Experimenting with long, slow distance, speed and patience

“Of greatest significance to me has been the insight that I attained as a fundamental understanding from all of my LSD experiments: what one commonly takes as ‘the reality’, by no means signifies something fixed, but rather something that is ambiguous—that there is not only one, but that there are many realities, each comprising also a different consciousness of the ego. The first planned LSD experiment was therefore so deeply moving and alarming, because everyday reality and the ego experiencing it, which I had until then considered to be the only reality, dissolved, and an unfamiliar ego experienced another, unfamiliar reality.”

ALBERT HOFFMAN

I am playing around with my vision of training, an altered philosophy and reality brought about through the methods of Dr. Phil Maffetone. I began this year with the goal of becoming fast. I’ve finally picked up The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing and delved into Maffetone’s notions of health and the enduring quest for expanding performance.

I was initially skeptical. His methods have bred some of the greatest and most consistent endurance athletes of the past twenty years. However, the program is a long-term bet, relying on faith in the system. Maffetone’s methods actively and intentionally slow the athlete down. The Maffetone way is based around respect and reverence for aerobic capacity. Understanding that endurance events are housed within the aerobic system, training is undertaken within one’s maximum aerobic capacity and heart rate (MAHR). Maffetone warns that athletes may be shocked to see how slow they initially perform at MAHR. Mark Allen, six-time Ironman world champion, began running at night to avoid being seen training so slowly.

I dusted off my heart rate monitor and decided to see where I stood. I ‘ran’ about my neighbourhood warming-up within my MAHR. I laughed at myself as a couple walking their dog left me in the dust. Apparently, my obsession with speed has created a blaring imbalance in my physiological endurance systems. Though grasping to be faster, stronger and fitter, my training habits may reveal broader issues: lack of patience, foresight and wisdom.

In the past month, though still green to this style of running relatively slowly (allowing my metabolic and endocrine systems to grow in efficiency) I’ve experienced a revelatory understanding of and appreciation for LSD. The Long Slow Distance phenomenon embraced by many long-distance runners, especially visionaries on trails and mountains, seemed somewhat lame to me. “It’s so pedestrian to intentionally move slowly,” I thought. The thought of LSD triggered worry over losing the self I had created. I had no wish to relinquish the ego that cradled my self-perception of speed.

However, after a concerted effort to review Maffetone’s concepts and the bounty reaped by patiently practicing athletes, I see LSD in a different light. Maybe those preaching as they traipse across ridges and valleys have insight that I was previously ignorant of. LSD is a gateway to unlocking the next level of performance, a sustainable practice and career as an athlete. In turn, LSD will evolve to a capacity for speeds I’ve not yet been cognizant of. With patience and focused effort, I can find speed through LSD in creating a new running-self.

In fact, Maffetone’s methods, based on physiology, scientific study and observation seem to be the same patient practice shared for thousands of years. “The tree you can’t reach your arms around grew from a tiny seedling. The tower rises from a heap of clay. The thousand mile journey begins beneath your foot…Soft overcomes hard, weak overcomes strong. Everybody knows it, nobody heeds the knowledge.” (Tao Te Ching: chapters 64 and 78)

And, so, I continue testing my patience, experimenting with large doses of LSD. It is undoubtedly a long and strange trip and I will report back after a few thousand miles.