Power with Patience

This weekend the snow was crazy here in Pittsburgh, and just as we were about to venture out for our Saturday workout, Coach texted us. Part of me knew that if he were texting me on a Saturday in the middle of the winter asking "did you workout yet" that it would almost guaranteed be followed by let's run the stairs. He had promised that it would happen at some point this winter, and it did.



Coach invited my fiance and our friend Laura to run the stairs at the PITT Cathedral of Learning. There are 36 flights of stairs and we planned to tackle them for 2 hours. I love working out with him because he is just so hard working and dedicated, and GOOD. I love learning from him and I really listen to everything he says, even when I don't want to.

Basically the stairs killed me. I have never felt so out of shape in my life. At one point i was kind of crawling to reach the top and felt ridiculous. There were two other guys there doing 66 sets... yeah 66 SETS! We ended up doing 10 and it was plenty for me. I was absolutley exhaused, but I may have given up several times if it weren't for my coach waiting at the top (and his voice telling me to have patience).

In my opinion, patience is one of the most powerful "virtues" you can have. Being patient means we are tackling a challenge or we are working through something to get what we really want. You have to hands down bear and grin and just get through. That's kind of what the stairs were like... over and over again. It was a great lesson though because in IRONMAN it's also what the bike and run feel like, heck maybe the entire thing. At IMLOU this past year I just heard my coach in the back of my mind to be patient... and so I was. It was never easy but chunk by chunk with patience I persevered through to the ultimate goal.

Patience can be a measure of strength and vitality, or better yet perseverance and determination. It's an act of necessity in the most trying times, and while we can only bear and grin it, the journey can show the measure of true character. Patience can be viewed negatively but I am working everyday on turning patience into my new power. Being patient with the process, being patient with myself, and having patience with others.

“Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is "timing." It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.” ― Fulton J. Sheen

I didn't like how tired I felt and so I have decided to master those stairs. Each time I want to get a little faster and work a little harder between now and Mont Tremblant. Each step of those stairs and each of the next 201 days will be about patience and finding the inner strength to give just a little more.

Coach Mandy