Old 96er rant and some real advice

My favourite NP day of the year, the Old 96er. The challenge of getting through the entire stadium in under 59 minutes is not only an incredible physical demand but a test of your will and ability to shut up the negative thoughts in your head. To be honest, when we first started talking about a challenge like this there was a concern that we would exclude too many of our tribe members from taking part because of the intensity of it. NP isn’t really about a competition or highlighting the fastest in the tribe, we truly value the effort of an Old 96er finisher just as much as a half lower bowl finisher, effort is the only thing we care about. But as the Old 96er has evolved and more tribe members have earned their tag, it has become my favourite day because it is hard as hell and I am convinced that it can be done by most every tribe member. You might scoff at this and think there is no way that you can do it because you hardly made it to the upper bowl today, but I respectfully disagree. I have watched as tribe members have come week after week and worked their asses off, how they have obviously changed some lifestyle habits to become a healthier and stronger version of themselves. Over the years we have seen incredible transformation in people, not only physically but more importantly in their self confidence and inner strength. When I say that I believe that most everyone can do the Old 96er, I really do mean it. For some, you could set the goal of doing it in a couple of months and have an incredible summer of fitness and crush it. For others, setting incremental goals and taking the steps up to an entire stadium is more realistic. But the power of setting a goal, writing it down, telling people about it and committing your ass to it can be life changing. It could very well take you 4 years to reach that goal but I guarantee the journey is worth it. There is no one roadmap to reaching a goal and everyone’s approach might be different but here is my unsolicited bullet points which I believe are very important:

-Get the negative shit out of your head and become your own biggest fan. Easily said, not always easily done. There is a cheesy saying which gets it totally right, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t… you’re right.” If you’re a pessimist, try being obnoxiously positive for a week, seriously, for 7 days just look on the bright side of life, over and over. You will feel better at the end of the week. If you need a mental strategy, go to a psycologist, pro athletes use them all of the time for a reason! Get the mental part dialled in and you’ll have the most important step done.

-Eat better, almost all of the time. You can’t out-train a shitty diet. Don’t do crazy fad diets but do think about following a guide such as the Harvard Healthy Plate found here. If you put all of your food from the day on a plate, half should be fruits and veggies of many colours, a quarter should be whole grains, and the other quarter should be healthy protein. If you want a great cookbook, start with Skratch Lab founders Allen and Biju’s book found here.

-Physically…when training, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Push yourself out of your normal zone and show yourself that the limits you convinced yourself that you had are probably bullshit. Is it really fucking hard sometimes? You bet. Learn how to deal with it and it will make you a stronger person not only physically but mentally as well.

-Track your data! It’s proven to help and it’s an amazing way to see progress. It’s also an effective way to not overtrain and take proper rest days. Strava is my favourite and their premium version is worth the money for it’s fitness and freshness data alone.

That’s it, I’m not going to complicate it but last thing… the tribe is full of amazing athletes and people who have made this journey themselves, TALK TO THEM!! They would love to help you and share their stories but you gotta ask!

Congrats to all the new tags today and a future congrats to all that will come!