The Art of Suffering
"For what is the point of training but making pain seem routine? You work the body, yes, but the real point of training is to accustom the mind to endure discomfort: to know it, tolerate it and even, finally, to like it."
Matt Seaton in Rouleur magazine
Plenty of discomfort on this Sunday's training ride: it was boiling hot and horribly humid, I ran out of food, and I got stung by a wasp on my tongue. I thought the wasp was a bit of leftover energy bar wedged in behind a tooth – only as I bit into it (crunch) did I realise what was going on. I took four bars and two bottles of energy drink to see me through the five-hour session, but when I reached round to grab the last bar with an hour to go, I found the pocket empty – it must have fallen out – and trundled dejectedly home with a grumbling belly and plummeting blood sugar levels (but a perverse sense of enjoyment at what I was putting myself through as I rode past people soaping cars, sunbathing on lawns and drinking beer outside pubs).
There's more training – and I suspect no shortage of pain and discomfort – just around the corner. Alastair and I are heading to Utah at the end of next week for a ten-day training camp at Mark Twight's Gym Jones. I've been looking forward to this for a long time, with two parts sheer excitement and one part apprehension. Excitement because Mark Twight has had a strong influence on my own approach to expeditions (and, I suspect, to life). As an alpinist he was meticulous in his attention to preparation, gear, nutrition and training. His book Extreme Alpinism, published nearly ten years ago, seemed ahead of its time, and lay out an approach that had huge parallels with the type of polar expedition I wanted to lead in the future: fast, light, unguided, unsupported, pioneering and with an inescapable degree of challenge, danger and difficulty.
And part apprehension as Gym Jones, like any worthwhile expedition, represents an opportunity to be found out. To come face-to-face with my limits, and face-to-face with the reality of what it will take to surpass them.
"Gym Jones is not a cozy place. There's no AC, no comfortable spot to sit and there are no mirrors. Stressors are intentionally designed to cause discomfort and apprehension. Effort and pain may not be avoided. Physical and psychological breakdowns occur. The support of a like-minded group, dedicated to The Art of Suffering, provides a safety net. An individual will push harder and risk more in the company of trustworthy peers and that's one reason the gym is not open to the public. Gym Jones is a private, invitation-only facility located in Utah."