Meet Jure Robic, Slovenian hard man

I love this story. Anyone in training for DW should read and learn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmag...

"Robic does not excel on physical talent alone. He is not always the fastest competitor... nor does he possess any towering physiological gift... He wins for the most fundamental of reasons: he refuses to stop."

"Around Day 2 of a typical weeklong race, his speech goes staccato. By Day 3, he is belligerent and sometimes paranoid. His short-term memory vanishes, and he weeps uncontrollably. The last days are marked by hallucinations: bears, wolves and aliens prowl the roadside; asphalt cracks rearrange themselves into coded messages. Occasionally, Robic leaps from his bike to square off with shadowy figures that turn out to be mailboxes. In a 2004 race, he turned to see himself pursued by a howling band of black-bearded men on horseback. ‘‘Mujahedeen, shooting at me,’’ he explains. ‘‘So I ride faster.’’

If that's not enough, his support team also pretend to see the mujahedeen, and push him to ride faster still. Get yourself a mix tape of Slovenian marches and Lenny Kravitz. And refuse to stop.