It's great when you're straight

sus

Well-known member
@luka have you thought about intensive excercise

When I swam five or six hours a day in high school, there was zero need for substances. By the time I got home after practice my whole body felt exhausted and amazing. More or less stoned, but with mental clarity. An ideal state. Probably a bit of what drugs are replicating for modern sedentary man
 

luka

Well-known member
i wouldnt say ive thought about it exactly. ive sort of sent my dream self off to do some in the past and watched him sweat and strain and pant manfully.
 

luka

Well-known member
im not in such a bad way at the moment cutting out the coffee has unlocked new powers. its been interesting and worthwhile.
 
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sus

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OK the pudding was a mistake. It was fine for a couple bites but everything just starts tasting like pot and there's.... a lot of it.
 

sus

Well-known member
You get up early, are at the pool by 5:30am, do ninety minutes in the morning before leaving to get ready for school. Then after last period ends, drive to the pool again, swim til dinnertime. Adds up pretty quick.
 

sus

Well-known member
Fuck me, what do you think about? meditative state?
Yeah I think it really smoothed over what could have otherwise been a potential turbulent adolescence. No energy for mood swings. Pissed because Claire, the first girl you ever loved, is having sex with a senior four years your elder? Swim it off. Pissed your chem teacher took back his "A's on the test mean A's in the class" policy, citing your "regular absences" as a disqualifying circumstance? Swim it off.

It can get boring when you're doing slow sets, i.e. staying at an aerobic level, but once you get anaerobic you're too wiped out to think about anything but how to keep your body going, how to regulate breathing, making your intervals, etc.
 

sus

Well-known member
Distance swimmers would and could (i.e. had the mental capacity/incapacity) to just hop in and do laps for an hour. Knew some good distance swimmers, they were incredibly stoic, calm people with a cold quiet burning inside of them. Me, I couldn't handle just maintaining an 80% pace for ten, fifteen, thirty-minute races, preferred middle-distance. 100, 200M. Fifty seconds of swimming, two minutes top.

Training, for me then, looks like constant intervals. 10 x 100M on the minute-ten, so you have however much rest between each 100M as you finish before the minute-ten. Then 20 x 50M, or 8 x 200M, switching strokes to hit different muscle groups. Often you'd ramp the intervals up, or the times down—so, 4 x 100M on the 1:15, then 4 x 100M on the 1:10, the 1:05, etc.
 
The best I have ever felt - was after winning a 5 a side match in the heat in australia where i vomited at half time because my body didnt kow what was happening. I'd recently fallen in love too. and I was walking to the bar as the temperature was cooling a little reminiscing about tackles and stuff. i think a combination of post vomit euphoria with that lightness, endorphin high, victory, the anticipation of a pint and seeing the girl i loved. best i ever felt
 
other good things have happened to me - ive been higher, more excited, greater achievements, in better places etc, i dont even like australia or football that much. but that specific combination of things was exquisite. everything felt so clear and simple
 
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sus

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That's how I feel about a couple big relays from my past. Will never ever feel that good again, start to finish. You're standing there, your team depends on you, you've seen the drama play out of back-and-forths, the lead exchanging. On the blocks just total clarity. The ecstasy of single-mindedness. Wall of people standing up from the bleachers, they sorta blur, it feels like the entire building is all focused on this same single moment. You're trying your best to build up but also contain energy, so it's ready when the shot goes off, or your teammate hits the wall. And when you put up a big leg, take the lead, win it, nothing like that. You're The Man. Insane high. The girl you like is watching. Your teammates pull you out, your arms don't work. Best feeling. King of the pool.
 

sus

Well-known member
I think this is part of why C Thi Nguyen's idea about video games' allure as "value clarity" makes sense to me. Because flow states and competitive success, in areas where there are just clear success/failure criteria, the ability to put your all into it.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
The best I have ever felt - was after winning a 5 a side match in the heat in australia where i vomited at half time because my body didnt kow what was happening. I'd recently fallen in love too. and I was walking to the bar as the temperature was cooling a little reminiscing about tackles and stuff. i think a combination of post vomit euphoria with that lightness, endorphin high, victory, the anticipation of a pint and seeing the girl i loved. best i ever felt

I still think the most consummate joy I've ever felt have been the seconds after scoring a goal in football.

Seeing it hit the net, turn around and seeing the smiles running at you. Real and full smiles, taking over the whole face. The common release. You did this. You did this thing that just made 10 people so happy.
 

luka

Well-known member
Reminds me of the Greaest Swimmer of All Time Ian Thorpe who retired very young he said

“You can swim lap after lap, staring at a black line, and all of a sudden, you look up and see what's around.”
 

entertainment

Well-known member
Once someone loses that tunnel vision they're done for. That's The End.
interestingly this is what happens when you've completed your end goal. there are loads of tales about athletes setting an ultimate challenge for themselves that they spend their whole lives building towards and then fall apart after they've reached it.
 
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