As competitive cyclists and coaches, we love numbers and data!
Oh yea baby, give me some numbers and gadgets to collect numbers that give us
more numbers that we can calculate and put into graphs and make data, and share
data and re-test and gather those numbers and put them into new graphs and
manipulate those graphs, and on and on it goes. Basically its bike porn or
better yet, science porn. Pages and pages full of numbers and data. If we were
machines and not human beings, this data would prove INVALUABLE because we
would gather the data, enter the training to improve the numbers inside the
data, and output World Champions in drouths on a conveyor belt. Scientists will
tell you data is all that really matters when it comes to performance. Well,
thats not entirely true, they do look at you with this twisted gleam in their
eye, like they do truly understand that there is “a little bit” of a mental and
emotional component to racing, all the while you know they really believe any
great athlete should be able to “suck it up” and completely detach from their
mind and emotions while racing and training. Sports psychologists will fight
them til the cows come home on this topic, although BOTH will argue with
measurable data from their said fields, AND, both will generally tell you that
in order to be a great athlete and make it to the top, you have to have the
almighty TALENT, or it just ain’t gonna happen for you. They will even have the
audacity to say that fact is proven in science and we can access this proof of
information.
Well, what I say and I know from personal experience, is you
can’t measure heart, grit or determination. Passion is not a math equation. It
can’t be measured. You know when someone’s got it and you can tell when they
don’t.
When I was first identified by the U.S. National team in 2001,
they did a series of tests on me at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista,
CA. I was subjected to poking and prodding, watt bikes, early morning blood
analysis and for 2 straight days I was tested in the lab and on the open roads.
The conclusion, “She has marginal ability at best.” “She is a bit old.” and my
personal favorite, “Its certainly not too bad, but its not too promising
either.”
Post 2012 Olympic Games, I get told ALL the time by people, “Oh
you have such immense talent, that’s why you were able to do XYZ and so on and
so forth.” Oh really? I do? Please do indulge me with the proof of that.
My Mom says I am a “scrapper.” Always have been. Give me
something to fight, like some stupid numbers that they try to count as the sum
of my total worth, and I will show you an Olympic medal. Never underestimate
that deep intrinsic power inside of you that tells you, YOU CAN. If we don’t
listen to that heart, that passion, that drive, that lives deep inside, we will
never know our potential. Never. According to my data, my 3 minute POTENTIAL
average power is just shy of 100 watts less than what I have actually PRODUCED
at my peak. Take that science!
If I had taken that Olympic Training Center data to heart, I
shudder to think about what I would have missed. Since that frustrating week at
the OTC, there have been several opportunities, and I mean SEVERAL for me to
get tested again. I turn those down every time. Don’t need the headache or
disappointment. “Thanks so much”, I say, “I appreciate that you are hoping to
find a genetic freak who will blow the doors of your little laboratory and who
you can brag about, but your not gonna find it here. I have “marginal talent at
best.” And then I chuckle.
As competitors, we often get so entangled in the web of science
and numbers and comparing ourselves to other’s numbers, that we lose the fact
that NONE of it will matter on race day if we can’t produce a passionate
performance. It takes something very special to go out on that day, that one
day you have prepared for your entire life and lay it down, and that something
special wont be found on a graph or on a chart, but it will come from deep
within, a place where you have spent time honing and believing and dreaming of.
You can’t dream properly in a spreadsheet.
Quantifiable data can be valuable, but only as you use it for
its purpose; as a tool. If you were to create a graph in your mind, you best
leave room for a “mystery” page at the end because that’s a list of all the
things science can not measure. Your heart. Your passion. Your spirit. Your
joy. Your fire. Your dedication. Your drive. Your unwavering belief.
And as L. Fleshman, a professional runner says, “There is
immeasurable power in the unmeasurable.”
Go out there and live your dream. Make it happen, and don’t give
any energy to the people who say “you can’t” because they don’t know what you
are capable of. Only you know. Don’t be held back by numbers or science. You
can prove them all wrong. I think this is where I should remind you, “Go confidently
in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
Visit Dotsie and learn about her
coaching techniques and methodology at www.empowercoachingsystems.com.
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