Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2015-10-28 08:32 pm
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2015-10-28 08:32 pm
106.3.3 - diary
Can't Stop
"You need to stop the bleeding." Peter's words to me as we're standing at the bathroom sink in the gym. My head down, watching the blood mix with the running water. The paper towels pressed to my newly split lip aren't doing the job fast enough for him. He hands me a towel instead, before he wraps a massive arm around my shoulders. The injury is a consequence of my actions; we're working on my ground game with one of the regulars at the gym, and in the heat of the moment I've once again suffered an injury that will cause people to look at me and shake their heads.
They'll say I gain nothing from this. This is not my skill set. I'm not a mixed martial arts competitor. I don't live a life where I need to know self-defense. And even if I did get in trouble, my fiancee is a former member of British special forces, so is his best friend, and the man standing next to me is a retired UFC middleweight. I'm surrounded by people who'd help me in a heartbeat. So why do I need to train as a fighter?
Because I can't stop.
The mark of true greatness is never believing that you're truly great. Every single driver in our league aspires to get better every season. We know our weaknesses, and even if you do everything that you're supposed to, there are often factors that get in the way. You can drive your best race and be knocked out by a late caution, or a blown pit stop, or someone else's mistake or maybe it's just not your day. The only sure thing is that there is no sure thing.
We received the 2016 schedule yesterday and I'm already thinking of what I need to work on to do better. I need a better start to the season at St. Petersburg. The three other tracks that I struggled at - Louisiana, Fontana and Milwaukee - are not on our calendar. But they're replaced by three tracks I've never raced at before, and many of my competitors have. I have to be ready to run them, particularly Phoenix, which as it sits second could be key in making our first half better than it was this year.
Our season has also been extended by five weeks. That's five more weeks away from home. Five more weeks that I have to keep up emotionally and physically. While I don't have to be prepared right now, you don't just start a month before and expect to be ready for a six-month campaign. Scott and TK went down to Miami this past weekend and ran an Ironman marathon. And after two months off, I'm back in the gym working on my cardio and my fight game.
You're not going to see me using my armbar. It's not like I'm going to come up on Juan Pablo Montoya and knock him out. But MMA training keeps me in the mental frame of mind that's made me a contender. Having to physically fight someone else, to anticipate their moves and plot my own and be constantly aware of my own health, I'm preparing to metaphorically fight on the track. That intensity level and the challenge of having to make in the moment decisions and react to the consequences of those decisions, that's better feedback for me than any exercise machine.
Of course, sometimes I get hurt. That's what happens when you're a non-fighter training with someone who is. You're not as good as they are and you make mistakes and that's how you end up standing at the sink while your trainer applies a liquid bandage to your lip wound.
But I can't ever stop wanting to be better. If that means getting my ass kicked in the gym or putting in my own time going over the schedule, then that's what I'll do. My face might not be so pretty for a few days, but I'm sure no one else will mind. I certainly don't.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
676 words
"You need to stop the bleeding." Peter's words to me as we're standing at the bathroom sink in the gym. My head down, watching the blood mix with the running water. The paper towels pressed to my newly split lip aren't doing the job fast enough for him. He hands me a towel instead, before he wraps a massive arm around my shoulders. The injury is a consequence of my actions; we're working on my ground game with one of the regulars at the gym, and in the heat of the moment I've once again suffered an injury that will cause people to look at me and shake their heads.
They'll say I gain nothing from this. This is not my skill set. I'm not a mixed martial arts competitor. I don't live a life where I need to know self-defense. And even if I did get in trouble, my fiancee is a former member of British special forces, so is his best friend, and the man standing next to me is a retired UFC middleweight. I'm surrounded by people who'd help me in a heartbeat. So why do I need to train as a fighter?
Because I can't stop.
The mark of true greatness is never believing that you're truly great. Every single driver in our league aspires to get better every season. We know our weaknesses, and even if you do everything that you're supposed to, there are often factors that get in the way. You can drive your best race and be knocked out by a late caution, or a blown pit stop, or someone else's mistake or maybe it's just not your day. The only sure thing is that there is no sure thing.
We received the 2016 schedule yesterday and I'm already thinking of what I need to work on to do better. I need a better start to the season at St. Petersburg. The three other tracks that I struggled at - Louisiana, Fontana and Milwaukee - are not on our calendar. But they're replaced by three tracks I've never raced at before, and many of my competitors have. I have to be ready to run them, particularly Phoenix, which as it sits second could be key in making our first half better than it was this year.
Our season has also been extended by five weeks. That's five more weeks away from home. Five more weeks that I have to keep up emotionally and physically. While I don't have to be prepared right now, you don't just start a month before and expect to be ready for a six-month campaign. Scott and TK went down to Miami this past weekend and ran an Ironman marathon. And after two months off, I'm back in the gym working on my cardio and my fight game.
You're not going to see me using my armbar. It's not like I'm going to come up on Juan Pablo Montoya and knock him out. But MMA training keeps me in the mental frame of mind that's made me a contender. Having to physically fight someone else, to anticipate their moves and plot my own and be constantly aware of my own health, I'm preparing to metaphorically fight on the track. That intensity level and the challenge of having to make in the moment decisions and react to the consequences of those decisions, that's better feedback for me than any exercise machine.
Of course, sometimes I get hurt. That's what happens when you're a non-fighter training with someone who is. You're not as good as they are and you make mistakes and that's how you end up standing at the sink while your trainer applies a liquid bandage to your lip wound.
But I can't ever stop wanting to be better. If that means getting my ass kicked in the gym or putting in my own time going over the schedule, then that's what I'll do. My face might not be so pretty for a few days, but I'm sure no one else will mind. I certainly don't.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
676 words