I hope this blog finds everyone well, it has taken me a few weeks to gather the words and process the whole Europe trip this summer. Having gained new insights into my sport, this being my ninth summer season competing in Europe having a breakthrough at this point is very significant. I believe my realization or epiphany if you will has come from taking a step back and looking at things from a different point of view. Although my races this summer were great, they were also not perfect my race finishes 18th, 23rd and 25th are very respectable on an international aspect in slalom and by no means are slalom run perfect my runs were exactly what I needed to have this experience in order to come to my new conclusions about myself, and how and what I need to do to truly become better in my sport of whitewater slalom. I have logged thousands of hours on the water, and now after thirteen years in slalom competition I am just now coming to the fruition of what it will take to be the best in the world.
Put it this way, I think the last few years maybe even since 2005 my performance reviews and debriefs over races and training have not been quite focused on the channel they should be, in my book have been a little bland a dull spot so to speak. Having trained for over twelve years now and also starting from such a young age I think I it’s hard to comprehend how long it takes to actually become great at what you do. You tend only see what’s right in front the next step it’s hard to look out and see how far and where you have come from and at the same time staring into the sun, not able to see how many more steps you have till you reach the top. It all comes down to time and the act of giving yourself an enormous amount of time and taking every opportunity you have to perfect something, if you want to be the best at. Even when you are the best you have still have to work hard, much much harder than the others to stay on top.
Unfortunately there is no secret or super magic that some has known or have figured out, that others don’t know or haven’t learned, just a lot of dedicated hard work mental toughness and most of all patience. Back to the dull spot I was speaking about earlier, the last few years I think in my own head subconsciously I was setting myself up for failure not from performance stand point, but those brief moments after workouts and race runs were, if the result is not there or the ultimate goal had not been met I had somehow failed and the word failed to the brain no matter how quick it came through or long it stayed has the same effect. Asking myself why me, why have I trained so long to have a crappy result like this , why so much time and dedication, why did I not win ,I could have won that run, I have worked so hard, I had a touch here, I was not fast enough there. All these words from a brewing hurricane thus in the long run or the big picture creating a much harder time to refocus for the next work out or race.
I believe to start in the direction I want to go I need to start by stepping back my end all goal to something that achievable in every gate, every move, every run, every race, every workout, every paddle in the end that will create the ultimate goal that has driven me since I was a little one, to be the best in the world! Taking my new insight into the direction I need to take to continue to make jumps in my sport I have realized that it certainly did not start today it began long ago, nor will I paddle faster than God tomorrow after thinking of this it’s just a process and another piece to the puzzle which I will probably find another piece tomorrow. Let’s say the puzzle for instance is a big fluffy Persian cat I am in the middle of the fur right now so each piece is hard to decipher not sure exactly what comes next but I do know one thing, the pieces will start showing up, a corner piece here and there. Working with each piece at a time, instinctively searching for what works I must relearn and study some of those pieces I have already seen before to figure out where they all go.
Respectfully,
Eric Butter Hurd
“practice isn’t the thing to do once you are good, its the thing you do that makes you good”
_ Malcolm Gladwell
