Namibian Viking

I had a choice after the Ironman to recover and take things easy. Maybe take 3-4 weeks completely off and make sure my knee mends properly.

But that would not be so fun, so instead I am joining some friends on a run along the Thames tomorrow. Well, it is actually a bit more then a run along the Thames. It is a run along side the whole of the Thames!

We will be running the length of the Thames as a 4-person relay race, starting tomorrow morning at 8am. We have divided the whole route up in roughly 6-mile stages. You run a stage, and then get into the car and rest for 3 stages and then run again, over and over again. Each of us is going to cover just short of 50 miles tomorrow.

Anyone out in London, please call me on 07852 120033 and maybe you can join us!!

And as for the recovery and to take it easy? Well I’ll do that another weekend *smile*

You are an Ironman

Those were the words that I had so longed to hear… And last weekend, after 14 hours and 17 minutes I had taken the step across the finish line. I lifted my arms in the sky and thought “Thank god that it is over”. It had been a tall order to summon enough strength to finish the race only two weeks after finishing the Al Andalus 250km.

Once again Ben and I had gone away and repeated what we did in June for the half-Ironman. Well not completely, Ben had for example forgot to take any extra shoes with him, so after 3pm on the Saturday Ben had no longer any shoes and had to walk around the muddy fields in two plastic bags! Much to the amusement of everyone around. It kind of looked as if he had gaiters and was training for Marathon des Sables!

at 4.10am I was up, heating some water to start breakfast and before we know it we are walking down toward the lake at 5.30. The first couple of strokes in the water feels good and I settle in amongst the back, I guess it adds 100m to my race, but dont want the panic I felt in the half-Ironman. 6.10am and we are off. I settle in to my own rhythm as athlete after athlete seems to pass me. 25min in to the race and I am really worried about the time, will I be able to make it. Another 15min and I am pretty sure I will make it. I spend the rest of the swim calculating how many minutes I have left, how big proportion of the swim I have done, trying to estimate my swim time etc etc. The basic maths is keeping me busy, but is proving difficult. I get out of the water after 1h 41minutes, I am so happy I made it through the swim! As I try to stand up a volunteer helps me, as he lets go of his hands I fall flat on my back straight back into the lake, I hope they didnt get that on camera *smile*.

The long up hill to transition I cover mostly walking. On the bike and the chill of the morning air is there to remind us what is ahead. I have only ever cycled half the distance (90km) and to have 180km ahead of me seems a lot. I settle into a rhythm and before I know it I am at the big climb. About 15min later the downhill bit start. The profile showed a big climb at the start of each of the three laps and I have done the first. This first lap I am taking it very cautiously, since we have not ridden the lap, and I want to conserve energy. I am surprised how much uphill there is towards the end of the lap though!

Up the big hill again and I am doing well. However on the downhill I start to loose focus. I can feel how I cannot really concentrate and my vision is a bit blurry. I try to eat and drink, but a couple of times I wobble so much I nearly come off the bike. To add to this my left knee starts to give me bad pain. Have I started the race too early? Was my body not ready for this, so soon after Spain?

For the rest of the bike I struggle mentally. On one hand I feel that I have proven enough to just stop and not complete the event. However the other side of my brain just want to be an Ironman and complete the race. But no one would blame me if I stop, one half of my brain says. The other responds that I should push on and prove that I can go through it. This debate goes on and on for the next 5 hours. This has been my longest mental battle to date, but I stay on the bike and after 7 hours and 21 minutes my feet touches ground again and I almost loose my balance again!

After a quick transition I am on my feet. The knees hurt badly now and I cannot run. “Keep going, keep going” the crowd shouts (“as if I am about to stop now”! I want to shout back!). Slow slow steps, slightly faster then walking and I start to distance myself from the transition area. I figure I would make the race now, but it could be a long long marathon ahead if I cannot pick up the pace…

Eventually I can start to pick up my pace and start to overtake people again. However it took about an hour or so before I was able to jog again. I see Ben and that picks me up. For the next hour or so I try to figure out how much ahead he is. I end up thinking he is between 2 hours and 2 and a half ahead of me. Even the simplest of mathematical tasks are now difficult to complete. The checkpoints are quite frequent, but none of them have the pretzels that the first checkpoint had. I am dying for them now and am longing to get back to the turn-around point where checkpoint 1 is so that I can get some more. It is difficult to explain the pain and the damage the run does to you. Mentally it is such a battle to keep pushing rather then to let go and just walk the rest of the race. Every part of my body wants to stop, but I keep pushing. In the end I get to the pretzels and I empty a big cup of water so that I can stock up on pretzels for the last 12-14km.

The last 10km goes quickly and before I know it (or at least so I remember it) I am in the final lap of the park just outside the finish. I push on and overtake some more people and 400 meters from the end I see that I might be able to reach two more guys, but rather then stealing their thunder, I decide to sit back and give them 100m or so to finish on their own. Instead I have the red carpet to myself and the Bolton crown is screaming as I run the final steps. And as I cross the finish line there is the famous “Joakim – You are an Ironman”.

I had waited so long and it was such a battle. After 4 hours and 55 minutes I finish the marathon and can celebrate that I made it. It was hard and I had to fight the whole way. The feeling is of pure joy and I take such pride in the fact that I didnt step down, instead I pushed on and got my reward.

I will always remember those famous words “Joakim – you are an Ironman”.

Soon two weeks has passed since I took the final steps in the Al Andalus 250km. Looking back I must say that it was a fantastic event. If my knees and foot would have hold up I would have wanted to get out and do it again tomorrow.

Trying to summarise everything is difficult, but I have added up a few things that I have taken away from the race.

Structure your day
This was my first multi-day ultra. I had definitely benefited from a seminar Keith Evans held a few weeks before I left for Spain and Keith showed us how he would pack for Marathon des Sables. I had taken some of his advice when I packed for Spain. The ability to know exactly what to do every day when you come in after the run is really important for these races. First of all – continue to hydrate. Second – eat food so your recovery can start. Thirdly look after your feet and if you have access to showers have them and rinse your clothes. Fourth – eat more. Fifth – Get ready for next day. Sixth – get rest and sleep. And then do it all over again the next day.

To be structured and to have a plan is key to not miss important elements, time and to allow your body to recover as much as possible.

Nutrition
I was surprised how little I needed to eat during the day. I had as much as I could for breakfast, often two freeze-dried meals 90min before the race. For the race I had energy drink for the day and also quick energy in form of gummy bears, but a part from this I needed little more to get me to the end of the day. At the end of the day I once again tried to eat as much as possible before going off to bed.

“Run when you can, walk when you cant and crawl if you must”
This is a saying from Bill Bradley (on Twitter under epicbillbradley), but it is very true. It is so important to change the rhythm throughout a long race. There were times when I couldnt do anything but to walk. But then I start to run at a certain pace and when I cannot go on in that pace I can choose another way to shuffle along.

Many accounts from people running ultra events talk about them not being able to run and they are forced to walk. Then they start to run but can only manage 10 steps, and then they have to walk again. Next time they start to run and they can run for 20 steps. Continue to do this and before you know it you will be running again. A change of rhythm means so much and can pull you out of the deepest dark zone. There are times when you think that you will only be able to walk for the rest of the day, and five minutes later you are cruising along feeling great.

Ultra marathons tests your mental capacity as much as they push your physical ability.

Share your day with others
Maybe the most important lesson for me was how much easier it was when I was with other people. I have previously always tried to stay on my own and my reasoning has been that you have to go fast when you can and someone else would hold you back if they didnt feel as strong at that particular time. However at this race I shared different parts of my race with Arend, Jack, Joe, Andreas, Martine, Jeremy etc. To share the experience, the hardship, the highs and lows really helped me. It certainly spurred me on much more then being on my own. I shared stages in the race with Andreas from Germany and if someone had recorded our conversations I dont think anyone but Andreas and I would understand much. Andreas speaking German mixed up with some English, and I trying to take my Swedish and make it more like German, mixing it with French and English! Incredible that we were able to cover all the topics we did in our own, common made-up language!

Come prepared
I came down to Spain mentally prepared. However with my ITB injury I was now feeling great in my body and hence I could only walk 3 out of the 5 days. I felt so strong energy wise and in muscles, but my knees and eventually my foot really held me back. I promised myself not to come as unprepared for a race again. It was incredibly frustrated to be in an event and not able to perform at your best. Of course there will be times when you come to an event without feeling 100%, but that is different then to come to a race like the Al Andalus without having run for the past 3 months (well technically I had actually run once in the half-Ironman, and I had walked parts of the coastal path for two days)!

Mental an physical preparation is key, and to come to an event like this without being able to run is something I dont want to experience again.

I am sure I will though, knowing me

There were challenges to complete a race such as the Al Andalus Ultra Trail. There is something extra that is needed to every day get up over and over again and for five days prepare yourself mentally to the length of the course, the heat of the day, the pain in your body and the never ending hills. In the end it took me 40 hours and 22 minutes to complete the race, broken down as below:

Day 1 – 10h17min
Day 2 – 9h57min
Day 3 – 6h45min
Day 4 – 9h13min
Day 5 – 4h7min

Looking back there were small things that I can remember of each stage and the little things that happened, the landscape or what I was thinking about.

A multi-stage race if very much about breaking the race down to sizeable chunks that can be tackled one of the other. Throughout the week I was think that I need to get the next check point, or if I knew of another feature on the stage I was on I tried to break the stages down to smaller elements. Below you can read my recollection of each stage of the race as I remember them.

Day 1
Stage 1 = 1h56min
The race started with a gentle incline and then on to the gorge took us up 900 height meter. Hot hot hot and never ending climb. It was early in the day, but already now we could feel the heat.

Stage 2 = 1h39min
I was feeling good, but me knee prevented me from running. I was walking all the way over rolling hills in such heat.

Stage 3 = 1h36min
I started off running with Jack, running through a forest. After a descent we came out on the country side walking along farmer’s fields. Jack and I came in almost together, but after a quick stop I was off again and I was feeling good.

Stage 4 = 2h53min
Incredibly long stage that started with a river bed. This is where I turned back to get help for Dominic, so I added 6km to this stage, not something that I needed during the hottest time of the day. The riverbed was difficult underfoot. The river bed led to a stretch on tarmac and then back on to little tracks next to farmer’s fields.

Stage 5 = 2h 12min
Long descent through forest, would have been great if I could have run. The last 2km was through a great forest track with cliffs on each side. The very last bit was a steep climb into the village. Finally I got in at ten to eight at night!

Day 2
Stage 1 = 2h 41min
Very long stage through rolling hills and some forest. Finally started to climb up towards the check point.

Stage 2 = 1h52min
Up through the narrow gorge of Hell’s path. Stream running through the bottom of the gorge and some of the most gorgeous scenery on the whole race. I did the entire climb with Andreas. This was a relentless climb in a very hot part of the day. The Medic asked us to be careful since they had only limited access to the gorge. The motorbikes went up and down cheering us on.

Stage 3 = 2h6min
The climb continued until we could see the Mediterranean sea. Stunning stunning views from the top of the mountain. After the climb I raced ahead a bit and left Andreas for a few hours. Running through a cool forest, great landscape.

Stage 4 = 1h15min
Long descent through mountain roads. The constant descent hurt the legs and towards the end Andreas caught me up.

Stage 5 = 2h 3min
The stage started with a long long road. Andreas and I met up with Jack who we walked with for a while through the farms. Long long hill took us by surprise and then there was the quick climb before we hit the village and the final rest (where we saw Tony who had collapsed, scary, but he was ok in the end). Another late finish, we came in at seven thirty in the evening.

Day 3
Stage 1 = 1h27min
We started off on the road and over rolling hills. I started from the back but felt good and ran through the field a bit.

Stage 2 = 56min
Once again in forest I was caught up by the English girls and then also by Ingrid and Marine.

Stage 3 = 1h 46min
A relentless uphill through the forest. A several km long hill took us up in the forest. I caught up Martine and Ingrid on the first hill. On the downhill element Martine came up to me (Ingrid had unfortunately dropped out due to stomach problems). We stayed together for the descent into CP3.

Stage 4 = 2h 36min
My knee really started to cause me problems and I couldnt run at all. The pine forest helped us to not get hammered by the sun, but it was still very much hard work. A descent on a mountain track would have been great if I could have run. Big surprise with an extra CP before the 4km from the end. A quick stop and then I actually started to run again. The last 1.5km I raced (well at least in my mind) one of the staff on mountain bike. It started as a joke, but running hard actually didnt hurt my legs. Great to be in camp in a descent time, ten past four in the afternoon.

Day 4
Stage 1 = 1h41min
A long uphill spread out the field. I was with Jeremy and in the end Justin and Paula caught us up. I made a super swift stop and got out on the road after only 1minute or so.

Stage 2 = 2h
I started off the stage with Arend, but left him under a tree when he could not continue and needed a rest. Long stage over the country side amongst farms.

Stage 3 = 2h16min
We were a few of us who caught up and I was with Andreas and Jack and in the end one of the Para and Arend came up with us. Joe caught us towards the end too. The famous sunflower field was great, but the sun flowers were just a little bit too old for being picture perfect. A few long hills were great to push us a bit.

Stage 4 = 1h39min
I was with Arend, Jack, and Andreas for most of the stage. No major hills but it was a constant rolling landscape through the farms.

Stage 5 = 1h 34min
We started off the stage together, but Arend and I had a little bit more in the tack and pushed on. A few more hills and we could now see the road, but not the village where we should stop. Arend’s GPS showed that we were less then 800m from the end, but we could not see the town at all? In the end it appeared out of no where. In the end it was another long day that finished about six in the evening.

Day 5
Stage 1 = 1h35min
The first hour I took it easy with Andreas and Jack. However on the up hills I got going a bit more and then I started to jog again. The first stage was going up the mountain and then dropped down on the other side. I was pushing on my own and feeling good.

Stage 2 = 1h9min
The second stage was a fairly flat stage and most of it on tarmac. The check point was tucked away in a little village and speaking to some of the villages they thought we were a bit nuts (rightly so!). The stage went surprisingly fast and I kept running.

Stage 3 = 1h23min
I caught up with Ingrid and Martine and then Justine on a long up hill. I felt good and pushed ahead. The tarmac road ended and we went out on the fields where we followed small narrow dirt tracks. I had to overtake two big tractors with big loads of hay bales on the back. I felt a bit wobbly on my legs by this point but spurred on I managed to get ahead of them and keep them behind me. I saw the water factory and knew there was about three km left when we got to the factory. Once in to the village the track led us out and on a long road around the village and my heart sank. I was pushing hard to get in under four hours, but I realised I would not hit this. Back into the village it was a bit scary to run on my wobbly legs on the road with lots of Spanish drivers, but I dont think I got shouted at too much… My heart was coming up my throat and I wanted to see the finish line. At the same time it was mixed feelings because I had had such a good time racing and I just wanted it to go on. I went over the river and turned left for the last couple of hundred meters. Seeing everyone there lifted my spirits and I sprinted to the finish and got my finisher’s medal from Paul. Arriving at about a twenty to twelve I was really happy with my last day performance. Food, drink, shower and massage was waiting for me back at the hotel.

Since I have been back it has been a mixture of emotions. I am going from being extremely happy to be amongst the 34 of the 54 that started that got to the finish line. On the other hand I am upset that I could not run all of the days (in fact, I only ran two). I also miss running and to push my body every day. I thought I would be sick of everything when it was over, but it was almost the other way around, I was almost afraid of coming up to the last stretch, because I knew that it would mean no more running.

The Al Andalus Ultra Train proved to be a mixed back of experiences and emotions. Rather then a day by day account of the race i have below listed a few of the strong memories from the week.

The race started off with a walk through town where all the participants walked through the town of Loja and out to the start line. The atmosphere was filled with nerves and anticipation and I couldn’t help to feel a bit apprehensive. My preparations were less then perfect and I had only been running 3 times since April and for a total of 78km. Now I was about to start a 5-day race that in the end should take me back to Loja, just a small matter of surviving the 234km round trip.

Bad omen?
Before the real start we filled our water bottles and I could all of a sudden feel how my bag went loose… Two minutes before the start and I had just ripped my bag! A piece of plastic had broken in two and this made the bag come off my left shoulder, not an ideal start. I quickly got the bag off and managed to secure the bag with a double knot, hopefully this would be sufficient for the race. Was the running god trying to tell me something?? I didnt have time to contemplate since the gun went off and we were on our way…

The first day started with a 4km ascent where we climbed more then 900 height meters. Before I came to the top it was 12 and the heat from the sun was intense. I stuck to my race plan and walked the whole way.

Helping hand
After checkpoint 2 I went off into a riverbed. Here it was incredibly hot and the heat was pounding my head and I realised that this was going to be a long week. Temperatures were constant around 36-38 throughout the week. In the riverbed I saw another participant, but he seemed to suffer and was not walking in a straight line. As I came up to him he started to be sick and threw up. I told him to sit down and helped him over to some shade. I asked if he was ok, and he said no. I asked if he wanted me to go and get the doctor and he said yes please. I realised that I was jeopardising my own race, but I ran back 2km to the last check point. Once there I notified the staff and they sent the doctor, later I found out he was pulled from the race. In the end I did 60km that day instead of the 56km that was on the programme. It added another 40min to my day (10h17min in total), but I know I would do the same decision again. At the price ceremony I was awarded with a special price for my decision to go back for help…

Daily routine
The day was coming to an end and as I got into town I realised that this was going to be a long long week. In the end we had it down to a good structure and I learnt very much this week. Time management and preparations is key. Every day looked like this:
- Woke up 2 hours before race start
- Immediately prepared breakfast (2x freeze dried meal, chili con carne was my favourite)
- Once breakfast was over, get dressed, including sorting your feet out, Vaseline between legs and also where the sun dont shine (could be very sore otherwise!).
- Check the race pack again and fill up water bottles
- Pack up your sleeping mat and sleeping bag and pack the bag that the organisers will take care of, leave a waymaker hydrated meal pack at the top
- Go to the toilet to be as prepared as possible and to avoid au naturale visits.
- Start the race, focus on the next checkpoint, then the next etc.
- At each checkpoint, fill up water bottle, mix energy drink and drink up to 1litre on the spot before getting going again
- As soon as you get in, re-hydrate. After initial coca-cola etc get hold of 1.5l water bottle to continue to sip on.
- Get back to camp and hopefully the hydrated meal pack at the top of the bag is heated by the sun (it was every day!) and eat.
- Sort out your feet, including draining blisters and re-taping all trouble spots
- Shower and clean up
- Have sports massage
- Go and eat more, and continue to drink
- Find new 1.5l water bottle and continue to rehydrate as I pack the bag for tomorrow so it is all ready to go
- Get in to bed as early as possible, ideally for a 7h sleep

Very quickly this became a routine and I found comfort in doing it over and over again. The actual running / walking is only one aspect of a race like this. To have everything else in order and not to create any stress is equally important for a successful race.

It is hard to get started every day. The first hour or so each morning was painful, before the body loosened up and you could start to push the stride a bit more. I am still in awe of the people that ran all of the race hard, hat off guys!

Support staff
Another thing to mention is the support staff. It is hard to convey how much they mean to you, but when you have been walking for 7 hours straight and the heat is about to push you over the limit, the fact that a friendly smile is there means the world. The support staff at the checkpoints and the people on the road were truly amazing during the event. Smiling faces and helping hands got us all through the week, but it would not have been done as smoothly if it was not for this support.

Making friends
I went down to Spain without knowing a single person. On the airport I met up with 6-7 of the other runners and to my surprise I saw Jack from this year’s Namibia race! It was great to see a familiar face. Throughout the week I got to know more people… Eric, Jo Ann, Martine, Arend, Andreas, Ed, Paula, Joe, Jeremy, Mark, Joe, Jack, Paul, Raul are now people that I would happily share my experience with. I have in the past said that ultras are best tackled on your own, because no one has your pace. Well I must say that without the people that I shared the Spanish race with I am not sure I would have got through it. Different days I was going with different people and we drifted in and out of company with each other. It makes me really looking forward to Marathon des Sables when Tom, Ben and I are going to race together.

Not only did we share the experience, we also became the experience in each village we arrived in. We got great reception in all the village from the locals. This only failed on one occasion when some kids thought we occupied “their” football ground. It all ended with load noises and some stones thrown at our tent. This was swiftly dealt with by one of the Parachute guys, luckily he never caught any of the kids!!

Paul, the race director, was a truly remarkable man. Paul has a wicked sense of humour (on the discussion about Marathon des Sables Paul summarised it: “The hardest thing in MdS is to eat freeze dried food the whole week”). He and the team took care of us all so well. We truly felt welcome to Spain.

Day-by-day
I said I would not give a detailed account day by day, but I thought I should give the highlights:
Day 1 – Climb of more then 900 height meters. In the end we finished through a narrow gorge leading up to the town. The longest day, 56km and 10h 17min

Day 2 – They said that today had an even more viscous climb, and I who thought that Day 1 was the tough day!! Hell’s Path ended up on a plateau where we on good weather should be able to spot Africa. We couldnt do that today, but we could see the coast and the ocean. In total 47km and 9h 57min and Andreas and I crossed the line together.

Day 3 – Due to so many drop outs the day was cut in length. It was still a relentless day with the heat eating us up. I was feeling very strong and ran large parts of the day. Raced a mountain bike the last 2km and felt strong! 42km and 6h 45min

Day 4 – This is the stage that the race organiser, Paul, use to train people going to Sahara to run. Up and down hills all day. In the end I finished with Arend from the Netherlands. In total 47km and 9h 13minutes.

Day 5 – I walked the first 5km, but then I started to run and managed to run the rest of the day. Floated through the checkpoints quickly and even overtook 2 tractors on my way in. 37km and 4h7min.

In total I raced 236km in 40h 22min.

Coming to the finish line I had mixed feelings. I was so relieved and happy that I made it, but on the other hand I didnt want it to end. I wanted to keep running for more days. In the end it was a very emotional finish and looking back at the event I have a hard time remember how tough it was. The never ending hills, the sun beating down on you, each day pushing 45-50km. All in all an awesome experience that I can recommend to anyone that want a personal challenge!

I learned very much and over the next day or two I will write another post with what I take away from the event!

Bags are packed and now I am only waiting to touch ground in Andalucia… I cannot explain how filled with energy I am! I just want to be there, on the start line, right now…

The point of no return is long been past and now my head is filled with running thoughts. What will be there, what will I learn, how will the race turn out?!

Well I guess I will know soon enough.

I will try to update you all daily from Spain, but the region we are going to has quite limited mobile coverage, but hopefully I shall be able to get through a report or two.

By the way, I cannot help but to plug this great ultra running book “Born to run“. The most inspiring running book I have read in a long time.  Have a look, but be warned, I cannot let go of the thought of running since I started to read it

Until soon all, keep those well wished coming, I will surely need them in Spain!!

Thank you all for the comments I have got ahead of the race next week, it really helps!

Many of you have asked why am I doing this, especially with a slightly inflamed IT band in my knee.

Read the text below, and you will know why I do what I do…

Keep sending those messages through!

/Joakim

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“Peter, I’d like you to stay for a minute after class.” Calvin teaches my favorite body conditioning class at the gym.

“What’d I do?” I asked him.

“It’s what you didn’t do.”
“What didn’t I do?”

“Fail.”

“You kept me after class for not failing?”

“This,” he began to mimic my casual weight lifting style, using weights that were obviously too light, “is not going to get you anywhere. A muscle only grows if you work it till it fails. You eed to use more challenging weights. You need to fail.”

Calvin’s onto something.

Every time I ask a room of executives to list the top five moments their career took a leap forward — not just a step, but a leap — failure is always on the list. For some it was the loss of a job. For others it was a project gone bad. And for others still it was the failure of a larger system, like an economic downturn, that required them to step up.

Yet most of us spend a tremendous effort trying to avoid even the possibility of failure.

According to Dr. Carol Dweck, professor at Stanford University, we have a mindset problem. Dweck has done a tremendous amount of research to understand what makes someone give up in the face of adversity versus strive to overcome it.

It turns out the answer is deceptively simple. It’s all in your head.

If you believe that your talents are inborn or fixed, then you will try to avoid failure at all costs because failure is proof of your limitation. People with a fixed mindset like to solve the same problems over and over again. It reinforces their sense of competence.

Children with fixed mindsets would rather redo an easy jigsaw puzzle than try a harder one. Students with fixed mindsets would rather not learn new languages. CEOs with fixed mindsets will surround themselves with people who agree with them. They feel smart when they get it right.

But if you believe your talent grows with persistence and effort, then you seek failure as an opportunity to improve. People with a growth mindset feel smart when they’re learning, not when they’re flawless.

Michael Jordan, arguably the world’s best basketball player, has a growth mindset. Most successful people do. In high school he was cut from the basketball team but that obviously didn’t discourage him: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game wining shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

If you have a growth mindset, then you use your failures to improve. If you have a fixed mindset, you may never fail, but neither do you learn or grow.
In business, we have to be discriminating about when we choose to challenge ourselves. In high risk, high leverage situations, it’s better to stay within your current capability. In lower risk situations, where the consequences of failure are less, better to push the envelope. The important point is to know that pushing the envelope, that failing, is how you learn and grow and succeed. It’s your opportunity.

Here’s the good news: you can change your success by changing your mindset. When Dweck trained children to view themselves as capable of growing their intelligence, they worked harder, more persistently, and with greater success on math problems they had previously abandoned as unsolvable.

A growth mindset is the secret to maximizing potential. Want to grow your staff? Give them tasks above their ability. They don’t think they could do it? Tell them you expect them to work at it for a while, struggle with it. That it will take more time than the tasks they’re used to doing. That you expect they’ll make some mistakes along the way. But you know they could do it.

Want to increase your own performance? Set high goals where you have a 50-70% chance of success. According to Psychologist and Harvard researcher the late David McClelland, that’s the sweet spot for high achievers. Then, when you fail half the time, figure out what you should do differently and try again. That’s practice. And according to recent studies, 10,000 hours of that kind of practice will make you an expert in anything. No matter where you start.

The next class I did with Calvin, I doubled the weight I was using. Yeah, that’s right. Unfortunately, that gave me tendonitis in my elbow, which I’m nursing with rest and ice. Sometimes you can even fail when you’re trying to fail.

Hey, I’m learning.

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In one week’s time I am once again on the starting line on a gruesome desert race. This time in Andalucia, in southern Spain. The Al Andalus Ultra Trail is a very tough race they say. Imagine to run a marathon, but then to continue for another 8km. On top of this you have to do it in the mountains in Andalucia in the middle of the summer. This means the heat in the middle of the day will be +40 degrees and some of the climbs over 1000m high!

That sounds like a tough race to me, especially since I have very limited run training since April because of my knee.

Oh there is one thing I forgot to mention. When you have done the 50km in one day you have to wake up the next day and to it all over again! And after that second day you have to get up again on the third day and do it all over. In total it is 50km per day for 5 days in a row… Talk about groundhog day!

If it hadnt been for the fact that I have only run 79km in total since April I would have rated my chances with the race. But currently my concerns are very much around the fact that 5×50km is an awfully long way if you have an ITB that is inflamed.

What is required is a total commitment to the event and mentally I have to completely disassociate myself with the physical condition and focus why I am doing this.

Yet if I make it or not I cannot say at this point. I know that I am going down to Andalucia terribly disadvantaged than how I normally approach a race. My commitment is to 100% give it my everything. If I end up on the floor, in a hospital bed; or if I actually cross the finish line I will not know until Friday 17 July.

Until then, please keep your messages coming, they mean very much to me…

Thank you for your support, it will be needed now when I go into such a race!

Ps, if any of you want to sponsor me and Cancer Research UK, please click here.

Slightly delayed, but here is the race report from my second race of the year, the UK Ironman 70.3…

Ben and I had a great build up, we found a little stream and pitched out tent in a field next to the stream. After fire by the stream, hot chocolate, evening dip, it was time to go to bed. 10am, and we were looking to a 3.45am start!!

Once at the race site you could feel the energy building. This year we had problem with the fog moving in and the organisers didnt want to let us into the water until the fog cleared, turned out to be a late start, instead of 6am, we got off at 7.20.

PANIC struck as I started to swim. I am a much more confident swimmer this year, but I had forgotten all about what it feels like when you have people literally trying to swim on top of you! My head got pushed under a couple of times. The first couple of times I made the mistake of not continuing to swim and more people swim on top of me. There is only one thing to do, and that is to keep swimming. Panic struck me a couple of times, and I would be lying if I didnt say that I was contemplating to put my hand up and get rescued by the boats… Luckily I kept going and after 10-15min or so it all cleared up.

I managed to front crawl the whole way around the course this year and I came out of the water 8 min better then last year. A quick job with the websuit strippers and I was out on the bike course. My bike was great on the first half of the loop (we do same loop twice). Small gentle hills and I was able to power up for them and fly down. I was overtaking people left and right. But before long I was at the start of the hill section, and I remembered Ben’s word about maybe I would not be able to cycle up them, since my bike has not got a third cog at the front and hence no really easy gear option. Many people got off their bikes and walked up, especially on the second lap, but I managed to keep my honour and not get off the bike. I got in just under 3h30min on the bike course, which for being the toughest bike course on any Ironman 70.3 I was very happy with. I took off more than 30min from last year’s time.

I got off the bike and out on the run course. At the very start I felt much better then last year. I could slowly jog from the very start. However this would soon change. The fact that I had not run since April started to give me problems and I just felt that there was nothing “in the tank”. I pushed on and in the end finished it in 2h15min, a disapointing 15min longer then last year for the run.

All in all I had improved my time with 30min from last year, so I was really pleased.

Onwards and upwards from here, and in my 5-event race schedule I now equalised it to 1-1 for me against the races *smile*

I am doubting myself… and it doesn’t feel good… Normally ahead of a race I am filled with anticipation, race nerves and want to get going, but this time is different. My second race in my 5 event race series, a half-Ironman Triathlon starts on Sunday at 7am or so… 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and then a 21km run; and looking at my weeks leading up to the race I haven’t been able to put myself in the position I want to be.

First it was the IT-band that after Namibia kept me off the road and off the bike, and now the last 5 days I have had a deep cough and chest infection. Fortunately on the mend, so should be ok for Sunday, but still.

Benjamin Franklin said “when in doubt, don’t”, but what did he actually mean? Did he mean that one should not do it? or that one should not doubt?

Having considered this in my bike ride home tonight I think I know what to think. I know for sure that I dont want to follow up the race in Namibia with another (do I dare to write the three letters?) DNF…

I set myself a difficult task this year. It has proven that this year I have had more injuries and more illnesses then ever. Is this related. Well I will try to go out with a positive mental attitude on Sunday. We are at a beautiful venue, last year I loved the race, anticipation will fill the air and it will be a very very special feeling to walk down towards the lake again on Sunday morning… I can feel it now, race nerves start to come back! Bring on Sunday!!