52 Lives

OK, here’s a monkey off my back. In March I participated in Pirkan Hiihto and there were things I wanted to write a post about. So, after 3,5 months I finally finished this post - the 5 lessons I learned in 90 kilometers.

1. When you’re on the edge of giving up - don’t!

This is a line I have read from ProBlogger and now it came a reality for me. During the race I was about to give up three times.

• First time was at 44 km pit stop. I was totally exhausted, since my skis had been slipping from the start. There were helpful people on the maintenance points and they waxed my skis. They were so helpful, that I just couldn’t give up now, so I decided to ski to the next maintenance point.
• The skis were now better, but I decided to call my wife to pick me up from the 52 km maintenance point. That was the point were the lunch was served, so it would be better to eat first. I had the soup, sat a while and then went to call my wife. I told her I was already in 52 km, strenghtened by the soup, so I would continue for a while.
• It’s amazing how the soup worked. It gave me strength to ski again and the next 14 km went quite easily. When I got to the 66 km maintenance point I knew there was a 3 km uphill coming around the corner. The soup was losing its effect, so again I started thinking about calling my wife. But since there was a nice downhill, couple of hundred of meters long, I thought I could ski to the next maintenance point and ask my wife to pick me up from there.

When I got to next maintenance point, the 3 km uphill was only a memory and I was only 16 km away from the finish line, so there was no point giving up! I learned that my decisions are easily changed, if the going gets tough…

2. Break Huge Challenges Into Smaller Pieces

It’s just like eating an elephant. You need to eat it in small pieces. There were 10 maintenance points on the way, but I realised I needed to think even in smaller pieces. Whenever there was a huge hill, I would look for a mark in the ground or a tree in the next 10-15 meters. When I would reach the mark, I chose another. This way even the hardest uphills were more like a picnic in the park.

3. The Patience of a Lamb

When you’re doing long lasting sports you need patience - and I mean lots of it. It’s like measuring a football field with a tooth pick. There were times when I saw the long trail in front of me. The end of the trail seemed to be close, so I started to ski faster. I don’t know why, but this happens also when I’m riding my bike. If there are no curves on the road, I try to cycle as fast as I can to the end of the straight part.

Skiing 90 km with this tactic was exhausting. I kept saying to myself: patience of a lamb, patience of a lamb. I set my brain off and just skied without a rush.

4. Focus On Yourself

I hadn’t practised a lot before the race, I had only skied something like 20 kilometers during Xmas holidays. I knew there would be lots of other skiers going pass me, but I needed to stay focused to keep my speed on the level I could cope with. Distance doesn’t kill you, speed does.

5. There Will Be Pain - Learn To Live With It

Sore arms, cramping thighs and aching calves - I had it all before the 44 km maintenance point. I had them all when I crossed the finish line. The day after I only had sore thighs. Pain is only temporary, the achievement is forever

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