Ironman Hawaii Triathlon World Championships
Goals Ironman Triathlon, Drowning Mice and Bold
I learned a valuable lesson at the World Championship Ironman in Kona, Hawaii. That bit of wisdom is best summarized by a quote from Thomas Carlyle: "A man without aim is like a ship without a rudder."
In addition to simply finish the race, I do not really have a goal. My challenge for the past four years has been to make it to Kona – to finish in the top 5 in my division in any qualifying race Ironman North America and earn a slot to complete with the world's best triathletes. After seven Ironman races in four years, I had finally achieved that goal, and ended fourth in Ironman Arizona in April 2006 with a time of 10 hours, 15 minutes. I was ecstatic – I had finally done it. I figured it out. I had qualified to compete head to head with the best athletes in the world Infamous Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Participate in the historic, exalted event in Hawaii was my reward.
But as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "The reward of a thing well done is to have it done." My reward was received way back in April when I got to realize my goal – to race in Hawaii itself was no reward. It was just a very long, brutally hot and painful 12 hours slog through 140.6 miles the desolate lava fields.
Why? Because I had no goal in Hawaii beyond simply finish. And from the moment the gun fired the signal Swimming starts at 7:00 am on Saturday morning in Kailua-Kona Bay, all I could think of was the finish line. That's no way to do an Ironman.
Dr. Richter, Johns Hopkins Medical School conducted an experiment in trying to measure the motivational effect of having a goal. The experiments involved placing rats in water bottles that were a foot deep by eight inches wide. After a short period of time, half the rats were briefly rescued by being taken out of the bottle for a few seconds, then put back into the water. The other half did not. The group that was given hope swam for more than three days. The other rats drowned almost immediately.
Mice that knew there was a chance to be rescued again had a goal – to stay alive until the next emergency. The other group had no goal, so they just gave up. I think it's the kind of happened to me in Kona on Saturday – I do not really have a goal, so I just kind of checked out. This is a very painful for an Ironman race. He becomes very long, hard day!
I learned about the need for a worthy goal. We are motivated by challenges that are bolder just a little out of reach. Ironman Hawaii win was not even in the realm of possible outcomes, and put somewhere in the middle of the pack was the best I could hope for. After all, I was competing with the best Ironman triathletes in the world. I thought you just make it to the line arrival would provide me with an incentive to appreciate the epic event, but obviously I need more than that.
It was an important lesson and one day I'll never forget.
About the Author
About Greg Kolodziejzyk:
Greg Kolodziejzyk is a Motivational Speaker , and successful software entrepreneur who holds 2 Guinness world records for the most distance travelled by human power in one day on both land and on water. Greg has also completed over a dozen Ironman Triathlons including qualifying for and competing at Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
Greg’s next project is something that has never been done before. He plans on crossing the Pacific ocean from Canada to Hawaii under his own power in a custom made, 24 foot long x 3 foot wide completely encapsulated pedal powered boat.
Greg’s motivational speech titled “Bold!” is an impactful commentary about the kind of attitude that it takes to accomplish a dream. Greg has lived his life by the words of German Poet Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe “What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it, for Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” Greg’s spirit is contagious and his message is vital.
http://www.human-power.com
2009 Ford Ironman World Championship (Promo)