So Joe Fury at the gym, who is older and wiser than me, told me that you’re supposed to tell yourself things during the workout to keep yourself going. For example, during a 1000M row, you’re supposed to tell yourself, “The discomfort is only now. It’s temporary. Keep going.”

I’m not sure what I’m thinking, but usually it’s more like, “I’m too old for this crap. Why am I working this hard? No one is paying me to do this. In fact, this has no bearing on my job, which is what I should be doing right now instead of fooling around in the gym. Oh, hey, I can catch up to that person next to me. Maybe I should try that.”

So we’re not supposed to pay attention to anything other than our own efforts, but I contend that you have to balance that with whatever motivates you, and if your motivation is competition, you have to go with it.