Week 11 – All your base are belong to us

In 2000 a hysterically funny internet meme emerged known as “All your base”. The meme had an incomprehensible translation of a Japanese game set to a techno dance track where the key phrase was “All your base are belong to us”.

Starting with week 10, and ending on week 22, I am involved in another incomprehensible activity called “building your base”.

What the hell is a base?

Seriously go do some research on the topic. You’d think you were looking for information on how to build a nuclear weapon or a fallout shelter in anticipation of the North Korean nuclear war. Or maybe it’s about the opening moves in starcraft.

The phrase is incredibly cryptic and bizarre. But everyone knows what it means. I mean everyone. And the keep talking about it… You feel like this stupid kid in a room full of smart people talking about stuff you have no clue about. So you start going around saying things like: Yeah I am building my base, wondering if you are doing it properly.

Now, I’ll give my coach some credit,, when prompted he offered a rather complete and comprehensive explanation of the topic, breaking it down rather eloquently for me.

And it turns out that its short hand for a very complex process in our bodies…

So let me see if I can explain it English.

To complete an endurance event you need, well, endurance. Acquiring endurance is done through a series of systematic exercises that target your aerobic capacity. Building the base is the phrase the folks in the know use to describe the activities you perform to build up your endurance.

Why we couldn’t just call it build up your endurance? Probably for the same reason we computer people say all sorts of crazy shit…

1 thought on “Week 11 – All your base are belong to us

  1. Pingback: Week 24 – Ouchie and secrets for the noob | midlife crisis triathlete

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *