Purpose and Purposeful

It has been a period of self reflection as I rest and plan for next year . As always , it is the time of the year to reflect on what has happened , could have and hopefully learn some lessons from.

With down time and no training (which is a little extreme) I have managed to attend to other matters . It has certainly helped to be away from training and racing. I am committed to the Busselton Half 2012 and will commence my training in January .
I am undecided as to whether I will be doing 2 Ironman races next year . It may be counter-productive and it will be something I will give serious consideration .

Lesson1:
It is time to change routines and do things differently. I also have to take the issue of my diet and nutrition more seriously . Having said that I read a short report on IM Cozumel by bored@work and it was a reflective piece of a 7 time IM racer about priorities, purpose and balance. We all come to a point in life where we must ask ourselves what is more important ?

After 7 Ironman races & the last 3 being a real let down. I decided the problem was all mental.



I needed to find the love of the sport & what I wanted to get out of the sport & why I was really racing IM.


It was so simple I just couldn't see it & needed a break from racing.
I don't want to be the guy that sacrificed everything for a sub 9 /10hr time. I want to be known as they guy who was the best father, husband & friend he could be & still managed to finish an Ironman race. I removed a lot of the things from my life that caused stress - so called friends, car loans, visa cards & stopped wasting money on crap that we really didn't need

Bored@work on IM and Cozumel

I felt the same way but as I have stated before there is no easy way and it is a journey of experience and constant learning.

Lesson 2 : I learnt on the weekend as I went flying on a beautiful Perth afternoon, (I get to do things I don't  normally do when I am not training) As we waited to get up , I watched as my friend went through a checklist in preparation of the flight .There was systematic thoroughness but it was necessary. like all important matters , there is the mundane necessity of routine to derive the benefit. How great the want will determine the execution . The second half of the year has been difficult as my preparation has been sub optimum  as far as putting in the desire and commitment.

Jonathan enjoying the view .17 December 2011

Lesson 3:

Love what you are doing and know why . At IM Cozumel was another unfolding story I stumbled upon reading mailto:bored@work%22s piece. It was about Maria Plummer .There is some vagueness as to whether she had already decided to quit the race or she quit the race to give her bike to a fellow racer who only had 10 miles to ride when he had a flat he could not repair.

She said in an interview:

My self-worth is not determined by a clock or whether I finished," Plummer said. "The look I got from that man when I gave him my bike? There wasn't a shadow of a doubt that I had done the right thing."

Her story ::Winston Salem Women swaps ironman to be a good samaritan

Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of what is important and why it is important . Knowing why is probably more critical in Endurance racing as it is the basis of the foundation for the mental strength needed when you ask all those hard questions on the cold dark mornings at training and in the middle of the race.