It’s done.

It’s done. It’s done. It’s done.

After 2 months of writing, way too many cases of Red Bull, and more than a few all nighters combined with a solid attempt at becoming permanently nocturnal, it’s finished.

I spent the good part of the last 2 months working on this, but the Impossible TRI Triathlon Guide is finally here. If you want to do a triathlon this year, I don’t know of a better resource out there than what we just put together.

Susan Lacke from No Meat Athlete was amazing help as she helped me put together the guide. Just some of the things inside:

• Impossible TRI Triathlon Guide
• Impossible TRI Triathlon Diet Guide
• Impossible TRI Triathlon Gear Guide
• 3 Training plans based on  your fitness level
• 6 Incredible athletes share their stories and advices (Over 8 Ironmans and over 25 Half-Ironmans Completed Combined).
• Email workout alerts
• Cookbook, Worksheets, FAQs, Printouts and more.

In all reality, there’s a ton more things involved, but if you’re interested, I should just link to the page.

Impossible TRI Triathlon Guide

We spent a lot of time putting this together, and a lot of people helped to make it happen. Major thanks to

• Susan Lacke for helping me write this, edit this and sharing her experiences along the way – you’re a rockstar.
• David Crandall for staying up all night and helping design everything on such short notice (Happy Birthday)
• Matt, Jarie, Johnny, Hailey, and Jim for sharing their stories, experiences and wisdom in racing.
• You, for reading, paying attention and being a part of what’s going on around here, Imposible HQ and the league. Thanks – I couldn’t do it without you.

I’m going to go pass out for a bit and then wake up and go for a long run. If you’re interested in running a triathlon this year, I really hope you commit to doing it and consider picking up this guide to help help you on the way. Whether or not you do pick up a copy and decide to do your first race, thank you for being a part of this. I really do appreciate it.

Now go do something impossible.

-Joel

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The Impossible TRI Triathlon Program Is Here! is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

I was looking through my archives last week and realized I was coming up on a big number.

200.

Huh. Today’s post is the 200th I’ve written on the blog. There’s nothing significant about the number per se – sure, it’s nice and round, but by itself it’s nothing special. I didn’t plan on it and I wasn’t counting down, but somehow over the past couple years, I’ve written 200 little stories.

The large majority of those came when I still had my regular 9-5 job. When I started out, it was just some random posts scattered whenever I felt inspired about whatever I felt like writing. Then, for a while I did 3 posts every week. Then 2 a week for close to two years. In between, I missed a few posts here and there, but always getting back on track. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s being persistent.

You can read all 200 in the archives, but I pulled out a few of my favorites below:

•  Bullsh*t Qualifications
• The Victim vs. The Conquerer
• Nice People Don’t Change The World
• Then Die
•  70.3 or Bust: Dominating The Miami Rhoto Half-Ironman
• The Burn Notice Guide To Doing The Impossible
•  How To Walk Across America
•  Creating An Adventure Bigger Than Yourself
•  If You “Could”, You Already Would
• Thunderstorm Workouts
• The Benefits of Looking Stupid
• The Budget Guide To Triathlon
• Plummet at the Summit Part 2: Bungee Bungee Bungee
• Plummet At The Summit: The Very Unofficial WDS Skydive Adventure
• Never Be Comfortable
•  How To Run A Marathon Barefoot (And Not Die)
•  My Incredibly Selfish Reason for Writing This Blog
• The Fun Manifesto
•  I’m Jumping Out Of A Plane At WDS – Who’s Coming With Me?
• Apathetic Living and the Edges of Reality
• How To Really Write About Stuff That Matters
• In Case of Emergency
• How To Buy A Road Bike For $150
• Screw It & Do It
• Experiences > Things
• Climb A Mountain, Tell No One

Boom. There’s a lot more in the archives (200, conveniently, to be exact). If you feel so compelled, take a look through and find something you might have missed if you’re new to the blog.

The great thing about the archives is that they’re always changing. Every month, something happens, something changes and I’m a different person because of it. Every race I learn something and I’m different because of it. Every post is a little story line that’s contributing to a bigger, massive overarching story that’s constantly evolving.

Two years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined that a community would develop around the idea. Or that I would have developed an apparel line, written a book, run dozens and dozens of races, finished a half Ironman, ran a marathon, jumped out of a plane, jumped off a bridge, or done some incredible road trips, and met people doing everything from starting their won fashion line to walking across america. I was just a guy tired of his life working at UPS and wanted to make a change. So I did…

Tomorrow I’m releasing Impossible TRI – it’s designed to help you run your first triathlon in 3 months and help you make a concrete change in your own life to do something you never thought you could do.

Impossible TRI is another story line that’s part of the bigger overarching one that’s going on here. Growing piece by piece and story by story. 200 little story lines so far. A lot more left to go.

Thanks for being a part of it .

[photo credit]

200 Story Lines is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

I’m back from the land of Target (aka Targetopolis aka Minneapolis) and things went really well. I’ll do a full write up soon but as I was talking to the Target Triathlon club, I ran into a bunch of first-time triathletes who wanted to do their first race but had questions about it (as do most people when they try out anything new).

Interestingly enough, as they asked questions, I noticed that a lot of their concerns and misconceptions were the exact same ones that I had when I was starting out. While they can be scary and hold you back from actually doing a triathlon, once you get over that and do your first one, you begin to realize that what you think, is a lot different than reality. Unfortunately, those thoughts sometimes keep you back from acting so today I want to bust up 5 common beginner triathlon myths.

Myth #1 I need a lot of really expensive gear to run a triathlon.

The truth – you can spend as much money as you want on triathlon. Like most activities, you can spend thousands and thousands on shiny, new, expensive gear if you want. But you don’t have to. In fact, when you’re starting out – you shouldn’t. You can do a triathlon on a budget. It’s nice to have nice things, but you don’t need to spend 10 grand to get started on your first race. You can get started on your first race with stuff you probably have in your garage – a bike, a helmet, compression shorts, and a good pair of running shoes. If you don’t have a bike, you can borrow or rent one. I did my first race on my brothers borrowed mountain bike and while it wasn’t the best idea ever, it definitely was possible.

Myth #2 I need to look like Lance Armstrong to run a triathlon.

Triathletes are all tall, chiseled, muscly demi-gods who think nothing of running impromptu marathons and swimming across any body of water they happen to come across. Not true. Most triathletes look a lot like you and me. They’re young, old, fat, skinny and everything in between. I guarantee you’ll never forget the first time that you see a 70-year old running by you or when a 250 pound clydesdale zips past you on a bike. Triathlon is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation and people of all shapes, sizes and ages show up to race – not just Lance Armstron and his friends.

Myth #3 The Swim Leg of The Triathlon is The Single Most Terrifying Thing Imaginable

The swim is the number one source of terror when I talk to new triathletes. Most people without a swimming backgorund are perfectly confident that they’ll survive the bike and run, even if it’s painful. I had the same attitude. My thoughts towards the triathlon was something like this:

If I get tired while running, I can walk. If I get tired while biking, I can coast. If I get tired while swimming….I drown. Crap.

It’s true, the swim can be tough, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. Yes, it can be easy to panic when you’re in a body of water and surrounded by lots of people, but the biggest obstacle is in your head. If you start to worry or panic, stop, tread water, take a few deep breaths, relax and swim at the pace you know you can swim at. On sprint races, most people finish the swim portion in 10-15 minutes, but usually no longer than 20 minutes – which makes it the shortest leg of the entire race by far. It can be scary, but if you slow down, breathe and The swim is the shortest leg of the entire race and once you get out of the water, you’ve got a  It can be scary, but if you slow down, breathe and keep your mental focus, you’ll do much, much better.

Myth #4 You Have To Train For Years To Do A Triathlon

But most triathletes train for years for races, right? Not really. Most sprint races you can train for in 3 months (or 12 weeks). Sure, if you want to do an Ironman and have been sitting on the couch for the last 5 years, you’ll need to spend more time so you don’t hurt yourself, but if you want to do your first race, if you have 12 weeks, you’ll have enough time to get ready!

Myth#5 Triathlons are Impossible For Me

This is what I used to think and what a lot of people tell me. Sure, other people can do it, but not me. I don’t know anyone who’s done a triathlon. I don’t know how to do a triathlon. I barely even know the three sports a triathlon consists of! Other people can it, but not me.

Bullsh*t.

Just because you haven’t done something before, doesn’t mean you can’t go out and do it.

The only way you ever push your limits is by attempting stuff you’ve never done before. There’s no good reason not. In fact, the only way triathlons (or anything) remain impossible are if you let it.

—

I’m launching Impossible Tri next week in order to bust up any remaining myths you might have for running your first triathlon. It’s going to layout everything you need to know about running your first race and includes complete training schedule to get you ramped up for the race. If you’re not already on the notification list, you can sign up for more information here.

5 Common Beginner Triathlon Myths is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

I got in yesterday and from the current looks of things, I’m fairly sure Target is just a few years away from officially renaming Minneapolis - Targetoplis (I’m pretty sure they own the entire city).

If you didn’t know, I’ll be speaking at the Target Headquarters (yes, that Target) in a few hours (is this real life?). I’ll be sharing a little about my story, triathlon and my take on doing the impossible. So for the last few days, I’ve been knee deep in my presentation, but I thought I’d throw in a mini-update on things around here:

Amazon, Manifestos, and Subscriptions

After thousands of people downloaded the manifesto, I thought I should probably make it easier for people to get their hands on it. I’ve heard good things about this Amazon.com site (I hear it’s gonna be big), so I did some leg work and go it all set-up so you can grab it from Amazon if you want. Interestingly enough, they won’t let me GIVE it away unless I sign a bunch of exclusive agreements which I don’t really feel like doing. The closest to Free I can get is selling it on Amazon for .99. I think I get about .30 of that, so if you feel like lining my pockets with millions of quartes and nickels, CLICK AWAY.

I know some of you guys just want to be able to read it on your e-reader and I agree that it doesn’t really make sense for me to charge for something I’ve given away for free before. So, if you want to just download it directly, I’m hooking you up. You can grab them for free if you want at the links below.

• Download The Impossible Manifesto on Kindle
• Download The Impossible Manifesto ePub.

Either way, if you get a chance, head over and leave a review of the manifesto if it impacted you in some way.

While I was digging around in Kindle-land, I found out that you can set up blogs to be subscribed via kindle too. For some reason, this costs $.99 and as far as I know, I don’t get any of that (I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but if it is – BOO). But hey, if you’ve always dreamt of reading the blog on your kindle, now you can. You can always read for free via RSS or email too.

Subscribe to the Blog of Impossible Things via Kindle

Apparel

We’re slowly expanding some of the items in the apparel line. I love the blue/white combo but I decided we need to have a sort of home and an alternate jersey. After messing around with a few different colors, I settled on a grey/black that sort of look awesome in my completely unbiased opinion. You can grab one in the store if you want (don’t worry, we won’t be coming out with 100s of colors every month – we’ll be sticking with grey/blue for the near future). You can grab one in the store for $20 – free shipping anywhere in the world. (Oh, and you can be dang sure I’m repping one under my shirt for today’s talk).

BOOM.

—

Also, the Impossible Tri launch is getting moved back to the 28th. Don’t worry your pretty little face. We’ll be adding in an extra dose of awesome + a few really good interviews that will be all wrapped up and ready to go. We just need another week to make it happen .

—

I’m going to go finish up my powerpoint slides and hopefully not screw this talk up. I’ll do my best to grab it on video and share it (but no promises!) . As always, keep doing something impossible .

Greetings From Targetopolis is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

—

I was talking to a friend the other day. They’re in their senior year of college and enjoying things mostly. I asked them what they were going to do after college, and they really had no idea. After a few more minutes of prodding, my friend admitted,

I really don’t know, but I’m scared to death.

Good! I told them. If you’re scared to death, you’re doing it right.

I think everyone starts out scared. Scared they’re doing it wrong, scared they’re going to make a mistake, scared they’re going to fail. Over time, we’re taught, that you should take the safe way, do things you’re qualified for. Be nice, stay comfortable and in return, you won’t have to scared. We gravitate towards comfort, and are lulled in by it’s but over time that comfort zone we’re lulled into turns into a sort of apathy. Every once in a while you need a good scare to get you jolted back on the right path (but that’s always much easier to say than do).

A Good Scare

A month ago, I really scared myself for the first time in a long time.  I went skiing.

Every year a bunch of friends from college get together and catch up. This time we went skiing. I’m moderately coordinated, but I’m not a big cold-weather fan and usually do what I can to avoid it (like going to an island). I had been skiing before, but it was a while ago – as in at least 15 years. Since then, my only experience with skiing was avoiding the Yeti on SkiFree. But, since I hadn’t seen some of my friends in a while, I went against my better judgment and decided to give it a shot.

We jumped on a blue square and the first few runs I went down very slow. Angling side to side, mostly hoping that I wouldn’t run into anyone (I could handle wiping out, but I didn’t want to be that guy running old people and young children off the slopes). After a few runs, I still hadn’t managed to make it down in one run without wiping out.

My buddies were all much more advanced at “not dying” than me, and decided that the black diamond hill would be “fun” to go down. I didn’t even know what black diamond meant, other than that it sounded scary. Before I knew it, I was on the lift, heading to the top – knowing full well that I hadn’t yet made it down the beginner hill.

Once we got to the top, you could go down like 50 feet pretty simply before the main section fo the hill got steep. We went down the 50 feet or so and took a photo as a group (I’m in the yellow).

After we took the photo, they all went down one by one, as if it was no big deal. Still not having made it down the blue hill without wiping out, I watched everyone else zip down the hill, and felt my stomach creep up into my throat somewhere.

I was scared.

I still hadn’t made it down the other hill and now I was going to try to go down this one? Am I stupid? I am going to go down this hill, fall immediately and roll down the entire thing, most likely breaking multiple bones in my body.

After watching the last guy in our group head down, I turned around and was going to head towards the other, smaller hill. I was going to give up. I wasn’t ready. I was too scared. Not this hill. Not yet…I’d come back to it later…It was the smart thing to do.

I took about three steps away from the hill and I got really, really mad at myself. Two lessons came to mind that keep showing up over and over and over and over again:

• The times where I’m completely comfortable are the times I know I need to change something.
• The time where I’m most terrified are the time I have the most growth.

So I turned around, and muttered some curse words to myself under my breath.

Screw it. Let’s do it.

I’m either gonna make it down this hill or I’m going to make it to the hospital. Either way, I’m not going home without trying this thing.

So I tipped over the hill and started to go.

I picked up speed quick. According to the spedometer in my head I was going at least 60mph (I have no idea how fast I was actually going, but it felt like 60mph). It was all I could do to focus on one thing:

Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall.

What am I doing?

All of a sudden, I came right into the path of a snow machine – partially blinding me.

Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall.

I came out, regained my bearings just enough to realize that I was going faster than ever.

My feet bounced around but I somehow managed to stay on top of my skis.

Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall.

I hit another snow machine.

Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall.

I emerged from the second snow machine and could see my friends at the bottom of the hill yelling at me – but I was moving fast and still hadn’t figured out what “pizza” meant. Slowing down meant potentially biting it hard, so I focused on not falling down and zipped right by them.

I kept going another 100 yards after the hill leveled out and I slowed down enough to turn around and make my way back to them.

I made it. I took the hill and I didn’t die.

I really didn’t believe I made it. I was certain I was going to be in some sort of cast at the bottom fo the hill.

And as scared as I was, I was a little less scared afterwards. Sure, there was still fear, but fear mixed with a confidence that I knew I could do that hill again if I wanted to and that I could take on a bigger one if I wanted to. I’m still not a great skier, but I’m a lot better one than I was at the top of the hill.

How Scared Are You?

I have that same experience, every time I try something new. Every time I do something I’m bad at. Every time I knock something off the Impossible List. Every time I do something I’m scared to do.

Like I told my friend, if you’re scared, you’re doing it right. It’s easy to say. It’s a lot harder to do.

There’s not a much better feeling than being terrified of something, doing it anyways and coming out on the other side better and stronger and more confident than you were before.

So if you’re scared to death – congratulations. You’re doing something right.

Keep doing it.

—-

What are you doing that scares you?

—

Holy Ski Patrol Batman! Do I need to clarify this? This is not an endorsement of skiing off cliffs if you’ve never seen snow before. It’s a story and an example of a lesson I learned by doing something scary. I’m not a skiing expert – that’s sort of the point of the story. Take everything you read with a grain of salt and make decisions for yourself, including stories from a certain blogger you might read.

If You’re Scared To Death, You’re Doing It Right is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

Almost everyone has heard of the wonders of compound interest. It’s wonders are extolled virtually in every piece of personal finance literature you’ve ever seen. A little money, saved consistently, over a period of time yields steadily builds, yielding fantastic results, and allows you to retire, get a mansion and never go bald. At 20 years old, if you save $5,000 for 45 years at 8% interest, you’ll have $1.93 million at 65. The power isn’t in the little money that’s saved. $5,000 is almost nothing in the big scheme of things – chump change. The power is in the continuity of the saving. The unbroken chain of one continuous saving, year after year after year. The power is in the compound action that the saver makes.

We pretend like this is only true in finance, but it’s not.

Compound action affects everything.

How Do You Start Blogging?

One post at a time. Twice a week. In 2 years, you’ll have almost 200 posts written. Congratulations. You’re a blogger.

How Do You Succeed?

One failure at a time. Little by little. Layering a lesson learned on top of lesson learned and soon you have a mini-success.

How Do You Start A Business?

Sell one customer at a time. Then another. Then another. Boom. You have a business.

The answer is more than just action. Anyone can do something one time. In fact, it’s easier than it’s ever been in the history of the world, to act…once that is. Tons of people start stuff – because starting is easy.

Continuous action, doing it over and over and over again, is hard – so most people quit before they build anything significant.

They give up. They go home. They decide it’s not worth it. They don’t know why they bothered to start.

The outcome difference between someone who saves $5,000 one time and someone who does it every year for 45 years is huge. It’s not hard to do once. It’s hard to do 45 times in a row. Similarly, it’s not hard to act one time. It’s hard to keep act over and over and over.

The only answer is to act continuously. Do something. Do it often. Don’t stop.

Keep going.

When things get hard, don’t let it stop you. When everyone else stops, find a door and keep going.

Over time, you’ll create an unbroken chain of compounded action that builds and builds and builds and builds and builds and builds.

Keep going.

Every once in a while, you’ll glance back for a moment and be startled at the unbroken chain of action and the realization begins to dawn on you that you’ve got something you never really thought you could have…and you realize…

$5,000 now is a small price to pay to $2 million in a few years. One small action now is a small price to pay for building something great.

But looking back is only useful for so long. So you face forward, stay focused and do something.

Keep doing. Keep shipping. Keep acting.

Do it. I guarantee you’ll be surprised at what you make.

[photo via puuikibeach]

The Surprising Effects of Compound Action is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

New Homepage Design

The incredible team over at Spyr Media cooked up an amazing new design for JoelRunyon.com. Previously it was a little stale, out-of-date and didn’t really encompass everything I’m up to these days. So Dave powered up photoshop and Jeff went to coding and they brought this thing of beauty to life in no time at all. Seriously, I’m beyond impressed with it. Also, if you want to have some fun, change the size of your browser window and see what happens with the responsive design (or just check it out on your iPhone). Very cool. Massive thanks to Jeff, Dave and Marla for everything at Spyr Media.

Target Talk

On the 17th, I’ll be headed up to Minneapolis and braving the weather to talk at this up and coming company you might have heard of – Target. Apparently, there are a few Impossible Leaguers up at Target HQ (hey guys!), so they asked me to come up and speak to their triathlon club as they kick off the season. I’m pretty excited as one of the things I’m focusing more on this year is speaking. I guess opening 2012 by speaking at the second largest retailer in the country isn’t a bad way to start. BOOM. See you there Target!

Impossible Apparel

Since we launched the Impossible Shirts about 6 months ago. the response has been really, really good. Much better than I thought it would have been, if I’m honest. When I talk to people about how to start a t-shirt line, I tell everyone to launch one shirt, with one design, with one color when they first launch. I think that’s still probably the best way to test to see if you have a market for selling something like t-shirts. Once you do, you can expand – which is where i am at.

A few astute observers may have noticed a new impossible shirt making the rounds of social media as of late. The plan was to have it ready for today’s post, but it got moved back a few days to finalize things on the store. Just know, there’s another one coming (here’s a sneak  peak).

Women’s Tanks

The ladies over the impossible league have been on my case about getting impossible tanks. They’re coming! I promise. We’re working on getting the right supplier in place and getting a few samples and we’ll be good to go.

As a side note: the purpose of apparel around the league and HQ isn’t to make a bunch of shirts, sell ‘em, make a boatload of money and retire on an island (okay, maybe the island part is true, but there are a lot faster ways to make money than just selling t-shirts). I want to make stuff that is insanely comfortable, well-designed and serves as a reminder once people leave the blog to do something impossible, as they head into the offline world and actually turn inspiration into action. One of my favorite things is seeing the impossible things you guys are doing in your shirts and the stories you come away with…which brings me to my next item:

Impossible Gallery

I’ve put together of all the photos of people doing impossible things while wearing their shirt in a gallerys. As always, if you’ve got a shirt, take a photo of you doing something impossible (standing in front of your mirror doesn’t count!) and send it in, and we’ll put it in the gallery. If you’ve already done it, check it out. You just might be there. If you’re not, what are you waiting for? Grab a shirt. Do something impossible. Send it in.

Impossible Tri

I’ve been holed up in the basement, knocking this out for the past couple of weeks and it’s almost done. And it looks like it just might come out on time – Look out! I’m still crossing my fingers on this, but final ship date is February 21st. Ah! If you want to do a triathlon this year, but think it’s impossible, I know exactly where you’re coming from. I used to as well. I couldn’t find many things that just explained seemingly basic questions in simple language. What do I wear? How do I train? What do I eat? Impossible Tri is going to have everything you need for running your first sprint distance triathlon and show you that it’s not impossible, from the training schedule to your eating habits. I’m bringing in a few pro athletes as well to show you exactly what you need to do and how you need to do it. If you’re interested, you can sign up for more information here. Boom.

Impossible League Chat

We’ll be having our very first Impossible League chat this Thursday at 6pm CST. I’ve been promising this forever, so we’re finally gonna do it.We’ll be setting it up on UStream and stream it live, right in the League. Mark it on your calendars, tell everyone and their mothers and check it out this Thursday. We’ll have some fun!

—

Whew! That’s a lot of things, but we’re just getting started. If you remember, just last month we released DO THE IMPOSSIBLE: 50 Impossible Quotes with the help of David Crandall. In less than a month, it’s received over 96k views on slideshare alone. When you factor in downloads, etc, the project has been seen over 100,000 times. Wow.

We’ve also got a few stealth projects that you’ll be hearing more and more about in the coming months. I’d love to share more, but I’m a big fan of doing, then talking, so I’ve got to get them a little farther on the doing aspect of these projects before I start sharing more of their details.

Any questions? Save ‘em for Thursday’s chat! As always, thanks for reading and keep doing something impossible.

What The Heck Is Going On Around Here? is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

—

Race: Tri Indy

This was my second triathlon ever. At this point, I didn’t have cycling shoes and was wearing my running shoes on the bike section. This saved me tons of time on the second transition (I was like top 10 T2 times, because I didn’t have to change shoes from biking to running), but it led to situations like this one.

I made it out of the swim fine and was about 4 miles into the bike, gunning it as fast as I could on my bike  (I wasn’t going very fast, but I was trying). A bunch of pros zipped by me and I kept pedaling, determined to try and keep up, but I felt a tug on my foot. I looked down and saw that my shoelaces had wrapped around the pedal and my foot was stuck. I couldn’t pedal anymore because my shoelaces were out of room, so I did my best to coast to the side of the road. I tried to stand up, but ended up falling to the ground in slow-motion as my foot was still stuck to my pedal.

I sat on my butt in the gravel on the side of the road as I tried to untangle my shoe my shoe from the whole mess while everyone zipped by me, looking back with a questioning “what-the-heck-are-you-doing” look. It took a minute or so, but I finally was able to free my foot, fix my laces and tuck them away so it wouldn’t happen again. Then I tried to nonchalantly jump back on my bike in the midst of a bunch of riders and act like nothing ever happened.

Lesson Learned: Tie your shoes. Get the laces out of the way or get cycling cleats!

—

Race: Indy Monumental Half-Marathon

I made it through the first half of the race pretty well. Feeling good. This was my first race farther than a 10k, so I knew from here on out, it was mostly uncharted territory. My IT band was hurting, but by the time I hit the 10 mile marker, I knew I could finish. Just a 5k left. Totally doable.

I got to mile 12 or so and started striding it out. I felt good and I wasn’t going to look tired as I finished out my first half marathon! I needed to look good for the finish photos!

I hit mile 13 and I was almost there. I could taste it. There was about 100 yards in front of me before we turned the corner for the finish. As I turned the corner, I could hear the crowd start cheering really loud. Definitely more loud than they had been before. Obviously, I assumed they were cheering for me. I was a little confused, finishing a half marathon in  a blistering 2 hour + half marathon pace was not a feat impressive enough for a collective cheer rousing, but I didn’t argue and smiled at all the nice people who were being so much more excited to see me finish my half-marathon than the people ahead of and behind me. Thanks so much for cheering for me!

They weren’t.

As it turns out, I was able to run my first half marathon in the same amount of time that some people can run a full marathon. The winner of the marathon, Leonard Muchero, was rounding the bend with a police escort right after I had. I just about realized that was what was happening when he kicked right on past me across the finish line..

Shoot.

As it stood, I still beat him by a few minutes according to the timing chips (he started about 3 minutes before me), but that doesn’t do much to soothe my ego or keep from me looking like a wide-eyed and thankful idiot smiling at all the people who I thought were rooting for me.

Lesson Learned: Kenyans are much, much faster than me.

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Race: Miami Half-Ironman

I jumped out of the Atlantic ocean and was running through Bayfront Park to our transition area. I briefly considered stopping and posing like Michael Westen since I was in the area, but I quickly realized that I’m running a race and there’s no time for that.

I make it to my transition and reach for my new jersey (mistake #1 – don’t try anything new on race day!).

I go to throw my jersey on and start to grab my helmet when I look down.

Uh oh.

I think I put it on inside-out (I didn’t actually, but my heart was racing and my brain wasn’t working).

Not sure, and unconvinced that I wanted to ride 56 miles with an inside-out jersey, I pulled it off, flipped it inside-out again and threw back on.

Nope. 

Now I definitely had it on wrong. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I pulled it back off, flipped it around to the right side this time.

Do I have it on right now?  Still not entirely sure, but pissed that I spent so much time in T1, and ready to move on with rest of my race, I said screw it, and threw my bike helmet on. I grabbed my bike and jogged to the bike-out exit, pretending like I didn’t just forget how to dress myself.

Lesson learned: Know how to dress yourself – it helps.

—-

I know what it’s like to try new things and look stupid. It happens a lot, but it’s a terrible reason to not try something. I’m trying to do something about that.

Later this month, we’re releasing Impossible Tri over at Impossible HQ. It’s a triathlon guide that’s designed to get you to do your first triathlon in 3-6 months, no matter your background. It’s a combination of my on-the-ground perspective and practical lessons learned from my mistakes (to remove all of your excuses from not doing one – if I can do one, you can do one), and expertise from professional triathletes to plot out the training course (so you’ll know exactly what to do and how to do it). If you’re interested, you can sign up for more information about the impossible triathlon guide here.

And, if you have any questions/concerns about triathlons, leave them in the comments. I’ll be including a comprehensive FAQ in the guide that aims to answer literally every single question you have about triathlon. No question is too dumb (I guaranteed you I’ve asked worse), so ask away – do your worst.

3 Short Embarrassing Racing Stories is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

Drink More Water

Get a pitcher of water. Drink it. Fill it back up. Drink it again. Repeat. Do this as much as you can. You’d be surprised at what common problems (headaches, colds, etc) are caused by people simply not drinking enough water. Drink a half-gallon extra of water a day and tell me you don’t feel better.

Move Often

Get up and move every 30-60 minutes. Do something. Anything.

• Stretch.
• Walk.
• Do Jumping Jacks
• Pushups
• Take the stairs
• Stretch some more.

Whatever you have to do to move, do it. Get up and move around. Sitting all the time is dangerous to your health.

Eat Paleo

Try it. Just try it. Give it a week and see how you feel. If you don’t know what paleo is, he-who-shall-not-be-named wrote a good beginner’s guide to paleo that you can use to brush up on the specifics.

The cliff-notes version is this: Meats, eggs, fruits, nuts, vegetables. If you still need help, here’s a quick rundown of paleo-approved foods.

(My favorite part was “It’s probably a rock”)

If you don’t think those food groups give you a lot of options, you’re wrong. Just check Rob Wolff’s food matrix for a bunch of options. Mix and match those and you’ll have a heck of a hard time repeating the same meals twice.

Procrastinate Differently

Every time you go to refresh your email. Do 10 pushups. Checking your Facebook? Do a handstand. Every time you check twitter, do a 30 second plank instead. If you’re procrastinating, you might as well be productive in some way, shape or form! In fact, you’ll start building other, more useful habits while making sure you do #2 on this list (move often) more often.

Confuse Yourself

Routines are good. They help you get in a rhythm and get things done. But you can get stuck in them too and that prevents growth. Every once in a while, confuse yourself. Shake up your routine – workout or otherwise. Do something completely different. Adapt. Your body can’t just coast on autopilot, you’ll push yourself out of your comfort zone and you’ll get stronger.

—

If 5 ways is too many for you (God forbid you get *too* healthy), Jeff has got you covered for getting in shape in just 2 steps :).

If you need some help getting + staying healthy (or doing something else involving endurance, adventure and giving back) in February, join the February 30-day challenge coming up in the League. This month, Josh & Tristan are going to be heading it up and we’ll be adding in a buddy system to make sure you stay on track and accountable. Check it out. BOOM.

photo credit

5 Ways To Be Healthier Today, Tomorrow, and The Day After That is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.

A few years ago, I was doing nothing with my life. I was sitting around watching all these really incredible people doing really inspiring things, while I was sitting around on my butt, wishing I could be like them. They seemed in a whole different world than me.

How do you be like them? How do you get to know them? Why don’t I know anyone like them?

Well, I wasn’t doing anything.

I didn’t know it then, but over the past few years, I’ve come to realize that doers like to be around other doers. So, one of the easiest things you can do in order to meet more interesting people is to do something interesting yourself. Do something. Do anything.

Doers, Talkers, and Wishers

In business, startup and hacker communities, there’s a saying about three typers of employees. A, B, C players if you will. A players are the best, B players are pretty good, and C players are passable, if that. It goes:

A players hire A players. B players hire C players.

The idea is that A players hire people as good or better than themselves, because they have a natural curiosity and know that by being around those who are better than them, they’ll get better in the process. B players, on the other hand, hire C players because they’re more interested in feeling superior to others than they are about getting better.

It’s very similar to how doers act. In the world of doing there are three types of people. Doers, talkers, and wishers.

Doers see something they don’t like, and do something to change it. Talkers see something they don’t like and tell everyone how much they don’t like it, but never do anything about it. Wishers see something they don’t like and tell themselves in the head over and over how much they wished things were different.

Doers attract doers. Talkers attract wishers.

Doers like to be around other doers. Being around people who not only want to change things, but actually change things helps the doers keep doing. Meanwhile, talkers tend to hang out with other talkers and surround themselves with wishers who will listen to the talkers talk about how they would change everything if they were in charge. This makes the talkers feel important and makes the wishers feel like someone else might actually change things for them.

Doers have very little patience with talkers – those people who talk, talk, and talk but never actually do. Occasionally, it can be hard to make the distinction. A talker might be able to pass off as a doer, after all, some talking is necessary prior to doing, but any illusions they might have about their true nature, are short lived. Sooner or later, the talkers eventually reveal themselves to be just that, talkers, because when nothing actually comes from their discussions.

Because of this, doers tend to be wary of talkers and move right along without them – mostly because it doesn’t require much effort to talk or wish that things were a certain way. Even if the discussion or pretense is some sort of philosophy or thoughtful discourse, talking is almost always easier than doing because doing requires physical action.

Doin vs. talking.

I try really, really hard not to fall into the trap of the talkers. Endlessly discussing how things should be but never actually doing anything to change them. Pretending like I’m changing things, rather than actually changing them.

I’m in an interesting position because I get a lot of emails from people who say they’re going to do stuff, and then go out and do it (I love it when this happens). I also get a lot of emails from people who say they’re going to do stuff, and then don’t (I don’t love this nearly as much).

One of the most frustrating things in the world, is to hear people talk about things they want to do, then never actually do it.

Not only do they not do anything, but they relegate themselves to the world of the talkers and wishers and end up becoming jaded and apathetic while disillusioned  at the current state of things and dis-empowered at their own ability to change it.

If you want to meet new & interesting people, try doing something new and interesting. If you don’t know what other people consider new and interesting, try doing something you consider to be new and interesting.

Note: One of my favorite things about the Impossible League is that it’s not just a massive collection of people talking about what was on TV last night. It’s people doing some really interesting things. Last month, Kurt got his skydiving certification, doubled his ability to speed read and donated $1,000 to a variety of charities. There’s 350 other people doing some amazing stuff. As a group, we’ve donated almost 3k to Kiva. The League isn’t about amassing a huge quantity of members as it is about recruiting a concentrated group of doers.

You Can Change

Everyone starts out as a wisher – hoping things will change. When two wishers get together, they usually become talkers, and start talking about how everyone else should change things. Sadly, most talkers never get beyond this point. They stall out at talking and never move on to doing anything. The extra sad part to this, is that the only thing preventing them from becoming a doer is doing something. Anything.

The only thing special about doers other than they do things. Most of the time, they’re forced into action. They find themselves ina  situation that’s so bad that there really is no alternative other than to do something. Anything. And change things.

You get to choose: You can be a doer. You can be a talker. You can be a wisher.

Choose carefully.

I’m going to choose do something. It’s way more interesting.

—

If you want to do something, you can join us in the league.

Doing Attracts Doers is a post from: Blog Of Impossible Things | Do Something Impossible.