March Madness: Bite Size Candy

Many of you probably filled out an NCAA Men's or Women's Basketball bracket. Every year it happens.

Every year there are surprises in the tournament. It is inevitable that upsets will occur; however, no one is exactly sure who will deliver the upset or who will be upset. Upsets can wreck brackets and wreak havoc on filled out brackets. But, that is the beauty of March Madness. Any team can win at any moment - the size of the school does not matter.

(If you have paid attention to the title of this message, I just changed it from 'March Madness: Random vs. Strategic' to what it currently reads.)

Have you ever bitten into a piece of candy without knowing its taste? The inside could be crunchy, smooth, gooey, slimy, bitter, sweet, bittersweet, or even liquefied. Well, that is March Madness. It is also human performance fulfillment in so many ways. Wait, cue in the Forrest Gump quote, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

You fulfill your human performance with or without knowing what you are going to get. For example, if you start training for a 10k, you know you will be sore at some points. You know you will test your physical, mental, and verbal limits. What you do not know is what place you will finish the race. You do not know who may encourage you because you could encounter random supporters. You also do not know how much fat you will burn, how much work your heart will do, or how much your muscles will work because the fact is you can stop or not even start at any point in your training.

This is March Madness. Take a bite of your March candy.

Just like a tournament that is perfectly difficult to achieve a perfect bracket, your train-a-tude is random and strategic. Sometimes, you do not know what you will get out of your training. At the very least, you can, at least, try. Your outcome may be random or depending on how you train the results are strategic. Mind boggled and physically and mentally inclined you just dive in to the chase. In to the pursuit.

This is March Madness.

With heart,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS         www.teempt.com          TEEM Performance Training