I have prepared my whole life for Ironman Coeur d'Alene on Sunday – a 140.6-mile odyssey of swimming, biking and running against the clock. I demand of myself nothing less than excellence, as I draw on 39 years of experience, learning and self-analysis.
Paradoxically, what happens on race day means both everything and nothing. It means everything because a fast race as an age grouper opens up more doors of possibility such as another pro card, more sponsorships and more visibility as a coach. It means nothing because it’s the journey that I took to get here and how I finish the race that is much more interesting and far more important.
The race is really about trust – sustaining trust with myself and building trust with others.
Following my best triathlon year ever in 2007 which included an 8:51 Ironman PR at the Quelle Challenge (Ironman distance) Triathlon, I made a conscious choice to continue the Ocala Marathon in February 2008 even though at the halfway point I knew that something was physically wrong with my right leg and that to continue would be to physically damage the muscles in my leg. Furthermore, two months later, I also limped through a weeklong Special Operations Forces training camp with a torn hamstring while battling a severe case of overtraining that had also carried over from the 2007 and left me feeling weak and woefully unprepared. After both events, I was now injured and burned out physically, mentally and emotionally.
During both the marathon and the camp, I knew that my choices to finish would wreck my triathlon season but I had made the choice to continue anyway.
I was wrong.
My choices wrecked two triathlon seasons – 2008 and 2009.
When I dive into Lake Coeur d’Alene on Sunday morning, I am following through on a commitment I made myself in 2008 when I walked off the racecourse after the bike leg at the Quelle Challenge (Ironman distance) in Roth, Germany, to DNF the race because I still was not able to run without pain. I made a promise to myself on that day that I would do everything and anything I could to overcome my injury and return to Ironman at an even higher level of personal excellence.
Ironically, in the two years since then, a torn hamstring was only one of a set of setbacks or perhaps more aptly named “challenges” that have included a home foreclosure, over training, anxiety, sleeplessness, working too much, excessive fatigue, bike crash where I hit a fence, drinking too much, lack of motivation and an overall cloud of negativity that invaded all aspects of my life.
Truthfully, we all face “challenges” in our lives in different forms whether they be job, family, health, marital (I went through a divorce in 1999, too, so am familiar with that one), financial, etc.
What matters most are the choices we then make in response to these "challenges:"
My race on Sunday is the culmination of my journey facing my “challenges,” looking for solutions and moving beyond them to finish strong on race day. My journey is also about self-sacrifice, following a plan, discipline, working hard, being focused and staying true to my course.
Machiavelli once said, “The end justifies the means.”
But he was wrong. It is the means that truly matter. The end is really not that important.
In his New York Times best-selling book The Speed of Trust, Stephen M. R. Covey writes about an elite runner colleague who told him:
“When you ‘hit the wall,’” the runner said, “and you feel like you can’t go on, instead of focusing on your exhaustion and going into the ‘survival shuffle,’ lift up your head and pick up your pace.”
No matter the end result on Sunday, I believe in myself and the human spirit to overcome, as I hold my head high throughout the race.
For in keeping trust with myself by honoring my promise, I am also keeping trust with my family, my friends and my clients as I “walk the walk” and hopefully inspire them to go beyond what they knew they could do.
Finally, thank you to all of you have continued to believe in me and have helped me along the way. I could never have walked this path alone.
Live strongly and boldly!
David
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David B. Glover, MS, CSCS
Coach, Athlete and Writer
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine: Fitting Iron Distance Training into Every Day Life
Web: enduranceworks.net
© 2010 David B. Glover
Whether you're training to win a triathlon, training to finish or just need inspiration from my life journey as a cancer survivor, Navy officer and sub-nine hour Ironman triathlete, my book will inspire you to chase your dreams and live life richly and boldly.
On Trust and the Paradox of Performance | The Blog of David Glover…
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