The Way of the Warrior, Part Two
by Keare Smith
At the ending of Part One of “The Way of the Warrior” I state, “although the current challenges I have had to face (which I will discuss in next month’s issue) have nothing to do with racing or a certain time, I am still on a hurdler’s path.” Part of that statement was true. I am still on the hurdler’s path. However, I will not be discussing the current and past challenges I have had to face in my time off from track. As I was preparing for topics I wished to cover in Part Two of this article, I was faced with some challenges.
First off, I’ve been through some unusual struggles. There are parts of my life that would make for a great story, but I am unsure if I’d like to be so transparent. Some of it has nothing to do with hurdles, but would shed some light on my particular journey and how it differs from that of the average athlete. And some of those memories hurt to think about. After going back and forth about it for the last few weeks, I have decided to focus on hurdling and its connection to the way of the warrior based off of Miyamoto Musashi’s teachings in The Book of Five Rings.
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“Time must be devoted to training, practicing, and maintaining one’s tools or weapons, however gifted a man may be.” -Musashi
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In the famous words of former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson, “We talking about practice.” Yes practice, those moments of preparation that every athlete loves to hate. Practice! Practice! Practice! What exactly is practice? The Webster’s dictionary states the following: Practice: a) to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient. b) to do repeated exercises for proficiency.
(Allen Iverson Practice Rant)
Some would say practice is what separates the greats from the almost-greats. Compare Iverson to Michael Jordan, for example. Most of us are aware of how great a basketball player Jordan was, and what he was able to accomplish during his NBA career (6 championships, 5 NBA MVP awards, and 6 NBA Finals MVP awards). We all know that MJ was extremely talented. But just in case you did not know, he also was known for his work ethic during practice. He understood the importance of the necessary preparation and he put in the time and effort that made him the player he was. But for every Michael Jordan there are at least a dozen Allen Iversons. Those players who are gifted but simply do not put in the maximum effort.
I was an Allen Iverson. Growing up I was that kid who was under the impression that practice was unnecessary. I was talented enough to convince myself that I did not need to practice. Practice was for the other kids. I was good enough to go out and perform without practicing. Growing up, this mode of thinking held true for most of the sports I participated in. I just didn’t like practice.
I began running track at age 10. The only reason I joined a track club was to stay in shape for the upcoming football season. My Pop Warner football coach convinced my mom and dad it was a good idea (I guess they ignored the fact that running was the part of football practice I despised the most). Immediately I let it be known that I hated the 400 meters. I’m pretty sure I cried the first time I had to run a 400 in practice (the thought of running a lap at full speed still makes me cry inside).
I’ll never forget the feeling of the sweltering summer days of practice. All of that running on the track just so we could run fast during the meet. My 10-year-old self was thinking, I’m already fast, so why do I need to practice being fast? I looked forward to racing other kids, but I did not look forward to the preparation it took to race those other kids.
The following year, my outlook changed completely. I actually looked forward to practice. I grew sad when the sky turned dark and it was time to leave the track. I couldn’t wait for the school day to end because I knew that meant it was almost time for track practice.
Why the sudden change? The hurdles. The hurdles changed my outlook on the sport of track and field. I enjoyed how much fun I was having at hurdle practice. I loved the drills, I loved the fact that I could fall and bust my ass. There was just so much to love about the hurdles, including the little things, like the fact that other kids couldn’t do it as well as I could. I had finally found my thing.
As I was reading The Book of Five Rings I noticed that practice/preparation was a reoccurring theme. Musashi found clever ways to reword and rephrase the same concept of how important it was to properly prepare. I understood why he stressed the need for practice. The samurai warrior must prepare to fight for his life. During battle, one wrong move and you’re done. At that moment it would be too late to think about how you should have taken practice more seriously. It would be too late to wish you would have put in those extra hours of work. Most athletes have been faced with this moment of wishing they would have done this, or not have done that. I know I have. But I know how to prevent that feeling of regret. Practice.
If you are truly invested in what you do, practicing isn’t a chore; it’s an integral part of what you do. You look forward to practicing more than you look forward to competition. You understand the importance of putting in that extra time to perfect that new technique. You push yourself to go further in practice because you know that’s what helps you achieve that new personal best. It took some time and some maturing for me to realize that when you love what you do, you enjoy everything about it. Even practice.
Musashi puts it best when he says, “Practice is the only way that you will ever come to understand what the way of the warrior is about. Constant striving for perfection of the self through a chosen art is the only path to enlightenment. Words can only bring you to the foot of the path, and to attain mastery and perfection you must constantly strive to better yourself through an understanding of your chosen art.”
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“Timing and Rhythm – They are one and the same thing, yet they are different. To understand them both as one, you must understand them individually… understanding timing and rhythm is essential to my strategy. You should always train with timing and rhythm uppermost in your mind, and realize that there are different types of timing and different, types of rhythm. Understand them well and you will understand my way of strategy.” -Musashi
While reading The Book of Five Rings I imagined ancient battle scenes and two warriors going head to head. Most of the images in my head were based on the martial art fight scenes I’ve viewed in movies. Just like these movie scenes, I’m sure the ancient battles had an innate rhythm. The warriors must have been masters of their own rhythm. And they must’ve known the perfect time to strike with a specific attack or counter attack. They must have practiced timing and rhythm and had excellent footwork. This rhythm and footwork is very prevalent in modern day movies.
Below is a clip from Kill Bill Vol. 1, an American action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The movie pays homage to martial arts films. The opening scene takes place during a wedding rehearsal. The main character (Uma Thurman) is slaughtered, along with the rest of the entire wedding party. It is later revealed that she was a member of the deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by her lover Bill. She miraculously escapes death and four years later wakes up out of a coma. The movie then follows her as she seeks revenge against all of those who took part in her attempted murder. This clip serves as a great example of how footwork and rhythm play a key role in the art of battle.
(WARNING: SCENE IS GRAPHIC)
Footwork and rhythm are equally essential in hurdling. In a past article, Coach McGill let it be known that hurdling is more than just a race, that it is essentially a dance. The way of the true warrior requires an understanding of timing and rhythm. And this is true for hurdlers. With the warrior, the continual development of timing and rhythm must be a high priority. This is essentially the same for all hurdlers. As coach McGill put it, “You have to know your rhythm. You have to practice your rhythm. You have to teach your body the rhythm. In the race, you have to focus on the rhythm. Trust the rhythm.”
As a hurdle warrior, you must strive to find and understand your rhythm and make it work for you. Timing and rhythm are different for each hurdler. Every hurdler has his or her own cadence. It is personal and takes quite some time to develop. And depending on your level of hurdling experience, it can be in a constant state of change. In my early days of hurdling, clapping out a three-step cadence was my first lesson on the rhythmic aspect of hurdling. I was taught to listen to my cadence and work on speeding it up to go faster. As a hurdler progresses, he or she is more in tune with his or her rhythm and the timing of the cadence, so hurdling comes naturally. During a race you do not have much time to think about running faster, but you must have the ability to call on the speeding up of your cadence to keep you in the race. Once you have understood your own rhythm, you know the way to move faster is to call upon the speeding up of this rhythm. This mastery of rhythm is an attainable goal for all hurdlers.
In the words of Musashi, “When you are skilled in the art you have chosen to study, you will have the true understanding of rhythm and timing necessary to perform flawlessly.”
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“What is speed anyway? Speed is relative to the situation in which you are involved. Being fast or being slow has to do with speed. Quickness is what you want in your spirit. A quick spirit is able to overcome any apparent speed with which an enemy is coming at you. Quickness gets inside of speed and enables you to control the situation … you adjust yourself accordingly and do not think in terms of being faster or slower. Quickness is the thing that counts.” -Musashi
In my previous article I gave a very detailed account of me crashing into a hurdle. In that race I was moving at a very high speed, but I lacked the necessary quickness to avoid crashing. This is a common issue for hurdlers. You’d like to be Usain Bolt in between the barriers. But at high speeds it is hard to avoid crashing into the hurdles. At the elite level crowding becomes a serious issue. Hurdle legend Renaldo Nehemiah would zig-zag during the race to prevent himself from crashing.
Most hurdlers today are not able to fully sprint in between. The three steps are more of a shuffle than a sprint. I personally like this. I have never been the fastest guy on the track or football field. I’m not even that graceful (pretty clumsy actually). But one of my strengths has always been my quickness. The samurai warrior relied on quickness. I rely on my quickness. And the legendary hurdler Liu Xiang also relies on pure quickness. In the video below, Terrence Trammell (a very fast sprinter) leads for almost the entire race. But he is slowly swallowed up by Liu Xiang towards the end of the race. How was he able to catch up to Trammell, a known 10-flat 100 meter runner? It’s simple. He did not panic. He quickened up his cadence. There couldn’t be a better example of this fact that quickness is what you want in your spirit.
(Liu Xiang vs. Terrence Trammel 2007 Reebok Grand Prix)
In this race, Liu’s quickness overcomes Trammell’s speed, demonstrating, as Musashi puts it, that “Quickness is the thing on which the spirit relies. Speed not being necessarily good, can only cause you to lose your control.”
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“Once a specific technique has been understood, the warrior stops using it on a conscious level because in combat having a conscious identity imposes limitations.” -Musashi
In the middle of a 110 meter hurdle race it’s impossible to think. Everything happens too quickly. You can only react and hope you cross the finish line in first. In the hurdle footage above I am positive Liu Xiang didn’t think “I’m losing, I need to speed up.” His technique won him the race. He unconsciously surged ahead of Trammel at the end. This is an example of the fact that having a conscious identity imposes limitations. The ultimate goal for the hurdle warrior is to have the inherent ability to perform with unplanned and effortless action.
The following video is a clip from the 1999 mega film The Matrix. The Matrix franchise follows the journey of the spiritual warrior Neo. Neo has been chosen to free the humans from the mental slavery imposed on them by a race of machines. In the clip, Neo has awoken from death and acquired the ability to see the matrix for what it really is. He shows no conscious identity and therefore there are no limitations to what he is capable of doing. Neo demonstrates that reaction without consciously being present in the moment is the ultimate way of the warrior. He simply reacts and proceeds to destroy the enemy.
(The Matrix “Neo is the one”)
Personally, I view this way of unconsciously going with the flow as a rather challenging but attainable goal. I see myself as a spiritual warrior, unlike any other athlete. I always envision that moment before a big race when, instead of being nervous, I am physically there, but my mental state of being is so calm it would seem as though my mind is a blank slate. My only job would be to react. The moment the gun goes off there is no thought. I just take off and react to the 10 barriers ahead of me. The outcome of the race is the last thing on my mind. And even if I do win, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that moment of clarity, that moment of nothingness between the start and the ending of the race.
As Musashi says, “You must constantly practice all of your techniques until they become second nature. Once they are part of your nature you can cease to think about them. You must understand yourself and you must understand the enemy. The need for constant study and thought is essential for understanding the way of the warrior.”
In the coming months I will be embarking on a spiritual journey to Costa Rica. Due to the spiritual nature of Part Three, I have decided to wait for my return to the States to write the last part of this series. Thank you for reading.
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