Doing sports definitely made me wiser. Here are my favorite lessons learned:

  1. I set goals and time limits. It is much easier for me to keep pushing when the going gets tough.

    Repertoire of waking hours when preparing for Ljubljana marathon in 2019. Something I never would have done without being enrolled.

  2. There are many ways to reach the top. I always look for alternatives. Often, the direct way is the most obvious, but among the hardest.

    Breithorn (4.164m, SUI/ ITA); the north face requires great mountaineering skills, more time (even with skills) and is in general much more dangerous.

    The south face of the same mountain; technically easy, faster than the north face and in general very safe (if you correctly cross the glacier).

  3. I break down the goal into smaller and actionable tasks. Without breaking it down my mind presumes it is very hard, which prevents execution. The goal often looks harder from afar. But, if I come closer, I start seeing the cracks.

    Line of skiing from Koroska Rinka (2433m, SLO). It looks very attractive and dangerous from afar.

    Reality is much easier.

  4. When the going gets tough, I think about making one step at a time. I internalized this one at IronMan Maastricht; exhausted from previous races and overtrained.
  5. Its always sunny above 8k. This one was from my IronMan friend, who is a pilot. In polar regions the clouds never go higher than about 8k (and about 18k in the tropical regions). Which means that if you just push enough, you will break through. The hard part is that you often don't know in which region you are.
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