Unfortunate circumstances but good to see a much-needed discussion unfolding on performance and health.

Can the two go together? Yes.

Is there a perceived long term/short term trade-off? Yes.
Is it real? No.

Also: can't have this discussion without defining health.

(Thread.)

Research shows that elite athletes are, on average, healthier than the general population. They also live longer.

But there are vulnerabilities. In particular: eating disorders and post-retirement depression. (I wrote a bit about this @outsidemagazine.) https://www.outsideonline.com/2198116/are-elite-athletes-healthy

It is incontestable that LONG TERM performance requires a foundation of solid health.

It is important to realize that health is:

-Physical
-Mental
-Emotional
-Social
-Spiritual

Do these factors always need to be in balance? No. Can they be out of whack for too long? No.

Example: Chasing a peak performance may require *acutely* sacrificing social, physical, mental, emotional health for spiritual health (going all-in toward excellence). Trying to pretend this isn't true or sugarcoat it is not helpful.

But acute means acute! Few weeks at most.

Challenge: there is an inertia to going out of balance. Peak performers in any discipline tend to be conscientious, neurotic, and obsessive. The same traits that propel greatness load gun for lack of perspective and eventual decline in health.

Coaching/community is KEY here.

If coach and community only cares about short term performance it's easy to treat people as athletes and athletes as cogs. Throw 100 eggs against a wall and one doesn't break and you win a gold medal (that egg breaks next year, or surely upon retirement). Shitty coaches do this.

Good coaches (and communities) interested in long-term performance help bring pushers back into a more balanced state of health after acute all-in endeavors. This is how you can successfully ride the line between peak performance and holistic health. https://www.outsideonline.com/2042876/pursuit-excellence-healthy

Also why I love @ShalaneFlanagan: "It's great to be fast, but better to be a good person."

This sums it up perfectly.

If you optimize on latter (while still caring immensely about former) you avoid many of the pitfalls mentioned above. And you can look in the mirror at night.

We need to treat performance (and not just in sport) as a holistic, mind-body path. The goal isn't just to win medals or promotions or IPOs. Chasing those things at exclusion of all else always leads to poor health, emptiness, AND eventual poor performance.