It’s a pretty well-known phrase – you can run but you can’t hide. I’m sure many of us have used it in the past in a range of contexts, whether social, sporting or in another more aggressive area of life.

Well this week was my week to run and hide. After several weeks of stop start training due to what seemed like a never ending bout of illness, I wanted to run (but couldn’t) and chose to hide. Now we’re not talking about proper man flu, but just enough to make walking up the steps seem like a training session, or being awake for a whole day an achievement in its own right.

I’ve said before that if you want inspiration, you sometimes have to go after it and let it in. Knowing this, I kept away from the bookshelves, Muhammad Ali, magazines and any source of inspiration that would have helped. You see, I just didn’t want it. I didn’t want to train, so any kind of inspiration that I did let in, would probably mean I would end up training. No thank you. I chose to hide. But as many of you know, inspiration sometimes finds you and often not where you expect it!

So with inspiration at arm’s length, the end of illness upon me, not only was I set for a period of hiding, I also contemplated my future in the sport of triathlon and its associated disciplines. The answer it seemed was darts…

We have a dart board in the office and there isn’t a day goes by when those arrows are thrown at the board. One of my afflictions (and there are many) is that I am unable to do nothing. So throwing a few arrows at a dart board gives me an excuse to think. And so I started to think. I figured that with the right training I could be a World Champion within a year (at darts).

Don’t get me wrong, I am rubbish at darts, but recognised that unlike most sports, fitness doesn’t play a part and the action of throwing a dart is fixed (i.e. always the same), therefore I could improve and theoretically attain excellence. I easily rationalised what would be my meteoric rise to World Champion; you are always the same distance from the board, the darts are always the same and the board never moves. It’s even played indoors with no wind. I am such a geek, that I worked out that I would probably walk around 600 meters an hour collecting the darts.

And this is where I struggled to come to terms with my new sport – It just wouldn’t cut it from an exercise fix point of view. And above all when we commit to something, it is always going to get difficult at some point, so we ultimately have to want to do that sport, to help us get through those tough patches when they arrive.

And then it came – the thunderbolt. Picture the scene; happy family life at home, I was actually going to take a shower that had nothing to do with exercise and the girls were getting ready for the day. As I walked to the shower (obviously dressed for the occasion), I had a very brief conversation with the girls that went something like this:

Daughter 1 (aged 11); Hey Dad, did you know that you can have an operation to get fat removed?

Dad (amused and pretending to be confused); really?

Daugter 2 (aged 9): It would have to be a long operation though Dad!

Dad: speechless.

Rad the entire article here

2011 seemed to bear that out, being an incredible year on many fronts, both on and off the race course. I returned to the top step of an Ironman podium, I became a World Champion, and – most importantly – I became a father. Looking ahead, I have to wonder how I’ll top that. Though, to be honest, I will say that topping it isn’t really a priority.

JORDAN’S BLOG IS TAKEN FROM IAMSPECIALIZED.COM

I think I’ve found the success I have by being focused on the process, and letting the process lead me down a journey to a destination where the results are defined by the hard work, the commitment to excellence, and the relentless pursuit of… (to borrow Simon Whitfield’s phrase).

When I set out on this journey, I wanted to win an Ironman. I’ve done that. Three times. And then I wanted, just once, to be the best in the world for just a single moment, and on a cold day in early November, I did that too. And, of course, there is the overwhelming change in perspective that accompanies becoming a parent, when suddenly, there is someone in the world who matters to you a lot more than you ever have mattered to yourself. After the best races of my career, it was still bath time at somewhere around 5:30pm. And, after my first ever Ironman DNF and one of the worst races of my career, it was still bath time at somewhere around 5:30pm. So when I think about what comes now, I know that it’ll still be bath time at somewhere around 5:30pm… At least until Quentin decides that he’s too big to have bath time with his dad anymore.

But until then, I get myself out the door to swim, bike, and run every day because I think I am lucky to have the greatest job in the world, a job that provides a good life for my family, and allows me to be home (almost) every night for bath time. I believe that if you do something you love, you want to do it well. In my case, I want it to do it perfectly. Despite knowing that’s unattainable, it is what I strive for. That’s true of both being a parent and being a professional triathlete. I want to win races because I love to race, I love to win, and I love to do my job well. And because, at varying levels of consciousness depending on the moment, I know that someone else – someone very small but very special – is counting on me.

When I look ahead to 2012, I have some big goals set out – trying to join Ray Browning as the only man to threepeat at Ironman Canada; redeeming myself at Wildflower; defending my title at Leadman; and to making sure that I’m ready for a bath at somewhere around 5:30pm.

All I can say is,  Wow!! That was race amazing and not finishing even more amazing!!  It is probably one of the worst and best things that has happened to me. I have been racing skis, bikes, feet, anything I can find and I have never learned so  much than I did in these 30 hours of chopping wood, carrying heavy logs, being in 40 degree water and trying to outguess the organizers.

2011 Death Race Winners Joe Decker and Grace Cuomo Durfee, The annual ultra endurance test began with 185 participants, but after 45 hours, only 35 of the uber-athlete participants, including four females, were able to go the distance. Defending champion Joe Decker, from San Diego, became the event’s first-ever two-time winner. Brothers Bruce and Jeff Foster of Rhode Island finished 2-3, while Grace Cuomo-Durfee of Fair Haven, finished fourth overall and was one of just four women to finish.

I could make this report all about the race, the events, the obstacles, the stuff carried, the hills climbed, but that is not what this race is about. It is about learning what you can and can’t do (or what you perceive you can’t do). How to be resourceful and to conquer the weaker part of your brain. (which I have never really done, to the extent that this race brings you to.)

Quitting, this is something I have never really thought about until I participated in the Death Race. After a day and a half of rain, cold, sunshine, mud, thunderstorms, I dropped out. When I quit, it seemed easy. The pain would stop, I would be clean, in a nice shower and have a couple of beers. What I didn’t know was that the race consumes you and it is more torturous after the race, than the race itself. The next morning as I was having a cup of coffee and the next two weeks after the race, I started to ask myself a series of questions to figure out why I dropped out, or why I didn’t keep going:

Why did you quit? What do you need to do in order to keep going?  In order to take the next step what did I need to do? If I quit, how am I going to feel? Did I fail, or did I go further than I have ever been? Was I prepared for this point of the race? How would I do it differently next time?  Am I going to do it next time? Why am I doing this? Do I really want to do this? What is on the line?

Yes I was physically and mentally exhausted. I have never done an overnight race before, let alone not sleeping for 42 hours. I had chaffing like you couldn’t imagine, and I could no longer pull my axe out of the wood I was chopping, but the questions and voices in your head will beat you up about quitting, like nothing I have experienced.  It screws with your entire being.

The funny thing is that all of these questions started to go into my head after the race, they weren’t questions  that I had ever pondered before I went in.

When I go into a race like this or any other race, I expect to be on the podium, at least the top 10. I have been in races when in have flipped my kayak in 35 degree water, dislocated my shoulder and still finished in the top 6. It didn’t really cross my mind that I won’t be finishing and maybe I took that for granted.

Additionally In every event, race, business scenario, family life, I can be extremely resourceful and figure it out, but this time I had never experienced mental or physical fatigue like this. Physically maybe I could have made it a bit further, but emotionally I didn’t have 12 more hours in me to compete for the win or the podium.  Maybe I could have taken a nap and stayed on the course until they decided to call it, but I wanted to race and the race was out of me.

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My focus in life is to do everything extremely well and extremely fast. I don’t like to not be efficient, in the lead or stalled. And that is what this event was about.  Yes I was I still in second place when I decided to call it quits, but I still  quit.  I believe that this race is a true metaphor for life and to see if can you handle what is thrown in your direction. As said on the Website “The adventure starts when everything goes wrong, which God will be on your side?” how will you handle that?  That is a big question!!

Yes it would be nice to win, but that is not the focus of this race or life.  In life sometimes you need to be steady and pace yourself, you will eventually get there. Also sometimes it is not all about winning, but being proud of what you did or maybe it is just toeing the line, and going into the unknown.

I don’t know what it is/was. But it was a blast and I will definitely be back next year with all my questions answered from above. I am also going to answer all these questions in all aspects of my life when in move into a new challenge, race or task. It is all about be prepared and not taking anything for granted!!

The physical preparation is easy, the mental and emotional preparation is what separates you. I would like to congratulate all of the finishers and you should all be extremely proud.

If you have never pushed yourself to the point of the unknown, I suggest you do!  You will find out some amazing things.

We asked these 4 simple questions to some of the members of our events team with some really interesting results.
Those members of the team who were very determined, able to influence others, not easily influenced and very selfish were our best athletes. And those who had the lowest score on being selfish trained the least.

For us The fun really started when we asked people to score different members of the group using the same criteria. It’s fair to say there were some discrepancies and that most of us see ourselves differently to how others see us.

You should give it a go. But based on our experience, you definitely need to get people to write down the scores independent of you being there (as those who are high influencers will try to argue with the scores if it’s not what they wanted to hear – and if they are easily influenced, they will change it).

So how do your scores look? Once you have your scores it should give you a very crude idea of what you are like and therefore what you might need to do to help you achieve your full potential. You don’t necessarily need to change your whole approach – remember, it’s the small things that make a big difference. And it’s quite nice to be told that you need to be more selfish!

As I said earlier we all have our own sources of inspiration and for our own personal reasons. I have quite a range of people who inspire me, but one of my all-time favourites is Muhammad Ali.

Why?
Loads of reasons, but as an athlete, he had the opposition beat before they stepped in the ring. He told everybody that he was the greatest, that he would win and he believed it. But the truly amazing thing was he said it so often and with such passion that everybody else believed it too. ReadMore

There are few reasons why this weekend is special for me. I started in all five races so far; I call South Africa my home now so this is my “home” race. It is also one of the main races in Africa’s triathlon calendar. The amount of participants has grown from 700 competitors in the first race to 3000 athletes this weekend, making this race one of the biggest 70.3ʼs in the world!

This is always the first race of the year for me, and not very far from Christmas, so there is great anticipation to see what shape the other athletes will be in. I knew my training before wasnʼt ideal. I had some time off to rest after the IM World Championships in Hawaii and just when I wanted to start back into training, I had streak of “accidents”! Firstly I ran into a street sign and end up with stitches and a pretty bad concussion. The, after two weeks of forced recovery and finally feeling ready to train again, I was involved in car accident and once again ended up with concussion! The only positive side of all of this was that the forced time off from training really allowed my body some good recovery time, and I got to enjoy a nice Christmas. But of course, after these set backs, I had to do some intense training to get myself into shape for the race.

As the race drew closer, I started to feel that the training was kicking in and my confidence started to grow.

Still, I was pretty nervous in the last few days and morning before the event. This race is even more difficult for me because it is one of the main events for most of my athletes. With 25 athletes racing, I was very busy till the last moment, organising all the little things. Making sure they were all ready for the race and didnʼt forget anything, and of course keeping them motivated!

But finally race start arrived and I was standing on the beach with rest of the pro athletes, getting ready to give it a go, but still very nervous. Oh well, now I was there and all I hoped for was that once I hit the water, my racing brain would switch on!

And yes, like a small miracle – it did. I felt solid in the water. The only problem was that I saw Jodie Swallow swim by and unfortunately I wasnʼt able to stay with her. I settled into my own pace a formed a small group with two other guys. I exited the water in 2nd with a good gap ahead of other girls.

The bike course in East London is very honest and tough. Rolling hills all the way, which makes it feel like you are always going uphill. I knew it would be the key to a good race for me to stay strong on the bike. I was very happy that my head was in the race all the time and I enjoyed pushing and going hard. I was able to hold my 2nd position all the way to transition 2.

Running course is not any easier then the bike. The two-lap run course has a stretch of flat with one long hill to battle with on every lap. But what is amazing about this race is the amount of spectators around the course! All I heard when I was running was “go Lucie go”! I had a good run, and was even eating some time back into Jodie. I finished strong in 2nd and was really very pleased with my race and performance. It was definitely a good and promising start to the new season!

The other highlight of the weekend was the performance of my athletes. I am very proud of all of them and we really made our mark on the race. We ended up with 8 athletes on podiums in the Age Group categories – one of these podiums was an amazing win for Lynette in her new AG 25- 29, another two athletes finished 4th place and PBs for all the athletes. And both first-time proʼs had a great race too, with Natasha ending up as 6th pro female and Travis 12th.

So now, a rest before getting back into training in preparation for IM 70.3 Sri Lanka! A huge thank you to all my sponsors, friends and family for all your support! Lucie.

People are always asking me why? Why do you do these sports?  Why do you push yourself?  Why do you do these events? And the question that always comes up, are you crazy?

Let me answer the last question first. I don’t know if I am crazy, but I love to see what I can and can’t do. I thrive on trying things that others would never consider and I love completing things when I had no idea if I would fail or triumph.

My name is Ken Lubin I am an Executive Athlete, Executive Recruiter, father and husband who loves to push the limits of physical and mental endurance. I love to see what the body and mind can achieve and intentionally put myself in difficult circumstances.

That is why I am going to conquer The Death Race this year and I will finish. Only 10-20% of the 200 competitors will finish in a given year.

The death race is ”a challenging race that may kill you” with a website called  www.youmaydie.com I knew I had to try it. Having competed in Division 1 Ski Racing at Colby-Sawyer College, bicycle racing at a National and international level, and completing many multi hour endurance races; Tuckerman Inferno and Sea to Summit Races, and deciding to do the Boston Marathon the morning of, I knew I had to give this a try.

The Death Race is a race that you have to qualify for, need to train extremely hard for, and you don’t really know what events or obstacles that you are going to face.

“In the weeks before the competition last year, participants received a mysterious list of items that they would need to bring, including a post hole digger, 10 pounds of onions, a Greek dictionary, an axe and $50 in pennies.”

People always ask me how I am going to train for this.

On a daily basis I am running, cycling, lifting, skiing and always adding an unconventional twist. For example, some of my training has included; running  9.5 miles to work in 3 degrees wearing a 20lb weight vest while doing 20 push ups every 15 minutes. I Hike to Tuckerman Ravine at 5:00am with my skis on my back before skiing for the day with my friends andfamily and additionally I will do Olympic style lifting in my basement while getting on the tread mill at a 12.5% grade at 3.6 mph with 25lbs in each hand.

Why? Because I love this!! There is no better feeling in the world

Professionally I work with ZRG Partners, In Westborough, MA and am a Managing Director in the Financial Services business. This role like life and The Death Race” has extreme swings and for some reason, I continue to take the challenge.

THIS IS AN EXTRACT OF GAVIN’S BLOG FROM IAMSPECIALIZED.COM/TRIATHLON

We have just spent 18 days in my beloved Aguilas. I reckon that was enough this time around. A change of scene and knowing that the change was coming was perfect. In the past I became a little bit stale, staying for too long, getting very fit and then losing it or getting fit and then getting injured. The stimulus is no longer there and maybe to my own fault I am not good at taking days ‘off’. Or maybe I has handicapped with a lack of knowledge when I was younger. I definitely did a lot of trial and error !

I read recently that the same key session repeated 3 times maxes it out – in order to progress the session needs to progress. Alterations are needed as the body becomes familiar to the work load and/or will break down under constant load. To go harder, longer, change the recovery times, change the cumulative loads, change the emphasis/goal or simply change the environment.

Nearly 3 weeks is a long enough time to spend with anyone in a hotel suite – especially just 2 athletes and especially when 1 of those athletes is me and neither of us are particularly attractive. .. . ‘speak for yourself’ says He ! Alas he survived the final days through switching off into books and not entertaining my rambling.

The initial excitement of the hotel buffet had worn off and our dinner chat was becoming stale. Initial gentlemanly conversation-topical, informative and sometimes witty – descended towards the gutter, random questions, mumbles and stating the obvious as physical and mental fatigue crept in. Three esponces became the norm in those final days and I myself (being immature) quite enjoyed seeing which of the following responces I would get after a random outburst or musing

“Strong look”

“I wouldn’t rule it out”

“Dislike”

When I presented myself in the socks my Gran got me for Christmas . . . there was a sarcastic ‘strong look mate’

FOR MORE ABOUT GAVIN NOBLE CHECK OUT HIS BLOG AT IAMSPECIALIZED.COM/TRIATHLON

So why do small things matter?

There are some things in life that we forget really easily. I sometimes find it hard to remember what I’m talking about whilst I am talking about it, never mind what might have happened a long time ago. That said there are some things that I am sure we all remember with absolute clarity. It’s hard sometimes to figure out why some things are easier to remember than others. I am unsure why I remember so clearly the TV programme ‘Mary, Mungo and Midge’, and equally unsure why I can’t remember the theme tune. And then the importance we put on certain things for no real reason – I am sure I like the theme tune, despite not remembering it – but don’t know why. I am sure you know what I am talking about.

So going back 4 years I still have one of these moments of clarity that gave me clarity. I was having a conversation about something that had happened the previous day and it was about half way through this conversation when I realised it was about me, and I couldn’t remember anything that had happened.

Now having been a student and in served in the Royal Navy, it certainly wasn’t the first time that this had happened, but at that moment I had the epiphany to say (and mean) never again.

Now there’s a phrase; never again. Possibly made even more famous by Sir Steve Redgrave at one of his Olympic victories. Have you ever said it? If so did you mean it at the time? If you have said it – have you never again’d (I know it’s not a word) what you said never again for? For most of us, it’s a lie, because we do the never again, again. Why? And as a lie it’s got to be above Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny as at least they have a good reason behind the lie.

But 4 years ago I said it and meant it. And because I really, really meant it, not drinking alcohol has been really easy. But, I soon discovered that not everything plays out as we think. I have never been one for sweet things, but with the alcohol gone, it was soon replaced with an excess of chocolate and chocolate related products – so bang went the 6 pack that I thought would soon materialise!

Not only this, but the great thing about a hangover is that the day tends to get better. Now, when I wake up it’s the best I feel all day. It’s a small price to pay…Read the entire article here

She made the decision to do the 1981 Ironman, sent in her entry fee and started training. “I knew I was really fit,” says Sweeney, who was 22 at the time, “but I had no expectations. It was more like, ‘Yeah, I think I’ll do that.’ When you’re young you have this tendency to make decisions and just go for it. You ignore things like the fact that you don’t ride or own a bike.”

Hunt and Sweeney basically made up the training as they went along. “I tried to do two things every day,” she recalls. “I would always run and then I would rotate days swimming or cycling. There really was no theory behind my training.”

Hunt bought her a £200 Centurion bike and they flew to Hawaii two days before the big race.

Out of the water in 1:02, she was surprised by what she encountered on the Queen K Highway. “I remember reading that the net elevation gain was zero,” she says, laughing. “So I figured the bike course was flat.” Not quite.

“In retrospect it was better for me not to know how tough it was,” she says. “Denial is a very powerful thing.”

Being new to cycling, she wasn’t comfortable shifting gears. “I only used two gears all day,” she admits. “One for climbing and one for descending.”

She had a side-view mirror on the bike along with reflectors, cages on her pedals so she could ride 180K in her running shoes and, of course, a basket on the front.

A basket? “After the swim I put my towel in there,” she says. “Plus my cassette player and cassettes.” She rocked out to The Who, Blondie and The Tubes. “My favourite song was ‘White Punks on Dope,’” she continues.

Hunt rented a moped and followed Sweeney on the bike and run, snapping photos along the way. After her 6:53 ride, she ran a 4:04 marathon to win the fourth-ever Ironman World Championship.

While she enjoyed winning and watching herself on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” a few months later, she never did another Ironman. She was injured going into the 1982 race and then moved full-time into running. “I never liked to race,” she admits. “I love to train, but the racing part always seemed inconvenient to me.”

She recently took the 5-foot-tall Ironman trophy that she won back in 1981 and cleaned off 30 years of dust. It’s now proudly on display next to her fireplace. She is one of the few champions who raced the Ironman once, won and never came back. Today she is executive director of the Corporate Directors Forum in La Jolla, California.

On occasion the Ironman will come up at parties and someone will mention that Sweeney actually won the most important event in triathlon. “One time I was at a space shuttle launch in Florida with a friend who was a shuttle pilot,” she says. “He’s telling everyone that I won the Ironman. These were people who had been on the Space Station and were actual rocket scientists and they were intrigued by the fact that I had won this Ironman race. There is so much awe and respect for the Ironman. That part always amazes me.”

THIS IS TAKEN FROM IAMSPECIALIZED.COM/TRIATHLON

After Kona I took a trip to the Nike World Headquarters in Portland, Oregon. This was an incredible place and it was cool to see what goes on behind the scenes in the Nike world. We went to the employee store for a big shopping trip, which was super fun and I came home 3 bags heavier. I met some awesome athletes there too, like really really fast runner Shalane Flanagan who won the US Olympic Marathon trials today!

Next I went home to Edmonton to have Lasik MD eye surgery. I’ve had bad luck with my contact lenses falling out in races, either from getting whacked in the goggles during the swim, or having them pop out on the bike when my eyes get dry. I’ve had a lens fall out in 5 of the 8 WCS races I’ve done in the past few years, so this was important to get done and was honestly a huge life changer for me. 10 minutes in and out of the “operating room” and I can see 100% perfectly. Just had to wear these rockin’ sun glasses around for a few days and not swim for a week. Easy.

A few weeks later I flew to Toronto for the Olympic Excellence Series and Media Summit. This was a great opportunity to meet other Canadian athletes from other sports and get a good idea of what the Olympic Games will be like. It was followed by 2 full days of media and interviews, which was a bit exhausting but important to do. I also went with Simon to the opening of the new Nike store in downtown Toronto where they put us on the wall! It was super cool.

I was back in Victoria after that for a good block of training before going home for Christmas break. I spent the holidays in Canmore and Edmonton, doing lots of relaxing and visiting friends and xcountry skiing. Nike generously gave me tickets to a few of the World Junior Hockey games over the holidays, which were fun to watch. The atmosphere in there was crazy exciting. If only Canada loved triathlon as much as they love hockey!

Now I’m in Maui for our January training camp and it’s been awesome so far. Training is so much easier when it’s warm and sunny, and there’s a great group of 7 girls working well together. I didn’t do very much outdoor riding this fall so it’s been good to get back on the bike for some longer rides. My body is sore and achy and tired, but it definitely feels good! We also got to swim with the U of A team at the end of their Maui camp and it was nice to see some old friends.

Hoping this kicks off a good year ahead. My number one priority is to stay consistent and injury free, which I’ve discovered it much easier said than done!

Thanks for reading,

Paula

THIS IS TAKEN FROM IAMSPECIALIZED.COM/TRIATHLON