Meet James Lawrence – the endurance athlete who made headlines around the world by completing 100 full-distance triathlons in 100 consecutive days. In his new book Iron Hope, he shares the raw, unfiltered story behind the feat that pushed his body, mind and spirit to the edge. This exclusive extract offers a glimpse inside the pain, purpose and unshakeable drive that powered every mile.
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100 Triathlons in 100 Days: Exclusive Extract From Iron Hope by James Lawrence
I am alive.
To understand why that simple fact makes me grin, you have to understand that when I was planning out the Conquer 100, the doctors I consulted flat out told me it was impossible. Not merely that my plan was foolish. Not merely that they didn’t recommend it. They were actually convinced I would die.
I took it all in stride. By then in my athletic career, I had learned to walk the careful tightrope between respecting the medical industry and ignoring it. Six years earlier, when I’d been planning the 50.50.50, every doctor I spoke with had told me that fifty full distance triathlons in fifty consecutive days was inconceivable. But there was another stronger, more compelling voice I listened to, one far harder to ignore, one that insisted the Conquer 100 could be done.
Mine.
I placed this bet on myself and my team.
Sure, the 50.50.50 had been extremely difficult. It tortured me in ways beyond my imagination. Many times it brought me to my knees. But it never broke me. In fact, it had offered me and the medical community-a big surprise. I remember this surprise as I’m swimming this morning. In the months following the completion of the 50.50.50, I had pored over the data. Others had too. You would think that as I’d become more and more exhausted, I would have slowed down. But the data told a different story.
Instead of progressively getting slower, weaker, I’d actually sped up. My last twenty triathlons were faster than my first thirty, and my fastest of the entire event was the very last, the fiftieth. I did it in 11:32-about forty-five minutes faster than the average thirty-nine-year-old triathlete,\* which was my age at the time. The data told me something important.
IRON HOPE: Sometimes when you think you’re at your worst, you’re actually becoming stronger. All the difficulty you’re pushing through is doing its job. The pain is unlocking doors of new and spacious rooms within you. The house of your body and spirit is being recalibrated into something far better.
What if there’s just one thing you need to change? Your perspective. Imagine what your life would look like if you saw the world differently. Instead of seeing challenges as obstacles, you see them as opportunities. Instead of seeing yourself as a victim, you choose to see yourself as creator of your destiny. Instead of viewing difficulty as an opponent out to break you, you choose to see difficulty as the catalyst to refine and sharpen you. Instead of your life becoming worse, you notice yourself becoming smarter, wiser, stronger. Enduring difficulty can make you better. Enduring difficulty can improve your life.
Change your perspective. Change your life.
As I pedal along, I remind myself I’ve got tons of reasons for undertaking the Conquer 100. I go over them again, like memorizing lines for a play or lyrics for a song. Sure, we’re doing it for charity. We’re doing it for my job. We’re doing it to empower others. We’re doing it for community. We’re doing it so other people can look at their own obstacles and find the courage to press on. All of those “whys” are important. But there’s more.
As I complete the bike ride and head to the marathon, I grab hold of one of my biggest reasons: I don’t want to leave any doubts, not this time around. None at all.
See, back on Day 19 of the 50.50.50, a storm was rolling in. The weather wasn’t forecast to be merely “bad” that day. As we were driving into Mississippi, electronic billboards literally read PLAN ACCORDINGLY. EXTREME WEATHER WARNING. Plus, another kind of storm was brewing. When a nurse looked at me on the road and asked, “What’s wrong?” I had so many physical problems to choose from, I didn’t know where to begin. My right shoulder was so messed up I was swimming with only one arm. My calves were frazzled. My thigh was bruised and bloodied from a spill on the bike in Tennessee, and my team worried I had sustained a hip injury from the force of impact. The second toe of my left foot was mangled and badly infected so blistered that a medical professional had declared the nerves in that digit were dead. My tongue was bloodred, covered in a chalky film, an unintended by-product of eating too much fruit. My mind was so exhausted that my memory was slipping-I would talk to someone but an hour later couldn’t recognize the person. More than one medical professional insisted I quit the endeavour.
As rain and wind rolled in, I made a split-second decision that would affect my psyche for years to come. My coach told me to run a portion of that day’s marathon inside. It was dangerous outside. Lightning was sending huge bolts of electricity to the earth, and marathons can be run indoors….
I still finished a full marathon that day. But by going inside for a few miles, I carried the weight of a compromise. I had let a shadow of doubt creep into my mind. Could I have finished outside if I’d really tried? Did I have any weaknesses I didn’t know about? Was I avoiding the pain and pressure? Those questions haunted me. It was like I had run the marathon, yes, but not with absolute conviction. Not with the full strength of my soul.
On the Conquer 100, I don’t want that doubt. I want to go all out. I want to test my mettle and my spirit. I want to leave zero room for uncertainty.
This is a marathon, not a sprint, as the saying goes. The old tortoise and the hare story. Steady pace, one foot in front of the other. That’s my mantra today as I speedwalk.
IRON HOPE: You need to have a bag of “whys”- reasons that pull you forward. Make them personal. Keep them with you. When you’re tempted to quit, reach into your bag of “whys” and remember. One reason alone won’t cut it. One motivation is not enough. Many help you triumph.
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Iron Hope by James Lawrence
James Lawrence has subjected his body to exhaustive physical testing, to every genetic analysis known to science. The stunning discovery is that, physically, he is unspecial in every way. The secret to his bulletproof body is his bulletproof mentality.
But how does a person develop the mental fortitude necessary to overcome incredible exhaustion, immeasurable suffering, and unfathomable pain in order to achieve impossible goals? With Iron Hope, that’s exactly what James “Iron Cowboy” Lawrence shows readers how to do.
Lawrence explains how readers can forge an iron will by making and keeping small promises to themselves again and again, amassing experience and building momentum until giving up becomes impossible. Combine a big dream with small improvements repeated with great consistency and make your goals and dreams a reality.
