My Personal Record in Half Ironman
“Don't Underestimate the Mental Side of Sports and Life”

My coach Pete Alfino at Mile High Mulitsports continues to get his athletes to understand “control what you can control and forget about the rest”. What it means is don’t upset about stuff you can’t control, but do a great job at the things/thoughts you can control. If the weather is bad at a race, don’t get upset about it because you can’t control it. When I showed up at Ironman Canada and my bike was stuck in customs and it became clear that I wasn’t going to have my bike for the Ironman race I didn’t get upset because “control what you can control and forget about the rest.” What I could control is to get another bike. I went to the local bike shop which was mobbed because it was two days before the Ironman race. I walked up to the first person I thought worked at the shop. I told him I was from Chicago and doing Ironman Canada and my bike is caught in customs and I didn’t have a bike. He looked at me and said “Don’t worry, leave it to me. You’ll have a great bike for Ironman.” Immediately I felt a peace. Several hours later I showed up at the bike shop and there were shoes and a bike my size. I might add a bike that twice as much as my bike. It helped of course that God had led me to the owner of the shop. The attire from that bike shop, The Bike Barn in Penticton British Columbia was what I wore during the Steelhead Half Ironman in Benton Harbor on August 5th, 2006.

I wore The Bike Barn triathlon clothes because hearing the name Bike Barn and seeing it makes me feel good. Chris, the owner, really helped me out. Made my Ironman Canada experience a PR (personal record) and I had a lot of great memories.

I wasn’t expecting anything really out of the Steelhead Half Ironman. Seven weeks before I was in the Emergency Room for seven hours which eventually was diagnosed as a Giardia infection. I had to cancel doing Ironman Lake Placid. Yes I lost my $450 entrance fee. So I got back to training once I started feeling better. My efforts in the training were relaxed and happy, as I was excited just to feel good again. I did not think of the race ahead of time. I was going to Steelhead to have fun.

Did I have a plan? Yes that was my plan to have fun. If during the race at any time I wasn’t having fun I would slow down. So during the swim I had fun. I swam the 1.2 miles in like 40 minutes. I then followed a heavy lady in pink on the bike. We averaged 20.5 mph. I had fun on the bike. No worries. When I got off the bike, something happened that had never happened to me in any endurance event including at the end of marathons. I had my legs! I had my legs at the start, during the middle and at the end of the run. On mile 10 of the 13.2 mile run I talked with a 66 year old triathlete, laughing and carrying on.

Throughout the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.2 mile run I had fun. I just kept running. I basically passed people on the run for 1 hour 44 minutes. Which was under 8 minute/mile pace. I didn’t know my pace on any of the legs of the triathlon. I covered up my speedometer on the bike and had no watch on the run. This was because I was going to go at a pace that was fun, so pace was not the issue. Fun was the issue. Well the end result was crossing the line at 5 hours 41 minutes but my heat had started 24 minutes before the first wave which meant that I had done the Steelhead Half Ironman in 5 hours 17 minutes. Beating my previous PR by 40 minutes!

This was the first race where I didn’t think about the race ahead of time. I put my mind at ease and was committed to doing it during the race. For me this is the strategy to go with. I have to stay way more mentally relaxed then I had in previous races. I have often thought and discussed with clients the concept that we should “realize the power of the mind. Don’t underestimate the mental side of life and sport.” Next stop Ironman Florida. I have 12-13 weeks to prepare. I hope I can continue to have ‘fun’.

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