A twist, but only a minor one, on the old saw, "if a thing is worth doing it is worth doing well." We just finished a trip to South Australia where we paddled almost 500 kilometres. Of course, amongst all the preparation of researching currents and tidal flows, choosing camp locations, sorting access, egress, bike and bus shuttles, prevailing winds, maps and charts, we trained. I say, "of course" but training for trips actually seems to be the exception rather than the norm.
I learnt this lesson about three decades ago after suffering through a ski trip on which I was much less fit than my companions. Over the ensuing 30 years, I went on too many trips to count with people who had not learnt the lesson and thus slowed everyone up and failed in their goal to "get fit on the trip." Getting fit on the trip is seldom a successful endeavour. Hard trips run you down. You need a good reserve of fitness to not only get the most out of your trip but to come out the other side ready to train for your next endeavour.
This is grit at its most basic level. The ability to keep a goal, often far in the distant future in sight, and to continue training to reach it through all the whims of life and the weather. In many ways, the Covid pandemic (however you think about it, and I would argue the diabesity pandemic is far worse), has separated gritty athletes from those with less perseverance. The gritty athletes kept training regardless of whether or not their race, competition, event or trip was on or off. Imagine if, as a first time runner, you got an extra year of training graced to you, aerobic deficiency could be cured, and you could roll out of that event ready to train for the next.
It is send season in Australia, time to train.
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