Endurance as Expression

This article appears as a foundational article to our practice and is included in the current iteration of the Endurance Manual.

There is a “spirit” to endurance. By that, we mean the encompassing idea of long efforts may transcend the nature of our known physical world. Sadly, endurance as a subject is often butchered by reductionism. Merely training the time domain without considering the philosophical underpinnings can leave the practitioner short of their potential, but only talking about the concept without experiencing the duration makes the philosophizer presumptuous. To understand endurance, demands the expression of combined physical and spiritual effort.

Endurance training scratches the surface of physical ability but can be far more profound. We practice endurance to educate ourselves about ourselves, using intentional, conscious action, and later mindful rumination, reflecting on our preparation, expectations, and the outcome. Only constant and consistent evaluation of one's objective, the work done to achieve it and its effects can allow holistic progress. The plan must change with you, as you do. A spreadsheeted program of hours and miles is ineffective compared to the ad-lib adaptability of dedicated practitioners.

So what is endurance, and how do we express it? We use time as a general guideline. This works for some aspects of the physical preparation but falls short when developing the psychological characteristics. Endurance is a feeling associated with our reaction to an effort and it only begins when we feel the sensation to stop.

Historically, we have declared that endurance begins at around 90 minutes because most people will first hear the “call” to quit or slow around that time. Training durations of less than 90-minutes can positively influence >90-minute endurance capabilities, but the common misconception that increasing intensity for shorter efforts produces the same effects as do longer, less vigorous sessions is wrong: time cannot be replaced by intensity.

Look beyond the overt physical qualities to understand the expression of endurance. The effect of endurance practice on personal development is most often manifested in the emotional conditions that emerge at the extreme limit of one's ability. Endurance physiology is similar to other systems; it is dependent on muscle contraction rates, the supply of blood and oxygen, and the removal of waste products, etc., but the emotions felt deep within an endurance effort sometimes render the physical manifestations moot. Strength and power efforts, i.e. short ones, enliven the sense of Self, victory is boisterous and triumphant, which suggests that the sympathetic nervous system is activated and fight or flight defines confrontation at the precipice.

Persevering past short effort and deep into endurance triggers a loss of Self, and deconstruction of ego. The expression of strength reinforces Self, and exalts the ego while endurance annihilates it. Which begs the question, why would one do something that is, by nature, self-destructive?

The answer might be unexpected — especially from those so quick to front the hard and harsh. For us, within us, with all of the mileage that has changed us, endurance represents the emotional quality of love. And allows us to feel love more intensely, broken down and sensitized as we often are at the end of long, difficult journey. Love is hard to define, but ultimately it is acceptance. Embrace. To pull the Self in. To enfold and to be enfolded. Also to be enraptured. Love is feeling pain and continuing regardless. Love allows us to endure. We continue through and past the moment when we no longer want to because we want to feel love, to be loved, to love someone else. We learn endurance the same as we learn how to love — we experience it.

This might seem to be “hippy, hug everyone, bullshit”, but in application, to learn how to love is to learn how to suffer and vice-versa. A vibrant chemical brew simmers in the body during very long efforts, producing emotional consequences for those committed to time-intensive effort.

To express endurance, feel its physical and emotional components by going far enough to want to quit, to mark the start of what it means to endure. That may start when looking out the window or require a multi-day effort. All of us should know our reaction to time + effort, feel the sensations of pain, hear the siren to stop, and learn to mediate the internal dialogue that allows emotion to motivate and fuel us onward.

Time is the essence of endurance. The lessons of enduring clarify after prolonged effort, over time, which is the least plentiful asset we have. Recognizing the lack of time, we try to grasp the lessons of endurance by taking shortcuts — we try to get there faster and in so doing we push the actual experience of endurance further away. Don’t shortcut this path. Instead, cut away the things that keep you from spending the appropriate amount of time ON this path.