We got out of the rower station and had 3 runs and 3 stations to go in the 2025 Vegas HYROX Men Pro Double Division.
I glanced at the clock and saw our time.
38 minutes in.
If we were going to hit our goal, we were going to have to keep our 1000m runs to under 3:50 while sending it hard on the stations. Not an easy task, but it was possible.
Up until this point, we were running well. Not exceptionally, but certainly respectable.
The goal entering the race was to win and qualify for words, so we knew it was going to require a Herculean effort.
The effort to do the event was feeling like just that… an effort. And I knew that struggling through this racer and pushing was not going to be enough.
I had to find joy in it.
When something feels like an effort, the attention is on the effort. The struggle. This leads to your mind starting to create reasons why you don’t need to push hard or do as well.
The “it’s only a race” thoughts begin to enter.
Forget that.
We were here to make ourselves proud and give the best effort possible. It’s not just a race. This is an opportunity to show yourself what you are capable of doing in life. These are the times we work for. We need to be able to count on ourselves when the chips are stacked against us.
When you’re cramping, exhausted, and not going to get 1st place because the competition was stronger than you expected… can you still do your best? Or do you roll over and quit?
This was never about 1st place.
This was about a 1st place type of effort and our fitness just happened to be at a spot where 1st was a reality.
Pride.
This is where pride comes in.
I kept saying the real reason I was doing this to be proud of myself and give others a chance to see a direct path they could follow to make themselves proud.
As we left the rowing station, we were 5/8ths done with the Vegas HYROX race. If there was a time to send it, it was now.
I was racing with a childhood friend, Matt Choi. We were really excited at the chance to compete again together after playing high school football together. And we did one race together and put up a great effort, 2nd place overall, but not enough to go to worlds.
This was our chance to go to worlds.
As the word pride swirled around my head I remember all of the work I have been doing with Dr. Joe Dispenza in regards to entering my desired emotional state prior to anything happening in the “material” world.
This is how Dr. Joe Dispenza recommend we attract the life we want.
So, I decided to smile. I decided to be proud of myself. Right then and there for how I want to finish the race. But I didn’t finish yet. I was living in my ideal future state now.
The effects of putting my mental training to practice were immediate, I went from struggling to keep my pace, to thriving.
I felt my heart rate lower dramatically. I became faster, I almost lost my
partner Matt Choi a few times (but he quickly picked it up).
I also became selfless. It wasn’t about me anymore.
When you are in stress and survival emotions, you are selfish.
Makes sense.
If a tiger is chasing you… good time to be selfish. We evolved this way, but it doesn't serve us anymore. But if you are proud and in a creative mindset, you become selfless.
I was cheering people on and motivating my partner and thinking of who I can inspire by crushing this race.
What really threw me for a loop what my respiration rate. I literally went from an open-mouth painting and wheezing breath to a calm and cool nasal breath. One that was deep, energizing, and 100% in my control.
I was in control. And I was choosing to finish strong.
The chemicals I released through this process of becoming proud of myself prior to having material reason to be gave me enough energy to perform while in a down-regulating state of being.
It was wild.
It carried through every lap I had left.
We finished very strong, with a 56:41 official time and a 3rd overall ranking. We got 2nd in our age group and are slotted to go to world (unless someone take our spot tonight, which is certainly possible).
Our run times got faster toward the end of the race and most importantly...
I was proud of our effort. I can live with that.
The pursuit of greatness is natural, it is human. I have found what i believe is to be a beautiful practice of balancing pursuing to become better and better, while feeling complete and whole in the same moment.
So, I did an honest post race reflection (just like David Goggins recommends).
I was happy. My meditations and practices clearly helped. I performed better and enjoyed it more.
But why did it take 62.5% (5/8ths) of the race to enter this mindset!?
Imagine if I could flip that on demand... or in seconds?
I think what helped is I was really able to chunk down the rest of the race when I was able to flip the mental switch. 3 runs and 3 stations lets. I can muscle that down. Not that scary. And the hardest stations were behind me. This definitely made it easier for me to enter my proud state of consciousness.
Because candidly… my game-plan from the beginning was to enter into being “proud” as fast as I can and as deeply as I could. But I clearly lost it for analytical thoughts of executing and timing. Maybe even some slight victimization of myself as well.
Nothing bad. I was in a good mindset. But not a great one where I was joyful and proud running around the track.
This is where practice comes in.
Practice is available to us for emotional situations, not just physical. We often overlook this.
Studies have shown people who practice changing their brain waves and therefore, their chemical make up are able to get into these states deeper and faster.
That means it is a skill! You can get better at it.
I clearly practiced, both physically and mentally, pushing enough to make 3/8th of the race feel mentally digestible. It felt easy to break that chunk down.
But what if I had practiced more and longer?
Or maybe focused on the beginning of my practices how to enter practice entering that state faster?
Now we are talking. We have a chance to enjoy the race more and perform better; which is an indicator of being more “capable” when in crunch time…
And as we land in Denver on the flight home, that’s where I am.. thinking about how I can become capable of handling more stress, for longer, as well as learning to change my states faster on demand.
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