Today I had a ninety minute trainer ride to complete, and I needed a little inspiration.  To provide that inspiration, I chose to watch the final stages of the Ironman Arizona professional race.  The speed at which the professionals race is amazing.

Watching an Ironman race is not always the most thrilling of activities.  The race is long, even for the professionals who finish in 7-8 hours.  This means that race dynamics are slow to play out, and it is often easy to see who will end up winning.  Short of an athlete completely blowing up, full Ironman races just are not that unpredictable.

Ironman Arizona was not like that, at the point I started to watch it.  The lead male professionals were at mile 8 of the run when I joined.  Joe Skipper was neck and neck with Kristian Hogenhaug. It looked like it might be an exciting race.  Likewise, the women professionals were on the run, and Skye Moench and Sarah True were within ten seconds of each other.

Thirty minutes later however, Joe and Sarah had opened up gaps, and both never looked like losing from that point on.  They both did win their respective races, but in interviews after the race, they revealed it was far from easy.  This was fascinating to hear. Winning races is all about embracing the pain and persevering.  You would never have known they were suffering so much, just by looking at them during the race.

I watch the professionals to get a little inspiration.  Their ability to suck up the pain and keep going, is what inspired me today.