Jordan - thanks again for doing this. One day we will have a phone wired to you for live telemetry during the race so you can share your power numbers in real time. I also put up the first post seeing if you were open to this.
My question: What was your mental outlook/perspective on this race vs. your two other Ironman wins given your accident? I would be curious about three dimensions - leading up to, during and after the race.
I too went through a serious health problem and am always curious about others approach to racing and life. Since this is only about the race, I would just want you to comment on that.
I think IMC’09 was about proving things to other people. And, honestly, IMAZ’09 was a lot of “unfinished business” on that course and also proving that Canada wasn’t a fluke. I think I focused a lot on what OTHER people thought. This race, IMC’11, was really about me. Proving things to myself.
I don’t know that I thought about it too much before the race in any of those years. Generally, I try to focus on “today.” I learned that from Simon Whitfield. What do I need to do TODAY. That helps keep the noise of the race from interfering with getting ready to actually do it. During the race, though, while my primary focus is on execution, there are those moments - generally the ones where I actually have a rare clear memory of some section of the race because I’m not 100% focused on racing - that you think about “other” stuff, and I those cases, I’d say the other races were very much influenced by my thoughts of other people, including the athletes on the course. And this year, it was really about me. I think I kept my focus really well during this race because of that.
Afterwards, I’d say I have the most sense of “completion” after this race. Following both IMC’09 and IMAZ’09, I struggled with “what now?” I don’t feel that at all after this race. I feel like because it was such a personal journey without much regard for other people, I think it’s easier to be satisfied with that performance and to shift my focus to my next task, because I’m only worried about what I think, no what other people thought, and what do they think now. As a practical example, I struggled before IMC’09 to find a bike sponsor. Afterwards, I felt like I now “deserved” to find a good sponsor, but still that was stressful because what if winning IMC didn’t actually result in good sponsorship? Now, I have great sponsors who supported me even when I was laying in a hospital bed and who I have long term contracts with. So it’s not about proving myself and my value to the outside world. Now it’s about executing and delivering on the promise that I feel I’ve made to these companies. To give another example, I raced in prototype Zoot shoes and a prototype Zoot race suit. They made that stuff for me because I said, “This is what I like and what I think will help me win.” So they delivered it. And so it’s like, they held up their end of the bargain, now I need to hold up mine. That’s sort of the opposite of after IMC’09, when it was like, I’ve held up my end of the bargain, now who wants to hold up theirs?
I guess before I felt I had to prove I was a professional. Now I feel like I just have be a professional. And, thanks to their unwavering support, I have been able to make dealing with the accident something that was really only between me and myself. And that has been both hard - because sometimes it’s nice to rail against “doubters” and “haters” - but also really rewarding, because it’s been a huge opportunity to become a better athlete and better person for myself.
I’m not really sure if that answers your question. I hope so, but feel free to tell me it doesn’t…
