The 400. It was humbling it was raw and absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done. A stage set equal to every athlete. Not about who had the lightest bike the better aero or who could draft the best. The brute power of the mountain in front of you and the line of challengers from pro to novice quickly let you know where you stacked up physically… and mindfully.
The hurt locker, thats your pain box. Every athlete has one. It is well known that the cyclist who can suffer the most is also the most successful. Michael Hutchinson said it best: “That it ‘hurts’ is almost neither here nor there. You try to tolerate it embrace it, put it in a box, luxuriate in it, turn your back and go to your happy place, deal with it in whatever other way you can. You have to go back again and again, and while you get better at it, it never gets easy…
I stepped out of the saddle and I loved it and I experienced another level of pain with its ensuing endorphin rush. To keep evolving the mind I have to keep exploring and pushing the limits of it. I mean, I can only think of the next step. What level of hurt locker can on Ironman offer me…?
#mindEX
