WHY KING SAUL SET SO FEW PRS IN HIS LATER YEARS
As 2005 gradually comes to a close, many runners are contemplating
the events of the year - and beginning to make plans for improving
their running in 2006. It is only natural for a fair number of
runners to entertain the idea of working with a training partner in
the months ahead - as part of a serious effort to upgrade workout
quality.
Scientific research has been fairly kind to this notion. Basically,
exercise physiologists have been able to show that working with a
good training partner can make challenging workouts feel easier -
and thus more sustainable, compared with tackling the same exertions
solo. This, of course, is only true if the partner is "positive" in
her/his approach to the training (and has the fitness necessary to
pull the sessions off); a negative co-exerciser can make demanding
workouts much-more difficult to handle..
Anecdotally, many runners report that the quality of their workouts
soars when they begin conducting one or two training sessions each
week with other runners, instead of staying single. This seems to be
particularly true when the chosen partners are slightly fitter than
the individuals who have "adopted" them.
Strangely enough, one of the biggest problems associated with such
arrangements can occur when a runner is transformed
by the with-partner training and runs an over-the-top race. The
trouble can come when a runner believes that he/she is dependent on
the partnered workouts to perform at the new, loftier level.
In the Old Testament and Torah, we learn that Saul was an ordinary
man, a runner who was too slow to chase down mules which had gone
astray in the fields. When he met the great judge and prophet,
Samuel, however, he was transformed by their interaction and
eventually became a kind, just, and generous king.
Saul led his armies to victory in battle, and he was intensely
devoted to his people. He became a successful leader, but always, in
the background, stood the towering Samuel. Because Saul thought that
Samuel was the true source of his triumphs, he did nothing without
consulting the prophet. Saul eventually became deeply troubled by
the knowledge that he would never be able to free himself from his
mentor. Saul was unable to dispel his doubts about himself, and his
life (and kingly reign) spiraled downward in circles of jealousy,
suspicion, repudiation, and ultimate failure.
More recently, another prophet named Samuel found a laborer laying
rails for the Kenyan National Railroad, toiling to near collapse
under the flaming African sun. Samuel took the moiler, Musa, into
his home, fed him, taught him how to run. Soon, Musa was beating
Samuel in their runs across the veld near Eldoret, and in an
informal half-marathon in Nairobi Musa finished far ahead of his
world-famous mwalimu.
Musa was physically ready to win international competitions, but
always in the background stood Samuel. Musa believed that he was on
the international stage only because of Samuel, and therefore he
could not truly be superior to him - he could not be better than
someone who had found his own way to the heights. In important
races, Musa always ran hundreds of meters behind his deliverer,
Samuel Lelei.
Thus, it is important to remember that if training with a yokemate
transforms you, you will remain transformed even if you choose to
forge ahead without your accomplice. As the great coach
Jack Daniels once said, "If you're better, you're better."
Translated, this means that your gains in performance capability
remain inside you, ready to be expressed whenever you
decide that they should be placed before the world to see. You are
not dependent on others; once you have climbed your performance
ladder to the very top, you may remain there - even if someone who
has climbed with you is called away. As always, to achieve your best
performances you are dependent only on the work which you complete
in your training and on the quality of the confident, steady
fire which burns in your powerful heart.
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I am grateful to all of you for your interest and support throughout
this past year!
Very kindest regards always,
Owen Anderson
