Thriving in the Storm by Bill Murphy

Author:Bill Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510775107
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2023-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Identify and Break Your Negative Patterns

“Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

—Charles Dickens

There is always more to learn and new ways to improve. My training has come a very long way since I first became involved in the world of ultra sports. I’ve learned a lot about conditioning and also about myself, but I still make missteps every so often. That’s perfectly okay. I know my process is never going to be perfect, but the trick is first being able to identify those mistakes and then course correct. For me, there was no better example of this than what happened after the 2019 Boston Marathon.

I had already run the Boston Marathon three times, but this race was different. When I hit mile 15, I cramped up and struggled to stay on my feet. Never mind finishing the entire 26 miles; it felt like I could drop at any minute, and I couldn’t figure out why. The weather was crazy. The temperature bounced between 40 and 70. It was windy and raining, and then for a while, the sun would come out—typical New England weather. But I was used to that. And I had cramped up when running before, but I had always powered through it. I knew I was in great shape. I followed my workout plan perfectly. Something else was going on that I had missed.

I kept thinking about some of the runners I had met only a few hours earlier, before the start of the race. I talked to one guy from Canada who had trained multiple days in below-zero temperatures. He had to run in special metal cleats because of the ice. I talked to another guy who was using this marathon as a warm-up for a hundred-mile race out in Colorado. Those stories made me realize that these amazing feats and accomplishments were more mental than they were physical. Suddenly, a switch went off in my head, and I made the decision to do something I had thought impossible only a few hours earlier—complete the Ironman triathlon before the end of the year. I never considered that an option before. Those were superathletes, and what they did was borderline impossible, in my opinion. How anybody could run a full marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 was beyond me. I had never done any swimming or competitive biking, but I was going to figure it out.

I didn’t think I was special—far from it. I’m just a normal guy, but I believe we are all capable of much more than we realize. I’ve witnessed it with many of the people I’ve coached at work. I do sales training, but it always spills over into personal issues. I’ve had so many people over the years tell me they could never run a 5k, half-marathon, or marathon. Then, I’ll work with them, give them a plan, and next thing you know, they’re running their first race.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.