The Little Things: On the Order of Focus.

In every sport, as in life, there are little things that just make things better. In life, these little things include having a fast car, living in a new house, dating a supermodel (or, in a perfect world, Gina Carano ).

However, these little things will never make up for the big things: Happiness, food on the table, and the significant other you settled for (ouch).

Life as an athlete is much the same.  For a skier, it can be quite easy to get wrapped up in making sure you always have a heart rate monitor working perfectly, that you check every 30 seconds to make sure it’s still working and recording the efforts of your perfectly moderated intensity. It’s easy to make spend 30 minutes before your workout making sure you have dry (and fashionable/color coordinated) clothes, a perfectly ratio’d snack, and a gigantic water bottle for after your 30 minute recovery run.

Do all these things matter? Absolutely. The little things build upon the foundation of big things. BUT THEY WILL NEVER BE BIG THINGS!

The minute you lose focus, and the little things take precedent over hard, focused workouts, you have lost sight of the forest for the trees. Like a workaholic who spends all his time at the office and not enjoying the benefits of his hard work, athletes too can lose sight of why we train: Because going fast is godamn fun!!!