Page 146 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

was a Taiwanese star, but I had no idea what he looked like. I was hungr y, but
there was no food available at the arena and my teammates and I ha d be en

under the impression that all fi st-round matches woul d be early in the
morning, so we didn’t bring snacks—bi g mistake. I had been informed tha t
contestants would be announced over the loud speaker five minut es be fore the ir
match began, and if they failed to sho w up immediately they woul d lose by

forfeit. So I had to spend hours, hungr y, ready to go on immediately for fear of
leaving to eat a snack and getting thr own o ut of the t our nam ent.
Finally at noon a break in the action was anno unced. Lunch boxes were
served to all competitors. At 12:15 I was given a greasy platter of po rk fried

rice and duck. Far from ideal for the moment, but I was starving and ha d little
choice. So I ate. At 12:30 it was anno unced that I sho ul d report immedi ately to
the judges’ table. I was informed my match was starting immedi ately. My
opponent was already warmed up, in a sweat, and had clearly kno wn the exact

nature of the tournament schedule. I was di sconcer ted, unpr epared, and ha d a
stomach full of greasy food. I got des troyed. It wasn’t even close. It was a little
bit of consolation to see my opponen t do minat e the tour nam ent and go on to
win two consecutive World Champi ons hi ps , but I hat ed the fact tha t I ha d

traveled all the way to Taiwan and had no t even gi ven myself a cha nc e to
compete. S ome serious adjustments were called f or.
First of all, the nutritional side of thi s story is very impo rtant. I sho ul d no t
have trusted the posted schedule and sho ul d have had somethi ng to sus tain me

throughout the wait, no matter how long it lasted. I had learne d from Jack
Groppel at LGE to eat five almonds every forty-fi e minut es dur ing a long
chess game, to stay in a steady state of alertnes s and strengt h. In martial arts
tournaments, I now tend to snack on Clif Bars, bananas, and protein sha ke s

whenever necessary. Or, if I know I have at least an hour, I might have a bi te of
chicken or turkey. Only you know your own body, but the key to nut rition in
unpredictable environments like Taiwanese martial arts tour na ment s is to
always be prepared for exertion by bei ng no ur ished , but nev er to ha ve too ful l a

stomach and thereby dull your senses.
The nutritional lesson is an easy one: I was careless and pai d for it. But a
much more serious question arose: what go od is a thi rty- or forty-fi e-minut e
routine if you only have minutes or seconds of warni ng bef ore the big event ? In

life, after all, things don’t always go accordi ng to schedul e. Ideal ly we sho ul d