Clayton is heading to the gym. He needs a change of scenery. Actually, he could have done the half marathon on his machine at home. Doing it in a gym is another flair. Sometimes he is still a little infatuated with these numbers. He planned it just like that. He on his own ? Surely not. It's hot that day and at home he would have had better fans to cool him down. Even if it is only a half marathon. Even if it is not 90 minutes. It is not a game. He is an athlete. He is not playing games. But the air in the gym is stuffy and dry. Not optimal conditions for a good half marathon. Also the hydration plan leaves much to be desired. Half a litre. In these semi-optimal conditions. It is not 90min. Eyes closed and through. It will not be an all out. Just a half marathon in the gym- but with a negative split- it will be a bit exhausting. In the gym he sets up his mobile devices consisting of an Ipad and 2 smartphones. A bottle to drink with 500ml which exposes the shortage after 64 minutes.
*~cc~*: "Boy, 21097m and you hit 10mio m".
Clayton: "ok, nothing special, what's then?"
*~cc~*: "We will celebrate it!"
Clayton:" Then I'll let myself be surprised"
The half marathon was nothing special, except that it was one of the worst Clayton has ever done. The dehydration was already noticeable after 45min, the heart rate consequently higher than usual. After 64min he had to give up the ambitious goal of under 82min.
"That was not a brilliant performance now. 10 million meters have been attained. Mission accomplished!" Clayton admitted to himself, somewhat disappointed and exhausted.
*~cc~*: "drive home, take a break on the way, have a drink, we will talk about some things".
And so Clayton drives off, stopping at a shady spot to get a drink. The sun is shining. One can also do sports outside. Getting the 10 million meters full was just a great motivation to leave the bike despite the nice weather.
Clayton: What's the surprise? How are we going to celebrate it, those 10 million meters?
*~cc~*: We're going to celebrate it !
…by erasing all your KOMs.
Clayton: What, that's not a nice surprise. For some KOMs I fought hard, for others not so much, for some I would even be very angry if someone else would be faster and snatch them from me, for some I wouldn't care...and now I should just erase them ?
*~cc~*: Hey boy, hanging out with me is not child's play, not a weekend retreat, hanging out with me is like hanging out with those powerful and wise fantasy figures, you already know there's no difference at all. Because that's what I am. And when I say hanging out with me is forgetting your KOMs, you're forgetting your KOMs. Your KOMs, what you represent to the outside world, is between us, it's between you and the moment you're in. If you find time for yourself besides your job, why would you focus on what you represent to the outside world? Learn to love the moment without trying to hold on to it. Forget about your outward show.
Clayton: I can understand your point, but it was also fun to compete virtually with others on these segments. And to be the fastest for a short time for once. That's competition. That's motivating. I always thought you would love that, isn't that your way? The stuff heroes are made of? So, what exactly is this about?
*~cc~*: Yes, very nice, you follow your feelings and realize that my character is a bit different today than usual. You asked a few days ago when it would be time to feel the other side of me. Not just the powerful friend. So boy, now is the time. I'm not just this powerful "coach" or "friend". There is something more than that. It will link to this otherness one can not catch.
Clayton: I've known you for a while now. You're different anyway. But today you are especially different. I think that today I'm going to get to feel a bit of this other side of you. Like the white dot in the yin. What do you want to know from me?
*~cc~*: I'm going to ask you a very simple question, and sometimes you may ask this question to others. It is just a thought experiment. I love thought experiments. And I do ask this question like this "What is >to be fit< ?"
What kind of answer to my question could I not want to hear ?
Clayton: Well, I guess something specific, like everyone who is able to run 5k under 25min is considered being fit and everyone who is not able is considered not being fit.
*~cc~*: good, give me more of these dividing lines. Give me these lines, these thresholds which divide the one being fit from the one being not fit. Those lines which would have been the wrong answer.
Clayton: That's easy, there are so many.
*~cc~*:If there are so many…give me more of these!
Clayton:The G26 test for firefighters separates fit individuals who achieved 3w/kg body weight in a ramp ergometer test without achieving a heart rate over 170 from those who did not and failed the test... who are considered "unfit".
*~cc~*: And we truly understand the necessity and practical purpose of this test. We can argue about the heart rate. Please continue, give me more threshold lines!
Clayton: A common clinical question is "How many flights of stairs can you climb?" Those who make it to at least the 2nd floor (MET 4, Vo2 max ~14ml/kg/min) are considered fit.... The others are not... further clinical testing is recommended.
*~cc~*: Oh, I like the simplicity of this dividing line, one needs to go within and self-reflect, go on !
Clayton: The WHO physical activity guide states that one should do at least 150minutes of moderate intensity physical activity. So you can say you're "fit" if you meet the minimum recommendation.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
*~cc~*: The dividing line as a recommendation, nice. Let's forget about these lines and numbers and focus on an individual approach. This brings some emotions into play. So each individual can ask themselves: what does it mean “to be fit"? Engage with that question, pursue it, and give your inner voice a chance to answer. Perhaps someone will realize that this feeling of "to be fit" is a "living thing". You can feel its power, the beauty that comes from it, perhaps especially in some workouts. This feeling of one's power is accompanied by some specific emotions: One of them is an incredibly deep awe. You feel it moment by moment, even if you don't train - let's say this feeling can be more intense when you challenge your body. Let's say recovery is as important (or even more important?) as the workout itself. What is that feeling of recovery? Letting go after a hard time trial. What have you done to your body? You did a lot of damage inside your body. A lot of cells died during that workout. That's called stress, from a simple perspective. So you've lived a lot - and died a lot during the workout - and in the recovery phase, you feel this damage as this “dying thing” inside yourself as well. So we have, as is common in so many philosophical or spiritual concepts, duality, in simple terms - the art of living and dying (that's again our friend Jiddu). You can't nail it down with numbers. There is no absolute, mathematically exact threshold that divides living humans in fit and unfit. It is relative and individual. So please, Clayton from Wisconsin, with your pretty much earthbound name, give me one last dividing line, the lowest you could draw !
Clayton: What about the patient in the ICU whose life depends on machines, who has a 1 MET (Vo2max 3.5ml/kg/min)? This individual can still perceive the world, as long as his heart and brain are working, this individual can still perceive its power. So this individual could eventually still be considered as “to be fit”!
*~cc~*: ohh, that's low, one touch down on that norepinephrine perfusor and that person may die. So there is the ultimate line, the ultimate threshold that separates the fit from the unfit: death. Everything that happens before death, your life - just a bucket full of relativities with objects among objects. No absolutes. Just this multiplicity.
Clayton: ok, I hear you, so you're telling me that it's about the feeling, not a number, not a position or an acquisition, no matter where you are in life, no matter if you're a rank beginner in "anything", like in a certain sports discipline or if you're a professional. A beginner can feel just as fit as a professional, a professional can feel just as unfit as the guy in the ICU, with a maximum oxygen uptake of 3.5ml/kgKG/min.
*~cc~*: Yes, and the guy in the ICU can feel as fit as a pro athlete, because you don't know what that guy is dreaming and feeling while they are sleeping.
Clayton: Are you telling me that we should always try to prevent the living from dying? Because we don't know what they feel and dream? Should we really do everything in our power to prevent death?
*~cc~*: oh boy, this is something completely different and we will talk about this another time, when we are in our underworld. Just let me say this: The presumed will of a person should be decisive here, not what relatives or doctors want to decide.
Clayton: Underworld, this does not sound comfortable.
*~cc~*: Life is not always comfortable and hanging out with me is not a nice seminar.
Clayton: Can I prevent this whole underground thing ?
*~cc~*: I'm afraid it won't be that easy to prevent this. And I'm sure that on the day you reach 11 111111m on your machine, I'll send us both to our underworld.
Clayton: Ok, but how can I prevent it ?
*~cc~*: I knew you were going to ask. So the question was, "What is >to be fit<?" We found out together as a team that it is more of an individual feeling. It's not about the numbers you've achieved, it's about the feeling, the feelings are more to be seen as the platonic ideas themselves, and all the positions, acquisitions and virtually crowns are merely the shadows on the wall. So if you ask me how to avoid descending into our underworld, I simply say, "Be completely free, being free is the same as being fit, it is the art of living and dying together, we do it together, as a team. This is a long process that takes place in the brain, changing the structure of the neural network. This is then the crown of a thousand petals, the one and only crown.
Clayton: What could that look like, the life as a free and fit athlete ? Am I then still an athlete at all ? It sounds like meditating is a bit lazy ? Just sitting around and being free, with no goals, no motivation, speak friend, what do you say ?
*~cc~*: It is partly ingrained in our civilization that spirituality and sport are separate. But is it so? Is that what we want?
And I say: "Athletes can have the highest spirituality".
They just have to open themselves to it. Daily physical activity as a successful practice to get closer to the art of living and dying. Be aware of the moment. You athletes can do that. And in the final stage, I say, you won't even need the performance monitor, you can demount it then, it will be the pure athletic activity then, no matter if it is running, cycling, swimming or rowing. It is about the pure awareness of what is. No distractions of monitoring progress with technical stuff or the desire for transient successes. If your feeling tells you to run faster, you run faster, if your feeling tells you that you're going to get into the red zone in the next few minutes, you get into the red zone. That's how you exercise in and with the moment. Everything else, fixed interval goals, looking at the monitor, longing for that magic zero, as motivating and exciting as that may be. All of that distracts you from the moment.
Clayton: This all sounds very interesting and intriguing, somehow I still like playing with numbers, so I can't really let go at the moment.
*~cc~*: Our relationship is faint but stable, so I'm not going to force you anyway. Another way to prevent the descent into our underworld is simply to stay away from all social networks. Shut them down. All of them.
Clayton: Yeah, but somehow this underworld thing interests me, I'm curious, so why should I bother and shut everything down?
*~cc~*: And that's why I say:”Remember the number 11 111111m, what follows will be Operation #617!”
On the evening of August 2, 2021, Clayton B. erased all of his virtual crowns, just like that. Because a good friend, a some kind of a coach, advised him to do it. It was just the kind of advice one gives to a friend. To let go, to drop of a precious thing.
Suddenly it gave way to a look of relief and a laugh. "Well, that´s that", he said. "Now I'm off!"
“And I say, by publishing this, we erase all our KOMs, one more time !”