Good morning MOJO,
This is a great story of commitment, determination and discipline from a friend of mine. After you read it, reflect on what you have been talking about doing, but haven't done and ask yourself why?
Many have said:
“You can’t do it!”
“That is crazy!”
“What?!”
“But you can’t swim!”
“There’s no way!”
“That’s insane!”
The journey to becoming an Ironman
It is my pleasure to share the experience and lessons I’ve learned on the road to Ironman. My name is Ferdinand Piano and I’m a Realtor out of San Mateo, Ca. Our dear friend, Tom, has asked me to share my journey to Ironman…
To become an Ironman, (starting at 7 AM) you have to swim for 2.4 miles within 2 hours and 20 minutes, bike for 112 miles before 5:30 PM, and run 26.2 miles before midnight the same day.
On October 14, 2006, I decided to sign up with the IronTeam, Team In Training. When I spoke with the team manager I mentioned that I was interested, but I didn’t know how to swim, had never biked for more than 15 miles, and had never run a marathon. She said, “That’s okay. You’ll have plenty of time to learn.” I believed that they could make me a swimmer, a cyclist and a runner since they are professional coaches.
In the last 10 months of training, there were many times when I wanted to give up. Every time I said “I can’t”, my coaches said “You can”. During the longer workouts my teammates were there to encourage me to keep moving forward. Our longest swim was a 2 mile swim in Lake Berryessa. After a few hundred yards, my mind kept going through these negative thoughts, so I stopped. When I stopped, a teammate asked what was wrong. I told him that I wasn’t sure if I could swim 2 miles. He assured me that I could and said that he would be right next to me the whole way. A few weeks later there was a 100 mile bike ride. Thirty miles into this ride I felt like my legs couldn’t go the distance. Again, another teammate asked what was bothering me. After he realized that I had never ridden this distance, he committed to be by my side the whole way through.
When I was ready to give up and throw in the towel, my coaches and teammates didn’t allow it. They kept me moving forward. I was surrounded by athletes who had experienced an Ironman race once before.
Here it is, race day…August 26, 2007, in Penticton, B.C., Canada. I woke up at 3:00 AM with excitement and adrenaline running through my blood. I had a bagel with peanut butter and jelly and a banana for breakfast. We were shuttled to Ironman camp at 4:45 AM for body marketing and a final run through our transition bags. By 6:45 AM I was on the beach with my wetsuit on and ready for the cannon. I located 3 of my teammates and asked them about their approach to the 3000 person swim start. We agreed to wait 30 seconds after the cannon before we started the swim. This would give the stronger swimmers the opportunity to fight for a short swim time.
It is 7:00 AM-- KABOOM! As the cannon goes off, thousands of swimmers run into the water. I look over to my teammate as he counts one finger after the other until 30 seconds. After 15 seconds, I couldn’t wait any longer. I waved bye and started my swim. Within the first 10 minutes, negative thoughts were running through my head. When I noticed what I was thinking, I started reciting positive affirmations, such as “I am a strong swimmer”, “I love swimming with 3000 of my best friends”, etc. I also thought of all the times I swam with my teammates by my side. These thoughts gave me strength to give one stroke after the other without stopping. Before I knew it, I was approaching the shoreline and all the spectators were cheering every athlete coming out of the water. I located a group of people that were wearing my team clothing. They were cheering, screaming and jumping up and down when they noticed it was me. I saw tears of joy on Coach Bobbie’s face as Coach Tom continued to cheer and point at his watch. My coaches expected my swim time to be around 2 hours, give or take 10 minutes. Since I didn’t know how to swim 10 months ago, I was shocked to see the clock as I went into transition #1-- the clock read 1:37… but I had no time to celebrate.
After several minutes in the transition area for the bike portion of the race, I was off on my bike. I felt great leaving the city of Penticton for a 112 mile bike ride. I estimated my ride to take no longer than 6.5 hours. I averaged 18 miles per hour for the first 40 miles until I felt sharp pain in my stomach. I realized right away it was gas. I was told that this might happen because of all the stress I would place on my body through this event. I immediately dropped a couple of Gas-X pills hoping that it would go into effect right away. Unfortunately, the pain continued for the rest of the bike ride. It was very painful. My average speed had dropped to 10 miles per hour. I still had to worry about the 5:30 PM cut off for the bike-- otherwise I wouldn’t be able to continue on to the run. This is where the positive self-talk came into play. For the next 5+ hours, I fought the pain with positive thoughts. I said things such as:
“I can and I will!”
“Live it, Love it, Breath it”
“I am an Ironman”
I continued with other mantras and positive affirmations. It kept me going strong. On the top of the last mountain, I saw my whole team cheering and screaming. It gave me a boost of energy that I needed for the last 20 miles. Finally at 4:30 PM, I made it to transition #2, where we change into our run clothes for the next 26.2 miles.
Off I go! I started the run with achilles tendonitis in my left ankle. Yes, I’m running with an injury. I met with a Chiropractor two weeks prior to the race and he encouraged me to still do the race regardless of my injury. He said that the worst that could happen was a swollen ankle. The first 3 miles of the run was a challenge as my legs were just getting used to the transition from cycling 112 miles to running. At this point, I was feeling weak and hurt. I needed inspiration. As Ben Comen mentioned during his interview at the Summit, he felt like angels picked him up when he couldn’t get up on his own.
During the third mile of the run, I met a woman in her 40’s. We had a brief conversation about this event being her first Ironman and she had only started training in April. I asked why she started training so late in the year. She said that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to go through chemotherapy first, otherwise she would have started training last August. I asked if this would harm her recovery. She responded, “I don’t care. I’m not going to sit there and die. I want to become an Ironman!” At that point, I realized that my injury was only a thought in my own head and I could run the next 23 miles…and I did. Throughout the next 23 miles I met other angels that inspired me and kept me going. The angels came in the form of other athletes and spectators that cheered me on. I couldn’t stop, regardless of the pain.
Finally, I approached the last 1.2 miles with an hour to go until midnight. The streets were lined with spectators saying, “You’re going to be an Ironman…Congratulations!” It felt great! As I approached the chute, I was greeted by my father, mother and teammates. The announcer yelled, “Ferdinand Piano…Real Estate Broker from San Francisco, California!” As I jogged down the chute, I interacted with the spectators on the bleachers on the left and right sides. When I crossed the finish line, the announcer yelled, “Ferdinand Piano….YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”
I owe my success to my coaches and teammates that kept me believing in me. When I wanted to give up, they didn’t let me. I believe in all of you! Don’t ever give up on your dreams!
My advice is:
- Coaches and Teammates: Utilize your office managers, personal business coaches, affirmation partners and accountability partners as a tool to achieve your goals.
- Environment: Surround yourself with positive, powerful and experienced individuals.
- Inspiration: Always be inspired! Your situation is not that bad.
- Self-talk: Continue to think positive and say your affirmations often.
All the best,
Ferdinand
P.S. Thank you Tom Tognoli, J.T. and Tom Ferry for your support!!!
Ironteam (Team in Training): www.ironteam.net
Ironman Canada site: http://www.ironman.ca/
