"Enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions." These are the words of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the author of FLOW, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He is describing the importance of joy as it relates to getting in the flow.

Csikszentmihalyi adds this example of "flow" taken from a dancer, "A strong relaxation and calmness comes over me. I have no worries of failure. What a warm and powerful it is! I want to expand, to hug the world. I feel the enormous power to affect something of grace and beauty." Csikszentmihalyi goes on to explain that control in the flow state is really a possibility and not an actuality.

As an athlete, I'm sure you are aware of the significance of joy related to your event and the sense of control these feelings afford you in the terms of being able to settle into calmness, being completely present and getting into the "flow". This article deals with the concept of being able to "create joy" and the effect it has on your longevity. To help me explain this concept I called on Christian Friis, Editor in Chief of this fine magazine and Head Coach of the Men's Cross Country Program at HPU, and Todd Iacovelli, presently working on the transition from running for Christian at HPU to running unattached.

As an athlete, you have no doubt gone though a natural progression of learning to train hard and enjoy the process. The joy related to training hard and/or performing at your best is a product of humility, a function of being grateful for what you have and for what you can do. To experience the value that this joy has on maintaining your fire-power; you must focus on your health, happiness and the ability to operate at acceptance.

Health
As an athlete, your health is linked to your fitness. With age comes the challenge of avoiding the comparison with what you used to be able to do and/or with what others are still able to do. In the words of Christian Friis, "You have to redefine 'fast' in terms of your present day fitness." Christian is speaking to his ability to run hills. "At the age of 34," Christian continues, "I don't have the acceleration and stamina that I had when I was running competitively in college. However, I still have the fitness to run hard and feel the excitement of pushing my limits within an accepted range. I have learned to accept the reality that the margin that separates fun from an injury is very thin and I must at times run with caution. A new skill for me that at first was very hard to accept."

Keep it Simple: To stay fit, you have to want to feel healthy and this involves solving a very complex puzzle, training smart, eating smart, and living smart. And, with age the pieces of this puzzle get smaller and harder to identify. However, as hard as the puzzle is to solve, the effort is well worth it. For the work will give you back your health, the base of your fitness.

Happy
As an athlete, happiness is linked directly to your intensity. Specifically, the energy needed to be active: to train hard and recover, to push the limits and recover, and to compete at the highest possible level and recover. With age comes the need to respond to and manage a decrease in your energy.

For some, a decrease in energy occurs naturally in the form of a "slow-down" in the recovery process. For others, a decrease in energy occurs as the result of not being able to condition the body to earlier personal standards due to factors such as injury, fatigue, over-use, worn out joints or time constraints. In Todd's case, the increased responsibilities of working and coaching have prevented him from training hard and long enough to enable him to give his best effort in elite competition. In his words, "At this point in my career, I'm still very motivated to compete. However, I must be careful to choose the moments and the challenges when I allow the excitement of 'going all out' to take over. I realize now that the idea of learning to run smart really applies to me. Given that I want to compete for as long as possible, I must put the limits on my own intensity before they are forced on me."

Keep it Simple: To stay active, you need to maintain a positive attitude, embrace challenges and be aware of your current fitness level so that you can respond quickly and appropriately to your need for energy. The lessons learned in this regard will enable you to "flip the switch" that controls your intensity, the source of your positive attitudes, beliefs and confidence.

Acceptance
As athletes, both Christian and Todd are dealing with the issue of needing to operate at acceptance: to stay positive in the face of a new reality, to stay present in the moment(s) when maturity of thought are needed, to stay engaged with the feelings that determine SAFE levels of intensity, and to be humble and grateful for every step.

Peter Snell, the great middle distance runner from New Zealand, is given credit for mastering the art of having humility and being grateful. In his autobiography, No Bugles, No Drums, he reflected that in the moment when frustration or disappointment "hit" that he immediately "found the joy." To do this, he simply changed his focus away from his shortcomings and gave thanks for the ability to be in the moment, for having the fitness and energy needed to compete at such a high level. This level of acceptance allowed him to focus on what he had learned and to get back to the business of training to give his best effort competing against the best competition in the quest of an Olympic Medal or World Record.

Keep it Simple: To operate at acceptance is to stay above the line that separates a positive from a negative experience. Acceptance meaning that you are able to function in the present, be positive, be engaged in the feelings needed to perform at your best and make the experience fun and joyful. Again, operating above the line is not easy but it is by far the best option. In addition, the answers to "why" you are not operating above the line will provide you with the direction you need to be healthy, happy and able to deal with your reality.

Summary: The inner-work of breathing to stay present, relaxed and calm combined with visualizing producing a specific result are skills that can enhance the ability to give your best effort. The addition of humility and gratitude allow you to generate the feelings of patience and the positive attitudes that allow you to create joy. As a life-long athlete, the goal should be to apply the lessons learned from expressing your fire-power and creating joy in your favorite activities to all aspects of your life. In this way you will increase your longevity as an athlete and finish strong as a complete person- that's HiLevel.

Dr. Phillip B. Sparling, a professor at the School of Applied Physiology and Co-Director of the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at Georgia Intitute of Tecnology had this to say about the process of being a life-long athlete. "Re-setting limits and goals as we age is not a slam-dunk, it takes time and requires re-adjustment. And frankly some persons are unable to accept their diminution of physical prowess and simply stop their training all together. What a shame! In recent years, my exercise goals have evolved to the basic elements, being able to exercise regularly and remaining injury free. At this point in my life, enjoying the physical effort of running is its own reward for me."