Belle's World – Motivation

Do you know what factors motivate or discourage you?

I completed my second half iron man yesterday – September 24, 2017 in Cozumel, Mexico. For those that don’t know – a half iron man is 70.3 miles comprised of a 1.9 mile swim, followed by 56 miles on a bike and ending with a half marathon (13.1 miles) run (or in my case a walk). My timing was horrendous at 8 hours 55 minutes and I technically didn’t get an official time that would be accepted by the Ironman organization. However, I finished just as I did in 2013 with a time of 7 hours 39 minutes.

My motivation to do a second half ironman was to beat my first time. It’s good to note that I was basically one of the last 5 participants, both times. A second motivation was that I was never an athlete but I know I have the mental capacity to finish things no matter the time and I wanted to challenge myself physically. As a swimmer I knew I could beat my time from 2013 which would give me a little boost to get on the bike course pretty quickly. I completed the swim in 39 minutes compared to 41 minutes in 2013. 2 minutes may not seem like a big deal but it is when you are swimming with 100’s of people around you and the water is slightly choppy. I felt great coming out of the swim when I saw that I had beat my original time. Now I had to tackle the 56 miles on the bike.

In 2013 I took 3 hours 34 minutes and had struggled at the end. I got on my bike and rode 2/3 of the way enjoying the view and feeling good about the ride. Then I hit the town center and because I hadn’t done some detailed due diligence I thought I had about 5 – 8 miles to go. I had 18.6 miles to go. A couple miles in, I hit an internal physical wall. My legs were starting to lock up on me and I was feeling dizzy. I finally reached 9 miles to turn around to go back up the course into the city and had to stop. I asked how many miles I had left and he said 9.3. I was highly disappointed, tired and my motivation went down except for the fact that it was the last stretch of the bike portion. I had to finish the bike portion – I had already done the majority. I couldn’t let myself down. I also knew I had already added a whole hour to my time and that would mean I would have to run some of the half marathon. The lesson in the bike portion was my negligence on understanding the details on how many miles I had left after the town center. In my mind I had finished almost 85% of the course before I reached the town center when in fact I only finished 2/3. Lesson 1 – If I had mentally prepared how long each part of the course was I probably wouldn’t have hit the internal mental and physical wall and lost some of my motivation to do the race. It was the first time I almost felt like quitting. I felt sick to my stomach and I was already very tired. Knowing the facts can either motivate or discourage you. Knowing the facts because I should have done the research would have motivated me to ride smarter in the first 2/3. Knowing the facts when I had drained my engine discouraged me even more but my mental strength allowed me to keep going and stay safe by taking breaks along the last stretch of the bike course. I knew my internal motivation was to finish this race no matter what and that outweighed the facts that I had calculated the bike portion wrong.

As I dismounted from my bike to go into the run portion, my mind and my body had to switch to a different thought process. I had 13.1 miles to do on my tired feet with my body already exhausted. I started looking at the time and realized I would have to go a little faster than a 15 minute / mile walk to finish. I thought I could walk the first half and run the second half. I started the walk and realized that people were already finished with the entire race and I still had almost 3 hour 15 minutes to go. I felt motivated because I knew it was 13.1 miles and I could finish in 3 hours 15 minutes. However, somewhere in between mile 2 and mile 3 I heard that the course closed at 3. I started panicking in my head as I wanted to finish! I had calculated the course closing at 4 that would give me enough time to just barely make it. So I set about trying to ask race officials on the course what the cutoff time was on the course. I was highly discouraged after hearing about the 3 PM cutoff time. I came all the way to Cozumel to be taken off the course and not completing my goal. As I was going into my second lap on the course I asked the officials the same question. Mind you, I don’t speak Spanish and most of them were only Spanish speakers. The two officials mentioned the 3 PM cutoff time and we would be taken off the course. This is one area I had done my due diligence I had calculated the times correctly – making cutoff 4 PM. I was already upset so I could barely get the questions out because I felt like crying. I think internally in my own way I was. I had completed 57.9 miles and I was being told that I wouldn’t have the chance to finish. After asking two more officials I found out that the cutoff time was 4 PM as I had thought.

However, at this point I had lost 20 minutes which was critical to my on time finish. I stopped crying internally and told myself I only had about 6 miles to go and I would finish no matter what. I was about 10 minutes to the finish line and I was told the course was closed but if I could finish I could still cross the finish line. I was happy and sad at the same time. It meant I would finish but it also meant that I definitely didn’t beat my last time but I also didn’t meet the cut off time. So lesson number 2 is that if you have done your due diligence trust in yourself and be confident that you know what you are doing. If I had just pushed through knowing that the cut off was 4 PM I would not have been discouraged when I had heard otherwise. Lesson number 3 was that because I knew I was confident in my calculations I took the time and effort to get to the right answer to help motivate me to get back on track. Make sure dig deeper if you are getting conflicting answers. Getting the facts right will help keep your motivation on track.

As I came around the last 200 meters of the run a girl who had already completed the run and about 27 years old came next to me. She started speaking in Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying. I responded in English and she quickly switched over to ask where I was from and started telling me that I only had 200 meters to go. She was going to stay with me till the end. I mentioned that I was disappointed that the course was closed and she responded with – “You are almost there and finished.” This stranger saw me at the end and motivated to put my last bit of strength to finish strong. Lesson number 4 is that my motivations in life are fully supported by being emotionally wealthy with the love of my family and my life family (friends who are family.) When you have a positive attitude even strangers will support you and motivate you for the moment.

I have realized for myself my motivation comes from my internal strength but also my family and closest friends. I knew many of them were cheering me on even though I wouldn’t know till later that evening. I heard their voices in my head and they were proud of me for attempting a second half iron man and I know were even prouder that I accomplished it even though I didn’t get an officially accepted Ironman time. I am motivated by the love that I receive from the people in my life and am grateful to have them accept me as I am. I live my life, to my own drumbeat, and the people in my life support me which is my motivation to be as is.

It is important to understand where your motivation in life comes from. It helps you through the struggles – real and self induced (ie half iron man)! It is also important to know how to conquer discouragement and know the it is real and will happen.

Do you know your motivational and discouragement triggers?

Welcome to Belle’s world. Everything in this world is based on a bell curve. Our media concentrates on giving advice to make everyone be a part of the masses.

This is a weekly series of Urvi’s insights on her perception of the world. They say perception is reality and she lives in her own fantasy world. This allows her to delve into the human element of our lives, helping individuals decipher their own souls, to understand, who they are and what they want, in the journey of life.

Belle’s world explores the extremes and goes beyond the surface. Ready to read about some of the “elephants in the room?”

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