Ironman Athletes

This afternoon I was out riding and the wind was ferocious (again) and it got me thinking. (I do a lot of thinking about my athletes when I am training...) all the local ones have been dealing with this crazy wind for the last few days and writing comments in their notes explaining the 30"/mile difference in pace (with same HR) as "well I was running with that awesome tailwind and THEN I turned around..." Ha! Nice to be able to write back that I totally understood b/c I was running in the same wind, etc. Got a comment this weekend from one who had an ocean swim and the words 'Victory at Sea' were fairly prominent. I know a couple others on the mainland were dealing with cold rain and total crap conditions (literally- crap in the pool in one case- he had a fair pass on that swim workout) but across the board what I read this weekend was Got 'er done.

So I was out there battling the wind this afternoon, getting it done, and just feeling so inspired by these other athletes who were also out there getting it done... and it occurred to me that pretty much across the board these were Ironman Athletes. Ironman Athletes have this never say die attitude that I just love (Honey badger don't give a shit!) It's 50 degrees and pissing rain? She'll do part of her bike workout on the trainer and then get the rest done outside. The winds are blowing at 30mph? He'll plan on it taking an extra 20' to ride home. Pools are closed b/c it's a holiday and there's a Small Craft Advisory in the ocean? He'll wear his wetsuit and stay close to shore. Cast on his wrist so can't ride outside? He'll do wall squats between intervals on the bike trainer. Many athletes would just totally bail on the workouts in those conditions. But Ironman Athletes get it done. And THAT is why I love working with Ironman Athletes.

I have been working with 2 local guys who are doing IMNZ in less than 2 weeks now. They both have quite a bit of IM experience (each having done 6 already) but I sat down with one of them for ~90' this afternoon going over If/Then scenarios and pacing and nutrition planning, etc and I got so excited. I love Ironman. I can't wait to start watching these athletes put their hard work together for some great race performances very soon! I'll be a mess all day- so nervous- watching that race in NZ.

And speaking of race performances, let me brag a little more here... Great Aloha Run this morning... 8.1 miles... Patrick (IM Athlete) ran 47' (do the math that's 5:48 pace!) and was 2nd in his age group, Armando (IM Athlete) ran 51' and was 8th in his age group, Karen (former IM Athlete) ran 57' and was 2nd in her age group, Elizabeth (future IM Athlete) also ran 57' and was 3rd in her age group, and Josh (IM Athlete) ran 59' and was 27th in his age group. Given that there were 1000+ runners in each of those age groups, there's nothing to be but proud of those gals/guys! :)))

OK enough sap. What this post was really going to be about was just how cool I think it when people remove the excuses (and there can be many if a non-IM athlete is creative enough!) and just go figure out a way to get it done.... It's a Shout Out to YOU- you know who you are- if you battled through a bunch of crap this week but got it done anyway without any creative excuses... Well done.