The Grind

It’s the time in the season every wrestler knows too well…the time when you realize just how long a wrestling season is. Perhaps its the months of careful eating that make it seem to go on forever, perhaps it’s because it’s in the dead of winter, or maybe it’s the fact it lasts from November until March, but no matter what way you look at it…it’s a long season.
It’s at this point that every practice is a struggle and dragging your butt to practice becomes a chore.  The point where you get into the locker room to change and you just aren’t sure how you’ll make it through another day.  The point where you start your pre-practice warm-ups and your legs feel so weak that you doubt you’ll be able to compete…but this is it…this ,my friends, is what training is all about.  Don’t feel bad about it, it happens to everyone, but how you respond to these feelings are what separate mediocre wrestlers from the great ones.
Mediocre wrestlers may find ways to get out of a workout here or there by being “sick”, “injured”, or “busy” with whatever excuse may be convenient to catch a break.  Attending practice doesn’t make much difference because by midseason they are coasting and might as well have taken the day off…just going through the motions.  It’s not that a special workout is needed or to practice any special moves, it’s just that they need to grind it out like the great wrestler who although the grind is just as hard, still finds a way to get quality work in day after day.
Now that I’ve become a “runner”, I am seeing parallels everywhere between the 2 sports.  My latest read, “Once a Runner” by John L Parker, refers to this concept as “The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials.”  It describes the cumulative effect that disciplined training has.  Not a single workout pushed the runners to the brink, but day after day, week after week, mile after mile, the fatigue added up…both physically and mentally.  It is the discipline to push through this rough patch that truly breeds champions.  To stay focused and put in the time both mentally and physically.  To push your body even when you aren’t up for it and take the extra time to recover properly (ice, streching, etc.) for the next workout.
The parallel is easy to apply across all sports and competitions, but it transcends sports into life in general.  It may be your career, an entrepreneurial endeavor, a relationship, or even your faith, but it’s the discipline to work at each of these over time and overcome the down times that creates success.  It’s easy to put in the work when you feel like, but it takes true commitment and self discipline to put in the work even when you don’t.
My running training is just beginning for the year, so I’m not at this point yet.  It’s a long season however (all year) and I know I’ll have to endure the grind at some point.  For wrestlers, however, that time is now, and those that find a way to stay focused and grind through this tough part of the season will be the one’s on the podium come March.  The point is to realize this and the next time you feel like you aren’t up for the task, just know that pushing through will be the difference between you and the next guy.