Outside of time it awaits, it lies in wait for your arrival. But you have to know where to look and more importantly be willing. Never confuse motion with progress, physically or emotionally. In order to redefine your limits you must be willing to push beyond yourself, beyond the boundaries you hold within. Do this and a journey of wonder will begin.
Post Ironman Wisconsin this September, it was time to make a decision, time to evaluate what Ironman Arizona would mean to me. I needed to decide what direction I would pursue in an effort to evaluate any kind of result IMAZ would provide. Would this be a race that I would look to the clock and time splits in search of a race identity or would it be something more? I had no idea.
My training for Ironman Arizona progressed on schedule. My head was clear where it hadn't been for other events this year. I was seeing a weekly if not daily physical progression in my build. My training montra had become "This race is today. Ironman Arizona will be physically fought today." Every battle is won before it's ever fought. I thought this would be enough. I was focused on my physically progression, as I should be, it's Ironman for goodness sake. Stay within yourself and get better each and every day.
But it seemed a bit empty...
I know these blog things are supposed to be about the race, a race report if you will. But that wouldn't tell the story of this race. Yes I swam, I biked and I ran. The distances are ridiculous and the race was physically daunting but that's part of the reason why we do these things, right?
Stepping off the plane in Phoenix on Thursday I was relatively relaxed and reasonably clear mentally. This is a race where it's easy to remain that way as long as you stay out of your own head. One of the things about racing here is the general public in the greater Phoenix area thinks of the event as that crazy race out there in Tempe. Outside the immediate area of the race village it's pretty much a non event. This makes it easy to step away from the race, unlike Madison or Coeur d'Alene where during race week the entire cities are immersed in Ironman. Here the media ignores the race, where in Madison it's front page news. We stay in Mesa where cruiser bikes are the norm so we get some strange looks when out test riding our tri bikes. We might as well be test driving a spaceship.
Friday Bootsy and I went down to the village to check in and to take a quick spin on the bike course. I have recently started to ride a Trek Speed Concept. I'm still finding my way around as far as making some adjustments. The newest technology has made this bike fast but also has made it a bit more challenging for a newbie to be confident in his bike mechanic skills. Because of this I decided to take the bike to an on site bike tech where they would dial it in to perfection. But...it took four hours. I wasn't the only nervous athlete who wanted a professional to give their bike the once over.
They guesstimated three hours to get the bike back but "it could be sooner". Because of this Bootsy and I elected to stay at the village and wait. We cruised the vendors killing time eventually finding a seat at a picnic table over looking the swim start. We wanted to take a minute to engage the race and really start to get our heads around what lie ahead.
As we sat together in near silence, Bootsy working through her race and me working through mine, it all came together. Ironman Arizona was a search. My coming back to what is arguably my home course would re-establish my love for the distance and for the course. I hadn't planned this search at all. I thought I had come to test myself which I did but the search was unplanned and frankly a bit of a surprise. As a triathlete that sounds a bit strange. My world is very structured, it has to be. My training plan is broken down to the minute. If you were to ask me this past January if I could join you for this or that on the third Saturday in October I could have answered your question. So the surprise of this race or to have this particular search step forward was to say the least, strange.
I am always looking to redefine my personal limits both mentally and physically. Can I go deeper in an effort to endure something larger then myself? Do I wish I could go faster? Yes! But the definition of this race would lie in something other then the numbers, something other then time. The definition of this race was about looking deep within myself. About searching for and finding a love that remains but sometimes gets confused with motion.
As I worked my way through race day, I didn't get caught up in the numbers: heart rate, power or time itself. I used them as parameters, it's a long day you have to. For this race the numbers were secondary, as secondary as they could have ever been. I used the numbers as a guidance system, but the driving force lie in my heart not as much in my head.
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| Photo by Kellee Crary |
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| Photo by Timex Factory Team |
For all this race has given back to me, I won't be back next year. I won't be back because I love this course, as backward as that may sound. I am stepping away from this course in effort to pledge my love. I want my true freedoms of this race to always remain. Racing here year in and year out may steal the innocence of that love. So, as of now I plan to come back to this course in 2017 but that's a long way out so we'll see.
Next year Bootsy and I will plan to toe the line at Ironman Coeur d'Alene. IMCDA will always be my first love and I am excited to see what lessons it will hold.
"So it's official now. There is nothing we can do. Now you're apart of me and I'm apart you. And we can see how one and one make more then two. Maybe we should fall in love."
