downward spins and upward spirals

bruce denton, a legendary runner in "once a runner", has a fascinating take on the extreme labors of training and progress. he remarks that some people think progress is a ladder, some others see plateaus, whereas he sees them as geometric spirals. each spin of the circle takes a different distance upward. and some spins even take us downward, just gathering momentum for the next upswing. sometimes we work and practice to the our limits and see no gain; other times we amaze ourselves with no idea as to what happened.

we never know how long the dark hours last, the ones when we are pushing ourselves to the edge yet nothing seems to be happening.

it indeed is likely that it's a momentum-gathering phase - to let our spirit soar higher and freer.