Cassiano Pessoa’s Post

How the last 12 months have flown by since I did Ironman UK! Good luck to all the competitors taking part in this year’s Ironman UK on Sunday. My advice is to suppress any last-minute fears, arrive on the start line with a calm and positive mental attitude, visualise your race and come what may, try and enjoy the event. I always want to challenge myself with new fitness goals and dreamed of one day doing an Ironman triathlon but as I’ve gotten older life has got more complicated, work got busier, family commitments grew and I would look at ironman training plans and shake my head in disbelief at the hours of training required. The reality was that my work/life activities had expanded to fill the time available. In 2021 I finally woke up to this reality and took control of my environment (with a gentle nudge from my wife) I bit the bullet and signed up for 2022 Ironman UK. I spent 8 months slowly building up my training, and before long the 4.30am alarm call and running in the dark with a headtorch had become my morning routine. The months whizzed by with training and numerous recce trips to the course, a stint at Club La Santa in Lanzarote, and at the peak was pushing out 20+ hours of training a week. During the training I suffered mechanical breakdowns on my cycle rides, running injuries, a bout of covid and made all manner of family sacrifices in pursuit of my goal. At 4am on race day I felt confident in my abilities, I had built my physical endurance and mental resilience in training but now came the unknowns of race day. All the planning and preparation gets you to the start line, but a different mental strength is required on race day to overcome adversity and personal expectations. My goggles leaked (never happened in training), my aero water bottle snapped off (lucky I had alternative ways to carry water) and we had both rain and hot weather (that’s just England!)… but I made it! If you want to see the embodiment of mental strength watch Dave Reilly on YouTube, the final Ironman UK finisher in 2022, crossing the line with 4 seconds to spare in 16 hour 59 minutes 56 seconds! Taking my triathlon training and race experience into a work context, I often hear people say they don’t have time or resources to make improvements happen. My advice is to start small, take the first brave steps and remember that doing something is better than nothing. Before you know it you’ve made daily improvement a new habit. If we all start small and take these first steps and create new positive habits at work, we can create new cultures that ultimately can transform our organisations. The IRONMAN Group

"Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles - and brag the rest of your life." - John Collins After tirelessly training with no days off in nearly three years, delayed races, broken elbows, teeth, divorce, isolation, hair cutoff, moving 5 x, being jobless, and more, I finally completed my first full IRONMAN, a 2.4-mile ocean open water swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run (a full marathon) on Saturday, November 4, 2023. Fun facts from my first full IRONMAN - (Florida) How much money I raised for the IRONMAN Foundation: $4,200 2.4-mile open water ocean swim.  112-mile bike ride 26.2-mile run Time cutoff: 17 hours My time: 13:56:50 # of participants: 1,789 # of women: 317 # of women ages 45 to 49: 42 My place after bike ride: 1,492 (men and women) My place post run: 1,189 (men and women) My marathon split: 765th fastest of the day (men and women) # of calories burned: 6,237 #of steps taken: 52,187 Average heart rate for the marathon: 123 Average heart rate for the ride: 118 Average heart rate for the swim: 134  It was my first outdoor century ride. It was my first 2.4-mile open-water swim. The worst part of the day: Jellyfish stings on my neck that were exposed to the beating sun for 7 hours on the bike The best part of the day: Watching the sunrise without a cloud in the sky, illuminating the countless jellyfish. I wasn't ready for the swim to be over. Biggest surprise was how savagely hungry I was when we got to the marathon. Never having done an outdoor century ride, I was not prepared for how hungry I would be post-ride. I couldn't stomach any more gels so I started drinking Coke, eating oranges, and quickly migrated to bone broth to finish the marathon.  # of yards of swimming since June 2020: 1,185,337 # of miles cycled since April 2020: 22,365 # of miles ran since January 2020: 6,985 Having done a 70.3-mile IRONMAN and an IRONMAN, I now appreciate how radically different these two events are. Will I do an IRONMAN again? 100000000% yes! Take the lessons learned and apply them forward. And finally... is IRONMAN bad for your body? only if you don't train properly. This is also where heart rate training matters a lot. I will be back for IRONMAN Florida 2024.. once again raising funds for the IRONMAN Foundation. #swimming #running #ironman #goals #disicipline #resilience #wellness #fitleaders #cycling #mindset #cycling Zwift Skratch Labs Maurten Scott Sports SA (USA) Thorlo

💥Wheelchair to IRONMAN "One of The Toughest Endurance Races"! How I overcame internal demons and drama.... It was this February... It was a super dark phase in my life... I paused .. I had decided to flip the story... The story was to chas a Big Ass Dream ...and cut the Drama out. To Dream Big. You need to enter Pain. But, how do I define my Pain Cave, you ask? May be I needed primal validation... I grew up where we were told not to take big risks... I decided to step up the game ... Figure out a Life Altering Experience... Decided to travel and see if I can find an answer... Clicked close to 2000 plus kms... Still no answer.... Rightfully the calling came as I was running in the Mountains How can I Find Assymetry was the question... I was not keen on linear 📈 🛑 growth... For Assymetry to happen i had to enter Pain Cave .... I realised I had to do Unlearn Under Extreme Pressure ...! Unlearning under Extreme Pressure was the key... The foundation was 1️⃣ Increase my Pain and Performance Threshold ... 2️⃣ It has to be hard ass work ... 3️⃣There had to be Primal Validation... +1 The Journey has to be memorable + Instill New Disciplines + Cut Toxicity Out + Enter a new realm This was the core script to my Flip the Story And as I stepped up to the Triathlon Madness and the baddest of them ..."Being The Ironman" This answer was clearly IRONMAN ! It was Pressure, Steep Unlearning Curve and ticked all the boxes to reinvent.. It's not just physical endurance; it's mental endurance. The Ironman demanded 1.9 KMS of Open Sea Swim, a grueling 90Km cycle, and a 21 Km run, all in the Goan heat. It required immense willpower and supreme discipline. More Drama in Life. I signed up, but the next day, I had a Grade 3 Ligament Tear. 🛑 Doctors said I couldn't walk with out crutches for three months, let alone run. That's when madness kicked in, and I flipped the story. I created a vision board, committed to becoming an IRONMAN, and underwent a total mind and body reset. It wasn't easy, but from taking no steps months ago to crossing the Finish Line on October 8th was life-altering. I urge you to embrace challenges that are hard to achieve, demand supreme struggle and discipline That makes you burn In doing so, you'll be transformed, and your life will never be the same. As a Life and Business Coach, this journey humbled me. From Wheelchair to Ironman the Journey has been crazy ... 🔥Have faith, and miracles happen.... If even one of you faces life head-on, I'll consider it my way of giving back. 🙏🙏🙏" We will have to deal with Lot of Drama and believe that our Dream is bigger than the Drama.. So what's the Ironman you are chasing? Take Massive Action before 2023 comes to an end ... PS : I am doubly charged now ! So if your team is looking for a Team build or #LeadershipWorkshop ..let's talk..on how Resilience and Grit can be built in... #MentalWellness is Real. Your Employees Need it. Coach Ravi

🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️ I did it! IronMan 70.3, Barcelona, done! 6 hours in total. And I.AM.BEAT!!! And I'm also 9 months sober today! - 🍷 As a recap - I started this year deciding to do Dry January, and step by step I ended up committing to OYNB (a year of no alcohol) and then in early Jan signing up for an The IRONMAN Group event in Barcelona to keep me on track. - I was pretty unhappy internally. There had been a lot to contend with in my personal life over the prior 6 months, and I was drinking too much. I was really worried that if I didnt do something NOW at 40, i'd hate who I was at 50 and it would be too late. - If you're not happy with the amount you're drinking right now, I can highly recommend an IronMan event. It is full of incredible people of all shapes and sizes (I even saw a blind man holding his white stick up vertically running along - absolute legend). - You don't need to do anything now, but just keep it in mind as the year begins to close out, and perhaps that can be the challenge that resets your negative drinking. - 🍻 Pattern drinking as a coping mechanism for stress is rife, and it's difficult to break. Signing up for an IronMan gave me so much to focus on (Inc learning to swim) that the "not drinking" hasn't even remotely been an issue. I can be pretty determined when I need to be, and focusing on this event was perfect for me. Maybe would be for others too. - I just wanted to say that for anyone that needs to hear it. It's horrible not wanting to drink but doing it anyway, week after week, after week after week. Some time night after night. - If you like the sound of the event, and you're able, I'd say this: ✅️ Publicly state you're doing it to make you accountable. ✅️ Do it for a charity you care about so it matters. - - - Then get to work✌🏼 - Even if its not an IronMan - just choose some big goal that scares you. It needs to be huge to stop the desire to drink. It has worked for me. Climbing one hill, or simply "running" was never enough to break the habit for. I needed a triathlon✌🏼 - Shout out to my amazing wife Karris Mcculloch - she and the kids were there with me every step of the way and I am eternally grateful and appreciative. Felt like the luckiest guy in the world having them all there at the end and all through the course. - What a day..... - 🙏🏼 My Just Giving page is almost at £1,000 If anyone has a spare few quid to nudge it over the line. Money going to YoungMinds https://lnkd.in/euNtJR8T