I've recently been really into the excellent British show Top Gear (check your BBC listings). They have a relatively famous clip where they take a Bugatti Veyron up to it's top speed of 253 mph. It's really an amazing bit of tv, and an amazing bit of motivation when I work out.
In the video they point out that the faster you the more resistance you encounter. That's why the Veyron only needs 250 horse power to get to 150 mph, but another 750 horse power for the next 100 mph. I can't stop thinking about this when I run. My reasoning is two fold.
First that bit of knowledge reminds me that little gains represent big changes. For every second I shave off any distance that represents a significant gain in my personal horse power. If it takes the car 3 times more horse power to do an additional 100 mph I can only imagine what it takes me to do just one more mph. After all I'm significantly less powerful in the first place and a lot less streamlined.
Secondly the Veyron reminds me that for every little bit harder that I push I'm met by significantly more resistance. That means that even the slightest bit more effort increases the difficulty of my workout, and it's pay off, by a exponentially more. Somehow that makes it a bit easier to push just a little bit more, even when I've got almost nothing left.
So while most people will be chasing a Veyron for it's $1.6 million dollar price tag I'll be using it as motivation of a different kind.
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