I’m a one-speed kind of guy.
Well, that’s not entirely true—I love (and live for) the slow-paced life when I am methodical and able to harness precision to execute on a plan or idea I have spent a significant amount of time and energy on. Who doesn’t enjoy the luxury of taking time to think about something, throw the idea out there, watch it develop and grow, with the hope to get lucky by seeing it work out without much or no nurturing at all? That is nice.
That is in direct contradiction to the other side of my personality of “GO-GO-GO!!”—which may be the side effect or byproduct of the failure or lack of the previous notion. Or is it possibly the perfect opportunity where there is a the lack of resistance (a downhill if you will) so you can take advantage of a force (gravity) and the sheer speed to assist in the work? By now you see where this is going.
Honestly, I prefer the ebbs and flows, or to just jump into my cycling analogy—a series of small rollers where the uphill climbs are short and followed directly by a downhill that provides the thrust or momentum to make it up the next climb with little to no effort. This essentially creates a slow—fast—slow—fast pattern of relatively fast transitional movements. (Don’t confuse the idea of rollers with a Dip—that’s a whole other challenge.) The efforts are short bursts of energy and actions followed by a short period of euphoria and a couple minutes to take a breath, and the opportunity to look around at your surroundings. This is the sweet spot.
What I try to avoid—the flats. A long, drawn out place where I’m stuck in my single gear working very hard to get to that next set of rollers while others pass me by. This speed is optional, a choice, and not for lack of anything other than the sense of simplicity and focus while being in an uncomfortable situation that feels like forever.
All of these can be achieved by going the same speed, the single-speed approach to this is simple—choose a speed (gear) and stick with it. When it starts to go in the wrong direction—make small, precise course corrections to get back on track.
