The journey to Ironman Louisville 2009 has been a pretty interesting set of events. And while I’ve been focused on the 2009 version of Ironman Louisville for just about a year now, the process leading up to this race has truly been a little over a decade long. It sounds weird for me to think in terms of “a decade” because I still feel like I’m too young to have that kind of history with anything.
The one thing I like to do each year prior to doing my A+ race is reflect and gain perspective. I start by asking myself simple questions about the journey:
1. what I’ve done to prepare for the race?
2. what expectations I have for the event?
3. what it means if I accomplish those expectations?
4. what it means if I don’t meet those expectations?
5. where does the enjoyment and happiness come from regarding my event?
6. can I share these lessons so others can also find more enjoyment along their journey?
7. and if I can share those lessons, what is the best way to share them?
Here are some links to answers that I’ve come up with in the past during pre/post race analysis: Define yourself and be positive, 4 days to first 140.6 triathlon, Einstein, Relativity and Triathlon Training, My FU philosophy and why I want to be an Ironman, Happiness: The Ironman let down and lessons for everyone who wants to be happy.
I would like to share some of the thoughts that I’ve been having regarding Ironman Lousville in this post and then I’ll come back and share what this decade long journey has included.
Ironman Louisville Perspective:
Since returning to Kentucky and getting married in 2005, I’ve known that I had a 4 or 5 year window that I could use to focus on training myself. Why 4 to 5 years? Because I knew at some point I would have to put my own training on the C priority list and start thinking about things like starting a family and being able to economically support a family.
As the timeline unfolded and my Ironman journey kicked into full gear (2006), it turned out that I would be on a 4 year plan. Knowing that I had this sort of timeframe has actually been very good for my journey.
2006 - when I did the Runovia full distance triathlon, this perspective allowed me to be mentally prepared to “just finish”. So when the floods occurred and they canceled the race, it didn’t bother me. When 6 athletes decided to stick around the next day and do a semi-supported race, it excited me. When I finished and was still alive, I was proud.
2007 - having a long term perspective allowed me to approach Ironman Wisconsin with a “it’s your first MDot race” mentality. Be smart, be conservative and don’t make beginner mistakes - that was the mantra. It worked well. I made some mistakes, like killing the “Devil’s Hill” climb. It was just too much fun and excitement and felt like the Tour de France. Why not? During the race, I don’t ever remember feeling pressured to - Go Faster. I do remember getting into T2 and feeling a little let down because my bike split wasn’t good enough but the run changed the entire perspective of the day. And I knew there were changes to be made to enable a better run.
2008 - we knew that doing an Ironman race wasn’t going to be possible financially, so I decided to seek other races that were long distance triathlons. I also knew if I wanted to take the time to train successfully for an Ironman in 2009, I’d have to establish a little bit of financial freedom to make those choices. In the end, I decided to do something significantly challenging to my endurance and mental strength - which resulted in what I called EndureChallenge. I learned a lot of lessons in 2008 about surviving and enduring. I tried to share those as much as possible through my blog, podcasts, youtube and twitter.
2009 — So that brings us to my journey this past year.
I will be the first to admit that there are aspects to this past year that I’ve enjoyed more than any other year that I’ve sought to be called an Ironman. I have really enjoyed mentoring the group of athletes that trusted me with their training programs since October of 2008 until this very week. We’ve had some great experiences too: like the Triple T weekend in Ohio and our Cave Run Training Camp (which was as tough a training period as I’ve ever faced).
But I also have had a major cloud hanging over my head this year that has been there from the beginning. That cloud is the knowledge that Ironman Louisville is the last opportunity I have to “get it right”. Will Ironman Louisville be my last Ironman? I doubt it. I hope that there will be a period of time that I’ll be able to train for and do an Ironman again, but it will likely not be in the near future.
Part of this perspective is just a natural outflow of my personality. I have a strong tendency to think in “All-or-nothing” paradigms and I also have a habit about being compulsive with thoughts and behaviors.
So how am I reframing my perspective?
The interesting thing about this IM Louisville cloud is that I pride myself at being able to assist athletes with these very difficult mental blocks. My ability to assist athletes is likely from my own inner struggles with balancing expectations and experiences. So here are some things that I would share with an athlete in this situation and what I’m trying to implement on my own:
1. Ironman Louisville is not the RESULT it is the REWARD. We train for a year (or two or three) looking forward to an event. The outcome of that race is not an end result of what made up that year; the race is a reward that we can enjoy as a result of living out our desire to be healthy, fit and active.
2. Ironman rewards humility and patience. If we are willing to use those two character traits early and often, then during the race we will be able to use our fitness more successfully when it really matters. Ironically, I believe that the key to achieving your best in an Ironman results more often from a focus on inner awareness than it does on a focus on outcome.
3. Strive for the positive and the positive will happen. In the book Spontaneous Healing
, by Dr. Andrew Weil, he talks about finding a four leaf clover. The idea goes something like this: when you are looking for something it is more likely to be found, all it takes is a change in the paradigm that you are using to search with. He used the example, stating that once he started looking for a four leaf clover (something that seems rare) he actually started seeing them everywhere. (Sorry if I butchered the story it’s been a long time since I read it, but that’s what it meant to me).
By putting so much importance on Ironman Louisville it can be easy to think of all the things that might go wrong. What if I wreck (as I’ve talked about ), What if I get a flat (which I worry about), what if the sky turns red and I can’t see the road because I’m color blind and everything goes screwy (luckily I’m not that delusional yet).
We often find what we search for!
4. No one cares. Honestly this is hard for me to accept. I have put so much effort and commitment into this race that I want to believe that I do well everyone will be excited. The truth is that if I do well, barely finish or DNF - it won’t really matter to anyone but myself. My parents probably forgot that I’m doing the race this weekend. And if they do remember they probably don’t remember exactly what an Ironman is. Nikki has her own race to be consumed by. My friends that don’t run, bike or swim think I’m crazy anyways. And my personal training clients are already impressed that I’ve decided to do an Ironman (which they also don’t know what one is).
So it really doesn’t matter - to anyone but myself.
That essentially puts me in a place where I can start to shave off all the expectations. Expectations that I understand are just false realities I believe will make me a more happy individual (read: Ironman Letdown ). Without those expectations creating that Ironman Louisville cloud, I can remember why I started this journey of endurance in the first place (check out: My FU Philosophy ).
To summarize my whole perspective on racing Ironman Louisville this year: IMLou is not an event that I want to define who I am; the process of training for IMLou has merely been the kiln that I’m choosing to use, to help create the environment I need to mold myself into the person of character I hope to become.
We’ll see how well that molding process has worked on Sunday in the way I approach the day!
The journey to Ironman Louisville 2009 has been a pretty interesting set of events. And while I’ve been focused on the 2009 version of Ironman Louisville for just about a year now, the process leading up to this race has truly been a little over a decade long. It sounds weird for me to think in terms of “a decade” because I still feel like I’m too young to have that kind of history with anything.
The one thing I like to do each year prior to doing my A+ race is reflect and gain perspective. I start by asking myself simple questions about the journey:
1. what I’ve done to prepare for the race?
2. what expectations I have for the event?
3. what it means if I accomplish those expectations?
4. what it means if I don’t meet those expectations?
5. where does the enjoyment and happiness come from regarding my event?
6. can I share these lessons so others can also find more enjoyment along their journey?
7. and if I can share those lessons, what is the best way to share them?
Here are some links to answers that I’ve come up with in the past during pre/post race analysis: Define yourself and be positive, 4 days to first 140.6 triathlon, Einstein, Relativity and Triathlon Training, My FU philosophy and why I want to be an Ironman, Happiness: The Ironman let down and lessons for everyone who wants to be happy.
I would like to share some of the thoughts that I’ve been having regarding Ironman Lousville in this post and then I’ll come back and share what this decade long journey has included.
Ironman Louisville Perspective:
Since returning to Kentucky and getting married in 2005, I’ve known that I had a 4 or 5 year window that I could use to focus on training myself. Why 4 to 5 years? Because I knew at some point I would have to put my own training on the C priority list and start thinking about things like starting a family and being able to economically support a family.
As the timeline unfolded and my Ironman journey kicked into full gear (2006), it turned out that I would be on a 4 year plan. Knowing that I had this sort of timeframe has actually been very good for my journey.
2006 - when I did the Runovia full distance triathlon, this perspective allowed me to be mentally prepared to “just finish”. So when the floods occurred and they canceled the race, it didn’t bother me. When 6 athletes decided to stick around the next day and do a semi-supported race, it excited me. When I finished and was still alive, I was proud.
2007 - having a long term perspective allowed me to approach Ironman Wisconsin with a “it’s your first MDot race” mentality. Be smart, be conservative and don’t make beginner mistakes - that was the mantra. It worked well. I made some mistakes, like killing the “Devil’s Hill” climb. It was just too much fun and excitement and felt like the Tour de France. Why not? During the race, I don’t ever remember feeling pressured to - Go Faster. I do remember getting into T2 and feeling a little let down because my bike split wasn’t good enough but the run changed the entire perspective of the day. And I knew there were changes to be made to enable a better run.
2008 - we knew that doing an Ironman race wasn’t going to be possible financially, so I decided to seek other races that were long distance triathlons. I also knew if I wanted to take the time to train successfully for an Ironman in 2009, I’d have to establish a little bit of financial freedom to make those choices. In the end, I decided to do something significantly challenging to my endurance and mental strength - which resulted in what I called EndureChallenge. I learned a lot of lessons in 2008 about surviving and enduring. I tried to share those as much as possible through my blog, podcasts, youtube and twitter.
2009 — So that brings us to my journey this past year.
I will be the first to admit that there are aspects to this past year that I’ve enjoyed more than any other year that I’ve sought to be called an Ironman. I have really enjoyed mentoring the group of athletes that trusted me with their training programs since October of 2008 until this very week. We’ve had some great experiences too: like the Triple T weekend in Ohio and our Cave Run Training Camp (which was as tough a training period as I’ve ever faced).
But I also have had a major cloud hanging over my head this year that has been there from the beginning. That cloud is the knowledge that Ironman Louisville is the last opportunity I have to “get it right”. Will Ironman Louisville be my last Ironman? I doubt it. I hope that there will be a period of time that I’ll be able to train for and do an Ironman again, but it will likely not be in the near future.
Part of this perspective is just a natural outflow of my personality. I have a strong tendency to think in “All-or-nothing” paradigms and I also have a habit about being compulsive with thoughts and behaviors.
So how am I reframing my perspective?
The interesting thing about this IM Louisville cloud is that I pride myself at being able to assist athletes with these very difficult mental blocks. My ability to assist athletes is likely from my own inner struggles with balancing expectations and experiences. So here are some things that I would share with an athlete in this situation and what I’m trying to implement on my own:
1. Ironman Louisville is not the RESULT it is the REWARD. We train for a year (or two or three) looking forward to an event. The outcome of that race is not an end result of what made up that year; the race is a reward that we can enjoy as a result of living out our desire to be healthy, fit and active.
2. Ironman rewards humility and patience. If we are willing to use those two character traits early and often, then during the race we will be able to use our fitness more successfully when it really matters. Ironically, I believe that the key to achieving your best in an Ironman results more often from a focus on inner awareness than it does on a focus on outcome.
3. Strive for the positive and the positive will happen. In the book Spontaneous Healing
, by Dr. Andrew Weil, he talks about finding a four leaf clover. The idea goes something like this: when you are looking for something it is more likely to be found, all it takes is a change in the paradigm that you are using to search with. He used the example, stating that once he started looking for a four leaf clover (something that seems rare) he actually started seeing them everywhere. (Sorry if I butchered the story it’s been a long time since I read it, but that’s what it meant to me).
By putting so much importance on Ironman Louisville it can be easy to think of all the things that might go wrong. What if I wreck (as I’ve talked about ), What if I get a flat (which I worry about), what if the sky turns red and I can’t see the road because I’m color blind and everything goes screwy (luckily I’m not that delusional yet).
We often find what we search for!
4. No one cares. Honestly this is hard for me to accept. I have put so much effort and commitment into this race that I want to believe that I do well everyone will be excited. The truth is that if I do well, barely finish or DNF - it won’t really matter to anyone but myself. My parents probably forgot that I’m doing the race this weekend. And if they do remember they probably don’t remember exactly what an Ironman is. Nikki has her own race to be consumed by. My friends that don’t run, bike or swim think I’m crazy anyways. And my personal training clients are already impressed that I’ve decided to do an Ironman (which they also don’t know what one is).
So it really doesn’t matter - to anyone but myself.
That essentially puts me in a place where I can start to shave off all the expectations. Expectations that I understand are just false realities I believe will make me a more happy individual (read: Ironman Letdown ). Without those expectations creating that Ironman Louisville cloud, I can remember why I started this journey of endurance in the first place (check out: My FU Philosophy ).
To summarize my whole perspective on racing Ironman Louisville this year: IMLou is not an event that I want to define who I am; the process of training for IMLou has merely been the kiln that I’m choosing to use, to help create the environment I need to mold myself into the person of character I hope to become.
We’ll see how well that molding process has worked on Sunday in the way I approach the day!