“What the Hell am I doing?”
Those words ran through my mind on loop as I went through the process of creating this page. I’ve never considered myself to be tech-savvy, so the thought of starting my own website seemed intimidating and frankly, a bit foolish. I believe that if you’ve never felt foolish or laughably out of your depth, then you haven’t sought to challenge some of the underlying assumptions that you make about your own talents and skills. Basically, I wanted to find a way to explore some of the lessons that the Stoic philosophers (Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, etc.) have taught me while I train for a lifelong goal of mine: completing an Ironman Triathlon, so here I am.
For those of you who have never heard of an Ironman — no, not the Robert Downey Jr. kind — it is a kind of race. Not just any race, a race in three parts: swimming, biking, and running — a triathlon. Doesn’t sound terrible, right? Most of us have done all of these activities at one point in time; swimming with friends during the summer, learning how to ride bikes growing up, and running to catch the bus or playing in a rec league. How hard can a race that combines three fun, simple activities be? Here’s the kicker:
You swim for 2.4 miles, bike for 112 miles, and run for 26.2 miles… back-to-back…with only 16 hours to complete it. Not so simple anymore, huh?
“Are you insane!? Why would you want to do that?”
Why train to go up against 140.6 miles, when I could get into something easier, like crocheting or speed golf (no offense to the crochet or speed-golf communities, I respect and admire your work)? I found a quote by Socrates as an undergraduate that flipped a switch for me:
No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
-Socrates
The quote above reminded me of being a kid and competing in triathlons with my sister. Sometimes we would return home after a race and watch the Ironman World Championship on tv. It would be a couple of years until I learned the phrase that described why I felt so captivated by the athletes I was watching, but when I did it fit like a glove. I was watching poetry in motion. Every stroke, pedal, stride was intentional, and I envied that level of discipline. Wanted to have that level of discipline. So when I found that quote, it all came flooding back. The desire to achieve a level of discipline that would emanate from me like it did those athletes when I was a kid.
“Ok, I get the triathlon part, what about the Stoic thing?”
I was introduced to Stoic philosophy by a good friend when he sent me a Daily Stoic newsletter. I will try and sum up what I have learned and love about Stoicism below, but a disclaimer: these are my interpretations of Stoic thoughts and philosophies, I am by no means an expert or even close to one.
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
– Marcus Aurelius
Stoicism is a school of thought that focuses on perception and action. There are four cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance; wisdom to recognize your place in nature and that your perception of it, is reality; courage to act according to the common good–furthering justice; and temperance in the pursuit of fulfilling our nature. Said simply: you control your perception of what happens or doesn’t happen around you and you control how you (re)act afterwards.
It’s a mindset that has helped me break down 140.6 miles into manageable bite-size pieces. I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and do an Ironman, because I know that would be idiotic. What I will do, is go on 1 run or 1 bike ride. I have plenty of things in my control, and the more I swim, bike, run, and now write, the more I will chip away at the perception of 140.6 as an impossible number.
“So, What happens now?”
The first milestone: the 70.3