I am full on into my ironman training, with about 2 months to go. I am doing everything I can to get myself into shape to finish, ideally with a good time, my first ironman Dec. 5th. Probably the biggest motivator for me to end years of just talking about it, and finally get into making this goal happened came from a group of people I have never met. I did a blog on them before, and I repost this because this group has recently launched a new website which is worth checking out.
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To the people who left comments asking why I don’t blog as much as before — I normally, write my blog in the early morning when I am having my coffee and reading the news… but for the past 5 months, my training has taken nearly all my morning and most of my time after work, so I have not made time for the blog (I didn’t have anything worth reading about anyways)

About a month ago, “John Galt” introduced me to the triathlon forum on runnersworld.co.uk …

I am a complete novice when it comes to training for the ironman, so I have been reading as much as I can about training, nutrition, etc.

To be completely clear — although I have been training, running marathons, etc,….I am a total “wanna be” who just tries to survive and finish…It would be stretching the truth too much to call me a “competitor.”

The tri forum on the runnersworld site has proven to be very useful to me.
Most, if not all the readers are serious runners, ultra runners and triathletes primarily based in the UK.
I have posted questions and had all my questions answered. I was just about to spend a big chunk of money on a new “tri” bike, but after posting my questions about the bike on the site, all the feedback changed my mind.

Anyways…

I woke up 3am the other day (jet lagged from Dubai) and maybe subconsciously, needing some motivation because I was still very sore from my shit race in Copenhagen, I read various threads on the site.

I came across one of the members personal websites where he has posted various race reports and pictures over the years (this guy has successfully achieved 5 IMs) I read all the race reports posted on his site. I also saw his photo section and discovered pictures of the various people in the forum (all the forum participants use a nick name and for many, their nickname on the forum you can’t tell if its a man or a woman) but after I saw the photo’s I realized all these people know each other.

After I was done reading various threads, race reports, etc, it was 8:00 …. (I had spent nearly 5 hours reading about all of these people, their races, input, etc! that evening, I spent another few hours reading their website/blog)

Over the past month, I have a noticed some members refer to themselves as a “pirate” and I had no idea what they were talking about …until I read through the race report and saw their photos.

Various pictures of people running or biking wearing a bright yellow skin tight sleeveless shirt with a big black skull and cross bones on the front of the shirt — very cool logo and shirt.

The “pirates” are a sort of triathlon club called “the pirate ship of fools” which is not a formal tri club, and ” not a knitting club,” but rather a group of every day people who support and challenge each other to put their dreams/goals into action.

http://www.pirateshipoffools.co.uk/about.htm
(definitely, worth checking out, esp. if you are into running, or triathlons)

Apparently, the club started and was named by chance in 2004 by someone named “Candy Ollier” … when Candy and a few friends did their first ironman …. from their success of finishing, they came together and started challenging others to do the ironman with them.

Over the past few years, Candy and the gang have encouraged more than 100 people to successfully complete an ironman. More than 100 people!

These people are teachers, lawyers, marketing directors, sales men/women, baillifs, some work at night, everyday normal people. They are NOT professional athletes who have endless hours a day to train.

Each year, they pick an ironman, and challenge everyone on the runnersworld site to do it with them …. This year more than 50 “Pirates” will do Ironman Switzerland together. 50+ people, many of which this will be their first ironman.

Every day when I train, or feel like not training, and skipping my run or swim, I think of these people in the pirates club, esp. “Candy.”

Candy has completed several IM’s, 100 mile runs; numerous ultra races, and most incredibly… he completed a triple ironman in 55 hours. That’s 7 mile swim, 336 mile bike and 78 mile run … completed in 55 hours. He seems to travel the world doing adventure races.

His race report for his triple IM is posted on the pirate’s site (link posted above) In his report, he talks about a 68 year old man who was in the triple IM race with him … apparently, this 68 year old man had already completed a 4 ironman distance race, and several triple and double distance IMs. 68 years old??? 4 x an ironman triathlon without stopping ….

There is also a race report by a man who had never done anything like an IM before, and just a few years ago was in poor health, but because of encouragement from the “pirates” whom his wife is a member, and multi IM finisher, he trained for the year, and successfully finished his first ironman. (from the way he described himself in his report, I don’t think he had ever run a marathon before the IM)

The “pirates” as one of the original members told me a few weeks ago, are non “dick waving” people…they just go about putting their goals into action.

Imagine how many people’s lives have been positively impacted because of the original group of people.

To do an ironman, one must train many hours a day, diet, sleep and eat with constant thoughts of the ironman.
In a word, one must be “focused.” You don’t see many obese, sloppy, lazy people doing these races.
Therefore, JD, Candy, Fat Buddah, Jj and the gang … have in many ways helped people lose weight, get in shape, live more healthy and focused, thus they have had a direct positive impact on the lives of many people.

All of this “positive impact” stuff sounds very American, I know ….

However, it is truly regretful that the world we live in today has become full of mediocre, spoiled bitches consumed by negativity, people who sit around hoping others fail, instead of focusing on making their own lives happen….
thus, for me, its inspiring to see positive people having such a big impact on others, me included.

I am not sure how many of the readers of this blog have ever dreamed of doing an ironman … even if you haven’t, check out: “http://www.pirateshipoffools.co.uk/” … read their stories, and watch their youtube video.

I have never met any of these people, and I am sure many of them do not like the “American” aggressive “dick waving” style of this blog, however, because of their positivity and focused achievment, they have inspired me – without question, I am training more focused because of them.

Now there is no turning back, I must finish the ironman in Dec.

The point of this blog … I know I have rambled a lot … is to get all of us to reflect on the power of positive encouragement.

Of course, some of the 100 pirates would probably still have done an ironman even if the pirate club did not exist, however, I guarantee a majority of them became an “ironman” because of the positive support of the “pirates” as a group.

This past Saturday, Sophie and I were buying books at Fnac in Monaco….
Sophie and I are trying to inspire Marie, our 14 year old daughter, and Sophie was looking for the ideal agenda to help Marie become more organized and focused.

We came upon a yellow agenda with “Carpe Diem” written in bold on the front.

“Carpe Diem” is a latin phrase from a poem by Horace. It is popularly translated today as “seize the day” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpe_diem

I looked at the agenda and instantly thought about the movie “Dead Poets Society” … potentially, my favorite movie.

Unfortunately, although so perfectly stated, “Carpe Diem” has become an over-used, meaningless expression, like a “drive safely” or “have a good dinner.”

As I stood there looking at the yellow agenda, I wondered out loud to Sophie …. how many people really gain inspiration from these two words? We see this expression on books, calendars, tatoos, t-shirts, hats, movies, everywhere; these two words sum things up perfectly, but how many people actually seize their lives….

Make your life happen.

To the people who left comments asking why I don’t blog as much as before — I normally, write my blog in the early morning when I am having my coffee and reading the news… but for the past 2 months, my training has taken nearly all my morning and most of my time after work, so I have not made time for the blog (I didn’t have anything worth reading about anyways)

About a month ago, “John Galt” introduced me to the triathlon forum on runnersworld.co.uk …

I am a complete novice when it comes to training for the ironman, so I have been reading as much as I can about training, nutrition, etc.

To be completely clear — although I have been training, running marathons, etc,….I am a total “wanna be” who just tries to survive and finish…It would be stretching the truth too much to call me a “competitor.”

The tri forum on the runnersworld site has proven to be very useful to me.
Most, if not all the readers are serious runners, ultra runners and triathletes primarily based in the UK.
I have posted questions and had all my questions answered. I was just about to spend a big chunk of money on a new “tri” bike, but after posting my questions about the bike on the site, all the feedback changed my mind.

Anyways…

I woke up 3am the other day (jet lagged from Dubai) and maybe subconsciously, needing some motivation because I was still very sore from my shit race in Copenhagen, I read various threads on the site.

I came across one of the members personal websites where he has posted various race reports and pictures over the years (this guy has successfully achieved 5 IMs) I read all the race reports posted on his site. I also saw his photo section and discovered pictures of the various people in the forum (all the forum participants use a nick name and for many, their nickname on the forum you can’t tell if its a man or a woman) but after I saw the photo’s I realized all these people know each other.

After I was done reading various threads, race reports, etc, it was 8:00 …. (I had spent nearly 5 hours reading about all of these people, their races, input, etc! that evening, I spent another few hours reading their website/blog)

Over the past month, I have a noticed some members refer to themselves as a “pirate” and I had no idea what they were talking about …until I read through the race report and saw their photos.

Various pictures of people running or biking wearing a bright yellow skin tight sleeveless shirt with a big black skull and cross bones on the front of the shirt — very cool logo and shirt.

The “pirates” are a sort of triathlon club called “the pirate ship of fools” which is not a formal tri club, and ” not a knitting club,” but rather a group of every day people who support and challenge each other to put their dreams/goals into action.

http://www.pirateshipoffools.co.uk/about.htm
(definitely, worth checking out, esp. if you are into running, or triathlons)

Apparently, the club started and was named by chance in 2004 by someone named “Candy Ollier” … when Candy and a few friends did their first ironman …. from their success of finishing, they came together and started challenging others to do the ironman with them.

Over the past few years, Candy and the gang have encouraged more than 100 people to successfully complete an ironman. 100 people!

These people are teachers, lawyers, marketing directors, sales men/women, baillifs, some work at night, everyday normal people. They are NOT professional athletes who have endless hours a day to train.

Each year, they pick an ironman, and challenge everyone on the runnersworld site to do it with them …. This year more than 50 “Pirates” will do Ironman Switzerland together. 50+ people, many of which this will be their first ironman.

Every day when I train, or feel like not training, and skipping my run or swim, I think of these people in the pirates club, esp. “Candy.”

Candy has completed several IM’s, 100 mile runs; numerous ultra races, and most incredibly… he completed a triple ironman in 55 hours. That’s 7 mile swim, 336 mile bike and 78 mile run … completed in 55 hours. He seems to travel the world doing adventure races.

His race report for his triple IM is posted on the pirate’s site (link posted above) In his report, he talks about a 68 year old man who was in the triple IM race with him … apparently, this 68 year old man had already completed a 4 ironman distance race, and several triple and double distance IMs. 68 years old??? 4 x an ironman triathlon without stopping ….

There is also a race report by a man who had never done anything like an IM before, and just a few years ago was in poor health, but because of encouragement from the “pirates” whom his wife is a member, and multi IM finisher, he trained for the year, and successfully finished his first ironman. (from the way he described himself in his report, I don’t think he had ever run a marathon before the IM)

The “pirates” as one of the original members told me a few weeks ago, are non “dick waving” people…they just go about putting their goals into action.

Imagine how many people’s lives have been positively impacted because of the original group of people.

To do an ironman, one must train up to 7-8 hours a day, diet, sleep and eat with constant thoughts of the ironman.
In a word, one must be “focused.” You don’t see many obese, sloppy, lazy people doing these races.
Therefore, Candy, Monique, Fat Buddah, Jj and the gang … have in many ways helped people lose weight, get in shape, live more healthy and focused, thus they have had a direct positive impact on the lives of many people.

All of this “positive impact” stuff sounds very American, I know ….

However, it is truly regretful that the world we live in today has become full of mediocre, spoiled bitches consumed by negativity, people who sit around hoping others fail, instead of focusing on making their own lives happen….
thus, for me, its inspiring to see positive people having such a big impact on others, me included.

I am not sure how many of the readers of this blog have ever dreamed of doing an ironman … even if you haven’t, check out: “http://www.pirateshipoffools.co.uk/” … read their stories, and watch their youtube video.

I have never met any of these people, and I am sure many of them do not like the “American” aggressive “dick waving” style of this blog, however, because of their positivity and focused achievment, they have inspired me – without question, I am training more focused because of them.

Now there is no turning back, I must finish the ironman in Dec.

The point of this blog … I know I have rambled a lot … is to get all of us to reflect on the power of positive encouragement.

Of course, some of the 100 pirates would probably still have done an ironman even if the pirate club did not exist, however, I guarantee a majority of them became an “ironman” because of the positive support of the “pirates” as a group.

Two + years ago, right after naseba went public, I was introduced to a 41 year old french/american who was at the time worth 250+ million euros.

I was immediately impressed by the humble-ness of the man because he called me personally several times to organize to meet me for lunch in Prague.

Over lunch, he told me his story …. how he “climbed the mountain….fell off it, had to sell his car to buy climbing gear … and start all over….”  (sic)

He told me he fell off the mountain 3 times before he finally got near his proverbial summit.

I was very impressed by how humble the man was …. he was exceptionally rich, but you never would have known this when speaking with him.

At the time, I was having trouble with my first two board members, and he is the one who gave me the “confidence” to kick them off my board.

But also, at the same time, naseba/Nic had a very strong office in London which was doing consistent business and growing … but my new friend talked me into (sold me on) opening an office in one of his buildings in Prague (where he is located) and if I did, he would invest 3.5 million euros into naseba.

So I took 6 of the strongest sales guys from Nic’s team … gambled and opened an office in Prague.

My new friend never invested a single euro …. and without question,  by taking 6 strong sales leaders from London to Prague seriously hurt our London office which ultimately hurt the company.  Prague is a nice place to visit, but at the end of the day…my gamble failed.

I was once very annoyed how he hustled me, but over the past two and half years I have learned its all part of the game.

Anyways…

Within 20 years, this man achieved incredible wealth …. 250+ million euro net worth at the age of 41 years old; a brilliant business man — a brilliant success story.

But at the end of 2008, the financial world completely fell apart…

A few weeks ago, I was in Amsterdam meeting with my main shareholder who owns 30% of naseba … and we discussed “my old  friend” and my share holder told me that this man had 5 different margin calls — and was forced to sell all of his shares in everything he owned.

Shocking …. I can’t imagine what it must be like to go from having 250+ million euros (probably more) … to being nearly bankrupt.

Over the past few weeks, I have thought a lot about this man because when we met for lunch that day … he told me how he had failed many times before he finally hit the ball ….

I have wondered over the weeks how this man is mentally handling his failure today.

He once had a kick ass apartment in the best district of Paris …flew private jets every time he had a meeting in Paris or Amsterdam … and its all gone.

He doesnt even own a single share in the company he founded.

Today I was forwarded an article where my friend (the man discussed in this blog – I do not say his name out of respect to him) was recently interviewed in one of the major financial newspapers and throughout the interview he remained up beat and positive – almost child-like optimistic.  I am very impressed by his positivity.

How would you handle losing 250 million euros?  Personally, I cant imagine what it must be like … the pain…knowing it took 20+ years to get to where he was and within just a couple of months, he loses everything —  and falls all the way back to the bottom…

It is interesting to see how this man still believe 100% in his ability to make things happen.  He doesnt moan about anything…

He could spend the rest of his life feeling sorry for himself; he could kill himself

…. but instead he remains positive and focused.

It has been difficult for me to do a blog recently – I guess you can say I have writers block because each time I try and spin a positive message in my blog – the latest news headlines pop in my mind … and I realize that nothing I say takes away the pain and stress some of the readers must be feeling.

I wrote a blog yesterday, titled “turning chicken shit into chicken salad” and once it was posted, my wife and best friend both told me that it was not good enough – so I took it down.

obviously, many of the readers, esp. in america are facing some of the biggest economic challenges and uncertainties they have ever faced.

If one good thing does come from this mess, it is that people will be forced to become more focused on what is really important in their lives.

It might not take away whatever stress the reader might be facing – but seriously…focus on staying positive and dynamic … look at whatever challenge you face as a big opportunity to become more focused, in a word, “lean” so you can climb higher.

if it was easy….