How to Feel Like an Olympian

I'm running.

Well, jogging actually.

And, unloaded (sub-gravity - see image for example) about 30 lbs.

For 60 seconds.

And, I'm tired after 25 minutes of intervals consisting of 60 second jogs at 6 mph followed by a two minute walk but thrilled to be doing it even if it's only about 8 total minutes of jogging. Six months ago, I wason my backunable to do much of anything.

Jogging again made me remember just how fit the marathoners are in the upcoming Olympics. The men's world record, held byHaile Gebrselassie, is 2:04:26. Think about that for a minute. That's a running speed of almost 13 miles per hour for over two hours! Our treadmill top speed is 10 mph and trust me, I would be sprinting.

Haile and I are really similar though. We both have the same muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments. We both have lungs and a heart. We both pump blood through our bodies and distribute oxygen to our working muscles. But, we have at least one major difference. Haile delivers oxygen to his muscles like Federal Express while my delivery is Pony Express.

World class athletes have a very high Max VO2 (the maximum amount of oxygen that can be consumed per unit of time). Haile's max VO2 is likely 75-80 milliliters while mine is probably no more than about 40. And, while some people have a genetic pre-disposition toward higher Max VO2, the main determinant is training. High performance athletes train long and hard to reach the peak levels needed at the Olympics.

The good news is that you can boost your max VO2 if you want to by training and if you do, guess what? You also boost yourworking speed.

I love that I can jog even though it's one minute and I need an anti-gravity machine to do it safely. I know that if I keep training though, I will one day jog with my buddy Spencer again and that makes me feel like an Olympian.

Decide what you really want and then start training for it at the level you CAN train; not at the level you think you SHOULD be able to train or NEED to train. Embrace your current ability no matter how far away you are from where you want to be. That's they key to feeling like an Olympian.

Train on.