Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Off-Season Thoughts: Patience and the Long Pause

I have to admit that my thoughts of late have been somewhat consumed with the D.H. Lawrence classic, Lady Chatterly's Lover, and not for the reasons you might think. No, for its insight into the importance of seasonal rest.

Coming to the end of the '08 season with the sting of a DNF on my final race (previous post), it's been more than a little hard to settle in to the off-season. I've been obsessed with thoughts of '09 races and practically have to lash myself to the sofa to make sure I get the rest I need to let my injuries heal and muscles rejuvenate.

And it is just this state that has sent my mind over and over again to the closing pages of D.H Lawrence's classic as I try to remind myself that there's a time for training and a time for resting.

As is fairly common knowledge, and largely revealed in the title, the heroine of the work, Constance Chatterly, took a bit of a liking to the hired hand, Oliver Mellors, which resulted in the pursuit of shall we say various physical activities. In the end, the two remain together - complete and happy - but for the moment physically separate. In a lengthy letter to Constance, which closes the book and was supposedly inspired by parts of Frazer's The Golden Bough, Mellors goes on at length about the importance of rest and rejuvenation to maintain the magic they share. In the one section I'm able to print here, he says that it "takes patience and the long pause" to truly realize nature's creation.

So, this is what I've been thinking about, Lawrence's great line: "patience and the long pause."

As much as I want to charge ahead with training, as much as I want to get to the '09 season, it's really the time for patience and a long pause. Time to rest and rebuild. If it worked for two frisky Victorians, that should be good enough for me.

2 comments:

Brad Mitchell said...

Well said and like I said to you earlier - you have the racing bug!
I have caught myself numerous times this week thinking of when to start training for 09. Last year I started on Dec.2 (for 08) and feel this was probably a month early. So I have told myself no "real" training for 09 until 09 is actually here, yet this week I was looking at a blank log thinking, "if I start in December..." No. To early, enjoy some real down time and healing time.

I like it - Patience and the Long Pause.

Hank Dart said...

I'm trying to live by it. Not doing too badly right now.

There's a chance I'll do C2M 100k in March (waiting on official word), so not exactly sure when I'll need to start training in earnest for '09. Maybe I can even push it to June if C2M falls through...