Challenge Yourself!

January-March 2009 By Mike Arenberg

It is one of the strangest things in this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest of men.
— Brutus Hamilton

It’s 2 a.m. in Death Valley. It’s cold and the night is as black as coffee. The only lights I see are those of my own support vehicle driving behind me, as well as the rear-facing flashing amber lights of another cyclist’s support vehicle up ahead.

I have already been riding for 19 hours, having covered a little over 300 miles of the 2008 Furnace Creek 508, a 508-mile bike race through the Mojave Desert. I am tired and falling asleep at the wheel, my legs are tired, my knees ache, my toes are numb, and my bottom is, well, not so good. I can’t imagine that it can get any tougher, but it does, much tougher. In fact, I still have 16 hours and 208 miles to go. My thoughts are jumbled. What am I doing here? What have I gotten myself into? Despite my discomfort I smile, because I know the answers: the fact is, I wouldn’t want to be any place else in the world right now.

I like a challenge, and after I finish this one, I’ll look for another. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s classic poem Ulysses runs through my mind. In the poem, Ulysses describes, to an unspecified audience, his discontent and restlessness on returning to his kingdom, Ithaca, after his far-ranging travels. Facing old age, Ulysses yearns to explore again. For most of this poem’s history, readers viewed Ulysses as resolute and heroic, admiring him for his determination. Endurance athletes understand this restlessness, determination and discontent. Endurance athletes understand the final line in his poem and this yearning to explore again our personal limitations: “Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

I’ve learned a lot about life as an endurance athlete. One of the most important things is this: the greater the challenge, the more glorious the reward. I first felt this the day after finishing the first of six 24-hour relays. I walked from my house back to the high school track where the event had been held the day before. I don’t know why I went back; I just wanted to see the track again. I stood there and cried. At that moment I didn’t know why, and it would be years before I understood these emotions and how they would affect the choices I would make later in my life. I felt the same emotions after finishing my first marathon at age 12, only a little stronger. Those same feelings rose up again inside me after finishing my first Ironman. Each time the emotions were a little stronger, a little more wonderful. There is a quiet voice deep inside that says, “Challenge yourself.” It’s obvious to me after 38 years as an endurance athlete that the more difficult the challenge, the more you will get out of it.

I’ve always been inspired by others, by those who’ve challenged themselves, the elements, and endured to tell the story. Before he set sail on his epic South Pole challenge, Earnest Shackleton re-christened the ship Endurance after his family motto, “Fortitudine vincimus” (By endurance we conquer). Ironically appropriate as Shackleton guided his crew—they survived 15 months trapped by drifting ice flows.
What is it exactly we conquer by taking on challenges? It varies from one person to another. We conquer what we think are our limitations. We conquer our fears and our self-doubt. We grow and develop with each challenge. We develop character, confidence and self-esteem. We develop the courage to take on other challenges in our everyday lives. It’s not easy to tackle these defining moments, and we may fail along the way. (Remember: Through endurance we conquer.) But we step up and try again until we reach our goal. Some of the greatest accomplishments were fraught with failure before they became accomplishments. In March 1999, Bertrand Piccard’s Breitling Orbiter balloon landed in the Egyptian desert after 20 days, becoming the first balloon to orbit the earth. This, after failing twice before.

In the days before my ride through the desert, my endurance heroes were constantly in my thoughts. Take 45-year-old Gerard D’Aboville, the first person to row a boat across the Pacific Ocean, a distance of over 6,000 miles. He rowed 10–12 hours a day, an average of 7,000 strokes per day. He battled head winds that pushed him backward or made him stand still, once for a full 2 weeks! But 134 days after his departure from Japan, he completed his challenge. Reinhold Messner set his sights on becoming the first man to climb all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks in the world. He was the first to climb Mount Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen. Years later he became the first man to climb Everest solo.

But why climb a mountain? Why row a boat across the Pacific Ocean? Why ride a bike 508 miles through the desert? What is to be gained? The simple answer you hear all too often: because it’s there, or because I can. But it’s more than that. We need to discover what we can overcome. We need to learn about ourselves. It’s the classic road to self-discovery.

With 2008 almost in the books and 2009 fast approaching, it’s time for you to set your goals, time to challenge yourself. Each person’s choice of challenge is individual to them, as is what they get out of it. What opportunities are out there that will test you? Aim high! Sure, there may be obstacles, but it’s these obstacles that energize us! Challenge yourself! You may be afraid to take on a challenge. At first, I feared the idea of trying my first marathon, my first Ironman, and most recently, my first Furnace Creek 508. But on the other side of that fear is the opportunity to show courage and build character. Setting challenging goals forces us to take stock of ourselves and to be courageous. You may have to adapt and overcome many obstacles. This is the basis for perseverance, the essential quality of the endurance athlete.

Of all the creatures on the face of the earth, humans are those who adapt most easily, not only to the most extreme temperatures and climates but to the most arduous conditions and toughest challenges that life imposes on them. We derive this capacity to adapt through characteristics that are ours alone, namely the ability to dream and to hope. So, set your sights high. Challenge yourself and dream big!
Editors Note: Coach Arenberg finished the Furnace Creek 508 in 35 hours, 6 minutes, placing 25th out of 100 solo riders.

— Coach Arenberg

Coach Michael Arenberg has an M.B.S. in exercise physiology from the University of Colorado. He has been a competitive distance runner and triathlete for 38 years, completing 25 marathons and 11 Ironman triathlons, including 3 times qualifying for the Ironman World Championships. He has coached U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic Trial qualifiers in the marathon and two top-10 finishers in the U.S. Men’s Marathon Championships, as well as multiple Ironman World Championship qualifiers.
Coach Arenberg is available for coaching and can be contacted at makona94@aol.com.
If you have a training question for Coach Mike, send him an e-mail at the above address. While he is unable to personally respond to every question, answers will appear from time to time in upcoming issues of Missouri Runner and Triathlete.