I am Paolo Barbera, triathlon coach profession. The sport that involves comparing three different disciplines (swimming, cycling and running) that develop without a break between them.
Over the years I have specialized in long distances. My job is to support people who want to do an ironman for the first time or improve performance.
For those who do not know, the ironman is the maximum distance of the triathlon and involves in succession non-stop 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and then the marathon run, 42.2 km for a total of 226 km to be done all in a row.
Preparation is 360 degrees and covers physical training, psychological training, and, to some extent, also the whole field of nutrition-both in terms of daily and supplementation during training and competition.
The story I want to tell you needs a brief prologue that will help you better understand the context in which everything happened
It was the summer of 2014 and, as often happens in my professional life, a distinguished person showed up in my office, eager to share his project with me. He was 45 years old with some amateur sports activity in the past but nothing more.
“Good morning, my name is Vito and I would like to do an ironman. I asked about who could follow me and they recommended me to come to you.”
“Well, what kind of experience do we start from?” I answered him convinced that he had come to the right place.
The answer had been precise and succinct: “Swimming actually never appealed to me, and in cycling I just started. I have more experience in running where I have already finished a few marathons.”
I accepted the challenge. Since this is a very challenging project, I proposed a time horizon of at least two years.
And so we left. After 2 years of training including marathons, bike gran fondo and 5 half ironman we arrived at the big day. As he requested, I personally accompanied him throughout the race.
August 2016
Ironman Kalmar in Sweden. He had chosen the race because it was compatible with his summer vacation and various family and work commitments. This is a long race, by definition, but not technically difficult. My only concern is the temperature of the seawater. In Sweden it is cold even in August, and for those who are not fast swimmers it can be a hindrance.
We left Italy full of enthusiasm with average temperatures near 35 degrees and found ourselves immersed in “cool” and humid weather. We found 2 days of heavy rain that prevented us from going to view the trails and try all the equipment (bike, wetsuit etc).
Race day.
Wake up at 3:50 to be ready for breakfast. At 4 o’clock on time I was sitting in the hotel dining room and began to eat.
4:10: My “boyfriend” had not yet arrived. I ran to his room to call him. After a sleepless night he had fallen asleep. Nothing serious. We still had a lot of margin. He quickly dressed and joined me.
By 6:00 a.m. we were on the race course for final preparations. We prepared everything we needed for race supplementation: water bottles, gels, bars, and anything else we might need during these long days.
His tension was evident. When athletes look at me looking for certainty before the start, I often tell them this phrase to defuse the tension:
“You must be happy because today you will do for the whole day what you absolutely love. You will be able to do sports from morning to night.” (It almost never works but at least it elicits a few laughs.)
7:00 a.m.: ready to go. The biggest obstacle was swimming. A sport that he was never passionate about and where he struggled most to improve.
In an ironman, the swim portion is the shortest but can have important physical and energetic implications.
So it was. Perhaps worse. Baltic Sea. Water temperature: 15°C. 1 hour and 45 minutes of swimming. On the way out Vito was purple, visibly frozen, and of course the bulk of the group had already been on their bikes for a while. We set off quickly but already after a few kilometers I realized that he could not keep up with the expected pace.
I flanked him and asked:
“How are you? How are your legs turning?” (actually I knew the answer, I just needed to stimulate him).
“Paul! My legs are stuck and my feet frostbitten.”
That was what I feared but we had no time to waste and we had to face the rest of the race with determination.
“Come on, don’t worry just follow my pace and you’ll see that as the miles go by your legs will warm up,” I told him.
Four hours passed, and after 120 km he was the one who came alongside me:
“Paul I’m really tired, how are we going to run the marathon later?”
“Vito but what does the marathon have to do with it? we still have 60 km to bike. Let’s think about pedaling well now. We’ll deal with the marathon in two hours.” I needed him to focus on the “here” and “now.”
After 6 1/2 hours in the saddle, the 180 km of biking ended.
The Changeover was quick, left the bike behind, helmet off and slippers on to start running. His best fraction.
During the change I avoided his gaze so as not to give him time to think. We had to run!
We entered the marathon course. The first kilometer as always went by fast. But as we leave the town center full of crowds and encouragement, we head for the suburbs. He was very tired, I quickly realized. I could see in his eyes the fear of not making it after these two years of sacrifice. But I was sure we would make it. At the cost of dragging it to the finish line.
In this very situation there was an episode that would mark me.
Running toward the woods on a fairly desolate bike path, I saw from a distance a white sign leaning on the ground with a drawing on it. It did not stand out. As I got closer, I came to recognize the drawing of a gorilla and an inscription next to it. Only from very close up could he read. In English it read as follows:
“Beingan ironman is like fighting with a gorilla.”
“So what?” I wondered. What does it mean? What’s the point? What is it for?
When you are tested physically and mentally, you are definitely more sensitive, and that sign had unnerved me.
I kept running. There were still 36 km to go. Needless to dwell.
After a while, I saw a similar sign far away. At least I thought so.
As before approaching I recognized the gorilla. The writing was different, though:
“You can’t stop when you’re tired.”
Then I realized it was a sequence, a story. It didn’t end with the first sign!
This thought aroused my curiosity and made me calmer. I still don’t know to this day why.
No wonder when I saw the third sign in the distance. My first instinct was to speed up but I couldn’t. I had to keep a steady pace so as not to fatigue my traveling companion, who was following in silence.
Here is the third gorilla and the concluding sentence:
“You can stop when the gorilla is tired.”
“I LIKE IT!!!” I thought inwardly. From the feeling of annoyance from the first sign to the final charge for a sentence that had given me strong motivation.
I flank Vito commenting on the sentences and tell him:
“Today we are going to do just that. We will finish our ironman and not stop until after we cross the finish line. It will be the gorilla who gets tired before us!!!”
Thus we completed our race. Even with a final time better than our expectations though at a physical and mental cost that we will hardly forget.
The difficulties encountered in the race, although largely predictable, had put me through a lot.
After this episode the gorilla became part of my life. Every difficulty, obstacle becomes the gorilla to be fought and exhausted to the point of exhaustion. Even on a professional level after this experience, I changed my approach. I realized that along with the training, nutritional supplementation part, it is equally important to help my athletes find their gorilla. That leverage, that strength, that determination that helps them achieve their goals every day. In sports and sometimes in life.
And be sure not to tell anyone that I tattooed a very angry gorilla on my arm because during an ironman I saw his drawing on a cartoon running through a forest….
(Main image credits: onlyfabrizio on DepositPhotos.com)