Brain
Fermentation
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| Brent Lakatos T53 Wheelchair Racer; Stef Reid T/F44 Sprinter and Long Jumper |
As a self confessed workaholic, there is nothing more irritating than seeing people around you succeeding who don’t put in as much time and effort, and who don’t have to sacrifice as much as you. The person who shows up on time, always prepared, and never calls in sick should be the one who takes the prize, right?............Actually, not always. Case in point: my wonderful husband, Brent, and myself. Brent has a soft spot for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and crisps, trains 30% less than myself, and has no problem blowing off a training session due to rain or cold weather. I, on the other hand, won’t touch a refined carbohydrate, train like an energizer bunny, and will continue until I hear tornado sirens. The result for this season has been that muscle fibers pop out of Brent’s arms like they are trying to escape, and he records near personal bests almost every time he races. I am just hanging on to my six pack and had to sit on the sidelines for the winter with a stress fracture in my back.
The truth is there are processes at work in our subconscious brain that no amount of work or effort can speed up. They are utterly dependent on Time - in fact, our efforts often get in the way. The most basic definition of fermentation is the transformation of one thing into another over Time, whether that be sugar into alcohol, or a talented athlete into a champion.
There is record of only one person in history who has been able to escape the walls of Time, Jesus Christ. His first documented miracle involved the instantaneous transformation of water into wine. What he did went beyond providing the starting materials of a good wedding reception. He made a powerful statement: “I am beyond the confines of space and Time.” Imagine the arrogance of the person who thinks that he, too, can manipulate Time in this godlike fashion.
Malcom Gladwell is a social scientist who has studied the science behind success. The common denominator behind all successful athletes, musicians, doctors, comedians, criminals, CEOs, etc is a “fermentation” period of 10 years, equivalent to 10, 000 hours of training. This is the period of time required by the brain to assimilate and integrate the neural pathways required to achieve true mastery.
The creation of a fine wine is a delicate process. It requires superior grapes (talented athlete), quality yeast to catalyze the process (talented coach), and, of course, Time. Sure, you can speed up the fermentation process by pressurizing the solution, or increasing the heat, but this is always to the detriment of the taste and quality of the final product.
I am in the process of learning the most important lesson I can as an athlete, which is to get over myself, and get over my ability to think and analyze in an effort to conjure up short cuts. I can’t speed up the rate at which my brain ferments – in fact, sometimes the most effective thing I can do to improve my performance as an athlete is to sit back, relax and trust the perfection of nature and the mysterious processes of my brain. All I can do is facilitate the transformation by focusing on the program and cues given to me by my coaches. To do otherwise is not the sign of a hard worker – it is just plain arrogant to think you can escape the bounds of Time. Coincidentally, Brent has been racing for 16 years; I have been racing for 7.
