My experience at Ironman Coeur d’Alene: Lessons I learned which apply to many areas of life

I recently succeeded in completing my third Ironman triathlon and first since 2011 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Completing the 4 kilometer swim followed by the 180 kilometer bike ride and 42.2 kilometer marathon run gave me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. The experience also taught me several valuable lessons which can be applied to many areas of life. In the following sections, I would like to share these insights with you.

Lesson 1: Pursuing goals is a valuable activity to have in your life

Achieving a challenging goal such as completing the Ironman brought me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment along with a great boost to my mood and self-esteem. However, the benefits I derived in pursuit of this goal were even more valuable than those which came from achieving it.

Being absorbed in a challenging goal added passion and enjoyment to my life during the many months leading up to the Ironman. As I tell my clients in my work as a Calgary psychologist and a Cochrane psychologist, pursuing a goal in athletics or other areas also provides a regular boost to your self-esteem. This happens because performing the activities in your goal area provides a sense of mastery of skills and knowledge in that area. In short, it is easier to feel good about yourself and experience positive mood and happiness if your routine includes performing activities related to a goal you are pursuing.

Lesson 2: Perseverance pays off in pursuing goals

My goal in 2016 was to complete Ironman Coeur d’Alene. I failed to achieve the goal that year when I had to discontinue at the 135-kilometer point of the bike ride. I had succumbed to fatigue and dehydration brought on by hot conditions. Once I had recovered physically, I made the slow walk back to my motel room as I watched and listened as other triathletes achieved the goal I had failed to achieve. Needless to say, my mood and self-esteem were not doing so well at that time.

When I had returned to Calgary, I resolved to learn from my failure and attempt to achieve my goal a year later in the same Ironman. With the help of my coach Cory Fagan (owner of TCR Sport Lab in Calgary), I identified changes I could make to be able to complete the race on my next try. These changes focused on my intake of water, electrolytes and food. In combination with the training plan which I followed under Cory’s direction, I redeemed myself at Ironman Coeur d’Alene a year after my failure.

I learned that pursuing challenging goals which add passion and excitement sometimes means that achieving them requires more than one attempt and the perseverance to try again if you don’t succeed the first time. I also learned that the feeling of accomplishment and pride you derive from achieving a goal after failing to achieve it on your first attempt is that much greater.

Lesson 3: Pursuing goals gives you confidence that you can cope with adversity

Succeeding in the Ironman required me to cope with adversity in training and during the event. Adversity I faced in training included completing difficult workouts—often in adverse weather conditions—and balancing working toward a challenging and time-consuming athletic goal with other important parts of my life. In this regard, I strove to carve out enough time on other important activities such as my work as a psychologist and spending time on self-care through participating in enjoyable and relaxing activities by myself and with family and friends.

Adversity which I faced at the Ironman on race day included very hot weather, long and challenging hills on the bike and run courses and having to run the last third of the marathon with limited vision. The latter challenge occurred because as the day wore on, darkness set in which led me to go from wearing to carrying my prescription sunglasses. As a result, it was difficult to see where I was running in the last third of the marathon but I managed to cope with this adversity as I had coped with the other adversities I had faced in training and on race day.

My Ironman experience taught me I that I can face and overcome adversity. In doing so, it gave me confidence that if I could cope with adversity related to a challenge as difficult as Ironman, I can overcome adversity in my other life endeavours.

Lesson 4: Social support is critical to achieving your goals

I could not have achieved my Ironman goal without a lot of support from many people. This includes my coach. He not only provided me with an excellent training plan and expert advice, he also conveyed to me the belief that I could succeed. This helped me to believe that I could succeed which motivated me to put in the effort required to accomplish my difficult goal.

Other people who helped me succeed were friends with whom I trained. This included a group with whom I did many swim workouts in Calgary’s Lake Bonavista in preparation for the Ironman swim in Lake Coeur d’Alene. I am especially grateful to my friend David Smith and his wife Heather for allowing me and others to swim as their guests in Lake Bonavista and for allowing us to get changed and enjoy post-swim food and drink in their home.

Key to my being able to finish the grueling 180 kilometer bike portion of the Ironman was a 180 kilometer training ride I did in an area East of Calgary four weeks before race day with the help of my friends Jennifer and Jim Bryden. Jennifer rode her bike alongside me most of the way while Jim drove their car (the ‘support vehicle’). They also mapped out the route for me to ride including planning well-deserved breaks on a hot day at Tim Horton’s restaurants at the 90- and 130-kilometer points of the ride.

Encouragement from these people as well as from my family and other friends helped me to have the motivation to do the work necessary to achieve my goal. Their excitement at my success and heartfelt congratulations helped to make my achievement meaningful and special. I am especially grateful for the encouragement and support of my brother Ron, his wife Karen, my older sister Joanne and her friend Nadia (who both traveled to support me as I completed my first two Ironmans in Penticton, British Columbia), my younger sister Maureen and my business partner and friend Kelly Usselman.

I also thank the organizers and volunteers at Ironman Coeur d’Alene; staff at the Resort City Inn where I stayed and at the Uva Italian restaurant where I had two of my pre-race dinners; and the people of Coeur d’Alene for cheering me and other triathletes. Few moments in my life will match the one I experienced as I ran down the finishing stretch with the crowd giving me an ovation while the announcer proclaimed, “You are an Ironman!”.

If Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2017 is my last Ironman, I will take from it the lessons I have discussed in this article. I will apply these lessons to future goals I choose to pursue and use these lessons to help important people in my life pursue their goals. These include my family, friends and clients.

May you pursue goals to enhance your life,

-Dr. Pat