99% of people who start a marathon finish it and here is why…

I read an article today about an interesting chap called Jesse Itzler who owns one of the world’s largest private Jet companies. A self made man and an obvious grafter with his own cool story. However he talks about a navy seal that he met that taught him the 40% rule. In its simplicity when your brain tells you your done your actually only 40% done, which is why 99% of people who start a marathon finish the race.

However the bit that grabbed my attention in the story was how he came across this navy seal that taught him the rule. He was taking part in a 100 mile race and he was doing it as part of a relay team, the seal was doing the whole thing unsupported. The seal also weighed in excess of 260lb which is unheard of for ultra marathon distance runners.

I currently weigh in around the 260lb mark so it sparked that flare of annoyance that people immediately judge you for how you look. I recently completed a 640 mile challenge and have signed up for 3, 70.3 ironman events this year before having a crack at a full ironman next year. But I frequently get looks of “how can you do all that exercise and be as big as you are”… the honest answer is I don’t know. I have had all the blood tests and doctor visits to rule out any thyroid or metabolic issues, I’m just a big guy (6ft4). This means I’m probably not going to set any speed records but I am physically very fit. My weekly routine consists of around 150km on the bike, 30k running and 2-4km swimming all broken down into daily bouts of each discipline.

However going back to the 40% rule I absolutely believe it. When I started out I was over 300lbs and could not run more than a few hundred meters, I hated every minute of it, trying to get motivated to just leave the house and do it was debilitating in itself. But eventually you learn to almost turn your brain off, distract it and as the navy seal said in the story “if it doesn’t suck then we don’t do it”… but if you forget it sucks you can keep going even when you think your done. That’s the trick – I use the quote your brain will give up 1000 times before your body will… its written on the handlebars of my bike….

So today’s missive is a shout out to the big athletes out there, surprising people is the bit I love the most. When I crossed the Ironman70.3 Miami finish line the announcer said “and here comes a big guy, wow he can move” I was annoyed at being called a “big guy” but immediately elated by the “wow” especially as I was probably the first 260lb+ chap to cross the line that day…

This is a link to the 40% rule article, it worth 6 minutes out of your day today J

http://fortune.com/2016/02/24/navy-seal-secret-mental-toughness/?xid=soc_socialflow_linkedin_FORTUNE