Posts Tagged triathlon
Finding Inspiration In Finishing Last…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 30th, 2010
It seems more and more that winning is based solely on the position you finish. Anything less than first is considered sub-par. That is great for those who have the ability to achieve that high of a standard; but what about those people who no matter how hard they try, will never finish first?
Last weekend Suzy and I hosted a super sprint triathlon. It was fun and intended to introduce the sport of triathlon to those who may have never considered giving triathlon a try. The distance was relatively short, 400 yard swim, 8 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run.
The race is over, but the memories I gained that weekend will forever be present in my mind.
My job at the triathlon was to be an encourager. It was also to come in dead last. We promised every person that entered our wave that they would absolutely not be the last person to finish the race. True to the promise, they weren’t. I was.
Nearly the instant the race started a noticed a woman struggling. I swam over to her and could hear her repeating over and over “I can’t do this, I can’t do this.” I assured her she would be fine and asked if she would like some help getting to shore. She said no and I treaded water with her for a while wondering what was going to happen. She regained her composure and began swimming again. A few strokes later she stopped and started telling me again that she couldn’t go on. She said she couldn’t breathe.
I know that feeling. When I first started doing triathlons, I experienced the same fear. Calmly I gave her advice that my coach last year, Jim Vance, gave me. “If you ever feel like you can’t breathe, lift your head out of the water and breathe. All the air you need is above that water.”
Again she got it together. Sure enough after a few more strokes she started telling me how she couldn’t go on. At this point I told her that we were half way done and it would take just as long to turn around and go back to shore than it would to finish the course. She kept going.
For the first 300 yards of the 400 yard swim, this lady was convinced that “she couldn’t do this”. When we rounded the last bouy she relaxed and began to enjoy herself. She swam the last 100 yards easily. She did it! We were the last out of the water but she finished. She just needed to relax and change the way she was talking to herself.
As I left the transition dead last, I thought about her swim and how awesome it was to watch someone do something they were assuring themselves that they couldn’t. I also figured that that moment was going to be my inspiration for the day. It wasn’t.
I started out on the bike figuring I would have a nice little ride. I turned around at the half way point and headed back to transition. On my way back I saw a teammate of mine named Sheryl. When I met her I turned around to ride with her. Sheryl holds a special place in my heart. On one of our first team rides of the year she caught my eye. She was riding a recumbant bike and didn’t look like a typical triathlete. That day I learned that she had lost a significant amount of weight and still had a couple hundred more pounds to go.
It had taken her hours that day to go 8 miles but she stuck with it. It was great catching up with her on our ride together at the triathlon. This lady, who could barely ride her bike, let alone walk, when I first met her had accomplished alot this summer. She had gotten up to riding 20 miles non-stop, ridden the Seattle to Portland bike ride, and was now doing a triathlon!
We rode the last half of the bike leg together. I watched her struggle up the hills and then bullet down the other side. At one time when I looked down at my speedometer, we were riding over 30 miles an hour down one long hill. As we were flying down that hill she let out a squeal like a school girl on a playground. I almost started crying. It was a moment of pure joy for her, and I must admit for myself as well.
Near the end of the ride I let her ride ahead of me and again I came in dead last. On the run I was all alone. I had time to think about that morning and what it had taught me. I caught up to my wife and together we finished in completely last place.
Being dead last that day was one of the best things I have ever done. It made me understand how hard some people work to achieve the same things that I often do with little effort. I learned that it isn’t always about finishing first, that it’s about finishing. Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that we should never take for granted our abilities.
Every now and then things may seem impossibly difficult to finish. Just remember that there is someone out there who is having an even harder time finishing the same thing you are doing. It isn’t about finishing first, it’s about finishing what you start!
See you tomorrow!
Where is Your True Starting Point?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 16th, 2010
Yesterday I was out on a bicycle ride with a good friend of mine. As we were riding we started talking about the progress I’ve made over the past year in the sport of triathlon and how I am feeling as I prep for next Ironman in November.
I told him I felt unbelievably different. I am down several pounds, my cycling has improved, and so has my running. Most importantly, my mindset has improved. Last year when I took on the Kona Ironman I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know that carrying around extra weight could affect me as much as it did.
Last weekend I was flipping through the channels and caught the replay of the Kona Ironman on NBC. I watched the race and saw my brief segment once again. When I saw myself, I wasn’t disappointed, I was a little sad. The reason I was sad was because I knew that I had a false sense of how I looked and felt physically.
I was big, not as in pre-Biggest Loser big, but I was carying more weight than I should have been to be competing in a race of that magnitude. The thing is, is that at that time I didn’t realize it. I felt like “I can move 140.6 miles in one day. I am in pretty good shape.” That statement was partially true.
True in the sense that you have to have a pretty good level of fitness to do that race and make the cut-offs. Not true, in that I was definitely carrying too much body fat and failed to realize it. I saw myself as being better off than I was. It wasn’t until I saw myself on television that I realized just how big I was.
I am convinced that had I weighed then what I weigh now, I would have finished that race in under the cut-off time and would have been an official Ironman. That is neither here nor there now. I didn’t finish in time. Heavy or not, I have yet to become an Ironman in the true sense.
What does this have to do with the title of this post? As I was talking yesterday, I came to the conclusion that many of us have a false sense of where we are when it comes to weight. Some of us can think we are smaller and better off than we are, others think we are bigger and worse off than we really are.
In order to know where we really are, we must give ourselves a true starting point. By true starting point I am talking about where are TODAY. I don’t mean 5, 10, or even 20 years ago. The only way to gauge our progress is by having an official starting point and then using that point as a gauge.
For example. If I weigh 240 pounds today, that is what I weigh. In a year from now, if I weigh 200, I will say I lost 40 pounds. If on the other hand I weigh 245, I will say I gained 5 pounds this year. Here is why this is important. I could use my pre-Biggest Loser weight of 353 as a gauge and in turn be able to say that I have lost 108 pounds. Although this is true, it isn’t necessarily the whole truth.
I lost 157 pounds on the show then gained weight back. I then lost weight again. The reality is that If I use the 353 pound number than I am really just losing and gaining the same weight over and over again. This is why I am now using 240 as my starting point. By doing this I can have a clear number and place to begin.
What this allows me to do is wipe the slate clean. I can no longer play games like the “I use to weigh… and even though I have gained…. I ‘ve still kept off….” I know what I weigh and will use this as my starting point and lifelong marker. By doing this, I will have a realistic perception and gauge of how I am doing on this lifelong journey.
In essence, our true starting point is TODAY. Now, lets get started!
See you tomorrow.
Road Trip Time…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on July 6th, 2010
I will be heading out soon for the San Francisco Triathlon soon. I love road trips so I volunteered to drive the equipment down from Seattle. The trip is scheduled to take 12 hours. That is a long time to be in the car alone; especially when you consider that in the past, that is where I turned my eating common sense off.
I have been doing really well. I have found that the more I plan the easier it is for me. Wow, what a revelation! Planning works! I will be packing my food and drink so that when I stop at the gas stations all I have to do is fill up and leave. Rest stops will be at the ever so clean confines of the interstate rest areas.
Gas stations make sense, but why the rest areas? Because for me, there is little enjoyment in stale candy from a vending machine. I know that if I stop at the rest areas I will be in a safe zone as opposed to stoping at a convenience store or restaurant. I’m not avoiding; I’m planning.
Another thing that I will be doing is listening to T.Harv Eckers Millionaire Mind CD’s. I have listened to them before and it is time to brush up on some things. What a better time to do it than alone in the car with no distractions. Car trips don’t have to be wasted time. I am going to use this time to make my mind sharper.
I feel like I have a pretty good plan in place now it is time to execute it. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.
See you tomorrow!
Are You a Do-er or a Gonna Do-er?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on February 5th, 2010
Yesterday I talked a little about how we can’t change others, only ourselves. I want to talk about how our actions speak louder than words. By changing ourselves we can encourage those around us to make changes without saying a word. I am going to share how I use to be a “gonna do” person instead of a “do” person.
For a lot of years when I was struggling I would tell people about what I was going to do. I was going to lose weight, I was going to quit drinking so much, I was going to go back to school. Let’s just say I was going to do a lot of things.
Nearly every week I was gonna start a diet. I was a lot like people you have seen or maybe even yourself. On Monday I would show up to work with my water and a salad for lunch. On Tuesday I would show up with a salad, a sandwich, and a water. On Wednesday I would have a sandwich and a pop. On Thursday a sandwich, a pop, and a bag of chips. On Friday I was like “Forget it, let’s just go out for lunch. I did pretty good this week.” This pattern would repeat itself pretty regularly.
The other thing I was always gonna do was cut back on the drinking. On Saturdays when I was good and drunk I would tell my friends that “After tonight, I’m done.” They would laugh a little and then say “OK Hoover, whatever you say.” I use to get upset and think to myself “Why don’t they beleive me? They should be encouraging me!” Again, I said this on a regular basis but never got around to actually doing it.
It never dawned on me that the reason people didn’t get excited for me is because they were constantly hearing me say things and never doing anyting. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to see me do things they just knew from my past that I probably wasn’t going to follow through. It wasn’t meaness, it was past experiences.
I don’t think I am much different from a lot of people in wanting praise for the things I want to do and not wanting constructive criticism for the things I say I am going to do and then don’t. We all want to look good in others eyes and not look like a failure. Unfortunately, when we don’t follow through we start to talk about what we are going to do next as though to somehow make up for what we didn’t do.
It’s a vicious cycle and it leads nowhere. We need to start small with the changes and then check them off as we go. More importantly, we need to follow through. It’s easy to set big goals and talk about all of the great things we want to do. It can be difficult to actually do them.
I rarely tell people all of the things I am going to do now. I just do them and let people see the results. One reason is that a lot of the things that I tend to do seem downright insane to others. For example, competing in the Ford Ironman World Championships having never done more than a sprint triathlon before. The other reason is that I have learned that my actions speak louder than my words.
In the words of the great Nike slogan, Just Do It! That being said, when we begin to take action more than likely those around us will too. If you want to encourage someone close to you to lose weight, lose weight yourself first. If you want to get a better job, start looking and preparing yourself. We can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen for us. We have to be do-ers instead of gonna do-ers! Have an awesome weekend and go do something!
See you Monday!
Kona Ironman 2009 part V
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 21st, 2009
When I could finally see the lights of the Energy Lab I began to get excited. I knew that the turn around was near. My excitement faded quickly when I realized that you didn’t just get to the corner and turn around. I had to run down into the area about a mile before the actual turn around. When I hit the turn around Joe and his friend Collin did some quick math. I needed to do under 14 minute miles the rest of the way in to finish. There could be no walking.
I jogged through another ice bath and caught up to another athlete. At the same time I saw him there was a flashing sign that said “Raise the Bar Matt!” I am a member of an awesome tri team in Seattle called Raise the Bar and my local coach Patty Swedeberg must have put that up there for me to see. I was literally getting words of encouragement in the most unlikely places.
After the sign I looked over and noticed that the man next to me wasn’t your typical athlete. He only had one leg and one arm. I realized that I didn’t have much to complain about at that moment. We stayed together for a while before he began to fall back. I found out later that his back began to seize up and he didn’t get to finish.
If it was possible for it to get and darker it sure seemed like it did as I got back on the Queen K to head back to town. At this point I began to pray for strength and an improved attitude. Thoughts began to enter my mind that were not helping my cause. Thoughts like “Hey you tried”, “Maybe that guy was right, you could lose some weight”, “Try again later”, and many others were flowing freely. It’s funny because right as I was starting to let some of those thoughts take hold, Joe said “It’s gonna hurt just as bad if you run or walk and you still have to get back to the finish somehow!” He was right. Even if I gave up right then I would still have to get back to town on my own two feet. I picked up again.
When I was about 3.5 miles out a crowd of people came running out and surrounding me. I couldn’t see who they were, but it turned out to be some of my friends and family. They had come out to encourage me at 11:30 at night in the middle of nowhere. They shouted positive words and stayed right with me. I didn’t show it, but I really appreciated what they did.
As I popped a hill I could see the lights of the finish and the announcer calling out finishers. Joe, who was in front of me yelling and thoroughly pissing me off now was screaming the time I needed to make and I thought to myself “Leave it all out here or you are going to regret this moment the rest of your life!” I took off. I ran as fast as I could, I don’t know where it came from but I know God was moving me forward. I didn’t hurt, my feet didn’t bother me I wasn’t breathing hard, I was just running. I was running to become an Ironman!
As I made the turn onto the famous Alii Drive, there were people lining both sides of the street going crazy. Two little boys ran beside me for a minute screaming that I could do it. I don’t remember much beside thinking “Keep running and don’t thow up right now! Keep running!” I saw the finish shoot and kept going towards it. There are to arches as you come through the chute. I stopped at the first one thinking that was the end. It wasn’t and I took off for the next one, the real finish. I raised my arms as I crossed the line and thanked God for the life I have and all he has done for me.
I looked up at the clock and saw a 16 with some numbers behind it as I fell into my wife’s arms and then sat down. I sat for a moment and then felt amazing. I had just become an Ironman, or so I thought. I got up and walked to the med tent to get some IV fluids. Several of my friends were there telling me what a great job I had done. I still thought I had made the cut-off when I asked where I should pick up my medal. That is when some one said “I don’t think you get a medal Matt, you have to finish under the 17 hrs. You were 17:03.” I was sad for a minute, I thought I had made it and was now an Ironman. I hadn’t.
3 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot. It’s not a lot, but it kept me from being able to call myself an Ironman. Although it kept me from being able to call myself an Ironman, it did not keep me from crossing the finish line like everyone else who did become Ironmen and women. I did the distance!
Over the next couple days I am going to share my thoughts on coming so close, what I really learned, and what’s next. I hope you will come back for what I consider the best part….
Kona Ironman 2009 part IV
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 20th, 2009
I’m not going to lie. I was hurting on the run before I even got out of the chute. In the tri’s I did this summer my feet hurt for a little bit and the pain went away. This was way different. I jogged out the chute and once again the crowd cheering made the steps manageable. As I made my way up the hill I saw Suzy and Rex. I stopped to give them a kiss, had a quick cry and headed out for what was about to be the longest night of my life.
After the first mile my coach came riding up on his bike and told me I was doing great. All I had to do was 15 minute miles and I would become an Ironman with plenty of time. I thought no problem, I had never been even close to that in my training runs. I was in or so I thought. I also had never had to run a marathon after riding 112 miles in any of my training runs either.
At the first aid station I grabbed some sponges and soaked my head and neck with cold water. I grabbed some Gatorade and water and chugged them down. About 20 steps out of transition I vomitted. I continue to vomit for several minutes. When I reached the next aid station I did the same thing. Again, several steps out of transisiton I began to vomit. This routine would continue for the next 20 miles. I know I threw up at least 80 times throughout the night. I was not able to keep anything down. We tried pretzels, powerbars, oranges, nothing would stay down. In attempt to stay hydrated and keep going I simply repeated the process the whole time. Aid station, drink, eat, vomit. Unfortunately vomitting was the least of my problems.
I reached the 5 mile turn around as the sun was going down. A guy came up to me and handed me a glow in the dark band that I had to wear so cars would see me. This was the when it really sank in just how much further I had to go. Jim had said that I only needed to do 15 minute miles to finish. It took me 1:45 to get to the 5 mile check point. You don’t have to be a math major to figure out that I was falling behind.
I was at around mile 6 when this guy came up behind me on a moped. He informed me that he was the sweep and that it was his job to pull people off the course who weren’t on pace to finish. If I stayed ahead of him I would be fine. If I didn’t, I was done.
It was about that point that I was going past a little beach area with a sea wall. I seriously considered jumping off the wall right then. I remember thinking “Maybe I’ll jump that wall, hopefully I will just break an ankle and this will be over.” It didn’t take much to talk myself out of jumping that wall, but at that moment it did seem like a viable option.
I kept going and got back into town. As I was passing a restraunt I heard some guy yell “Maybe you should try losing another couple hundred pounds fat ass!” I don’t know why it happened, but at that moment I became severly self-concious and started breathing hard, like I did when I weighed over 350 pounds. All of those old insecurities came roaring back into my mind. Here I was doing an Ironman and all I could think about was how out of shape I use to be and it was affecting me in this moment.
I gathered myself and realize that the guy was an idiot sitting in a bar drinking and I was out doing an Ironman. I had to get over it and I did. I came up on one of the last hills out of town and saw my wife walking along the side of the road crying. She knew I wasn’t doing good she asked me if I wanted to walk with me. I told her no even though I did, I was starting to get a little crazy in the head about this time. At the same time I saw her, a van with flashing lights came pulling up beside me and a couple gals got out to ask me some questions. You know you are going slow when you are the guy racing and the medics are walking beside you asking questions and not even getting out of breath. They let me continue.
Once I got to the top of the hill it was a left out to the energy lab turn around. I was still vomiting, but at least now it was dark enough that no one would see me. My coach Jim and good friend, Joe Lotus, magically appeared again and told me it was time to pick it up. Not only did they let me know, but the sweep scooter came up and let me know exactly how fast I needed to do my next mile in order to stay in the race and not get pulled. This act would continue for the next 9 miles. I was always just fast enough from aid station to aid station to not get pulled.
The darkness on the Queen K is like nothing I have ever expereinced. There are very few lights and you can’t really gauge where you are on the course. That may have been the hardest part for me. Not having a way to visually gauge where you are going can be frustrating and emotionally draining but so can throwing up over and over.
At about mile 20 my coach raced ahead to an aid station to tell them to dump a garbage can of ice cold water over me. I’m talking a huge can that most people use to put a week’s worth of trash in. As I came into the aid station two big huge Hawaiian guys picked up that big plastic garbage can full of Arctic Ocean temperature water and dumped it on my head.
It took my breath away and my entire body felt like it was convulsing, but it felt great and it seemed like my body woke up. I posted one of my fastest miles of the night after that and even better, I stopped vomitting! From there on out I got an ice bath at every aid station the rest of the night. I was the last guy on the course so it wasn’t like anyone else was going to be needing it.
Come back tomorrow as I take you with me the rest of the way!
Kona Ironman 2009 part III
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 19th, 2009
I came out of the water feeling really good. I had finished the swim well under the time that I had set for myself and was excited to begin the bike portion of the race. All year biking has been my strongest part and I was confident that I would be able to get myself even more minutes going into the run.
I have heard epic stories about how hard the ride is in Kona. According to most of the athletes that I had talked to who had raced Kona, I could expect some crazy wind and extreme heat. I was fully anticipating both.
I left the transition area and the could feel the energy from the crowd. It was the closest I will ever feel to being a rockstar. I could hear the announcer calling out my name and people were screaming encouragement. As I rounded a small turn to head up the hill I saw my wife and boys who were yelling support. I got a little teary seeing how much they supported me. Rex, my 2 yr old, had the most intense look on his little face. I know he may be too young to understand what was going on completely but he knew daddy was doing something important.
The first part of the ride is a loop through town in which my adrenaline made it seem almost easy. After town I headed out onto the Queen K Highway to make my way up to Hawi, the turn around. I didn’t really notice the wind or the heat that much until I made the turn up the hill for the last 19 miles to the turn around.
The hills are long and steady and I really began to feel it. The other thing that I was noticing is that there is absolutely no shade along the way. I remember going through stretches where trees lined the road thinking “How can there be no shade here?” I made the turn around at about 4 hours, nearly 40 minutes behind my goal. I swtiched out my water bottles and headed back to town. There was a pretty good stretch of downhill here I was able to coast and try to dry out my shoes.
I live in Seattle where it rarely gets hot. During my ride out to Hawi I was dumping water on my head at the aid stations. On the last stretch up to Hawi my feet began to hurt really bad and I couldn’t figure out why. As I was coming back down from Hawi I finally figured it out. Much of the water that I had been dumping on myself to keep cool had been running down my leg and into my shoe. The moisture was turning my feet into mush. You know that feeling you have when you stay in the hot tub too long, that raisin feeling? I had done that to my feet and it was beginning to take its toll. I kept taking my feet out of my shoes to dry them a little but it didn’t really help.
The thing that I really began to notice was the wind on the way back. It really didn’t seem bad on the way out, but on the way back it was brutal. On stretches that seemed like I should have been able to tuck and pick up speed going down hill, I had to pedal hard to keep moving. The way back seemed twice as hard for me as going out.
Every now and then a car packed full of my friends and family would drive by yelling support and holding up bright yellow signs with words of encouragement. For a moment I would forget about the pain in my feet and have a few seconds of joy.
I think it really set in that I had a long night ahead of me when I got to the energy lab and saw all the people who nearly done with their run. Here I was still on my bike and they were about six miles from becoming Ironmen and women. I kept plugging along knowing that I had to keep moving so that I would make the bike cut-off.
I came into transition at 5:02 the cut-off was at 5:30. My bike leg had taken me over an hour more than I had anticipated. Once again, the crowd urged me forward. I got to the transition area and my first steps off of my bike were some of the most painful steps I had ever taken. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but my feet were already numb before I had even taken my first step of the run leg. I walked and jogged through the transition are to the changing tent. Got changed and headed out for my first marathon ever.
I was excited to be starting the last leg and knew that it was going to be long night. I’m glad I didn’t know then just how long it really was going to be.
See you tommorow!
Kona Ironman 2009 part II
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 18th, 2009
When I woke up on Saturday morning I still wasn’t feeling nervous. There is a certain calm that happens upon you when you know you have prepared the best you can for something and I knew I had done all I could. I knew I wasn’t going to magically become a world-class runner or cyclist in the next few hours before the race so I slept in the car on the way to the race.
We got to the race at around 5 am. I proceeded to the body marking area where I was greeted by the bright lights of an NBC film crew. I got my number marked on my arm, 196. After the body marking I walked over to the bike transition area where I made sure I had enough air in my tires. I did until I turned the bike pump switch the wrong way and let all the air out of my tire! I got it figured out and got my tires inflated to the right pressure.
On the way out of the transition area I felt like something had stung me right in the middle of my back. I walked over to Suzy and asked her if there was anything on my back. She said there was a big bump but neither of us thought much of it. It wasn’t until my coach, Jim Vance, came over and I told him about it that we actually took my shirt off to look. He pulled this huge bee looking thing off me that had gotten trapped inside my shirt and proceeded to sting me a couple more times. I’m not allergic to anything so I think he was more worried than I was.
It was getting closer to race time and it was time for me to head toward the water. I shook Jim’s hand and gave Suzy and the boys a kiss and said “I’ll see you later tonight.” I got my skin suit on, it’s suppose to help you swim faster, and made my way into the water.
When I got into the water I just stood there taking it all in and thanking God for giving me this opportunity. I have wrestled in state, national and world competitions, and none of them compared to the site I was seeing. There were people lined up on the shore for as far as you can see, there were guys jumping out of planes and parachuting into the bay where we were about to swim, there was music so loud it vibrated your heart, and most of all there were over 1800 athletes treading water while getting ready to pursue their goal of becoming an Ironman and I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
I stood there for another minute just taking it all in and believe it or not, I began to tear up. I had such a feeling of pride as I entered the water to begin treading water like everyone else. At this point nobody cared how I got to Kona, or what show I had won, or how big I was, we were all the same in that we were triathletes looking to become Ironmen and women.
After treading water for a few minutes, at exactly 7:00 am on October 10th, 2009 a cannon shook the bay in Kona, Hawaii. When that cannon went off it felt like someone gave me a brief squeeze around the chest and I took off into the churning white water.
I still felt like I was imaging as I took off and then WHAM! I got kicked in the jaw harder than I ever have, then I felt people litterally trying to swim over the top of me. At that moment it became crystal clear that this was different than any other triathlon I had done and that it was time to get serious.
I popped my head out of the water and found what I thought would be the best line for me and I stuck to it. I didn’t do anything mean, but I made sure that I was going to swim my race and held my line the rest of the way. After about 15 minutes things began to thin out and I settled in. My breathing was good and my stroke felt strong. Once I reached the turn around 1.2 miles away, I really began to settle in. I actually began to enjoy the swim. I didn’t feel tired and was seeing beautiful fish and a couple turtles. Once again a calm came over me and I was able to truly enjoy the experience that I was having.
After just over an hour and half I reached the shore again and began my transition to the bike and what was about to become the longest day of riding in my life.
See you tomorrow!
Kona Ironman 2009 part I
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 17th, 2009
Well, it has been exactly one week since I competed in my first Ironman. For those of you who may not have known, it also happened to be the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships.
My journey began this spring when I was asked to participate in this race. I had only done one sprint triathlon in my life, so taking on the biggest triathlon race in the world wasn’t really something I had ever given much thought to. Once I decided to do it, I called my coach and asked him what he thought and he said that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I needed to take a shot.
I began working closely with Jim Vance at TrainingBible.com. He came up with a solid training plan and I began working.
This summer I participated in several olympic distance tri’s which were 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike and 6 mile run. (distances vary from race to race) I also had to prove my fitness in order to participate in Kona by doing a half Ironman, or IM 70.3. I accomplished that in August and knew after that race that I had lots of work to do before getting to Kona. The time flew by and with the exception of a bike crash in September I had injury free training.
I got to Kona on Oct. 5 and immediately knew that this race was going to be like nothing I have ever done or how I had played it over and over in my mind. For starters, it was hot, the kind of hot where you sweat as soon as you go outside. I live in Seattle where a hot day is 80 with no humididty. The next thing I noticed was the wind, a wind you practically need to lean into in order to not get blown over.
Prior to the race I had to do a lot of press and various interviews. Looking back I am glad I had to do that because it gave me something else ot think about in the days leading up to the race. On Thursday, the 8th, I checked in to become an official race participant. I got a little band that I had to where the rest of the time that said “athlete”. I’m gonna be honest, that band created more strange looks than I could have anticipated. I am not your typical looking triathlete, in fact being around the athletes kind of made me feel like I should be back on the show. They were very lean and very fit. I am fit, but am working on getting leaner.
On Friday I did a short swim, bike, and run and then checked in my bike. I have walked red carpet events, and the scene at bike check-in was right up there with the amount of hype and photographers. I walked my bike to my spot and found out where I was stationed. It was the first time that the magnitude of what I was about to do began to set in. Believe it or not, I didn’t cry, but I kenw that I was going to at some point.
We went home and I got off my feet. I didn’t want to show it, but I was silently stressing out. I had spent months preparing for something that many spend years preparing for. I was scared. I honestly can’t remeber the last time I was scared to do something. I went to bed early that night and slept surprising well.
At 4:00 AM on October 10th I got up and got ready to pursue my goal of becoming an Ironman.
Check back tomorrow to find out what the day was like for me.
Sometimes It’s Hard to See The Shore Through The Waves
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 24th, 2009
This afternoon I went for a swim in the ocean. From the bluff we were standing on it didn’t look to bad. There were waves crashing on the shore as you would expect at the ocean but from where we stood it didn’t look that bad once you got out a ways.
Once I got down to the beach I could tell it was choppy but I was still confident that things would calm down once we got further away from shore. The plan was to swim out to some buoys about 1/2 mile off shore. I took off with the guys I was swimming with and encountered exactly what I thought I would, some rough waves. As I continued to swim I realized it wasn’t going to let up.
After swimming a few minutes I stopped to see where the buoys were. I couldn’t see them. In the bottom of the trough there was no sign of any bouys. I could no longer see my goal. At first I was a little nervous. How on earth was I going to get to my goal when I couldn’t see it? I was in the ocean and I couldn’t see where I was going.
As I rose and fell with the sea I realized that when I was on top of the wave I could catch a glimpse of the spot I was aiming for. I knew that if I kept swimming in the right direction and stopped to look for the buoys when I had a chance that I would eventually get there.
I did eventually reach my goal, a half mile out into the ocean. Once I got there I turned around and headed back to shore. It was rough going back too, but at least this time I could see the shore line. I was confident I was going to make it back.
When I got back to shore I realized I had just had an amazing learning experience. There are a lot of times when we seem to be getting tossed around in the ocean of life. Sometimes when the sea is choppy we panick and just try to keep our heads above water. Rather than to keep swimming toward our goal and truly fighting to stay afloat, we will sit and tread water until things calm down.
In this moment we have to trust our ability to swim. The waves may push us or pull us and make it seem like we are going in every direction but forward. This is the time that we need to press on. Keep swimming and look at where you are going when you have the chance. Even though we may not be able to see our destination at the bottom of the trough we have to be encouraged by the fact that once we get on top of the next wave we will be able to catch a glimpse of where we want to go.
Our daily swim in life may not always be in smooth water, but we need to be encouraged by the fact that we have the ability to push on and keep swimming even when it’s tough. When the water is rough, keep swimming!
The only way to reach our goals is to not give in when things get rough!
