Playing Offense vs. Defense On Life
This makes endurance sustainable
There’s one approach that makes endurance feel overwhelming and impossible:
Playing defense on life.
Here’s what that looks like:
In the fall of 2022, I had an athlete start training for his first 70.3.
Training kicked off and he was nailing everything from Day 1.
He hit all his workouts for the first two weeks. Perfect compliance and consistent communication with me. We were riding the high of his initial excitement.
But then everything started slipping.
Instead of a fully green training plan (completed workouts), his plan was polka dotted with yellow (workouts cut short), orange (workouts gone long) and red (skipped workouts).
As a coach, this is a clear sign that an athlete is struggling to manage training with life.
I asked him what was going on. And one thing was clear.
Life Pulling You In A Million Directions
He was doing his best to get the training done. But he felt like he was under water.
So I pried for details on his day to day.
He had a new project at work and was on his computer later into the evenings
He had function with his extended family Saturday was jam packed with a long car ride, the event and the travel home
He went to a soccer game with friends the day after that
He was squeezing in a run here, a ride there and trying to make up for it all with long sessions when he had a random window of free time.
And his life felt like chaos.
Every single one of the things pulling at his attention was reasonable.
Work ramps up? That’s ok.
Family events? That’s a good thing.
Time with friends? That can be good too.
But take these commitments out of isolation, look at them as a whole and consider the underlying mindset rooting hold:
He was saying “yes” to everything (without realizing it). And time for himself was coming last.
Then he was expecting life to make space for his goal to do a 70.3…
It doesn’t work like that.
When you say “yes” to one thing, you are saying “no” to something else.
And in this athlete’s case, saying “yes” to work, family and friends meant saying “no” to his goals to build confidence and consistency in pursuit of his first 70.3.
How To Play Offense On Life
The first key to success in making endurance work is playing offense on life.
Defense is reactive
Offense is assertive
Playing offense is all about taking control of the time of your day that’s 100% yours.
Plan ahead
Prepare the night before
Decide on a specific window of time for training
You must match the goals you say you have with the space you give them in your life.
Pass Protection vs. Run Blocking
I had another athlete run into the same problem this week.
He used to play offensive line. So we broke down the analogy even further.
Get out of Pass Protection and Run The Damn Ball.
Pass protection starts with a step BACK. You are waiting to brace the defender and keep him away from your QB.
Then you’re looking for a Hail Mary…
the 3 hour ride out of nowhere
the open water swim success without the reps
the fueling plan that works perfectly on a whim
We shifted his mindset from Pass Protection to Run Blocking.
Run blocking starts with a step FORWARD.
You assert your force on the defender and make space for your running back to gain ground.
This is the exact strategy you must apply to life and your daily schedule.
Because what’s the alternative?
Feeling overwhelmed by life, like you have no power, like you’re making no progress and like you can’t achieve your goals…
Which is the exact opposite of the mindset available to us when we play offense in pursuit of our first 70.3.