Number Sixteen

My coach and others encourage athletes to write and publish a race plan. I have a detailed schedule for next week, and I mean detailed. I am not publishing it here or anywhere, but will send it along to the coach in case he sees anything awry on there. I won't write up my fueling plan; I've done this 8 times before and know what works.

Basically, here's my race plan:

I will swim like I know how (steady, good form).

I will bike according to my power guidance, which will be taped to my stem.

I will run with joy and wonder and pure pleasure.

There's my race plan.

What's more important to me is my mental state on race day. Last year at Ironman Brazil, my mental state was dictated by extreme grief over the death of my mother--that took care of the mental piece--and my physical state was dictated by extreme sickness. That is not how I like to feel in an Ironman race!

Number Sixteen of the Tao te Ching below pretty much captures the mental state I cultivate in training and in racing an Ironman; beyond that, things like pacing and nutrition are able to run on autopilot (to me that's the easy stuff), and this mental state is precisely why I do Ironman--nothing more, nothing less:

NUMBER SIXTEEN

Empty yourself of everything.

Let the mind rest at peace.

The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.

They grow and flourish and then return to the source.

Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.

The way of nature is unchanging.

Knowing constancy is insight.

Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.

Knowing constancy, the mind is open.

With an open mind, you will be openhearted.

Being openhearted, you will act royally.

Being royal, you will attain the divine.

Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.

Being at one with the Tao is eternal.

And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.