This past weekend I had the privilege to compete in Ironman Chattanooga 70.3 as part of my training schedule for the upcoming Ironman Alaska on August 7th.
This is my second year of Ironman training, and my most visceral reaction from the last 24 months is...
DAMN!
If you think you don’t have enough time for the gym, just take a look at an Ironman training schedule. To those who have been doing this for years on end, with demanding jobs and young kids, I have an incredible amount of respect for you!
Now in the middle of my own race season, I’ve come up with the five biggest lessons I’ve taken away from training so far. These lessons are things not specific to Ironman, but that can carry over into everyone’s approach to whatever health and fitness achievements they’re striving for.
1. Trust the process
I have a coach (big shout out to the amazing Tony Rich of EventHorizon Endurance Sport). I’m a recently certified Ironman University Coach, but I’m also a big believer in having someone there to keep you accountable and make you do the things you may not choose to do yourself!
A month ago I was frustrated with the lack of bike volume in my program leading up to the Chattanooga race, so I emailed my coach asking if we could add more cycling sessions. His response- trust the process. I had just had a tough week on the bike, so I was emotional and looking for a quick way to appease my concerns. He was looking at the big picture, and was focused on bringing on more bike time later on in my training. I emailed back a thank you, and went on with his program.
Last weekend in Chattanooga, I PR’d on the bike course by 9 minutes.
Trust the process. Don’t let emotions in the moment take away from the long term vision.
2. You need your partner on your side
One of the biggest obstacles in training for anything is time. It’s one thing if your time is solely yours- it’s another if you share it with someone else. When I first started Ironman training last year, it was a personal decision that I made and the time I dedicated to it was “my own”. That very quickly changed when my wife informed me that coming home at 7pm every day and then training until 10pm wasn’t her idea of a good husband.
We sat down, created expectations and boundaries, made some compromises, and now I’m done by 8pm every night (and Sunday mornings I’m allowed to disappear!) The point is, if your partner and/or family isn’t on board with your health and fitness goals, it’s just going to create more problems. Always address your plans with them first, come up with what you can expect from each other, and stick with the agreed upon rules. Resentment, arguments, and tension in the family will cause a lot more than just your fitness to fail…
3. Sometimes, it’s ok for it to suck
Simple, but true. I’m not suggesting you should dread every workout… if you do, you should probably find a different training plan. However, it is ok for 20% of your training, 20% of your meals, 20% of your efforts, to suck. If it was 100% fun and rewarding, you would have done this a long time ago. The key is to have good enough reasons for doing it, that when that 20% shows up, you’re still pushing through (more on this in a minute!)
4. You’ll only get out what you put in
I saw this one at my first ever Ironman event at Ironman Arizona 70.3 in 2021. I had trained hard, but definitely put more effort and focus on my runs, while treating some of my rides as “time to catch up on some podcasts on the indoor trainer”. The level of dedication was apparent in my results- a fast run I was ecstatic with, and a slightly slower bike than I wanted. Last week, a client who’s been talking about cutting back on drinking was lamenting about not being able to hold back from booze on the weekends. He has, however, still dropped 15lbs in the last few months by tracking his food in a spreadsheet (data-driven personalities!) and keeping all of his calories under his allowance. I asked him, “Why do you think you were able to track calories so consistently, but you can’t seem to cut down on alcohol?” He said, “Well, I knew I really needed to make a change, and I really felt that my eating was a big part of it, so I made a real effort to track the calories. With the drinking, I’m just not sure… it just seems like it would be a good idea.”
Immediately he knew he wasn’t really putting the effort into cutting alcohol, because he realized the effort it took to drop weight by tracking calories.
This then translates direction into lesson #5, which is….
5. You need the right reasons
My last client trying to cut the booze was doing it because “it seemed like it would be a good idea”. I also commonly hear “My doctor/wife/husband/etc told me to” and “It worked for my friend”.
That NEVER makes it in the long term.
The same client made huge changes with his nutrition by tracking calorie intake and reducing how much he was eating every day. Does that take less effort than cutting out alcohol? Not at all, in fact, it probably takes more! The difference was he had the realization that his food intake was making him feel unhealthy, which spurred a big enough reason to dedicate his time to make that change. HE wanted it.
This is the largest lesson in making real changes in your health. You’ve heard of people losing 100lbs, becoming pain free, feeling better than ever at 65. Even if the methodology was different for each of them, there will always be one shared factor- the right reason to make the change.
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