Hi Guys, my blog this week focuses on one of my athletes that made it all the way the Half Ironman World Championship in Las Vegas last month. In doing so Rod achieved a life long dream where he was able to pitch himself up against some of the best triathletes on the planet. The reason I chose to do this was because I think Rods story is an inspirational one, its also a story about never giving up on your dreams even when they might seem insurmountable.
When Rod came to me I was brutally honest with him, like I am with all athletes with big goals. After seeing his past performances I told him it was going to take at least 5 years minimum to get where he wanted to go. This was the first test, basically I was asking him how much did he “REALLY” want this? He passed the first test with flying colors, he wasn’t phased at all and was in for the long haul. With some athletes it might take more or less time but this is dependent on what you see from past results, then most importantly the attitude and personality of the athlete involved. Rod would be the first to admit that he wasn’t exceptional at anything but he also didn’t have a real weakness, in triathlon if you are just average/good at all 3 then this is a great starting point for development. The thing that stood out about Rod was his hugely impressive positivity and “can do” attitude, he also believed he could achieve this. If you don’t believe it will probably never happen, but even if there’s a tiny inkling of self-belief then it can happen for sure.
Now the tough part, how did he do it. Well after getting down to business and looking at Rods work / life balance I nearly fell off my coaching couch when I saw how much travel his job involved! Rod is a very successful banker and brings that high achieving mentality to his sports, what I didn’t fully appreciate was how much time we would spend travelling all over the world. Most 3-month blocks would involve sometimes half of that time flying and working around the world. Not only did Rod work incredibly hard but he also had 3 older children and a wife to support. Throw into the mix that Rods knees weren’t the best and that’s when coach has to get creative with the training plan.
What I will credit Rod with is the fact that when he was away he did his very best to find some time to train but it was limited. I remember him telling me a great story about an experience he had whilst running through a village in deepest darkest Africa with a bunch of small children running alongside him, that’s what I really liked about Rod – he was very focused but still took time to “smell the roses” whilst out there training. Make no bones if Rod had a pair of trainers with him or access to a pool or gym bike he would make the effort to train despite a hugely demanding work schedule.
So we had to work out what was the best way to use this limited time. Essentially the plan focused mainly on using short high intensity sessions whilst Rod was away , then focusing on more long endurance/tempo work while he was home. We were extremely limited by quality time on the bike time so we had to optimize these short infrequent sessions by increasing the intensity. We also had to think long term because the development needed wouldn’t happen overnight but we had to learn quickly from each and every race experience. Make no bones there were a lot of downs and disappointments along the way, but this is a can be a real positive. Its very important for athletes to mistakes because for every bad experience and disappointment it teaches you to do it better way next time and that’s exactly what Rod did. With every race he learned from each experience, when this happens you will eve ntually arrive at the day where it all comes together and it’s “your time”. Its about never giving in and realizing if you want to get somewhere in life it doesn’t happen overnight and you have to experience many disappointments along the way for that one great moment.
Then disaster stuck last year when Rod tore his meniscus in his knee, after long discussions about the way forwards I advised Rod to go under the knife a.s.a.p. The op was a success but the knee didn’t have much time left, we decided that 2012 would have to be the year to qualify. That meant turning Rod into a much stronger biker and swimmer to balance the run weakness due to the weak knee, we simply couldn’t push the run too much. What we could do though was run when the knees were good, use hills to improve strength and speed within reason, keep it on soft surfaces to limit the impact and then rest them when they were inflamed and sore. This worked really well but we had to make sure the swim and bike were as sharp and as fast as they could possibly be. You see that’s the beauty of triathlon, if you get injured there’s usually other elements you can focus on and this gave us the time to focus on these (it can also help prevent an athlete from going slowly stir crazy !). At this point Rods chances were slim but neither of us believed it wouldn’t be possible. Rods positivity throughout the injury experience was second to none.
We then set our sights for 2 attempts at qualification in 2012, these were California 70.3 and Syracuse 70.3. One thing we knew for sure was that Rod didn’t perform particularly well in hot conditions and on very hilly courses. We needed something more undulating and cool…we found this in California where the conditions played into Rods favor where it was wet and cold on the day. The Ironman gods had finally shone on Rod and he managed to clinch his place at California and he was absolutely over the moon, never did an athlete deserve it more.
There is a second part to this story and that’s how Rod raced and performed in Las Vegas at the World Champs. All I will say that is there were still many more ups and downs to come during that period but I will let Rod tell you that story in his own words on the link below. Rod would be the fist to admit that lessons were learned that day as they were along the whole journey. As an athlete you are always learning that’s what makes our sport so exciting and challenging, even the best triathletes in the world make mistakes frequently. The search for the perfect race is always on and that’s what makes it so addictive. So in saying that I didn’t give Rod too much of a hard time about it because it was a once in a lifetime experience for him and he ultimately loved the experience and did really well.
If ever there was an award to be given to an athlete for patience, perseverance and commitment then Rod would be right up there. It’s also a shining example of what can be achieved with a bit of luck and the right mindset. His goal took 5 years exactly from the start of us working together to achieve. With each new year and race he became a better triathlete because for every mistake or disappointment (and there were many!) he picked himself up and kept moving forwards.
What I really love about what Rod has written is that it clearly shows how this journey played out from start to finish. The journey started as most great challenges do – over a few drinks with friends. If you had asked Rod when he got into the sport whether he thought he would have qualified for the World Champs one day he would have said you were crazy……makes you think doesn’t it ?
One-step, one day at a time….dream big and who knows where you might end up one day.
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