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Iron Man Time!

 I turn 40 this year, and I always said I wanted to do an Ironman in my 40s. Well, why not when I'm 40?! This has been inspired by my cousin sending a random text "I am doing an iron man ... Do you have any tips, recommend any training strategy, diet, anything that helped you? ... " Things happen for a reason, I think, divine sometimes. Therefore, I thought about it and deferred to a conversation we should have later. As this clearly was not on the front of my mind, but certainly should be! 

I've been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks, and I've come to a conclusion, based on a study of one, me, that an iron man slides perfectly in line with the age-old 80/20 rule. 80% mental and 20% physical. Keep in mind I am a passive triathlete; in other words, I compete with no one but myself, and I consider it an absolute win if I finish and a super win if I enjoy it! Therefore my "recommendations" are for those individuals looking to "complete," not "compete" that being said, I've read my fair share of improving your fitness/mindset, etc., books to say there's a thin line there. I can all but guarantee that competitors too could easily benefit from my "recommendations."

So let's get it to it. I also plan on doing an Ironman next year, so what does that mean for this year? Back to the basics, review the impactful books that really helped me become mentally strong, books like "A New Earth" and "The Power of Now," both by Eckhart Tolle, these books coupled with 3 times a week of hot Bikram yoga, increased my pain tolerance substantially. Was it the Bikram or was it the books? I think it was the Bikram that gave me the motivation to re-read power of now, which then increased my Bikram practice. 

I'm going to go on a little bit of a tangent here, so I'll try to put it in this separate paragraph so you can avoid it if you don't want some of my personal backgrounds. My old boss's boss got me to commit to iron man years and years ago. He had done many, maybe 5 or 10 different iron man races. A few months before the Boulder Ironman, he was in town and asked how my training was going; I told him I was biking like a madman and doing yoga three times a week. He scoffed and said yoga, and said I must have a lot of time on my hands to be able to waste it doing yoga. I tried to explain that yoga was and still is to this day the most challenging thing I have ever done and that I thought it would help me be mentally tough; he laughed and said, ok, yogi! Ironically, on the bike, I came across him sitting on the side of the road, head between his legs; he said he was dead and the altitude was killing him. We got moving again, and he returned the favor at the very end to get me running across the finish line. Different strokes for different folks, but I firmly believe if you fit at all, then focusing your time on your mind is much more valuable than trying to time shave and improve your physical ability. 

Back to the mentally tough concepts, a fun book that just may assist you in your training is "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F#$k" and "F##k your feelings" by Mark Manson, I recommend this book only if you are thinking that the reason you want to do this is for any reason other than you yourself completing a very difficult task. If you are doing it for any other reason, you will likely fail. Let me clarify if you are doing it so you can tell everyone that you did an ironman, likely you will fail; if you are doing it because you told everyone you were doing an ironman, likely you will fail; if you are doing it because once you finish you can't wait to tell everyone what you did, likely you are going to fail.  The book will help you get into the right mindset on why you are thinking about putting yourself through hell and will then assist you in remaining in the right mindset throughout your adventure. Once you have gotten yourself into the right mindset, then read "Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins, to motivate you to achieve the improbable. 

The mentally tough part, is substantially meditation-based, so if you are looking a whole year out to do an ironman, then the next quarter should be focused clearly on mindfulness, meditation, etc. "10% happier" by Dan Harris, I recommend maybe even before any Ekhart Tolle, because Dan references Ekhart Tolle in his book and paints a fairly accurate picture about him and his teachings. "The biology of belief" by Bruce H Lipton just may be the catalyst to help you get serious about the power of the mind. The classic "Mindset" by Carol Dweck highlights the difference between a growth and a fixed mindset, if you are in a fixed mindset, don't even try anything else until you solve that issue. This brings us to "Deep Work" by Cal Newport, might have to be the first book you read because you are in time going to have to spend a boatload of time training, whether that is mindfulness/meditation training or physical training, there is a lot of time involved; therefore you need to learn to be as efficient with your time as humanly possible and "Deep Work" will get you there. 

Physical training - Until six months prior, just ride your bike everywhere; if you need to grab something at the store, bike there; if you need to do a full-on grocery list shopping deal, buy a trailer and bike there, are you vising with friends? Bike there. Going bar hopping, bike there. And read the book "Body by Science" by Doug McGuff essentially, this is the only weight training I think is necessary and the only training for the first six months necessary. Then there's "Breath" by James Nestor, that as well is a must-read and probably more fitting up in the mindset concepts, but it is a physical deal, so that's why its here in the physical training. That's all I've got right now. 


To sum it up three steps to take over the next six months:

1. Join a yoga studio with hot yoga (Bikram) and start going 3 days a week. 

2. Bike everywhere

3. Read the books I recommended; maybe start with "Body by science" so you can incorporate that once-a-week weight training routine right away. 


Good LUCK! I'll need it, too, as my calendar just got filled up with yoga! :-)

 - 

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