Playing the Long Game

with Darren Scherbain

One of my favorite sessions is to run barefoot in the deep sand on Karon Beach. It’s a grind and hard yards. Not only a great session for the proprepceptors in the lower limb, it’s also a fantastic session for stabilising the contra lateral forces in the body inherent to running.

The only drawback is that it does a number to the bottom of your feet. A great exfoliating scrub, that can leave the bottom of the feet a little tender and numb.

My immediate thought, since we are practicing radical honesty …. Suck it up…. Be a real man!

Real strength is being grounded in your presence with strong roots and having the flexibility to make adjustments.

It’s going to be any even tougher day in the saddle tomorrow with a massive amount of climbing. I need my feet not to be prone to hot spots and be my limiting factor.

The difference is the small details.

It reminds me of a great lesson I learned from John Wooden :

“I believe in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might be commonly overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who don’t understand, but they aren’t. They are fundamental to your progress in basketball, business, and life. They are the difference between champions and near champions.

For example, at the first squad meeting each season, held two weeks before our first actual practice, I personally demonstrated how I wanted players to put on their socks each and every time: Carefully roll the socks down over the toes, ball of the foot, arch and around the heel, then pull the sock up snug so there will be no wrinkles of any kind.” John Wooden

John Wooden led the UCLA Bruins to ten NCAA basketball championships. He built a dynasty starting with the absolute basics and fundamentals.

How is your attention to details?