Are you really sure you are a sheep?

After I have done the Ironman triathlon many people have told me that I am fortunate to be a "super-athlete". They tell me that it would be impossible for "people like them" to do something like that.

I just smile at this and immediately tell them that I am not at all a "super-athlete". 

At least, not more than they are. 

Our DNA's are 99,9% equal. 

We are basically the same.

The only difference might be that I know that (with proper knowledge and conditioning) human beings are capable of accomplishing amazing feats. 

Our species have evolved over million years, and we have survived incredible challenges not only because of our intellectual capabilities, but also due to our superior physical abiities.

We are all incredibly strong.

We have just forgotten what we are capable of.

We are confusing modern comfort with well-being.

So we are not using our Perfect Machines correctly or at their potential.

And they have become weaker and weaker as a result.

But the whole process can be reversed.

We can all carve out  the "super-athletes" inside of us.

We just need to wake up and remember who we really are.

The following is a very nice fable adapted - by the Coach and Author Michael Neill - from an old Hindu myth about enlightenment and discipleship. Just read it and let the message ring and resonate inside you.

Once upon a time, there was a baby lion who was born into the world alone and afraid. A family of sheep found him in their home in the green grassy valley at the bottom of the mountains one day, and because he was so beautiful and because they were so kind, they decided to raise him as one of their own. It was his sister, who had a highly developed sense of irony, who suggested they name him 'Leo'.

So they taught Leo the baby lion how to walk as a sheep, and talk as a sheep, and taught him all the ways of sheep, and they loved him with all of their hearts. They taught him to fear what all sheep fear, and that whatever he did he must stay away from the mountains, for lions lived up there, and no sheep who had ever gone up the mountain had ever returned.

Eventually, Leo became so good at acting like a sheep that even his own family forgot that he was really a lion. Sure, occasionally some of the other sheep teased him for his unusual size and his bushy haircut. But Leo did what he could to fit in, and he made good friends, and eventually he became a good, productive member of the sheep community.

The years passed uneventfully until one day an old lion from the mountains came down into the green, grassy valley in search of food. Leo was the first to sense his presence, and as soon as he yelled "Lion!" all the sheep began to run in panicked circles. In the midst of the chaos, the old lion noticed Leo.

"Hey, you!", roared the hungry lion.

"M...m...me?" whimpered Leo, terrified but at the same time fascinated by this magnificent old creature.

"What are you doing here with all these sheep?" the old lion demanded.

"They're my family," said Leo proudly.

At this, the old lion laughed. "Then who are you, young one?"

"I'm Leo, and I'm a sheep", Leo bleeted.

Suddenly, the old lion's face turned fierce. "Come with me!" he roared.

Leo didn't want to go with the old lion but he thought that by doing so, he might save his fellow sheep. So with a last look back at his herd, he followed the old lion off into the mountains.

They walked for many miles until at last, high up in the mountains, they came upon a beautiful crystal clear lake filled with smooth, blue water. The old lion beckoned for Leo to come to the edge of the lake. By this time, Leo was exhausted - not so much from the climb, which he found surprisingly easy, but from the constant fear that at any moment, the old lion would eat him. So with a final reluctant 'baaa', Leo made his way to the edge of the lake and looked where the old lion's paw was pointing.

To his amazement, he saw not a sheep, but the reflection of a strong young lion. In that moment, he knew who he really was and let out a mighty roar that shook the mountains all the way down to the green, grassy valley...

After the shock of discovering his true identity, Leo realized that he was hungry - really hungry. And grass just wasn't going to cut it anymore. Fortunately, Leo knew where he could get food, and plenty of it.

But when he got back to the valley to where his old herd was still grazing, he stopped in shock. For what he saw was not a herd of sheep, but a pride of lions, each one grazing and bleating and acting for all the world like sheep. It was his own mother who saw him first, and though Leo could see that she herself was a beautiful lioness, she cowered in fear, not recognizing him and bleating "Lion!" at the top of her lungs.

"Mother!", he roared, but the sound just made the sheep/lioness run even faster amongst the increasingly agitated herd.

Finally, Leo noticed that his sister was looking at him with a faint hint of recognition, and he knew what he must do. He put on his fiercest face, and he roared at her "Come with me!"

And though she was afraid, she followed him on the long journey up to the clear blue lake in the mountains...

OK. That's it.

Now....breathe deeply...and let me hear that loud ROAR! ;)

Do you believe in Magic? (Part III – The Bike)

The swim is over, but the day is just starting. Jogging quickly among the rooting fans, I let a celebration smile appear in my face while I keep moving towards the transition area.

A thousand thoughts are flooding my mind at this moment.

Focus!

Come back to the present!

T1: Swim-to-bike transition

After entering the transition area, I start following the routine I had visualized in my mind many times. The change from swimming to cycling was going to be easy, perfect and, best of all…FAST!

Well, at least that was my visualization.

Reality ends up being completely different, ha!

The place is so crowded that I have to “wait in line” to get my bike transition bag. The changing tent is also full. My wetsuit gets stuck in my calves and brutal force is not working. Slowly and gently, I roll the neoprene down my calves and finally liberate myself from the wetsuit. SLOWLY!

Relax, breathe, but keep moving!

Keep moving!

The rest of the routine goes much better. I get dressed rapidly, including arm warmers and cycling vest to protect me from the cool air of the morning. Race number, helmet, sunglasses, socks and shoes, I put them on without major problems. The wetsuit, swim cap and goggles get in the bag without resistance either. Done!

I finally throw the bag through the air to one of the volunteers, almost hitting another athlete (sorry dude!).

Run!

Where’s my bike? Where the heck is it?

Keep moving! Keep moving!

There it is! There’s my baby!

Run!

Oh yes!
This is it! Time to fly!

Time to do My Magic!

The bike

I leave the transition area with a big smile on my face. Cycling is my strength, and I know that the two-loop course of 180 km total, full of rolling hills and just four hard climbs is ideally suited for me.

The scenery is beautiful and the temperature is cool.

My energy is still intact, and I am ready to attack.

This is going to be so much fun!

As soon as I get on the bike, I start passing on other riders. The effort seems fine, but I keep surpassing lots of people.

To the right!

You are too slow to be in front of me!

Move! Get out of my way!

I am flying!

But…Am I going too fast?

Will I blow up if I keep going like this?

Come on!

Attack that little hill!

Sweet!

I keep switching from caution to overconfidence, while I keep surpassing people. Big, skinny, young, fat, tall, short, old, everything…I see all kinds of athletes while I am surpassing them. I try to see a correlation between their body types and age to the speed they are going, but it seems like there is no one. It seems like everyone can do the Ironman.

Hold on a second! I get it!

It is not the body type or age that is common to them.

It is their Eyes! The Determination in their Eyes!

All these guys and girls have Fire in their Eyes.

They are so Full of Energy. They are so Alive!

With this realization in mind, I suddenly silence my continuous mental debate and neutralize my conflicting emotions. The noise disappears, and I stop thinking completely.

A subtle smile grows again inside me, and my instinct takes full control of my pacing. My legs keep moving, but only as they want to. No rules. No thoughts. I become pure movement!

Magic again!

The kilometers pass by fast. Almost too fast for me, since I am enjoying the ride so much that I do not want it to end.

Eat, drink, eat, drink!

Go up that hill!

Eat, drink, eat, drink!

Attack that super fast descent!

Smile at the rooting fans on the street!

Drink, eat, drink!
Enjoy the view of the surrounding mountains!

I reach the hard and long climb at km 65, which I approach easily and slowly. Many people are surpassing me at this point, but I keep letting my instinct (and not my ego) determine my riding speed. At the top of the climb, I see a scenery that resembles what I see each year on TV during the hardest mountain stages of the Tour de France:  fans coming closer to the riders to cheer them on and leaving only a narrow space for each rider to pass.

Excitement invades me, and I get an extra supply of energy to reach the top. Cool!

But the excitement changes in a second, as one rider coming from the back loses his balance while reaching for a water bottle.

What the f…!

No…no…NO!

He crashes into me and we both go down heavily to the floor.

Tragedy!

I bounce back immediately to my feet. Survival instincts take control and my veins are flooded with adrenaline in a second. The “Tour de France fans” are suddenly silenced by my fast and loud heart beats.

Is my race over?

Can’t be!

Please! It can’t finish here!

Not like this!

Look at the bike!

Is it broken? Twisted? Doesn’t seem so!

How is the chain? Still on!

Put the bike up and turn the chain ring! Seems to work!

I am relieved!

Hold on! What about yourself?

Oh no! There is blood coming down the leg from your left knee!

Left wrist hurts too!

Is it bad?

There is only one way to know.

Jump on and ride!

You’ll soon know if your race is over or not!

Luckily, I discover that I am in a bit of pain, but nothing serious has happened. The knee hurts, but the adrenaline rush helps. As soon as I realize that I can keep going, I calm down, the noise in my head disappears, and I get back into my world of Magic.

From them on, it is pure excitement. Surrounding mountain views, music, fans, rolling hills and fast descents make for an amazing ride. I am so full of this free energy, that I finish the first loop of 90 km feeling great.

I see and hear my parents and friends calling my name after the turn, and I respond lifting my arm and pointing my index finger to the sky to show them that I am feeling like a champ, like a “number one” (although I was way behind the real champ, but who cares, right?). Funny how the very act of showing my confidence gives me even greater energy: I surge again to surpass a group of riders in front of me.

At this point of the race, my instinct is the only pilot, my body is pure movement and my emotions are the raw energy propelling it.

Total ecstasy!

Time flies and kilometers keep getting shorter and shorter. In the last 30 km, I find my Austrian friend Paul, who is waiting to ride with me and take a few pictures in the last part of the ride. How lucky am I to have friends like this, huh?

Finally, I reach the last street of the bike course. As soon as I see the transition area at the end of the road, my mind takes the pilot seat again.

Time to wake up!
Time to start thinking about the marathon run ahead!

My watch shows that five hours and eleven minutes have passed, but to me they were just minutes. A big celebration smile grows within me again, as I reach the transition area. I am living a dream!

This is Real Magic!

Do you believe in Magic? (Part II – The Swim)

OK, here is the scenario where I left you last time: beach, huge and beautiful lake in front of me, triathletes all around me, loud music, and thousands of fans making incredible noise.

Time seems to slow down.

It is like I am watching a film.

 “15 seconds left”, says the speaker.

And I realize I am actually living the film.

The countdown starts.

10,9 - I shake my arms and legs to relax a bit

8,7  - one look at the “thumb-up” among the crowd from my friend Alessio

6,5  - I give back the “thumb-up” sign, too

4,3  - I adjust my swim goggles

2,1  - a moment of deep silence (at least in my head)

BOOOOM!!!

The cannon has been fired.

One deep breath again, and I run into the cold water.

The Magic has started, and I am ready to live it.

The swim

As soon as I start to swim, I clash with another athlete, and then another one. Arms and legs are all over me. I take my head out of the water and see nothing but black neoprene, white swim caps, and water.

I breathe and move my arms and legs in a way to protect myself in all this chaos. I think that I might even get knocked down if I get kicked in the face, so I use my arms more to protect my face than to pull the water to move forward.

While I am trying to breathe, I get one hard blow to the head from another athlete. My head goes down with my mouth wide open and lots of water gets in. Gulp! I gasp for some air desperately. Another athlete is now climbing over my legs, but a couple of fast kicks from my part makes him understand that he should look for another route.

This is no swim.

It is a fight for survival in the water.

And it is just the start.

I take my head out to see an open space where to go. No luck. Everything is crowded.

I realized at that moment that I would not be able to swim freely, but that I would be in tight company throughout the whole 3,8 kilometers.

What to do?

Get desperate as I was not able to swim as fast as I could?

Get nervous because people where constantly clashing into me?

Panic?

For a moment I was getting really anxious. But the very next moment I thought that anxiety would not have made me any faster, and even worse, it would have made me waste precious energy.

What to do then?

Just go with the flow.

Accept reality as it is and make the best of it.
Enjoy the experience.

Tension disappeared, and although the blows to my head and back did not stop, I started to swim much better and faster. I was moving again and actively looking for open spaces and for ways to surpass swimmers in front of me.

The mindset switch from victim to attacker made all the difference.

I had now only to control my effort, in order not to swim so hard that I consumed all my energy even before starting the bike.

The meters started to seem shorter and time flew again.

I was in The Flow.

Chaos outside, but deep relaxation and focus within me.

Magic!

We reached the first buoy and turned to the left. Then another buoy after a few hundred meters. Left again, and we were heading back to the beach.

Now, I could see the sun, as it was rising from the beach. The reflection on the water was nice, but the glare did not allow me to see much ahead. So I just followed the moving feet in front of me. Wherever those feet went, I went. The pace was fine for me, so I did not look for another pair of feet to follow for a while.

My guiding feet and I reached the final part of the swim which was a narrow channel (the final 700 meters) connected with the lake. Fans were on both sides of the channel, and I could see them briefly every time I turned my head to breathe. More than seeing them, I could hear them: whistles, claps, screams, everything…and all fused down to become music in my head.

Magic again!

Finally, I could see the last turn to the swim exit.

I was about to finish the Ironman swim.

And I almost could not believe it.

I was eager to leave the water, as my arms were tired and my back was hurting a bit. But I guess all my fellow competitors were thinking the same, as we all ended tangled up in the final turn. Everybody was trying to rush the final part, but the turn became a bottleneck. It looked like a big traffic jam with nobody moving.

I had to laugh at the idea of having the finish line of the swim just in front of me and not being able to reach it.

Finally, there was some room for me to move again, and I was able to reach the ramp to get out of the water. One volunteer helped me to get on my feet, as I was a bit dizzy from having all the blood in my arms after such a long swim.

I was out of the water.

As soon as I was on my feet, I took the swim cap and goggles off.

And I was able to see clearly all the fans and volunteers around.

And to hear the loud music, the noise from fans and the speaker’s voice cheering athletes up.

One look at my watch: 1h06

What? I was expecting at least 10 more minutes.

Hard to believe, as I was not able to swim as I am usually capable of.

“Time is relative”, I think!

No doubt, I am living the Magic!

OK, I’ll stop here, before I get you too tired with this post.

Next time, I’ll make you jump on my bike with me to go for a really nice ride of 180 km.

In the meantime, keep believing in the Magic.

Create it. Live it. Share it.

Do you believe in Magic? (Part I)

“Limits exist only in the souls of those who do not dream” – Philippe Petit

Many friends have asked me to write about my Ironman race of last Sunday. They want to know how hard it was, how I felt, and in general, how I could do such an extreme thing. They really do not understand how it is possible to swim 3,8k, bike 180k and then run 42K in a day (in my case in 10h33…to be precise!).

Well, last Sunday for me was not about effort, but about doing a big celebration. The whole weekend was very surreal for me. After only 5 months of my comeback to sports training, I was really making one of my dreams come true. And the great thing is that I was sharing this special moment with friends and with my parents, who came all the way from Ecuador to live this with me.

Very cool!

On Sunday, the 10 hours and 33 minutes flew by as if they were just a few seconds of normal time. After all, Einstein already demonstrated that time is relative, and for me his Relativity Theory becomes very evident whenever I am living such special moments: Large distances become extremely short and many hours become only a few seconds.

Yes, I can say that Einstein was right!

Space and time are really relative!

Everything becomes effortless because there is a sense of being carried away by a greater force that the one I can generate by myself. In those special moments, everything becomes a source of endless energy.

It is pure Magic.

It is the Magic that is created when you follow your own Passions.

Magic that comes when you immerse yourself fully in the Present.

Magic that you experience when you are with People you love to be with.

Of course, I am not saying that everything was easy last Sunday, or that everything went as planned. What I am really saying is that I was not struggling mentally or being anxious. In fact, I was enjoying every single moment of the whole experience.

This was the mental and emotional state that I experienced also during the whole 5 months before the race. In fact, I never had the sense of sacrifice behind my preparation that many people associate to Ironman training.

Seriously, the training was not hard!

Nor was it painful!

I am a hedonist, not a masochist!

(Sorry to delude some of you!)

To me, everything was just a continuous, 5-months party.

By the way, to the more technical people reading this, I only trained an average of 11 hours per week during 5 months to prepare the Ironman race. Never trained when I did not feel like it. And I never got sick or injured (but I do know how to make the most of the time I have available to train, which gives me a great advantage).

So you want to know how this Magical Sunday went by?

I’ll try to describe my impressions for you here, although I am sure I am not capable of fully communicating with words what I felt during the whole day. I guess you will have to use your imagination to compensate for my lack of writing ability ;)

Before the race – at the hotel

Alarm goes off at 4.00 am. I woke up early to have a light breakfast, and to be able to digest it well before the start of the race at 7.00 am.

The great thing is that I woke up to find really nice encouragement messages on my cell phone from special friends of mine and family, so the day started very well. I was also feeling rested and relaxed even with the few hours of sleep.

My parents were staying in my same apartment in Klagenfurt, so we went together from the hotel to the race area using the transfer bus. They were actually my “supporting staff”, carrying my bike pump, food, water, and wetsuit for me. It was great to see how excited they were with this whole craziness!

Before the race – at the race area

Arriving at the race site, we immediately felt the excitement in the air. It was only 6:00 am, but the sun was already up, and the city was crowded with 3000 athletes and many more spectators and fans.

I went into the transition area to set up my bike with my water bottles, to pump the tires, and to check the transition bags. The whole area was full of participating athletes, but everything was very quiet. I guess most of us were already thinking about what we were about to do, and not many of us felt like chatting at that point.

I finished my bike preparation and left the area as soon as possible. There was too much tension in the air, which I wanted to avoid.

Then I just walked with my parents to reach the swim start area, following the crowd (a surprisingly quiet one) of athletes, and their supporting families and friends.

Just before going into the swim area, at 6:30 am, I put on the wetsuit and my dad zipped it up for me. A quick hug to both mom and dad (actually I had to reassure my mother that everything would have been fine, and that I would have not kill myself!!!) and off I went into the swim start area.

Finally, I was alone to focus on what was about to happen.

I crossed the check-in line into beach area and stood almost at the front of the group to be able to see the huge lake in front of me.

Sun was already way up.

Temperature was cool.

Music was pumping loud.

Helicopter, kayaks, and cameras were all around.

A mass of rooting fans were surrounding the beach

At the center stage, the ready-to-fight troop of 3000 neoprene-covered athletes, with fancy swimming goggles, were tightly formed and ready to jump into the beautiful lake laying in front of them.

Surreal!

All set for the Magic to happen.

Was I really part of that?

Was I there?

One quick look at my heart rate monitor: 95 beats per minute

Tense!

One deep breath.

One look into the hills over the lake in the horizon.

A thought about how lucky I was to be able to be there.

80 beats per minute.

Relaxed again!

Yes, I was ready!
Ready to create and Live the Magic!

No effort, no tension!

Just raw energy.

OK, I’ll leave you here. 
Right at the beach, ready to explode when the cannon is fired!

In the next post, I’ll try to take you through the whole race, as it happened within me.

But before that...one question for you...


Do YOU believe in Magic?


If you (REALLY) want to live it, you have to believe in it.