ironclm's world

QOTD (a couple of months worth)

Take your rightful place on your own stage.

When in doubt, throw it out.

A loss becomes a gain.

"A true cyclist sometimes has to bite the dust before he can reach the stars. Win. Survive. Hang in there"__Laurent Fignon

"As soon as you move fear aside, that's when fun really happens."__Carlos Santana

"You can't just want it; you've got to go earn it."

Wherever you go, you have to take your own head with you.

True competition - striving for excellence. False competition - the need to prove something to someone else.

"ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY, just remember you have already been invited to the dance so have a good time dancing."__Jimmy R.

One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus. ~ Tony Robbins

In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. ~ Tony Robbins

" Picture yourself in your minds eye as having already achieved this goal." ~ E. Nightingale

"Jens Voigt's Suitcase of Courage will not fit in the overhead compartment."

"If something is important, do it every day; if it’s not important, don’t do it at all."

"It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right". ~ W. Churchill.

"...but I tried with everything I had and that is the most important thing for me."___Carlos Sastre

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity ~ Andrew Carnegie

"Today I did it for me."___Chris Horner

"The genius controls the chaos."___Jens

"“My ribs are hurting but hey, broken ribs are overrated anyway. Fortunately, I didn’t land on my face this time and I’m still alive."__Jens again

Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think. ~ Tim Ferriss

"There are no safety nets in the sport of professional cycling."___Paul Sherwin

He who is destined for power does not have to fight for it.___African proverb

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up ~ Thomas Edison

If you fear something you give it power over you.__African proverb

It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently. ~ Tony Robbins

If Jens Voigt was a country, his principle exports would be Pain, Suffering, and Agony.

Be willing to see the existence of mental self-interference.

Seize that moment. That moment is a crossroads where everything you want will collide with everything standing in your way.

QOTD

A few new ones.

"Leaders are made, not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."

"But the spirit, the will to excel, the will to win, they endure, they last forever."--Vince Lombardi

 "Training is training but racing is racing."

"Consider all the reasons not to go for it... then do it anyway."___Gordo

Live as if.

"This is what I live for...this feeling." World Champion Taylor Phinney

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A few new quotes.

Quitting isn't going to get you anywhere but where you've already been....

Life is frustrating when we don't get immediate results but think how much you will savor your results when you get to where you want to be.

"Work is doing it. Discipline is doing it every day. Diligence is doing it well every day." - Dave Ramsey

We're not just going to start with a clean slate. We're going to throw the old slate away.__Vince Lombardi

1. It doesn't really matter if it takes two months or ten months as long as you can come back to 100%. Aksel Lund Svindal, gold Super G
   
   • Delete

2. "If I had a gun to my head, it would be close, but track would win out. I just love racing on the boards."__Colby Pearce

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I've been bad at updating! New goal for this new season....do regular updates. Here are some quotes I've collected over the past couple of months.

"There's no point in looking at the consequences. Focus on the process."

"Notice time. Notice passion. Follow where those two intersect."

"There is no dabbling in bike racing."

"A magnet for ambition."

"Why should we try to limit what somebody wants to dream about? That dream might be achievable; let's look at it, break it down."

"[Cycling] power is bloody important but it isn't the end-all, be-all. Having the power is one thing, employing it is another."

"The goal of my winning mindset is to stay relaxed, endure, persist and do my best."___Gordo

"I’m with my people here and they’re good friends and we’re having a good time."___Scott Molina

"Yeah it hurt. I gagged a lot, but I didn't die."___Biggest Loser

"If you want to get something then make sure that you are giving it."___Gordo

"But you can sit there and mope or you can sit there and do what you can with what you got."___Chrissy Wellington

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true."__Richard Bach

"When my life is in balance, I direct it. When I am out of balance, it directs me."___Gordo

"There is no such thing as tough. There is trained and untrained. Now which are you?" - Creasy 

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Nil mortalibus arduum est.__Horace
(Nothing is too difficult for mortals to accomplish.)

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"We all dream, but the extent to which the dream translates into a daily reality, as you get further up the mountain, and the mist clears so you can see the top...and what might be involved in getting there, that's when many think, that's it, that's enough for me; only a few think, I'll push on for the summit."___Peter Keen, in "Heros, Villains & Velodromes--Chris Hoy and Britain's Track Cycling Revolution"

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QOTD: "Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over."__F. Scott Fitzgerald

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• Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending._____Marcus Aurelius

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I don't give two sh!ts if you are fat or skinny, fast or slow but your @ss better being putting the effort in to do the very best you can. We should demand that from one another and call BS when we see our brothers and sisters giving anything but their best since what we do is a choice.__Kurt E.

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PEZ: You race 12 months-a-year, how do you avoid staleness?

Michael: For me, it’s the lifestyle I love. I love to train and race, there’s nothing I like more than to be on the start line in great shape, whether it’s a big race or a little one.

Danish Olympic team pursuit silver medallist, Michael Morkov

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"When you're stuck sitting in a comfort zone, small problems become magnified. Get out of your comfort zone, touch the edge, and you come back with an appreciation for life." - Barbara Warren, 1943-2008

RIP Barbara

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"With cycling, it's so hard to start all over again that it is better not to stop in the first place."___Bernard Hinault

That's my plan!

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I don't know...it's a different game racing vs just going out and trying real hard.  You took some risks trying to race and it may have bit you in the ass this time.   You'll get things dialed in and next time you make a surge like that you take their heart and win the race.  ___Matt Peterson

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Doing what you love to do will only take you so far. It's doing what you initially despise that will, in the end, make you great.

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"Doesn't suffering color life?"

"Yes, but I choose the color."

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Change your life today.
Don't gamble on the future,
act now, without delay.
___Simone de Beauvoir

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A few from "The Perfect Mile":

"The essential thing in life is not so much conquering as fighting well."___Baron de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games

"To be great, one does not have to be mad, but definitely it helps."___Percy Cerutty

"Whatever you can do,
     Or think you can, begin it.
Boldness has power, and genius,
     And magic in it."
                          ____GOETHE

"You must wake up to the fact that athletics is not, nor ever can be perfected; there will always be more to learn."___Arthur "Greatheart" Newton, legendary long-distance runner (1949)

"Yet that man is happy and poets sing of him who conquers with hand and swift foot and strength."___Pindar

"Care I for the limb, the thews, the stature, bulk and big assemblence of a man? Give me his spirit."___Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2

Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible."___Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

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"I've spent a really long time selling myself short. And really, anything is possible if you believe and put in the work."__Isabeau from The Biggest Loser

Quote of the Day

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." - Steve Prefontaine

It fits, since I'm in the midst of a few months of a lot of running. For the 100 runs in 100 days challenge, I have 10 runs in 11 days, so I feel pretty good about that. I was a little sore today (moreso than yesterday), so I only did 33 minutes of easy recovery jog. No racing on Saturday, so I'll run a little longer that day.

QOTD (cyclocross version)

Sometimes it comes down to who is hardheaded enough to keep on going during trying circumstances and being satisfied with moderate goals like not getting lapped.__cyclocrosser Erik Tonkin

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"Never dull your shine for somebody else."___Tyra

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"I can only console myself that I didn't quit. I considered it a hundred times, especially when eyeballing the vans full of DNF's as they motored to the finish. But quitting is too easy. Feeding yourself rationalizations for quitting is too easy. I have done both before, sad to say, so I know. Sometimes the best you can do is...not very good at all, and those are probably the most important times to stick it out."___Amby Burfoot on running Comrades Marathon

I thought this was the perfect quote after last weekend's Chicago Marathon when Jean, Betty, Sharon, Rayman, Joe and Kelly all finished on a dreadfully hot day. It wasn't the day any of them wanted, but they didn't quit. Good job you guys.

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"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop."

And rest is what I've been doing. Two easy weeks, with some swims and a run and back to lifting weights, but nothing really structured. But it's back to it tomorrow.

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"There are many guys who make it to Paris but they haven't got a stage win under their belt, so I'm happy with that. Still, it wasn't much fun to climb a mountain at 10 km/h but I did prefer to finish the stage rather than to abandon,"__Robbie McEwen, after having to quit the Tour due to Hors délai (missing the time cut).

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"The toughest two kilometers of my life. I never expected to win that stage today." Normally, this is when a rider gets very humble and says he feels lucky to be wearing the yellow jersey. And Cancellara did. He is a sprint specialist and knows that his chances of wearing the yellow jersey into Paris 19 or so days are roughly equivalent to you or I doing the same. But then Cancellara made it clear that his team, CSC, is playing for keeps. They have no intention of giving up the yellow jersey. If they do, they will fight to get it back. "We're respect this jersey," he said, voice rising and eyes flashing. "And we will work to keep it."--from Martin Dugard's blog on active.com

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"Success is not where you are. It's what it took to get there." __overheard on a running list

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Another one from the ultra running world.....

"If I can digress here for a moment, I would just like to point out an aspect of the story to the yet-to-be 100 milers who may be reading this that is old news to those of you with long experience at that distance. In addition to giving me the opportunity to rethink my approach to fluid and electrolytes, my experience during the night reinforced a lesson that, again, most of you already know - don't quit. If time runs out and they rip your number off, that's one thing. But when there is still time on the clock, you never know what can happen. Recovery happens - body, mind, and spirit. Engineer recovery. Focus on recovery. Know and accept ahead of time that body, mind, and spirit will cycle. Sometimes you will be on the joyful side and other times you will be in despair. Accept ahead of time that times of despair happen and then figure out how to engineer a recovery.

I have observed it to be not uncommon to see a runner in some deep state of utter misery drop out and then to see that same person a few hours later volunteering at an aid station down the trail looking fresh as a daisy - that is, recovered. If they would have just paused for a bit before turning in their number, they may have bounced back to finish an enjoyable day. But their number is already turned in and it's over. Until the clock says it is over, it ain't over."

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A few quotes from the ultra running list:

Problems. Is it a problem or just an inconvenience? Decide which. Find a solution for the problem. Block out the inconvenience.

From that point on, I really wanted to drop out of the race but could never find a good enough reason to. I wasn’t injured, I was well hydrated and fed and I wasn’t pushing the cutoffs any, and I was still moving forward at a reasonable clip. I got into the Grist Mill aid for the second time (75 miles) at around 1am and told my wife I really wanted to quit. She told me that I wasn’t quitting because she didn’t drive all this way across country with me just to have me drop because I was tired. So I kept going.

However the race experience [Comrades] for me was not so good, as I screwed up the fuel and water intake and dropped at 70 km, after walking, zombie-like, for several hours. At a reception afterwards with one of the local clubs, I was recounting my experience with a South African runner and he made a comment which I heard, I'm sure, much more harshly than intended, "you should have tried harder". [Later in the report...] It was time to use a trick, and I thought, 'would I rather spend the rest of my life explaining why I didn't finish Comrades, or suffer for the next 29 minutes?' I'd already spent 6 years explaining the first failure. I ran as hard as I could.

QOTD

"When you look for a person that's likely to improve, look for self-evaluations that focus on what will be changed to improve."___gordo

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""Real pain comes from knowing that we are not measuring up to our highest potential."___Gordo

QOTD (and CONGRATS Stef!)

"You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.___Abraham Lincoln"

And this was borne out today at Ironman South Africa where my friend Stefan rocked the course to 8th place overall, 1st AGer across the line, qualified for Kona and also the Boston Marathon! With almost all of his training done indoors due to New York's terrible winter. CONGRATS STEF!!

Quote of the Day

You never know what you're capable of until you try.___Scott Molina

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Stay focused on your next goal and start thinking about winter and Brazil when the caterpillar finally comes out of its cocoon. And not as a bar-fly either............. Metamorphosis doesn't come easy! Still a whole lotta work to be done. (the coach)

Quote of the Day

Couple of quotes:

"You can't control the wind but you can set your sails."

and....

Fear is the path of the dark side.
Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.

Your focus determines your reality.

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"You are stepping into the unknown."--Pieter

Yes I am, yes I am.

Tried to send this Friday night....

Quote of the Day

"If you have a dream to get here, you can do it. It may take time, and it might not happen the way you expect it to, but sometimes it happens when it is meant to."___Dev Paul, talking about Kona

Quote of the Day

Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.___Ted Williams

Wonder if he was referring to cyclocross?????

QOTD

“I left a lot of goals in Lanzarote four years ago. I lost my last life in Lanzarote, and I got a new life in Lanzarote. But my thoughts about the island are now about the Ironman and not about the accident anymore. You know, I could have fell on my head and be dead, but I still can do the Ironman. You know, it’s all about the way you’re thinking and it’s up to you how you want to think. It’s up to you if you want to look up or down. A lot a people are much worse than me. I try to look at the things I still can do and not at the things I can’t.”___Marc Herremans

Quote of the Day

My coach is full of them this weekend!

"If it was easy then every one would be fast."

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I'm always training for something even though I might not know exactly what it is at the moment.__the coach

Quote of the Day

"Army born and raised I learned wili-nili
that whatever happens you adjust. Good things come your way,
go for it. Entropy happens, modify. The big picture is out
of your control, don't let the small stuff get in your way."___Ultrarunner akabill

QOTD

To kick off – why is it so difficult for us to give ourselves a chance to succeed? Stacking races, stacking IMs (!), racing blind… why do so many athletes want to stack the deck against themselves. Excuses – at a certain level, I think that we are looking for a way out – if we really execute and we suck, well perhaps that’s more than we want to face. ___Gordo

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The path to improvement from each step is simple. However, walking the path is challenging -- that's what makes it rewarding when we improve -- we _know_ how tough it was to overcome ourselves.__Gordo

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"To make this team is going to be sweet, to fail is going to be very painful. Either way, the sun will come up the next day and life will go on. But those who strive, those who leave nothing on the table, those who will take the risk, will all be winners. Life is truly sweeter for those who truly live it. The world belongs, and will always belong, to the people who participate. Those who stand on the outside, who never risk, who never fail, cannot now, or will they ever, understand the beauty of each breath of life. So don't feel sorry for those who fail, feel sorry for the majority that never participate. They'll just never undertstand, let alone feel, all that life can and should be".___Dick Jochums, in "Gold in the Water"

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"Most people don't want to accept their potential. It hints of an accompanying responsibility to live up to that potential. Acknowledging my potential required accepting that I could be different, that I could deserve the attention of others, that I might be special_or at least unique. Acknowledging your potential is setting yourself up to be criticized for being willing to stand out, and nobody wants to be laughed at. That fear held me back for some time."___Warren Brown, one of the subjects of the book "What Should I Do with My Life?" by Po Bronson

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You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.--Rosalynn Carter

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"Sometimes when you learn you can do something, it translates not just in your confidence, but in everything. When you train, when you're on your bike, when you're eating, sleeping, you do everything a little better because you believe in yourself more. That's half the battle, that's the mind." -- Tom Danielson, Discovery Channel Team

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ON KONA:

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY, just remember you have already been invited to the dance so have a good time dancing.  ___Jimmy from Slowtwitch

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"There has got to be some real suffering in training or we just won't be ready."__the coach

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To race to your true potential you HAVE to gamble. You have to believe in yourself. You have to go beyond what you think is possible. If you have ANY doubt in your ability then you won't make it. It is a true test of  mental and physical strength. Your mind and body will beg you to slow. It is your "soul" that must push and overcome the test.___GORDO