It isn't easy. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that anyone can do what I've done or what this guide suggests. I'm not going to pretend that the reason why there aren't loads of people already doing what I'm doing and getting PRs in marathons and knocking that Ironman off their bucket list without having to choose between family and 20 hour training weeks is just because they don't know this secret that I'm about to let you in on. There is no secret. But that's not to say that there isn't something to be discovered if you continue reading.

What I'm trying to say is that just because I'm showing you a route to a high level of endurance and fitness on a fraction of the training time most will say is required, doesn't mean it's a route that will be accessible to you. Just because I'm proposing a path to uber-do-anything fitness that will only take an hour a week doesn't mean it is going to be an easy path to follow, or even that it is going to be possible for you to follow it at all. This isn't a short-cut. It's more of a…hard cut.

I'll put it in terms of a climbing analogy (I spent my early days as a climber). Pretend that time is a matter of feet traveled on a journey and that a big endurance undertaking is your destination--some elusive, towering and glorious 'if only I could get there!' mountaintop. Conventional wisdom--the sum knowledge of all the guidebooks you can find in the library, hours of google searches, and the first person accounts you hear from others who have climbed the peak--all describe only a handful of routes up the mountain. You can take the East ridge or the South ridge or the North-West. They vary somewhat in length but are all relatively long and arduous and require many miles of walking (i.e. lots of time).

The good news is, if you can commit to the journey--the summit is not out of reach by these well publicized routes. The bad news is that the shortest route, which is somewhat technically demanding, is still tens of thousands of feet long.

My 'hard-cut'--this one hour a week journey you'll soon be reading about--is just a here-to-fore unknown or unpublicized route up the mountain. It's a route that goes straight up a sheer face to the top. It is shorter in spades than all of the other routes, but so terrifying and difficult that although it has been in plain view of those looking at the mountain all along, it has never really been considered an option. And I'll reiterate--for many, or even most, it is probably not.

The training regimen represented in the following sections--the idea of achieving a level of mental and physical fitness on an average of one hour a week--is not impossible. But it does require a type of commitment, will, and the ability to endure consistent and regular run-ins with extreme discomfort that, in my limited experience training other people, is extraordinarily rare. Most people are happy either to spend their time in the foothills surrounding this mountain peak of effort or content to vicariously watch one or two of their friends pick their way along those well documented ridge routes toward the lofty summit. Those that do visit for themselves will be satisfied following these routes too--the safe routes so to speak. Although these routes aren't a guarantee of success and many still find significant challenge and even failure along their flanks, they are well traveled enough that those undertaking them see signs of the passage of others and will usually meet up with fellow mountaineers.

If you choose to tackle the face, as I have done, you will most likely be alone. There are no training groups for people like me. I occupy the no-mans land between the cross-fit gyms and the ultra and triathlon forums. The group on the left loves high intensity and practices it exclusively in the service of 'the games' and general fitness but has little interest in the type of body destroying protracted efforts that tickle my fancy. The group on the right shares my penchant for suffering but places a high value on hard work measured by time invested and finds security and camaraderie in sharing conventional wisdom and a common path involving hours long weekend efforts. Standing in the middle is uncomfortable and somewhat lonely, at least for now. But then, who knows what the future holds?