Mental Fortitude

I received the following from Head Coach Dave:

Often we hear that triathlon is three disciplines (1) Swim, (2) Bike & (3) Run. Then we begin to peel the onion another layer and discover the fourth discipline (4) Nutrition. Rarely do we peel the onion any further because that will make us cry. What is crying anyway? It is an emotion. Under the right circumstances and in a controlled situation, crying comes in handy. Over the next several weeks we will peel that onion and discover our powers of control and learn techniques to balance our emotional response mechanism in our favor, not only for race day, but for everyday life too. Welcome to the fifth discipline, (5) Mental Fortitude.

From the American Heritage Dictionary - for·ti·tude (fôr'tĭ-tōōd', -tyōōd') n. - Strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage.

Yes, Pain and adversity. Before you know it, these two will be your swim buddies, your cycling companions and running partners for 140.6 miles. Wouldn’t you rather run with friends than adversaries?

Can you believe we have been at this for eleven weeks now! Come Ironman day, the cold water of Lake Del Valle and Treasure Island, the long workouts you have under your belt already and those to come will be but a memory, stored in your subconscious for recall when the going gets tough. If you have not already, you will soon have a moment of clarity, much like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, that you simply “aren’t in Kansas anymore” and things are a bit fuzzy. Welcome to Ironman, please take your seat, fasten your seatbelt and prepare for the ride of your life!

We have all heard the cliché phrases of our time like “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” or “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger” but those simply don’t cover the incredible array of emotions an endurance athlete feels in a given week, let alone an entire season.

The first step of just about every time-tested progressive improvement plan is to come clean and admit that everything is not a bed of roses. And in our case, we need to start with the acknowledgment that the task ahead is hard and the journey will be difficult. In my tenure with Ironteam I have often repeated to athletes that we are training for Ironman, not Plasticman, and I mean that in a very literal way. Strike a match under a plastic spoon. Watch it curl up and see the plume of acrid black smoke that rises into a toxic cloud above you. Strike a match under an steel fork, forged from Iron, and you see it will begin to glow are vibrant orange yet keep it’s shape. In fact Iron is hardened by flame.

I want each of you to spend the remainder of the week thinking hard during your workouts. I want you to focus all your mental energy for at least an hour this week on one thing. Find an image, a slogan, a favorite movie moment, a mantra of some sort and let it take hold for a while and take you to your "happy place", reducing your stress and re-engaging you in the mind-body ballet called Ironman training. If it shows potential, file it away for future use. By the end of this series of weekly messages you will be asked to dig it out and formulate a plan that includes it. Trust me, this works. If you don’t believe me, just wait for the next 6 weeks worth of testimony.