Date: 2011-08-14 11:45:42 Created: 2011-08-14 07:44:52
”You know, you actually scared me a bit there.”
Competition-me is clearly choosing his words carefully.
”And yeah, I know, look who’s talking and all that.”
Exercise-me, about to make a comment right along those lines, stops himself.
”Okay, I’m listening.”
Competition-me takes a deep breath, as if to strengthen himself.
”Did you really think I was going to run twenty kilometers today?”
”Sure I could have, why not? ”
”The way I felt as soon as things turned a bit uphill?”
”It would not have been twenty quick kilometers, but I could always have slowed down more if needed. It’s the exercise that counts, not the speed.”
”Well, I sure am glad I got out of that little delusion, ten was more than enough. Your drive to wear me down to the bones is not taking us anywhere. Not anywhere good in any case.”
”Well, I didn’t see you have any problems or complaints about it this spring.”
”Look, I know I was lighter and faster back then. But you know what else it takes to be fast and get good lap times? ENERGY! Yesterday didn’t give me any of that at all, and if I had let you force me around another lap I would only have been even worse off the next time.”
Exercise-me seems to resign a little, shoulders relaxing, his voice taking on a slightly tired tone.
”I know, it was a bad idea. You did the right thing when you stopped me while things were still going reasonably. But it’s not easy to break habits, you know? My drive is what got me here, right? I have been getting better - both more regular, longer AND faster - for what, five years now?”
Competition-me nods, knowing full well how far he has come.
”Even I have started to wonder how much longer that will last”, Excercise-me continues. ”I’m a bit scared I’ll totally fall out of all routines if I let myself start to slack off. I don’t want to fall out of this spiral of improvement, and neither do you.”
”Damn right I don’t. I know I still have even better times inside of me. But I have to recognize and work with limits too. If I want to get better and faster, long wear-out runs with bad preparations will not help at all. Come to think of it, it’s not as if they would do me any good if I decided to drop further improvement and just exercise for fun either. See what I mean?”
Now it’s Exercise-me’s turn to nod, still a little reluctantly but with more acceptance this time.
”We need to figure out where I want to go, but grinding myself down to dust while doing so won’t help me at all.”
Excercise-me looks up, still tired but with a new gleam in his eye.
”Say, this was a pretty nice lunch.”
”Oh yes, just what I needed.”
”But I bet there’s room for an even better dinner in a couple of hours. I could probably do with some more stocking up.”
”Damn right, count me in for a big dinner.”