It’s a delicate point, after a 2km swim, 90 km cycle going through brutal elevations, you find yourself at the 7th km mark of a 21 km run. You wonder why you signed up for an Ironman event in such humidity.
Your body has given up, you feel dizzy, your feet are begging to you to stop, there’s salt on your skin, you feel dehydrated despite drinking tons of fluids. Red bull, coke, electrolytes, energy gels, the sugar rush in those calories has died down. Your system does not respond anymore.
There’s ice cubes inside your trisuit hugging your tummy, your buttocks, some of them have slipped through and reached your scrotum.
It’s a very delicate point.
You can give up, sit down and call it a day. Unfortunately, all the hours of training do not help you, it’s all in the past. Why would you keep pushing and run the remaining 14 kms when everything is against you?
It’s you, your thoughts, the icky feeling around your body and the humidity of Goa. You look at your watch, and it’s noon. Sweat has trickled down your forehead, onto your visors and you cannot even see ahead properly.
It’s time to stop! Maybe just stop for a bit and feel good again, or just stop for a long time and quit.
Unfortunately, no one ever teaches you how much of madness is enough, how long your “passion” will take you ahead until reality comes biting.
And then, you see another aid station. You soak your head in ice cold water, pour it all over yourself. You gulp some more coke, grab a few oranges and keep running.
You slap yourself once, twice and keep running.
You stop, you stop those negative thoughts, and you keep running.
You cramp up, you can’t lift your feet anymore, all the ice and water has soaked your feet, your shoes are at least a kilogram heavier, but you keep running.
You always keep running, and in no time you’re at the finish line.
The mind will always ask you to quit, keep you in your comfort zone and fuck with your sanity because that’s exactly how it is programmed to, but you don’t have to listen to it every-time, sometimes you can overpower your thoughts, cry a bit, get emotional, visualise the finish line and keep running.
No matter what, you always keep running!
“The truth is motivation is a myth! It’s the most useless concept marketed and circulated. The only reason you push past your limits is when you know “the why”. Why are you studying? Why are you working so hard? Why is it so important to finish an Ironman event? Why?
When you have the “why” sorted in your mind, it’ll be easy to find all the tools to fight the negativity in your mind.”
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