An Iron Mindset

Last week I was in Louisville for Ironman Louisville, for the 3rd year in a row. I have never competed in this event myself, and honestly as a great lakes water snob, I do not ever see myself swimming in the Ohio River. Please don't hold me to that, I often end up doing things I said I never would, ex. marathon, full Ironman, ultra-marathon (3 times!). I was there as a sherpa, coach, and spectator for Iron Dan. I'll save the strategies, frustrations, and challenges of an Iron Spectator for another day. I want to share my thoughts today on my observations of how Iron people have a seemingly super-human ability to persevere, where I think that comes from, and how it effects other aspects of their lives.

Full disclosure Dan is my husband of 21+ years, and we first met in 1992 on our high school cross country team, so I know him pretty well. Dan was a junior who came out for the team well after the start of the season, I think it was his 3rd choice of fall sports options, and the co-ed aspect was appealing. There was a girl on the team he had a crush on, and it was not this girl. He formerly played football until he had surgery to remove a benign tumor on his femur which made that too dangerous. Then he tried golf, then resigned himself to cross country. He was a respectable runner, 3rd runner position, with similar (though slightly slower) times than the girls team's freshman leader (this girl). His sport was baseball, and he also played some basketball. Not the guy you'd image would become Iron, multiple times. He was a just a guy that showed up, worked out, and raced for the team, doing the best he could for very little recognition. He was open to new experiences, and wasn't afraid to try new sports.

When I was running Division I Cross Country and Track in college, my then husband Dan trained with the mens team, just to stay in shape, and ran with me in the off-season. Once my college career ended we took on parenthood and a hiatus from any serious training or competition. I coached high school track and cross country in my early years of teaching. Then following my accident (a story for another day), we trained for our first 1/2 marathon with some of my cross country girls and that started a second act. By then our son was 10 and we had some flexibility to train. Our son got excited about running and we were able to race and train as a family. Dan and I moved up distance, jockeying position. For a time I could still hold him off, holding the faster marathon time for a few years. We ran increasingly more challenging races, faster. He began to run more and increasingly faster than me, several multi-marathon years some a month apart. His goals started out modest and grew as he gained confidence and saw the results of serious training.

Then that 40 year mark sneaked up on him, and I guess he decided that 2 marathons in 2 months or an ultra-marathon just wasn't enough of a challenge. So with no swim experience, and not even owning a bike, Dan registered for his first Ironman triathlon. No sprint or olympic distance would do. Ill-advised! This fool had no idea what he was doing, didn't know what he didn't know. He'd seen TV coverage of the world championships and thought, yeah I can do that, it looks like fun. Oh, face-palm. But is there something about that uniformed and insane decision that is courageous? If you dive into something so big, knowing so little, without the skills, and you survive, I mean, what will ever intimidate you again? In Dan's case I can say not much.

Long story short, he hit the pool, did a lot of research, read books, bought a tri bike (the terrible tank), and trained, long and hard. I insisted on a few local olympic distance races leading up to the October race. From those he learned the basics of transitions and triathlon racing. Our son and I followed him down to Louisville in 2016. The conditions were pretty perfect (not that any of us had the experience to appreciate it), warm-ish, but not too hot, or terribly windy. He completed the race in just under 12 hours, and loved it. There had been hard and challenging portions, but he never doubted he'd finish and become an Ironman. He took on a new and extreme challenge, one that only 0.01% of the population has completed (a full 140.6 mile iron-distance triathlon), and successfully completed it. Persistent? Undoubtedly. Is there any challenge that comes up in life that looks insurmountable after that? How could it? Big job? Challenging client? Bring it on!

Dan has done 3 Ironman races since then, as well as other road races, and bike races. He is also the most durable individual I know. I know that seems like a strange way to describe a person, but it's one adjective I strive for. He can take challenge, pain, or disappointment and learn from it, use it to make him stronger. Not really physically, he's 42, he was probably physically stronger in college. I'm talking mentally. This last IMLOU is a great example. The water was high and current too strong from recent flooding, the swim was shortened and still dangerous. Wind, cold, and rain made the bike slow, uncomfortable, and slippery. The adverse conditions of the first 2 legs made the run a long miserable slog. But, immediately upon finishing, when asked how it was "it was awesome"! was his response. Side note, last year he competed with a fever and the flu, so I guess if you can Ironman with the flu, what the can't you do?!

Dan is always trying to recruit new Iron people, and when people doubt their ability, he tells them "it's all mental". I remind him there is a lot of required physical training involved. However, if something is going to break in endurance racing it will likely the head before the body. Most of those on the start line of a marathon, or triathlon have put in the training, but I would wager many of those that DNF lose a mental fight. I think Iron X4 is pretty amazing, but Dan just shrugs his shoulders. He's still just the 11th grade kid that committed to team and raced because he said he would, or the college guy that wasn't fast enough to race so just trained with the team, or the Dad who loves to train and race with his son, or the husband that supported his wife's rehab after a terrible accident. The title is not a big deal, its the person behind it, and how they got there. The key seems to be taking on the challenge no matter how scary, and then believing you will succeed, until you do.

Iron Dan IMLOU 2018