clues as to my mental state:
1. It didn’t matter to me that I was tired coming into today’s training session.
2. It didn’t matter what I had done in the days prior to this day.
The only thing that seemed to matter to me on this day was getting the most out of the session—even if that meant my body would protest throughout the entire session and I would be frustrated with my body for not being more like a machine.
If I had it all and things were to go my way all the time I would ideally have every session go exactly how I would want it to go. I would never have a bad day and my confidence would reach astronomical heights with every passing day. I mean, that’s what we all want, right? The only problem with this scenario besides its absurdity is that we would never really learn much from our experiences. If everything went exactly how we wanted it to go, we would never really appreciate the good times because we wouldn’t have hard times and bad days for comparison. We need the bad days just as much as we want the good days.
The not so perfect times make the times that seem perfect everything that they appear to be and sometimes more.
The session I had was really no different than any other session that I’ve had during these last few months. Every session is a challenge. Every day I get out of bed and I’m frightened and nervous before practice. Most mornings I wake up in a slight panic because it’s now one day closer to ‘the day’, the US Olympic Trials. I take every session and want it to be as good as it can possibly be and then I want it to be even better than that because I simultaneously consider on a conscious and sub-conscious level that those types of training sessions are what’s needed to be ready…
And then, at the end of the day, I sit at my computer and I begin to reflect on the day that has been like every other day. And as I write in my journal I come to realize that this day was another great day because I’m alive and I still have a chance. No matter how bad or good it was it was a day that I got to have. If I were six feet under I wouldn’t have a chance to do something about my life or situation because I wouldn’t be here to try. But I’m here and I’m trying and at the end of a day in which I’ve been stressing and praying and laughing and dreaming I’m happy because I realize I still have a chance. And that’s all that I need or could ever want.
In the end I do have it all because I’m alive.
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Tags: elite athlete blog, elite athlete blog series, jon rankin, olympic dream, professional running blog, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, u.s. olympic track & field trials
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We’ve talked about this a lot throughout the years, but I think those days when nothing feels right are the most important for developing your mental abilities. How you handle those days–and how you teach yourself to handle them over time–goes a long way to determining how good you will become in the future.
Breaking down the work that needs to be done to smaller and smaller levels–from the workout to the interval to the first lap to the first 100 meters, etc–is something that can only really be trained when you’re having an off day. When it all goes easily, it’s equally easy to just ride the wave.
That’s great if you get to do that in the finals, too, but better to be prepared to grind it out mentally and physically!
Great post, Jon!
May 7th, 2008 at 8:27 pm