There is a
third—and, arguably, more important--improvement to running faster, and it’s related
to Bruce Lee. Now, I’ve seen most of his movies, like Enter the
Dragon. But, I wasn’t all that familiar with a whole apparently different side
of him: Bruce Lee, the philosopher. “Apparently,” because, beneath the surface,
Lee’s more popularly known persona of a martial artist and that of a
philosopher are clearly one and the same. See, e.g., The Tao of Gung Fu. I’ve been reading up on Lee, ever since coming across Maria Popova's Brain Picking piece
on Be Like Water, in which she traced the evolution of that famous water metaphor in the book, Bruce Lee: Artist of Life. There are various statements of this metaphor by Lee. The one quoted by Popova
is “Hadn’t this water just now illustrated to me the principle of gung fu? I
struck it but it did not suffer hurt. Again I struck it with all of my might—yet it was not wounded! I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved
impossible. This water, the softest substance in the world, which could be
contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak. In reality, it could penetrate
the hardest substance in the world. That was it! I wanted to be like the nature
of water.”
Lee’s water metaphor is based on the principles of wu hsin (no-mindedness) and wu wei (non-action). See Popova’s Trying Not to Try. Here’s Lee, in Artist of Life: “When his private ego and conscious effort yield to a power that is not his own, he then achieves the highest action in gung fu, the action of no-action—we wei.” “Wu wei is the art of artlessness, the principle of no-principle.”
As yet, I have just the barest of an inkling of what's meant by wu hsin and wu wei. An example I can think of is driving a car. After decades of driving, when I’m behind the wheel, I feel the car and I are one, going down the road; not I driving the car. But, I don't think that's quite it. Perhaps, a closer example is when, on those rare occasions, I'm running on water and it feels effortless.
This is all absolutely fascinating; but, so what? What does it have to do with running faster? Well, could this be the key to that elusive mental part of running? A central idea of Tim Noakes’ 2012 review article in Frontiers in Physiology, "Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion that regulates the exercise behavior to ensure the protection of whole body homeostasis," is that fatigue is in the mind, and optimal performance is achieved by those who best manage the progression of the sensations of fatigue. So, are elite runners elites because, when they run, they get closer to no-running running than do the non-elites? Is this the same as "in the zone"? The feedback loop of Noakes' Central Governor Model (CGM) regulates performance in order to avoid catastrophic failure of homeostasis. Is no-running running a way to get out of this feedback loop, even if just a bit, and tap into that 65% of unused potential? Often, towards the end of marathons, one gets this sense of other-worldliness. The first time I experienced that was in RNR 2013. Could one achieve that sense earlier in a race?
In that same review article, Noakes stated this intriguing hypothesis: "physiology does not determine who wins. Rather somewhere in the final section of the race, the brains of the second, and lower placed finishers accept their respective finishing positions and no longer choose to challenge for a higher finish." Lee, in one of his letters (in Letters of the Dragon), included one of his favorite poems, "Thinking," by Walter D. Wintle. The poem begins with
“If you think you are beaten, you are;”
and ends with
“But sooner or later the man who wins
is the one who thinks he can!”
Lee also wrote a lot about the concept of Yin and Yang: Not opposite but complementary; two halves of a whole.
Lee’s water metaphor is based on the principles of wu hsin (no-mindedness) and wu wei (non-action). See Popova’s Trying Not to Try. Here’s Lee, in Artist of Life: “When his private ego and conscious effort yield to a power that is not his own, he then achieves the highest action in gung fu, the action of no-action—we wei.” “Wu wei is the art of artlessness, the principle of no-principle.”
As yet, I have just the barest of an inkling of what's meant by wu hsin and wu wei. An example I can think of is driving a car. After decades of driving, when I’m behind the wheel, I feel the car and I are one, going down the road; not I driving the car. But, I don't think that's quite it. Perhaps, a closer example is when, on those rare occasions, I'm running on water and it feels effortless.
This is all absolutely fascinating; but, so what? What does it have to do with running faster? Well, could this be the key to that elusive mental part of running? A central idea of Tim Noakes’ 2012 review article in Frontiers in Physiology, "Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion that regulates the exercise behavior to ensure the protection of whole body homeostasis," is that fatigue is in the mind, and optimal performance is achieved by those who best manage the progression of the sensations of fatigue. So, are elite runners elites because, when they run, they get closer to no-running running than do the non-elites? Is this the same as "in the zone"? The feedback loop of Noakes' Central Governor Model (CGM) regulates performance in order to avoid catastrophic failure of homeostasis. Is no-running running a way to get out of this feedback loop, even if just a bit, and tap into that 65% of unused potential? Often, towards the end of marathons, one gets this sense of other-worldliness. The first time I experienced that was in RNR 2013. Could one achieve that sense earlier in a race?
In that same review article, Noakes stated this intriguing hypothesis: "physiology does not determine who wins. Rather somewhere in the final section of the race, the brains of the second, and lower placed finishers accept their respective finishing positions and no longer choose to challenge for a higher finish." Lee, in one of his letters (in Letters of the Dragon), included one of his favorite poems, "Thinking," by Walter D. Wintle. The poem begins with
“If you think you are beaten, you are;”
and ends with
“But sooner or later the man who wins
is the one who thinks he can!”
Lee also wrote a lot about the concept of Yin and Yang: Not opposite but complementary; two halves of a whole.
Not fighting or struggling against Heartbreak
Hill at Mile 20 of the Boston Marathon? Rather … what? Instead of "attacking" the hill, how does “being one with
the hill” help a runner get to the top faster?
There are many questions and not many answers, yet. I’ve just begun to explore the way Bruce Lee lived his full, though tragically short, life. But, I think there is a lot here that relates or translates to running and could potentially lead a runner to major breakthroughs—i.e., punctuated equilibria!
There are many questions and not many answers, yet. I’ve just begun to explore the way Bruce Lee lived his full, though tragically short, life. But, I think there is a lot here that relates or translates to running and could potentially lead a runner to major breakthroughs—i.e., punctuated equilibria!
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