“One arm after the other, one pedal after another, and one foot in front of the other. For seven hours plus.”
That’s what Sam said when Jigneshbhai and I asked him how he managed to finish the Ironman triathlon. The arms for swimming 2 km, the pedals for cycling 90 km and the foot for running 21 km in the event called the ultimate test of human endurance. Sam, Swami’s personal gym trainer, had completed the event a month back.
“It’s not as tough as it looks,” Sam continued while sipping on his black coffee without sugar. He had joined us at the cafe the other day.
“It’s a matter of levelling up,” he clarified.
Sam made it sound easy. He genuinely believed it. But Swami and I, as well as Jigneshbhai, didn’t take his word. Finishing a triathlon can’t be anyone’s cup of tea. Or coffee.
To make us believe that it wasn’t that tough, he added further, “As an example, three years back, I didn’t know swimming.” Then he pointed to his bicycle parked outside the cafe, and said, “And I bought that beauty a year and a half back when I decided to start training for this event.”
“Oh, come on Sam. You have always been into sports. Plus you are younger,” Swami countered him.
Sam shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, that’s true. I like sports, and I am a trainer, so that helps. But do you know that the age categories for the event went up to 65 years of age? And you will be surprised to know that there was a retired couple, husband 63 and wife 59 years of age, with no sporting background who finished it in eight hours.”
“Wow, that’s amazing and inspiring,” Swami said. Jigneshbhai and I nodded in agreement.
“But then how did you do it?” Swami wasn’t able to overcome his awe over Sam completing the race. “I know you have run a marathon earlier. But what special preparations did you do for this triathlon?” Swami enquired, in right earnest.
He sounded quite enthusiastic about it. But we knew Swami enough to not take his initial enthusiasm too seriously.
I wasn’t particularly inclined towards preparing for any such event either. Triathlon was out of question, I thought. But I could try running a 10K perhaps, or stretch to a 21k with tips from Sam, I told myself.
Jigneshbhai was thinking more like the 5k run or maybe a 5k walk to start with, I reckoned from his expression. There are some things even Jigneshbhai can’t do. He knew this triathlon was one of those things.
“There are some professional methods of preparation that the organisers told us to follow. We used them during training and for food,” Sam started explaining. “But eventually, it comes down to discipline, consistency and will power,” Sam told us.
Swami and I looked at each other. If only willpower, consistency and discipline were enough, everyone would run a triathlon, we thought. Sam must be kidding us. There must be some basic talent he had. Maybe he was just being modest.
Jigneshbhai had the rare expression of awe on his face. Some things like these, especially on the physical domain, he considered out of reach for himself. And for me and Swami too.
“It comes down to getting up every day and showing up,” Sam insisted though, finishing his coffee. He wasn’t willing to admit that it was as tough as we thought it was.
As he left us in the cafe, his last lines resonated with his first, as he said, “All I did for the past year and a half was to add a few metres to each of the three, every time I trained. And I trained almost every day, give and take a few days off.”
The effects of a little progress every day can be astonishing, Jigneshbhai and I thought. Jigneshbhai had seen it work in other areas but seeing them work for a triathlon was a revelation.
“Compounding at work, one percent every day,” Jigneshbhai remarked after Sam left. “We are tuned to making heroes out of what look like great achievements. But it looks like the results of levelling up every day over long periods are unbeatable.”
***