Friday 16 July 2010

Why am I not a champion?

Reading blogs and listening to other runners has finally given me some insight into what attributes a runner needs to become a champion competitor.

I have found that to be a champion you need to be obsessive about winning, but probably more importantly, obsessive about your training and everything else to do with your sport in order to win. Champions also seem to have the ability to control this obsessiveness and use it to their up most advantage. It seems you also need to have the desire to win at all costs, the ability to overcome setbacks, learn from it and to come back stronger. I have observed that champions are usually but not always naturally gifted in their chosen sport and mostly single minded and determined. Those who are not 'blessed' with natural talent can still be champions if they have the mental strength, the desire and the commitment to train hard to overcome this. Certainly, natural talent alone is not enough to make you a champion. True champions are not usually content unless they win and anything less than first place in a race can be a disaster for them. They are sometimes very self critical of what they have achieved. I can now understand why some champion runners give up the sport even when they are still very good and so not choosing to compete at veteran level - unless of course they can be assured of an outright win. They are usually very focussed individuals, usually paying particular attention to detail and organisation in their lives, more particularly when it is related to their chosen sport(running). They take their sport seriously, train hard and usually have superior mental strength. They are ferociously competitive and mostly possess an element of 'killer instinct'.

I have to admit I think I have a little bit of all these qualities but probably not enough of any of them to make a champion runner. At least I know that winning a race is not just about clocking up miles.

3 comments:

Chris Jones said...

The way I see it is that you have to start by having the genetic potential, i.e. the right balance of fast/slow twitch muscles etc. otherwise you are on a non-starter. You can't make someone who has a pre-disposition towards strength events into an ultra-marathon runner no matter how you try and vice-versa. Given that the genetics are there, then it's the mental strength/attitude that differentiates a champion from the rest.

The same goes for performance enhancing drugs (in my opinion) in that they won't make a duffer great, but when all other things are equal...

Sadly for me I believe I'm stuck somewhere in the genetic middle ground, which has meant throughout my life, I've been half-decent at any sport I've tried, but gifted at none :(

Chris Jones said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Antony Bradford said...

Thanks for that Chris.

I think there are very few who have all the attributes so don't be too down hearted.

For me, I still like the training, the competion and the fitness benefits etc. The winning of prizes is an added bonus but not a necessity. I will still bat on and try to improve.

Hope you recover from your crash soon.