I officially registered for the Miami half Iron Man on October 27, 2013, that gives me roughly 7 months to train. Now all I have to do is get to Miami. This will be my first Iron Man event and I am excited to see how they roll out the carpet. From what I know they pride themselves on staging first class events.
A Couple of Observations
I really ain’t sweating it – I have completed all of these distances before and I know that if I go slow enough I shouldn’t have any problem. My biggest concern is really just getting to Miami for the race. I am in the middle of growing a business, working a job that I feel is unstable, raising a family and contemplating a move across the country.
I think this lack of nervousness translates to the business world in a similar sense. If you know you have reached a certain sales goal or started and run a small business and run it successfully in the past doing it again isn’t really all that much of a challenge. Sure the times change but the success principles stay the same and if you have the confidence to make things happen you will go a long way. If you put in the hard work you will eventually reach your goals.
I am looking forward to the journey – It has been almost 3 years since I have trained for a physical competition. For someone who prides themselves on being in shape and goal setting, 3 years is a life time. I am stoked to finally have a goal and something to work towards. I am, surprisingly enough, also really looking forward to the training. Once I accepted the realization that you get better results from going slow than you do from going fast it freed me up to enjoy the training. If I am training outside I can listen to podcast and use this as not only training time but personal growth time. If I am training indoors I can have an excuse to get caught up on all of the latest TV shows. Yes, at some point training is going to hurt but if you train correctly and build your foundation that pain does not have to be excruciating, it is just a reminder that you are pushing to the next level.
Relating this to business I think about the theory that people over estimate what they can do in a day but underestimate what they can do in a year. Sometimes in entrepreneurship we need to take a step back and recognize that starting and running a business is a marathon not a sprint. We need to focus on building a company we can be proud of instead of building a company that exists solely for profits. This means integrating things we love into a business that should be built around things that we are passionate about.
It is going to be harder than I think – I have done 2 triathlons to date. Both were sprint distances and more than 10 years ago. I had youth and lack of injuries on my side and they still kicked my butt. For one race in particular I had just come off of running a marathon and doing some century rides, so I had the distance in my pocket. Despite this level of fitness I vividly remember coming off of the bike and my legs simply not working. I pushed through it and finished the race but the following day I could barely walk, it felt like I had marathon legs and this was after roughly a measley hour of race time. The Miami race is roughly 5 times the distance so I can imagine that I am in for some surprises. I know I need to work on transitions and not going too hard on the bike.
I am still a toddler in the business world. I know virtually nothing despite attempting to get businesses off the ground for several years. I often listen to or read about people who have made it big and sometimes their road map just speaks so clearly to me that it feels like I if I apply the same principles I can’t possibly fail. What I fail to grasp at that moment is all of the lessons that this particular entrepreneur has learned and applied along the way. It doesn’t really matter what I do or how much I learn, I will be presented with unique challenges that I will have to overcome. In addition I have to recognize that I must not burn out on the wrong tasks. Entrepreneurs must wear many hats and get good a juggling. It is wildly easy to get distracted by the busy work and let the high value creative tasks fall along the wayside.
That is about it for now. I need to get focused and start shifting my training away from knee surgery recovery and towards endurance training. I am well on the road and feel that my foundation is being solidly built one brick at a time.