Do you think Age Groupers ‘dope’ in Ironman Competitions?

Kevin Moats, one of the most successful Age Groupers at Kona in terms of wins and Age Group records is bust for Doping, I wonder how rife this is and always have?

Kevin Moats Banned for Doping (Written by: Dan Empfield Date: Fri Oct 19 2012)

Top age-group athlete Kevin Moats, 58 years old, has been suspended from competition by World Triathlon Corporation for 1 year as a result of a positive test for exogenous testosterone.  The original ban was for 2 years, but the ban was halved by an arbitration panel.
The adverse finding was as a result of a test executed on Moats, out of competition, on January 30, 2012.  The sample failed the threshold for testosterone/epitestosterone ratio.  Moats admitted, at his arbitration hearing, taking supplemental testosterone.  He contends, and has produced documentation, demonstrating that he has been under a doctor’s supervision since 2005 for hypothyroidism and andropause.  However, Moats did not seek a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) prior to the test or at any time prior to the arbitration hearing.

To read more, follow the link, http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Kevin_Moats_Banned_for_Doping_3172.html

World Ironman Championships, the Titanic and the Ring!!!

Can you feel the pre race tension?

I have had an amazing Journey over the past 8 or so years and have learnt some invaluable lessons, overcome many an obstacle and have tried to encourage people to pick themselves up when they are knocked down and to never give up on their Dreams.

Well I guess I’m going to have to dig deep and start re applying many of the lessons learnt and try and do what I would be telling anybody else who has been knocked down.  Time is a great healer and I know I will look back on this experience in time (already am)…… smile and say thanks for the lessons, as there is a lesson to be learnt in everything we do, it’s just that in the moment we grapple to understand why things happen as they do.

At lunch time on Monday  my daughter said to me, “Dad, where is your Wedding Band?” and my heart sank as I knew I had it on when I started swimming the 3.8km Ironman swim at the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii and remember feeling it shifting on my finger and for a fleeting moment thinking about the Titanic and the ring dropping to the bottom of the Ocean. I skipped two swim strokes, pushed it back on and never thought of it again. I was so focussed that I immediately put the ring out of my mind and concentrated on staying on the feet of the swimmer in front of me.

The strange thing is I’ve swum hundreds, if not thousands of times in the Ocean, never taken my ring off and never had it slide off. So should I have taken my ring off, would I have taken it off even if I had thought about it? The answer is simply No, what happened was beyond my control (or maybe I shouldn’t have lost as much weight as I did…) and therein lies one of the Lessons of my Ironman race.

Would I have done anything different to avoid going down like the Titanic during the bike leg? No, I prepared to the very best of my ability, I sacrificed as much as I could (as did my family), I tried to work on the what I could control and truth be told I did look in the mirror after the race and asked myself if I gave it my best? The answer was a resounding  Yes, as I never waivered in my commitment to finishing this race which was the major objective and a repeatedly stated objective of mine.

Ironman athletes get punctures, slow ones too, we run out of air (‘bombs’ in triathlon jargon) and our fellow competitors aren’t interested in slowing to help strangers (although a few did hand/toss me a ‘bomb’ enabling me to get closer to the finish line and I am very grateful to them for their help) and even the bike tech guys, who are out there doing their best may only find or stumble across you way too late. It happens and we may never fully comprehend why it should happen on this one particular World Championship day thousands of miles from home.

Make no mistake, I was gutted, I was devastated, even heart-broken and I shed many a tear out there in the hot Lava Fields, but they all evaporated very quickly and while I’ve had hundreds of encouraging and supportive messages I know that people do not like ‘pity parties’, so the good news is you won’t be getting an invite to one for me, as I’m already building a bridge in an effort to get over it and move on with the next chapter of my life.

I do try and live Life without regrets and when I departed the the Big Island of Hawaii, which had been our ‘home’ for 4 weeks,  I chose to put my personal disappointments behind me and am able to say “No regrets, I came, I prepared, I tried with all my might, I took the long road (which I prefer to do in my Isuzu 4 x4) and I persevered as best I could to that hallowed finish line on Alii Dve to complete the Ironman World Championships.  I am Blessed to have been able to participate and to have fulfilled my Dream of racing in Hawaii, so I am eternally grateful for this wonderful opportunity..” As a family it was a great experience too, drawing Michelle, Camryn, Jamie and I closer than we already were.

Yes, I was a bit of an emotional wreck for a day or two and I am still hurting inside. It is disappointing when you give your absolute everything to prepare for a race, you swim, bike, run, day after day, you work on your core, your mind, you watch what you eat and get your weight down to the target you set for yourself…. and your family sacrifice so much, your clients are patient and your work colleagues and employers are very encouraging and understanding and your friends and sponsors so very supportive.

All going well on the first half of the bike, after a great swim.

I seemingly timed my taper well, as I had a brilliant swim, coming in 2-4 minutes ahead of scheduled expectations and was feeling great on the bike, so one could hardly ask for more. It was a case of being patient, of good nutrition during the bike, of being conservative to enable one to fight really hard in the latter stages of the bike and in the marathon run. I’m not going to go into details of all the mechanical issues I had out there amongst the Lava fields, where you frustratingly end up pushing your bike and walking for 45 minutes in the sweltering heat and don’t see a solitary spectator and it is just you, your mind and the elements.

In pursuit of the ‘finish’ with a borrowed wheel, supplied by Bike Works.

At times I thought I was having a nightmare and kept trying to wake up, at times I couldn’t control the heartache and the tears flowed, but I had to try and keep myself sane, try and keep my mind strong, I had to persevere and finish this race and get this monkey off my back, as it’s been a 27 year Dream to participate in and finish this race. After what seemed an eternity a vehicle arrived out of the haze and provided me with a borrowed rear wheel, so I was finally back in the ‘race’.

Too late to compete though, as I was now virtually last in my age group. One feels cheated when you cannot test yourself physically and mentally as this is what we athletes prepare for. In fact we have a craving to compete, to see if we can push through the pain barriers and on this fateful day I wasn’t going to be challenging any physical barriers, only mental ones and not the mental ones I prepared myself for.

This was no longer the race for the podium, or a top ten finish, this was simply the ‘race’ of life! Life is like an Ironman, you will get knocked down and you have to dust yourself off and get back into the ring and keep plugging away. I am pleased that I kept on plugging away and my family (and friends and family at home following on the net) made it that much easier to keep on pushing, as did my late Step Son Reece, Terry (Father in Law) and Harry (Dad).

A tough Marathon lay ahead….

Jamie (my 12 yo son) was with me for almost every stride of the marathon, as he ran on the opposite side of the road barefoot for 7km, before Liezel and Conrad Stoltz came to offer me some encouragement and Liezel immediately offered her bike to Jamie. Obviously he jumped at the chance and Conrad lowered the seat and Jamie (no shoes) rode 30 odd kilometres with the South African flag draped over his shoulders, cheering everyone on. That kept me in the present and going at a good pace and it was only when it started getting dark and I said to Jamie he needed to head to the finish (as he had no light) that I allowed my mind to wander and I was overcome with emotion. For about 3km of this race I took a time out, before getting a grip on the emotions that inevitably surfaced, enabling me to enjoy and saviour the joy of finishing one of the World’s toughest and greatest endurance races, the Ironman World Championships.

Happy and relieved to have finally started and finsihed the Ironman World Championships

I am grateful to my family for greeting me with a smile and their unconditional support and love, I am grateful to my friends and colleagues for their support and words of encouragement, I am grateful to my sponsors Isuzu (as well as Oakley, Cytomax, Orca and Online Innovations) and to the leadership within our business, Consolidated, for their encouragement.

One of the most effective leaders in the Bible, St Paul, said, “I am focussing all my energies on this one thing. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” I too will put this behind me and look forward to what lies ahead.

In closing I would like to congratulate Germany’s Wolfgang Schmatz who won in 9hrs 31 minutes, with a 3 hour 10 min marathon a phenomenal performance (winning the 50-54 Age Group by an astonishing 24 minutes) and certainly a performance I would not have been able to match on the day. Congratulations too to top South African finisher Kyle Buckingham (Velocity Sports Lab) who recorded a time of 9hrs 19 minutes, as well as Andre Van Heerden (55-59) and Ken Poole (70+) who both placed 5^th in their age categories.

Top South African finisher Kyle Buckingham, a great talent for the future.

 

Scott Rigsby’s 5 Key Steps to achieving the Unthinkable:

Scott Rigsby suggests that you contemplate the 5 key steps that he took to cross his finish line and transform his/the world.

1.       Have a Dream:

Nothing can happen until you have something big in your heart that drives you. Your dream is yours alone and it doesn’t matter whether or not the dream seems attainable right now. In fact, searching for your dream may be a process you need to go through before it is fully revealed.  Whatever the path, you must be willing to try and you will know you’re on the right course when that dream becomes bigger than yourself. It will become your passion. Just spend some time thinking about what you’d really love to achieve, and pray For God to begin the process of discovery for you by opening new doors.

2.       Build a Good Support Team:

Big dreamers take big risks and going it alone means almost certain failure. Your support team doesn’t have to include your family, and it may not even include your friends. Find people who can help you on your journey and then ask them to join you. You’d be surprised how often people will step up to help someone achieve a dream. Don’t be afraid to approach the people you admire and ask them for advice or help along the way. If they don’t know you need help, they can’t help you. In my case, finding my support team actually became part of the journey. When you’re doing the unthinkable, those in your camp actually share in the journey with you.

3.       Choose Faith over Fear:

In every situation, you can choose to make decisions out of either faith or fear. We all play self-defeating mind games that define our thinking and perceptions of ourselves and others. When I started my Ironman journey, I had no money and no experience. I was overweight, too old and going through difficult relationship issues. What it all boils down to is that poor self-image and personal negativity are really just expressions of our own fears. Fear is the leading cause of the death of our dreams. The only antidote I know is to choose faith. Faith will lead you to face your fears and point you straight to the core of how to withstand the doubt and uncertainty. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase.”

4.       Expect and Overcome Obstacles:

Anything worth doing will present some challenges; otherwise you’d have done it already! However, no matter how much faith you exhibit, the ‘day of trouble’ will come. According to Jeremiah 16:19, that is precisely when God becomes our strength, our fortress and our refuge. Expect that you’re going to face some difficulties along the way, plan for how you are going to address them mentally and physically, and commit to reaching your goal in spite of them. There will days when you won’t feel like putting in the effort, or the conditions may be such that you want to give up. Those are the days when you must push past the fear or pain, for it is the strength you have gained during those days of difficulty that you will rely on when the unanticipated obstacles appear. Training breeds perseverance and instills confidence that you will be able to move past the obstacles, no matter what.

5.       Cross your Finish Line:

Somewhere along your journey, you envisioned what the experience was going to be like when you approached your finish line. Your dream may have taken months, years, or decades to achieve, but the finish line is always there for you to cross. If your mission is truly ‘unthinkable’, then your finish line will be characterized by the following truths:

*Your ‘unthinkable’ finish line was originally inconceivable and unimaginable.

*The line that you must cross cannot be moved closer in or lowered to make it easier.

*Pursuit of your goal will scare you out of your comfort zone.

*Your goal will cause you to doubt yourself, and others will tell you that your goal is crazy.

*The mountain you must climb will be taller than anything you have ever done.

*You will experience many setbacks and failures on your way to success.

Your finish line is where you placed it, and once you get there, you may find that it was the experience of getting there that has made you stronger and more capable of taking on additional finish lines.

You might even find, as I did, that your dream becomes a mission and your mission changes the world. I wish you all the best in living your own ‘unthinkable’ dreams.

Extract from Scott’s book, Unthinkable, pages 251-254: Author Jenna Glatzer

The true Heroes of Ironman?

Ironman….. ‘Anything IS Possible’

We’re on the eve of the 2012 Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and while one marvels at the condition of these seemingly super human Ironman athletes, the true Heroes of sporting events like this often only surface (to the public) on race day.

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting one of my Heroes, Scott Rigsby! You may never have heard of him and when a good friend, Graeme gave me the book ‘Unthinkable’ in July 2010 prior to my departure for my ‘first’ Kona adventure, I had no idea who Scott Rigsby was.

Nine seconds was all it took. That’s how long it took for Scott’s life to come crashing down around him. Twenty one years later, on October 13^th 2007, it took Scott 16 hours, 42 minutes and 46 seconds to make Ironman history, becoming the first double amputee to complete the Kona World Championships, comprising a 3,8km swim, a 180km bike and a 42,2km run.

Before I tell you about Scott’s tragic accident, let me ask you one question. Are you planning on going to your grave with the Dance still inside of you? Alternatively, what is stopping you from chasing your Dreams, your Goals? Most of us have a fear of failure and this stifles us and prevents us from getting off the Couch, such that we become spectators of life and in some cases, life’s biggest critics.

I know this because I was once there, I was stuck in a rut, I had fallen asleep at the wheel of life and I was like a rabbit in the headlights, too scared to do anything about it. “The common conception is that motivation leads to action, but the reverse is true-action precedes motivation.” Says Robert J. Mc Kan.

I had hit rock bottom and I was waiting to be motivated, but when you are in a rut (or a comfort zone), laziness is a terrible habit and it keeps on knocking, such that months, even years just fly by. Proverbs says, “Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time.” (12:11 NLT)

I confess I was idling away my Talents (and my time) and I was jolted out of my slump when my late Stepson Reece passed away tragically in 2004. I believe that Reece saved my life and hopefully I can inspire others to restore their lives, or reinvent their Dreams by my actions, alternatively by sharing the ‘Unthinkable’ stories like Scott’s with you.

I fully agree with the statement that action precedes motivation, so set some small goals and achieve them as progress fuels motivation. So I would like to encourage anybody who has a desire to better themselves in any sphere of their lives, to take Action and stop waiting for Motivation to waltz into your life, as that rarely happens. Remember it only takes 2-3 weeks to break a habit…..anyway enough of that and let us get back to Scott’s story, as the lesson here is that if Scott could complete this gruelling Ironman in Kona, Hawaii then ‘Anything IS Possible!’

In 1986 Scott was 18 years old and an aspirant sportsman, working a holiday job pre College and riding in the back of a pick up truck that was towing a three ton trailer. When the trailer was clipped by an 18 wheeler Truck, Scott was thrown over the side and dragged an astonishing 324 feet along the baking hot tarmac, before being pinned under the trailer.

Initially his right leg was amputated and after another 26 surgeries, endured over the next 12 years, he had lost his left leg too. Doctors said it would be more than a year before he could ever expect to walk again, let alone run. Heard that before?

Incredibly 9 years later, Scott accomplished the ‘Unthinkable’….. On October 13 2007, after arduous training and battling his mental demons, he became the first double-leg amputee using prosthetics ever to cross the hallowed finish line in the sporting world’s most gruelling and prestigious event, the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

I would recommend taking a read of the book ‘Unthinkable’, which documents Scott’s remarkable journey from the devastating crash that claimed both his legs and from his subsequent battle with depression and alcohol, to the drawing realization that God had a greater plan for his life. The unthinkable courage, determination and faith Scott demonstrated in training for and competing in the Hawaiin Ironman triathlon will inspire and amaze you.

For Scott’s five key tips on how to achieve follow the link below…

http://ironmansa.com/2012/10/11/scott-rigsbys-5-key-steps-to-achieving-the-unthinkable/

The book Unthinkable is authored by Jenna Glatzer.

 

What do the Kona Pros Dream?

Another You Tube clip on some of the Pros in Kona and their Dreams. Being an Alexander fan, it is hard to support Mc Cormack but I do enjoy the way he set and went after the Dreams he wrote down almost 25 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyDVKA61iMI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Kona Series on Pressure, Dreams, Strength, etc

When an Ironman enters the arena, he or she will experience many emotions and will have to push their physical abilities to the absolute limit. There comes a time in the Ironman (many times) when the competitor experiences immense pain in the heat of the battle, be it physical or emotional pain. What is the response to that pain? Well the Brain whose primary motivation is self preservation will ask the question, “Why must I suffer?” and “What is the point?”, questions that many of the spectators and people watching on TV ask themselves of the Ironmen.

In an Ironman you better have a great many reasons, as your brain will be asked this question over and over and as Lawrence Van Lingen once said, you need to know why you want to go visit some deep, dark places if you want to get through the big black tunnel/s.

The successful warrior will answer the question with the vision they have dreamt of, the vision they have painted, the vision they have prepared for and they will (hopefully) be able to convince the brain to continue to Fight, to fight off the pain or move up the stepladder of pain. Those who have made pain their ally over time and in training will succeed better than most.

Since the majority of the population lack this crystal clear vision (lack of mental training is a contributor) and have no real reason to suffer, they slow down, or even quit, as soon as the pain kicks in. Developing a crystal clear vision of why, is the secret to finding the motivation, to hanging on when there is nothing left, resulting in world class performances.

For me it’s about Burning the Boats, once you’ve burnt the boats, there is no sailing home in the comfort of your own boat, there is no surrendering, no slowing down…. I pray and hope we can all find the motivation to hang on in an effort to produce our best with what we have on the day.

I will be submitting a series of short video clips on Ironman and the IM Pros over the next week, which cover things like Pressure, Inner Strength, Dreams and the like. Hope you enjoy the read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbCsWJRXQKU&feature=youtube_gdata_player