Why Do You Want To Complete Your First Ironman Triathlon?

[Antony Werke]

Making a decision to do an Ironman triathlon is huge. I've been competing in triathlons for over 15 years. Once I found out about the Ironman I became curious. After realizing the commitment and hearing how much time it took, it scared me away.

But I wanted so much more... After competing in sprint triathlons, I wanted more. I wanted to raise the bar. So I did by competing in Olympic triathlon distance. An olympic triathlon is a mile swim (actually just short of), 40K bike (24miles) and a 10K run (6.2miles). This is a really nice race to compete. I did these for a handful of years and then decided to go for the BIG ONE. A half Ironman! Yes a half not a full.

Okay on this journey, I was becoming a triathlete and didn't really know it. I was getting confident and wanted to push myself even more after my games in Anaheim Ducks. Still thinking the Full Ironman was out of my sights, I decided to do a half. A half Ironman isn't a joke. You swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles and jog 13.1 miles. I did about one each year for about a 5 year time frame. They were tough and after each one I thought "How am I ever going to do a full ironman?" I walked (actually crawled) away from the half Ironman races proud but discouraged not thinking I could do a full Ironman.

Why did I want to do a full Ironman? I got to the point in my life where I just made the decision to do it. I knew I was an Ironman inside. I was turning 40 in December of 2012 and wanted to complete my first Ironman triathlon before the big 40. Yes the age thing helped but my real why was to prove to myself I could do it. This would be another trophy proving I can do whatever I set my mind to.

I completed my first Ironman triathlon in Anaheim Ducks. It was such an amazing feeling to be an Ironman. Such a huge personal accomplishment.

You need to know your why to complete an Ironman. You also need to know your why to achieve life goals. Take a moment to get really connected to why you want to do an Ironman. Doing your first Ironman isn't an easy task. You must be focused, dedicated, organized, motivated and a little crazy.

Your why (purpose) needs to move you emotionally. Keep asking yourself "why?" do I want to complete my first ironman triathlon. And it's very important to write your reasons down on paper. Getting them out of your head and onto paper is powerful. After you write down your initial reasons review them and ask, "What feeling do these reasons give me?" Keep going... Take your initial reasons and expand them. Let's look at an example lets say one of your reasons was to improve self-confidence. Then ask, "What does self confidence look like (what do I see)? Take note of your new remarks. Then do this with another initial response. Here's the idea, you go so much deeper with this process. It's very powerful and it will do more than get you emotionally ready for the Ironman. It will transform your life.
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