Self-Identity

I feel that most of the stuff that I have learned over the past couple of years about people comes from observing my daughters growth and interaction with others. As adults most of us have developed some preconceived way of viewing the word whether its negative or positive. We wake up in the morning and proceed through our daily activities always following these ideas in our heads. Unfortunately most of us follow the first way of viewing the world...in a NEGATIVE way. The mind is constantly viewing interactions as negative and sees the way the world interacts as being negative. When one is in that mindset we also fall into a trap of following the latest fads, worrying to much about what people think of us, worried about what the future holds and most importantly fail to develop our own SELF-IDENTITY.

My middle child Brynn lives her life to the beat of her own drum and always has. She doesn't care what the world thinks of her and if something doesn't agree with her she is always the first to respond "WHY?" Living with four amazing woman you better believe that the one thing that my girls don't lack is clothes. This summer at camp while my oldest was living the life of glamour (in her mind) each day Brynn had what we called the uniform. The same Justin Bieber T-Shirt and pink Justice shorts. In her world this outfit made her feel right at home and comfortable. Everyone at camp must have thought we only cared about our oldest and not her. At the end of the day she didn't care what people thought (I will say that we washed that outfit almost every night and it has since been retired).

Brynn's mind works similar to the way a person gifted in the game of chess plays. She is always 5 moves ahead in her thoughts. Nothing she does happens by chance but is more planned out in her head ahead of time. At 5 years old she knows how people should be treated and she knows how people will respond to the way she acts.

It is important that everyone take time every so often to sit back and reflect on what type of person you have become. Or for that argument what type of person do you want to be. Time may get away from you in the busy life style that we live and you may loose sight of the person you want to be. I know at times if I get busy and let some of the minor stressers in my life take over that I start to loose focus of the goals I have in place in my life. Some of those goals are always having a positive frame of mind. If you start the day thinking about your goals for the day and slowly chip them away your outlook on life is powerful and the energy will spread to others. If you start the day in the dumps and don't focus on the days goals the stress of life will accumulate and soon you will be the one sapping those around you of energy instead of spreading the energy.

So my question to you is are you happy with the identity you display to the world? If not what are you doing to change that image that you portray? Its never to late to make an impact and I challenge you today to step up to the plate.

Make It Count!!!!

On a quick side note...I have been in the sport of triathon for about 15 years and have had many accomplishments during that time that I am very proud of. This past weekend at a triathlon not to far from the house I had the honor of pushing myself and finishing first overall in a triathlon for the first time in my athletic career. The admiration of other racers post race and the joy of being the top racer was a feeling that I could get use to. However the one thing I took away from the race is I love to compete and I love being healthy enough to get out there and try and make a difference.

Self-Confidence

Coaching athletes over the years and treating thousands of patients has taught me one thing about a common trend affecting most people in today's society....an overall lack of self-confidence. I have witnessed first hand people that are on the brink of greatness and the one thing holding them back is a lack of believing in themselves. Most of my patients that take awhile to get better or my athletes that train 100% according to plan but consistently lack execution on race is mostly due to the fact that they don't believe they have what it takes to truly succeed.

I believe that failure can be the cause of why some people can't get over that hurdle. The fear of failing over and over haunts these people to no end. One can have near perfect execution in training or learning but when the big day comes if you don't have the self-confidence in yourself all that hard work becomes hard to apply towards your goal.

I try and not let failure enter my thought process when I develop my goals and go through the day to day task of accomplishing them. The reason I don't give failure the attention that it sometimes steals from us is that I know its going to happen and there is nothing I can do about it from happening. What I can do is learn from my mistakes, bad training days, lack of focus and failures and build upon them in the future. I can take that failure and then apply what I have learned from it and hopefully succeed the next time I try which in turn builds my self confidence each day.

We all have the capability to accomplish anything we set you minds to. There is nothing that should stand in our way from succeeding beyond our wildest dreams. However lots of people fail to believe in themselves 100% and when we start second guessing all of our decisions then we start to fade away from living a life of faith in our abilities.

I recently picked up the book The Power of Positive Thinking and along with having faith the number one goal the author has for everyone that reads the book is developing a deep down believe in ones own self confidence. Without it we are just going through the motions each day and not truly taking advantage of how great we can be.

I have attached two photos for reference in this article. The first one is of me starting the run at Ironman Lake Placid this summer. Going into the race I didn't have the best training the last 8 weeks of training due to the birth of my beautiful little lady. However what I did have going into the race was 110% confidence in myself and my ability to get things done when needed. Coming off the bike I felt extremely confident and ready to drop the hammer on the run. In the end what I lacked in some top end running training was made up for in my confidence in getting things done on the run and I had my fastest Ironman marathon time ever.

The second photo is of my 7 year old at her second triathlon this summer. Anyone that knows her always comments on how confident she is in herself. There is nothing that she attempts that she doesn't go into thinking she will master with effort. She is not afraid of failure at 7 years old and knows that if she gives it her best effort that she will be able to accomplish anything eventually. This girl has taught me so many valuable lessons in her short 7 years that I have been searching for most of my life. As the supportive dad I always try and be there for her and teach her that everything comes from ones frame of mind. If you believe in yourself anything can be accomplished and I can say that she is following daddies words and making the most out of her life.

As always take advantage of what you have been given in life and MAKE IT COUNT!!!!!

Growth

Growth comes in many different fashions in today's society. I have the pleasure and privilege of seeing growth happen every single day I wake up. Being a father is something I always thought would be exciting but I will have to admit that my previous expectations don't come close to how awesome it truly is. Not only do I have a direct impact on guidance and advice I can provide but I can also sit back and watch them become incredible young woman making the right decisions in life.

The baby has allowed all four of us to realized how precious life is. If at anytime we are having a bad day all we have to do is walk up to her and talk in baby language (I have gotten really good at the goo goo ga gaas) and the smile of pure love makes all the negatives melt away. I have witnessed the two older daughters mature into the big sisters I always knew they could be and yes from the looks of it the baby likes to eat.

Growth also comes in how we approach life. Part of being successful in anything you attempt whether it be business, relationships, sports or self confidence is always revolved around failure. Not to sound over confident but I have been blessed in accomplishing lots in my 37 years (more than I could ever have imagined) but it hasn't come without failure and self-doubt.

What stops most people from success in life is the fear of failure or they do fail and don't think they have what it takes to give it another shot. This is the flaw that I feel everyone can work on and push through to accomplish anything they set their minds to. All failure does is teach us what not to do the next time and how to think outside the box on what it would take to succeed. This is where GROWTH really takes over and allows us to succeed and teach the world that nothing can hold us down.

Just look at the recent success of Diana Nyad swimming 110 miles non-stop. She could have easily just thrown in the towel but her determination and ability to learn from her mistakes allowed her to believe in her abilities and push past the previous failures and GROW as an individual. Now her accomplishment is out of this world amazing but I bet if you take a minute and think of your biggest accomplishments you will see how you grew during the experiences and how it has made you a better person for it.

My oldest never ceases to amaze me with her determination and constant drive to push past any limits she may have on herself and grow as an individual. This past weekend her and I ran a 5K in which she told me she wanted to run it by herself and not with me. After I finished the race and cheered on a few people, I told my wife that I wanted to go see how she was doing so I started to back track the course but didn't have to go that far. To my amazement I looked down the road and saw her tiny legs speeding towards me. As she approached I asked her what she was doing (couldn't believe how fast she was) and she simply just told me "I am running dad". She crossed the finish line in 28 minutes holding her head up high and stating that she didn't walk and she was proud of her achievement.

What I would challenge all of you to do is put down on paper what your biggest goals are in life. Draw out a plan of attack and know that along the journey you may fail but if you learn from your mistakes and GROW your dreams will come true. If we could all apply this to our life's and know that nothing can bring us down then the world we live in would be amazing.

Make It Count!!!!

Falling Into Place

Well its been two weeks since my big race of the year and other than some stiffness in the legs (been lazy the past two weeks so recovery is slow) I am feeling back to normal and busy loving every second with my girls.

I might as well jump into the main reason this blog was originally started and it was a place where I could write down my journey towards the finish line of Ironman Lake Placid while spreading the word of my cousin Jimmy who was loosing his life to cancer. I think that what the journey taught me was that in the big picture the race was very insignificant in my life. I have put all this pressure on always training the right way, always eating the right way, always getting enough sleep, always maintaining a healthy mental outlook and that if I didn't succeed then the whole process was a giant waste of time. Well I sit back on the coach now and tell you that I have been living with blinders on for most of my triathlon career.

At the end of the day everything that I was focusing on is important but only in small increments individually. One can get caught up in the process and never admire the beauty that is surrounds them daily. In my world my beauty is my family and the friends that I have surrounded myself with. Without any of them this world would probably be pretty empty and quit frankly no fun.

I knew deep down that my training for Lake Placid was going to be interesting due to family commitments and a growing business. I however believed that if I could devote all my energy into the time I did have that I would at least know that I did everything in my power to prepare for what I wanted to be the race of my life.

The following is a short race report of my days in Lake Placid:

I drove up to Lake Placid the Wednesday before the race so that I could soak in the aura of the olympic energy that has been part of the town for decades. The only negative part of the drive up was having to talk to myself for 8 hours but I guess after being an endurance athlete for 15 years talking to myself is a common occurrence. The couple days prior to racing an Ironman can be relaxing or stressful depending on the company one keeps around themselves. I can say that I nailed my company perfectly this time around with all the wonderful people from Mid Maryland Triathlon Club, Josh and Becky Nipper and one of my best friends in the entire world Eduardo Guerra (and his beautiful bride,Stacy). My days prior where pretty uneventful and for the first time prior to Ironman I felt very calm in my mental prep. I knew that I had nailed some crucial workouts and although I didn't get in the volume or time that I had wanted I knew that my confidence in myself and the confidence of those I surround myself with could carry me when things got tough.

Race Morning:
I woke up at 3AM so that I could get my nutrition in place and then just chill before heading to the race start as I felt I was in a good place physically and mentally. Race morning nutrition consisted of one banana, two bottles of Ensure, 500 calories of oatmeal and of course COFFEE!!! After hanging out and doing one last mental rehearsal of the race it was time to head to the race start.

Swim:
Ironman forever has consisted of a mass start in which about 2500 of your closet friends line up in a small area waiting for the gun to go off. What happens next is what I call a bout of mixed martial arts in the water as everyone is jocking for position and open water which doesn't exist when you corral that many people into a small area. At the end of the day this is something I truly love and maybe its because I grew up swimming every day in open water and consider myself a stronger swimmer. Regardless Ironman is trying to make the swim a safer environment for the masses so they have switched the race to a rolling time trial start. I lined up with the fast swimmers in the estimated swim times of under an hour. The swim in lake placid is a two loop swim for a total for 2.4 miles. Everything was on track for under 60 minutes until about 300 meters to go when we ran into the back of the slow pack which closed down the open lanes and slowed my time down. The best part of the swim is that I came out of the water not taxed one bit and felt great heading into the bike. I wish I could give you secret advise to how I felt so great but in reality this was only the 5th time I have swam all year with no other swim longer than 45 minutes. Total swim time: 1:02:49

T1: The first transition at Lake Placid is somewhat of a run from the lake to the tent and the only thing that I noticed while getting ready for the bike was the fact that it had started to rain. At this point in my mind all I could think about was going doing the 6 mile decent in the pouring rain which scared me. Total T1 Time: 6:03

Bike: My training this time around has been unorthodox in nature due to the fact that we expanded out family and time was not on my side for leaving my wife for long OUTDOOR rides. That being said I only road outdoors twice in my training leading up to Lake Placid so most of my training was on my trainer in the "mancave". One of those sessions included a 140 mile bike ride (yes I need to be examined for psychological issues) with a 3 mile run to follow. The good thing about all those indoor rides was that mentally I knew I would be strong. The bike in placid is said to be one or lost in the first 15 miles of the bike. What that means is many people typically blow out the gates and don't realize it until about 15 miles in that they went out to hard and now most of the rest of their race is sacrificed. I stuck to my plan the entire bike (looking back I can break it apart and say I could have probably gone 10-15 minutes faster) and everything went well for the most part. I did have some stomach issues abour mile 45 in which some of my oatmeal was starting to come back up but that subsided pretty quick. I do know that getting out more and riding more of the longer descents will be in my future should I ever race Placid again. The only reason I say that is because I felt a little timid on the bike going 40-50MPH in the rain knowing that at any second my day could come to a very bad end.  Total Bike Time: 5:34:33

T2: The second transition is always the easiest in my mind as there really isn't a whole lot to do before one starts the run. You hand your bike off to a volunteer and then head into the changing tent where another volunteer dumps out your bag and helps you obtain any items you may need. For me all I needed was a fresh pair or socks, my shoes and a visor. Total Time: 2:50

Run: The run was the one leg of Lake Placid that I was most excited for and the one that I was the most scared of. I had some great early season run training in which I was running the fastest times I have put down in my life. My legs where turning over fast and there was not one hill that could slow down the strength that I had built. Then my beautiful little girl was born and some of that amazing run training came to a screaming halt. Balancing another kid to the family, sleepless nights, not the greatness nutrition and lacking the drive to get out the door in the morning threw a wrench into my training. Thats not to say I didn't have some great run sessions they were just few and far between at this point in the game. Looking back though I wouldn't have changed one thing. Spending time with my family versus training more is not my goal in life. So back to the run...I left transition with what felt like brand new springs in my legs. Quarter mile out of transition I looked down at my GPS watch to see I was running 6:45 pace which I knew I couldn't hold but I also thought well lets give it a shot. That was until our local pro suzy serpico yelled "Slow Down Oergel!!!". It was at that point that I knew I was playing with poision if I was thinking I could keep up that pace. So I slowed in down to the low 7's and plugged along. I felt absolutely awesome for the first 8 miles of the run and that is when my mind started to get weak on me (probably from the fact that at this point in the run you are out on a part of the course that is just you and the elements with no support). Before my mind took to much of a downward spiral I started talking to myself...well more talking to Jimmy asking for the inner strength and courage to push past this point. I knew that he went through more discomfort when getting chemo and dealing with the side effects of brain cancer. I also know that he pushed past those moments with strength and was always there with a smile and positive outlook on life. So sure enough after about a mile of inner talk and thinking of my ladies sitting at home cheering for me on the computer my mindset changed from one of difficulty to one of ease. For the next 8 miles I just plugged along trying to soak in as much of the experience as I could. Around mile 17-18 I even thought about dropping the pace and going for it as I started to feel like I had the strength to do anything...however I decided to stick to the plan. If I had stuck to my training plan without the interruptions I have no doubt in my mind that I could have taken another 15-20 minutes off of my run. The fun part of coming to the finish in Lake Placid is that they have the finish line set up on the olympic oval in town. I will never have the opportunity to be in the olympics but for a brief second with all the energy that is in the atmosphere in Lake Placid you get the feeling of what it would feel like. Total Run Time: 3:32:30

Total Time: 10:18:45
Overall Place: 100 out of 2537
Age Group Place: 20 out of 304

In the end I didn't meet my goal of qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman. The fast guys came out this year in Placid which is always more fun racing against the best. Was I let down that I didn't accomplish my main goal....not one bit. I stuck to my plan and nailed it with precision. I was able to race for a cause of keeping my wife's cousin Jimmy's spirits alive and well. I was able to show my girls that if you try your best (no matter what you have going on in your life) you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. I was able to help numerous friends up in Lake Placid who where embarking on their first Ironman attempt. I was able to show up to race day healthy as sometimes that is the hardest part of our sport is getting to the start line healthy. I was able to spend time with one of my best friends in the world who I unfortunately don't get to see all that often...love the Guerras!!!! I was able to use my healing ability as a chiropractor to keep a bunch of competitors healthy so they could achieve their goals. I was able to cheer on a new buddy of mine as he pushed past the demons telling him to stop on his way to finishing the race in 17 hours and becoming an Ironman...your determination and drive is contagious Sergio. I was given the honor of being asked to do the race for Team Inspiration and carrying the Inspiration Flag across the finish line...my goal in life is always to inspire others and try and live life to the fullest as nothing is guaranteed. Most importantly above everything else I was able to remind my wife why she married this crazy (probably a few screws loose) man.

There are too many people to thank for helping me this year through our crazy life we live. Just know that I love each and everyone of you and that I appreciate you letting me into your life. This is not the end of a journey for me but just another chapter in my life which I am sure will be just as crazy as past chapters. I have new goals for the next two years of my life which includes racing the 2015 Age Group Triathlon World Championships in my home town of Chicago. In the meantime my goal right now is to spend quality time with those close to me and constantly remind them how special they are to me.

One last special thanks to Jimmy for getting me past that dark place in the Ironman and I hope that I made you proud.

Make It Count!!!!

Perspective

As I write this post we are about 12 days out from Ironman Lake Placid which is hard to believe with how crazy busy this year has been so far. This will probably be my last post before the race but I am sure to follow it up after the race as the feedback from most of you has been very inspiring.  Who ever knew that putting words down was so therapeutic.

We live in a crazy world these days in which if you blink an eye time will fly bye leaving you wondering where the days went. Perfect example is my middle (still hard to believe I have a middle daughter) daughter will be a very grown up 5 years old this Friday and growing up faster than I would like. The speed at which they grow up is one reason why family will forever be my number one priority above everything else. I feel if I don't engulf myself in everything they do then someday I will be kicking myself.

Adding the third child into the mix this year has been very challenging recently in that it adds one more kink into our already busy world. My wife and I have had to become even more of a fluid machine or else everything becomes just a little crazy. I know both of us are ready for the Ironman to be behind us as it will open up a little more time in our world while Little C is still young. The most amazing thing about my wife though is she would never complain about me having to train or the race itself. She is my number one support person which I know is hard for her as she is busier than me but always keeps a smile on her face.

In the world of Ironman triathlon racing the last 2 weeks before the race (called the taper) is usually the hardest for most athletes to handle. Not because they are physically demanding weeks but more the psychological stress builds to a boiling point for many athletes. For most people they have devoted at least a year of very focused training and when you start taking away that time of training along with the looming race deadline approaching a lot of athletes tend to become very stressed. There is even a tendency at times to question every single day of training that you have done and wonder if you have done enough. As as sports medicine physician that deals with most of these athletes and their injuries I get the pleasure of also helping calm the minds of many of these athletes.

At the end of the day we are blessed with even being healthy enough to compete in the race. There are plenty of people that would love to have the opportunity to toe the start line but for whatever reason life didn't give them the chance. That is the main driving factor why I tend to not be so stressed before the race. I have seen to many diseases end peoples dreams and I know that no matter what I will cross that finish line on July 28th with a smile on my face. Hopefully the training has paid off and I will be one of the lucky few and my dream of racing on the big island will come true but if not I know that just showing up with a positive mindset and racing for those that can't is also a victory.

Enough of the rambling today as I hear my little lady crying for me in the background. Thanks to everyone in my world that continues to support me and know from deep down in my heart that I appreciate everyone of you. Many thanks again to my wife Britt...without her in my life I am not sure I would have come close to becoming the person I am today. I owe her a lot for being in my life and pretty sure I will never be able to repay her.

Make It Count!!!!

P.S. If you live in the Maryland/DC/Virginia area you should look into the Mid-Maryland Triathlon Club or Maple Lawn Endurance Club. Many of the members are competing in their first Ironman at Lake Placid and many of these people have become like a second family to me. The sport of triathlon has some amazing people in it but many of the people in this club take that to the next level and are exceptional people which I can't wait to cheer in to the finish line on July 28th.

Appreciation

At 36 years of age it has taken me awhile but I can honestly say that I have finally been able to appreciate some of the finer things in life. I think when I was younger I just took most of these things for granted as things that were just suppose to happen. The problem with this very narrow focus of thinking is that we never truly tell those people how much they are appreciated, we never sit back and appreciate how great our life is and sometimes we never change as individuals because we just assume that everything will stay the course and never change.

I have had lots of time to think the past 5 days as I was left behind as my family went away on vacation and it has left me time to ponder what I appreciate most in this life. I could go on forever as hundreds of things come to mind but there are three things that stand out in my mind as the most important things in my life.

Number one will always be my family. The first day they were away I can honestly say was great as I was able to get about 6 hours in of uninterrupted Ironman training. Then reality hit me the next morning I woke...I missed my ladies very much. The craziness of three girls along with always having my best friend next to me was missing and I felt empty. My wife is the most amazing person I have ever met and is the main reason that I always push on to be the best person I can be more cause I guess I always want to impress her. I see so much of her in my daughters which constantly puts a smile on my face. In the end I appreciate how much they love me and how no matter what happens day to day they are always there for me.

Number two is the sport of triathlon. The sport came into my life when I graduated college and has opened so many doors for me in life. I have been able to place large goals on my shoulders through triathlon and the confidence I have gained in the sport has lead me to a confidence that anything is possible as long as you have a solid plan of attack and never give up. There have been many races over the past 14 years where I reached a dark place in the race but the constant one foot in front of another has lead me out of that darkness and into a place of accomplishing any goal I want. The other thing that has come out of triathlon is the people I have met over the years. Triathlon attracts some of the most incredible people you will ever meet in your life and I want everyone of you to know how gratefull and appreciative I am to have you in my life.

Number three is my mother in law Susan. Many of you that know me know that I am a Chicago boy who eventually planted roots in Texas and thought I would never leave. We had everything from very successful jobs, incredible friends, beautiful house (without east coast prices) and life was perfect. Well not perfect enough as we didn't have extended family nearby and mostly grandparents to be exact. In the end we decided to move to Maryland to be near my wife's family and although it has been challenging at times I must say that it has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. My mother in law is one of the most unselfish, funny, intelligent and most incredible grandmas out there. She has made my daughters life's so rich and full of experiences that one day I hope they understand how great they have it.  She is always there for us no matter the time of day and the whole stigma of having bad in-laws missed me as I am very lucky to have such an amazing woman in my life. She has confirmed my decision that moving was the right decision and I want her to know how appreciative I am to have her around.

I ask everyone to just take a second today and let someone in your life know how appreciative you are of them and how they make your life that much better. I promise they will enjoy hearing the words and they may spread the word on to someone else which in turn will make the world a little better place to live.

On a side note I have turned my 10 days away from family into Epic Camp Jake which means I have nothing else to do but fit in a huge training week. I will fill you in with numbers once I am done with my own training camp but so far in 5 days I am at 18 hours of training and trying to balance improvement with recovery...exciting times!!!

Make It Count!!!!

Quitting

This a word that I have never used in my life as I have always contributed it to taking the easy way out. In my mind the easy way out never allows us to learn anything about ourselves or grow as individuals. Don't get me wrong though...with everything that I have accomplished in my life so far there have been plenty of moments when failure was the ultimate outcome and quitting would have been a lot easier then finishing the task.

Growing up my parents worked extremely hard and most of the time worked a second job or two so that my sisters and I could enjoy everything that our friends had. They could have quit many times and told my sisters and I to suck it up but in the end they didn't. They woke up every morning with the determination to work as hard as they could and not let anything set them back so that their family could live the good life.

It is hard for me to say this but this morning the word quit came out of my mouth for the first time in my 37 years of existence. Any one close to me knows that myself and my family have a lot going on currently with a new addition to the family, growing professional success, a constant desire to always make sure my daughters are striving to the next level, a growing coaching business and on top of that my passion to reach the island of kona at Ironman Lake Placid this summer. Well being a family man my training has taken a back seat since the baby was born and the constant toll of trying to get all the training in finally broke me.

I said to my wife this morning that "I QUIT and that i was backing out of Lake Placid this summer". Of course my wife's first reaction was excuse me as that is not typical talk used in the Oergel household. The mounting pressure of getting workouts in and the occasion zero days were starting to take there toll and the easiest reaction I had was to run for the hills.

After a while of selfish ranting I had to take a step back and realize that I am not allowed to "Quit" and I thought of three close friends who would literally smack me in the face for even thinking of it. My wife's cousin Jimmy, who recently passed away from brain cancer, would have loved even 10 seconds a day to exercise and enjoy life a little more. My best buddy in the world and brother from another mother Eduardo who was told by doctors that he would never race again due to a heart condition never gave up and pushed on for almost 2 years with the small hope that God would give him the gift of long distance torture just one more time....and sure enough he did and will also be racing Lake Placid this summer. Then there is another buddy of my Brian who just recently was released by his neurologist to race again after months of major neurological problems sustained from a motor vehicle accident in which he was lucky to walk away. There are millions of more storied out there that touch me all the time.

So after some selfishness this morning I have come to the conclusion that I will not QUIT. I will continue to course although maybe a shorted course due to family obligations but I will toe the start line in Lake Placid with the will to just give it my best that day.

Part of my job as a health care provider has been also helping people mentally acquire their goals and stay true to the course. I think its about time that I listened to myself.