From small town to Kona Town

There is a moment during almost every long workout when my mind starts negotiating with me.

Maybe it comes three or four hours into a 120-mile bike ride. My legs are tired, my neck is sore and suddenly stopping for a few minutes sounds pretty appealing. Maybe it happens halfway through a 2.4-mile swim, when I realize I still have thousands of yards ahead of me.

Nothing is necessarily wrong. My body can keep going. But my mind starts asking, “Wouldn’t it be easier to stop?”

I’ve learned over the years that those moments are part of endurance sports. In fact, I expect them.
During a recent 120-mile training ride, I spent just over six hours on my bike without stopping. I certainly wasn’t feeling strong every minute of those six hours. The goal isn’t to somehow eliminate the difficult moments. It’s learning what to do when they arrive.

I think that’s a lesson that extends far beyond athletics. You don’t need to be training for an IRONMAN to understand that conversation.

Maybe you’ve decided to quit smoking, and your mind is giving you a hundred reasons why one more won’t matter. Maybe you’re trying to eat healthier, but after a stressful day the old choices seem much easier.

Maybe you want to start exercising, save money, go back to school, improve a relationship or simply become a happier version of yourself. The details are different, but the battle can be remarkably similar.

Our minds are incredibly powerful. They can convince us that we’re tired before we’ve really begun. They can magnify a setback until it feels like failure. They can remind us of every reason something might not work. But here’s the beautiful part — we can train our minds.

One of the best ways I’ve found to do that is by having a goal. A meaningful goal gives us something in the distance to move toward when today’s step feels difficult. You don’t have to know exactly how you’ll get there. Sometimes you just need enough light to see the next step.

For me, that light has been Kona.

As you read this, fewer than 40 days remain until the IRONMAN World Championship, and we’re about a month from leaving for Hawaii. Our family is finalizing travel plans, figuring out how we’re going to safely pack “Red Rocket,” my triathlon bike, and thinking about how we can soak in as much of this once-in-a-lifetime experience together as possible. And yes, the butterflies are starting to arrive.

After 13 IRONMAN finishes and more than 16 years of running every single day, you’d think those would disappear. They don’t. I actually think that’s a good thing.

Being mentally strong doesn’t mean never feeling nervous, discouraged, overwhelmed or down. Even the strongest people have difficult days.

Resilience isn’t pretending those feelings don’t exist. It’s deciding what we’re going to do next. And sometimes we don’t have to do it alone.

If you’ve been thinking about exercising, ask a friend to walk with you. If you’re trying to make a healthy change, tell your family what you’re working toward and ask for their support.

Find someone who will encourage you on the days when your own motivation isn’t quite enough and try to be that person for someone else.

In fact, one of the fastest ways I’ve found to lift my own spirits has nothing to do with exercise. Do something good for somebody else.

Give someone a genuine compliment. Hold a door. Send a message to someone you haven’t talked to in a while. Smile at a stranger. Encourage someone who’s struggling. None of those things cost anything, but they can completely change another person’s day, and it’s amazing how often they change ours.

Happiness isn’t something we’re guaranteed to wake up feeling every morning. Life is too complicated for that. But we do get choices throughout the day that can move us toward gratitude, connection, purpose and joy.

September gives our community a really wonderful opportunity to make one of those choices.

The Peshtigo Fire Tower Run/Walk on Sept. 26 is one of my favorite ways to begin Peshtigo Historical Day. You don’t have to be a runner. Walk it with a friend. Bring your family. Set a goal simply to finish, encourage somebody beside you and then stick around afterward to enjoy the parade and everything that makes Historical Day special. Maybe that becomes someone’s first finish line. Because the truth is, most meaningful accomplishments don’t begin with extraordinary confidence. They begin when an ordinary person decides, I’m going to try.

Thirty-some days from now, I’ll stand on a beach in Kona with plenty of butterflies and 140.6 miles ahead of me.

At some point during that day, I’m almost certain my mind will tell me that I’m tired. It may tell me to slow down. After enough hours, it might even give me some convincing reasons why stopping would feel good, but that’s okay. I’ve been training my body for that day for months, and I’ve been training my mind for years.
Whatever your Kona happens to be, don’t underestimate the power of doing the same. Set a goal. Take the first step. Surround yourself with people who help you rise higher. Be that person for somebody else. And when your mind starts telling you why you can’t, remind yourself why you started.

You may just be stronger than you think.

Brian Cleven (MS, ACSM-CEP, CCRP) is the 2024 ACSM Certified Professional of the Year, Emplify Health Marinette 5K Heart Run Race Director and Founder of the Tri City Event Series as well as a 13-time IRONMAN triathlon finisher.