In Your Post-Thanksgiving Stupor, Resolve to Start Exercising

"May your stuffing be tasty, May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious, And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!" -- Anonymous

THANKSGIVING POSTMORTEM: It's four days after one of the most bountiful (read: calorie-outrageous) feasts of the year. How are you feeling? If you're like most people, you ate until your eyes rolled back into your head and your brain became numb and, in an acute insulin-induced stupor, you slunked into your favorite La-Z-Boy and slipped slowly into worthlessness for four hours.

So here you sit, wincing, staring blankly at the ceiling, rubbing your belly and feeling out of shape. To add insult to injury, just four days ago, you snorked down enough calories to feed Bolivia for a week. The hope of burning off those calories with exercise is dimming as fast as the daylight hours are. The weather is colder, the holidays are here and it gets dark around -- noon!

Despite how things feel, now is not the time to become fatalistic. It's time to pick yourself up and do everything you can to stay in shape. Don't wait for tomorrow or next week or your birthday or the new year. When it comes to exercise, those times never come.

Over the next five weeks -- from now until the Jan. 1 -- I suggest that you dedicate at least four hours a week (more if you're fit) to your body. You'll feel infinitely better around the holidays, and you'll emerge from them happier, healthier - and lighter, and that will give you momentum heading into the new year. What you do over the next five weeks will set the tone for 2007 and boost your chances of achieving your New Year's resolutions.

Here are four tips to help you get back into the fitness swing and build your momentum over the holidays -- so that you can run, rather than waddle, into the new year.

Simply start

Of course, it's tough to put your body in motion when your energy levels are low, so I recommend that when you're feeling lethargic, you lace up your shoes and start with a five minutes of easy walking or another aerobic activity (which you should do to warm up for any type of exercise anyway).

Then, stop and assess how you're feeling - inside and out. This is called the "Five Minute Rule." Is your body revved and ready to go or are your muscles already feeling fatigued? Are you more alert and waking up or do you feel like you're going to pass out?

If you're genuinely dragging and seriously still exhausted, head home and get back in bed. You probably need some rest and relaxation.

But, if I'm guessing correctly, the fact that you started moving will get you pumped enough to keep going with the quality workout you determined you were too tired to take on. Oftentimes, our minds tell us we're tired when our bodies are actually eager to go.

Put fitness first

At this time of year, you probably have a million things going on from the moment you wake up, but your day will probably get even busier as the minutes pass. So set your alarm clock for an hour or even 30 minutes earlier and squeeze in an exercise session then.

Research shows that people who workout in the morning are actually more likely to stick with their exercise long-term than people who plan to be active at other times of day. On top of that, the sense of accomplishment you'll get from the moment your day begins will give you the confidence to conquer even more throughout your day -- meaning you could potentially be extra productive on the days you get that a.m. exercise; hence, actually saving you time.

I know it's dark and cold outside now, but solider on. Either do your workouts indoors, dress to beat the weather or take up swimming for the next five weeks! Why not?

Recruit your relatives

Over the holidays, none of us is particularly motivated to exercise. It's probably because we're all sitting around in insulin-induced stupors! The key is to get active with your spouse, partner, kids -- and all of your visiting relatives. It's not only a great way to deal with the "lack of time" excuse but an excellent way to stay motivated while boosting everybody's fitness.

Research shows that people who exercise together may stick with it longer than people who go it alone. Besides, what could be more romantic than going on a hike with your significant other, enjoying breathtaking views as you traverse the trails at sunset? And what could be more fun than throwing around a ball with your kids, taking a family bike ride in the park or heading out with your baby in a jogging stroller? Another great idea is to take walks before and after big meals; this helps moderate appetite and aid digestion.

Bottom line: Explore exercise as part of the holiday family experience and see how enriching it is for everyone -- mind, body, and soul

Seek support

Want to know one of the single best excuse-busters on the planet? Other people. Seriously, immediately start surrounding yourself with individuals who will support you in your quest to stay fit over the holidays.

All you need to do is tell your friends, family, co-workers, training buddies or other fitness professionals (like a personal trainer, if you decide to go that route) that you want to get in better shape and make exercise a priority in your life now. You don't want to wait for the new year. Then ask if they'd be willing to call you on your excuses whenever you try to wiggle out of your commitment.

Anytime you're about to back out of a workout, call one of these people to discuss why. You might just find that the mere thought of telling someone else your excuse is enough to make you see how invalid it is in the first place and you'll get moving without even telling your supporter(s) you were going to bail.

I hope that by putting some or all of these strategies into play, you will look and feel better over the holidays. Remember, this is a magical time of year. You want to feel energized and radiant so that you can enjoy the holidays fully and spend more quality time with family and eat foods you love and actually be motivated enough to get out there and engage in charitable acts.

The key is to really take the time for yourself and your health. It will help you get through the holidays with more grace and gusto -- and send you soaring into the new year.

Motivation Through Mentoring

(The following Eric Harr article originally appeared in SHAPE Magazine and is reprinted here with permission from American Media, Inc.)

"By teaching, you will learn." -- Latin proverb

HELPING OTHERS to lead better lives is a gift of inestimable value: It enriches them—and it can elevate you. The “you get by giving” adage applies to the age-old practice of mentoring “In its simplest form, mentoring is people helping people, but our research indicates it goes much deeper than that,” says Terri Sjodin author of Mentoring: The Most Obvious Yet Overlooked Key to Achieving More in Life than You Ever Dreamed Possible (McGraw-Hill, 1996). “It's more spiritual, and considerably more focused. The power of helping people in a mentoring program can be the key to achieving more in life than you ever dreamed possible,” she says. Here, our experts show you how to maximize the mentoring experience for your protégé(s)—and for yourself. which can help you to sharpen your own skills; it can inspire you with confidence; and it can motivate you to pursue new and exciting goals.

TIP: Define what you want to give, and get, from the process. The rewards of mentoring can go both ways, but you must be clear on what you want going in. “You’ll get more from mentoring if you clarify your own goals first, because if you get as much as you give, everyone will benefit more from the experience,” says Dave Boon, the Executive Director of Partners of Larimer County based in Fort Collins, Colorado. One Partners project is FIRM: Fitness and Increased Recreation Through Mentoring, tagline: mentor a child and lose five pounds. (I can already hear you asking: “Great, can I mentor three children?”)
EXERCISE: Within each of us lies unique skills, passions and ideas, and mentoring can help you actualize those qualities and channel them to enrich others. First, pinpoint a few of your strengths that can improve someone else’s health. Next, write down what you want from mentoring: maybe it’s to improve your diet or to enjoy exercise more. Finally, determine your ideal scenario: Do you thrive in one-on-one interactions, or in group settings? Do you prefer working with younger or older people? Do you want to serve as an informal mentor who provides advice in an unstructured manner, or as a formal mentor who commits to help others reach specific goals over a designated period?

TIP: Jump in and help out. In mentoring, the most important step is the first one. “Once people begin mentoring, almost immediately they receive a flood of rewards; it’s the signing-up part that stops most people,” says Mr. Boon.
EXERCISE: Learn more about mentoring and take steps towards getting involved. “Begin at the National Mentoring Partnership (www.mentoring.org),” says Mr. Boon. “Simply call or e-mail them and ask how you can help.” Sjodin’s book Mentoring is a useful resource for getting started as well.

TIP: As you teach and inspire, learn and get inspired. Watching your protégés improve shows you that you’ve got the right stuff: if your protégé can do it, eating right and exercising better won’t seem so daunting for you. “Serving as a mentor forces you to set an example for others, and that creates a better you,” says Sjodin. “You can't let your protégé down; you have to practice what you preach, and that spurs you to try harder,” she says.
EXERCISE: Tap into that “I can do anything” frame of mind in your diet and workout program and strive to better yourself. For example, if you’re mentoring a child on how to eat and exercise smarter, commit to sharpening your own diet and workout program—and before long, you too might realize FIRM’s motto: mentor a child and lose five pounds!

The 10 Toughest Tests of Endurance

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt

IN THE 1950'S, THE WORLD'S MOST esteemed sports scientists were absolutely certain -- and in agreement.

They concluded that it was impossible for any human to run a single mile in under four minutes. And, they had the “scientific proof” to back up that assertion.

Some of the scientists argued that human body could not process enough oxygen to run a sub-four minute mile. Others speculated that the lungs would burst at the effort. A few believed that the upright orientation of the human body created too much aerodynamic drag, that no person could run that fast for that long, through the progressive resistance of air. Some even contended that the human skeletal structure couldn’t handle the speed, that the bones would literally fracture at the breakneck 15 mile-an-hour pace.

Fortunately, 25 year-old British runner wunderkind Roger Bannister either didn’t listen to any of this -- or he just didn’t give it much thought. Because on a cool, cloudy morning on May 6, 1954, at Oxford's Iffley Road track, Bannister split the atmosphere (without splitting his bones) and ran into the history books. With his head reeling back at the effort, the bleary-eyed Bannister blazed across the finish line, and into history, with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

The scientists were sent scuttling back to their drawing boards. Bannister showed them, and the world, that the human spirit doesn’t always abide by the laws of physics.

Bannister ran a mile faster than anyone before him, but there was more to it than that. He opened the floodgates. For decades, nobody could break through the 4-minute barrier. Over the ensuing 18 months after Bannister did it, would you believe that 16 other runners did it, too? Bannister’s “miracle mile” was one of the most patent displays of mind over matter. Bannister smashed through a psychological wall and in doing so seemed to “show the way” to other runners who suddenly believed they could do it, too. And, then did.

In 1955, when asked how he ran like no man had run before, Bannister answered: “It’s the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got.”

Self-belief is one thing, but what of science? Aren’t there hard-wired limits of human performance set by quantum physics? If so, when will athletes run into that barrier?

At present, those barriers seem to exist only in our minds. The records keep tumbling. The current one-mile mark is 3 minutes, 43 seconds held by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco. In 1997, Daniel Komen from Kenya, ran two miles in 7 minutes, 58 seconds. Komen proved 1950’s science wrong. Twice. Will a human ever run under three minutes for a mile? How about two minutes?

Athletes aren’t merely pushing the limits of speed; they’re also pushing the limits of endurance. People are now completing “Deca-Ironman” triathlon events; that’s 24 miles of swimming, 1120 miles of cycling and 262 miles of running. It takes eight to 10 days to complete this event.

This begs the question: what are the toughest athletic events on the planet?

Here, I will set out to answer that question. I will explain what makes each event so grueling and what lessons we can glean from those who have “been there, done that.”

To compile the list, and its order, I used this simple benchmark: how difficult would it be for the average person to finish the event? Put another way, how much physiological and psychological stress would the event place on an ordinary human being?

The following “10 toughest tests of endurance” push the body and mind to unthinkable places and reveal to us all that the human spirit, at least as far as we can tell, has no limits.

#10. The Elfstedentocht -- Leeuwarden, Holland

We begin our countdown in the Netherlands for an eye-popping -- or should I say eye-freezing -- event that snakes through eleven frozen cities. The Elfstedentocht, or ElevenCitiesTour, starts and finishes in Leeuwarden, the capital of the province of Friesland. It takes racers through cities that themselves sound tough: “Ijlst,” “Stavoren,” “Hindeloopen” and “Workum.”

Contestants travel 143 miles…on ice skates. That’s roughly 5,200 trips around your local ice rink. Racers skitter along the frozen canals through bitter cold and Gortex-piercing winds. Hordes of Dutch people travel to the area to witness this great athletic spectacle; it is one of the most popular events in Holland.

What makes it so tough: The Elfstedentoct places monstrous stress on the body because the motion of ice skating is a double-whammy on the body: it’s aerobic and isometric. In other words, your cardiovascular system is taxed as your muscular system sustains “isometric” stress from the motion of each skate “push.” Sprint on a pair of ice skates for five minutes and you’ll feel this sensation first-hand.

What you need to know: If you want to excel at sports that demand lower-leg power and strength—cycling, ice skating and hiking, for example—the best move you can make is to hit the gym for 30-40 minutes twice a week. Lifting weights develops the tendon, ligament and muscle strength to endure long periods of strength-oriented activities.

#9: The 24 Hours of Adrenalin Mountain Bike Race -- St. Jo, Texas

In these events, riders go it alone, without the beneficial shelter of a group of other riders. The “what” is simple: ride your mountain bike as far as you can in 24 hours. The “how” is anything but simple. In a race of this length, every move you make has a consequence later on. Start out too fast and you doom yourself to a slow death. Mountain biking, with its steep climbs, is anaerobic -- your body produces energy without sufficient oxygen. Each successive anaerobic effort gets more difficult. Some say when you ride a mountain bike, you begin with a “book of matches,” and you have a finite number to burn. Each time you push yourself to the point at which you run out of breath, you burn a match. When you’re out of matches, you’re out of options.

“In a 24-hour race, the leading riders will stop twice, just briefly, to fix lights to their bike and don extra clothes for the cool of the night and then again in the early morning to shed those lights and clothes,” says Simon Doughty, a professional cycling coach and former Team Manager for Great Britain. “Time is miles and there’s no progress being made if the rider is stopped by the roadside having a picnic!”

What makes it so tough: Exercising for 24 hours puts special demands on body and mind. Racers say that after roughly six hours, the mind begins to wander. After 15, it begins to play tricks. At around hour #20, mind almost separates from body – and participants pedal on instinct alone.

What you need to know: If you are training for an endurance event longer than two hours, you should do one long workout per week, and over time, build up to the projected duration of your event. For example, if you’re training for a century bike ride -- and your projected finish time is six hours, then over a period of 8-10 weeks, strive to build up to a few 6-hour rides. Bottom line: train for the specific demands of your event.

#8: The Mauritania Desert Portion of the Paris-Dakar -- Mauritania, Africa

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

For the eighth toughest endurance test, we set off in Paris and haul over the deserts of Africa for the toughest off-road driving event on Earth.

The Paris-Dakar rumbles to a start in Arras, Northern France and thunders down to the African continent. When racers reach water in southern France, they disembark and pick up again in Africa where they put pedal to metal across four countries: Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal. The finish is on the banks of the Lac Rose in Dakar, Senegal roughly 15,000 back-breaking kilometers from the start.

What makes it so tough: Race car driving requires maximal effort from one’s body and total focus from one’s mind. Picture interminably long stretches of barren landscapes, precipitous climbs and descents of the Atlas mountains, strength-sapping heat, howling Saharan sand storms, unforgiving terrain and rock-strewn roads, and you can begin to imagine what the Paris-Dakar Rally feels like.

Most of this race takes place over razor’s edge terrain. While every stage puts special demands on body and mind, it’s in the desert stretches of Mauritania and its everlasting dunes, where racers face their most daunting challenges. The climate in Mauritania is impossibly hot, dry and dusty. Average rainfall in this part of the world is a mere six inches.

What you need to know: Most people overestimate their driving ability. If you want to see how well you can operate an automobile, go to a driving track and take a high-performance car for a few laps. You’ll likely learn that you, um, have much to learn. Consider taking a professional driving class; they’re informative and a lot of fun.

#7: The Birkebeinerrennet -- Rena to Lillehammer, Norway

Just saying the name of this event requires endurance. The Birkebeinerrennet is a 54-kilometer cross-country ski race in Norway that starts at Rena and finishes in the “Birkebeineren Skistadion” in Lillehammer. The Birkebeinerrennet is physically brutal, but it’s also highly technical thanks to constant changes in elevation. On top of it all, participants have to carry a backpack that weighs “a minimum of 3.5 kg” (7.7 pounds) for the duration of the event. Sound light? It is, in the beginning. With each passing kilometer, that backpack feels heavier and heavier.

What makes it so tough: Some experts believe that, pound for pound, cross-country skiing is the most physically demanding sport. Studies show cross-country skiing burns more calories than any other activity.

While 54 kilometers may not sound like much, it’s often the middle distance races that are the toughest. That’s because they’re not long enough to allow you to find comfortable rhythm, and they’re too long for an all-out sprint. Fifty-four kilometers is in that sweet-spot of pain: it’s a long controlled sprint in which your body gets flooded with rivers of lactic acid -- for extended periods of time.

What you need to know: cross-country skiing may be the best total-body workout you can do -- in some of most stunning venues in the world. This winter, spend a day learning how to cross-country ski. You might discover a new winter passion that takes your fitness to new heights.

#6: The Moloka`i Challenge Canoe Race, Six-Person Ourigger -- Moloka’i to O’ahu, Hawaii

The Moloka’i Challenge is the world championship of kayak and canoe racing.

An international contingent of men and women race for 32-miles across the Kaiwi Channel from Moloka’i to the east shore of O’ahu, finishing at Koko Marina. The Kaiwi Channel, referred to as the Moloka’i Channel is considered one of the most challenging and treacherous in the world.

The “six-man” is the toughest iteration of canoe racing, because it’s a small enough boat that your teammates know you’re not pulling hard enough. And when others are counting on you in a big athletic contest, it tends to push you past any pain level you would tolerate on your own.

What makes it so tough: How does paddling a 43-foot, 400-pound vessel made of wood through rough-water ocean at speeds of up to ten knots sound? This is an enterprise so exhausting that teams rotate three substitutes during these races. Physically spent paddlers roll over the side as the canoe bears down on rested paddlers who have been positioned in the open ocean by an escort boat. As the canoe sweeps by, the new paddlers seize hold, clamber aboard, and pick up the stroke at maximum effort.

What you need to know: canoeing and kayaking require a good measure of upper body strength, but also a steady rhythm and a savvy technique. Here’s a lesson in achieving peak performance, whatever your sport or goals: finesse is as important as fitness. Whether you canoe, bike, run, or petanque, don’t try to muscle your way to athletic greatness. Apply your mind, and some graceful fluidity, to your fitness pursuit and watch your enjoyment and efficiency soar.

#5: The Iditasport 130 – Knik, Alaska to Finger Lake

This is a 130-mile mountain bike race along the section of the famed Idirarod Trail (of dog-sled fame) which passes through frozen Alaskan taiga, swamps, rivers and lakes.

You might be asking why Iditasport made the list and the famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race did not. The answer is simple: in the former event, your legs do all the work; in the latter, dogs do all the work.

Why it’s so tough: Umm, it’s cold? Really, really, really cold. Pushing your body in extremely cold temperatures is extremely difficult: nerve messages move slower and muscles work much less efficiently. The human body burns almost four times as many calories exercising in the cold, which means you run out of fuel quickly…and definitively. In other words, when you run out of gas, you’re finished. There is no “bouncing back” when you’re glycogen depleted in temperatures of 20 degrees below zero.

What you need to know: just don’t do it.

#4: The English Channel Swim – Shakespeare Beach, England to Cap Dris Nez, France

In this historic event, swimmers plunge intrepidly into frigid water against the backdrop of the White Cliffs of Dover at Shakespeare Beach in England and paddle their way to Cap Gris-Nez in France. The shortest distance across the Channel is 18.2 nautical miles which is approximately 21 land miles. However, most people end up swimming between 30 and 40 miles because the fearsome tides toss them to and fro the entire way.

What makes it so tough: The Dover Straits are prone to incredibly strong tidal flows and a large rise and fall in water between high and low tide. To complicate things, the position of the moon relative to the earth and the sun affects the gravitational pull that is moving the water. Also, according to race organizers, there are “quite a lot of hazards such as seaweed and flotsam and jetsam (rubbish and timbers, etc.).”

Swimming 30 to 40 miles against unforgiving currents, through rubbish and timbers and in bone-chilling temperatures of 52°F gives the English Channel a clear lock on the fourth toughest sporting test in the world.

What you need to know: The French poet Paul Valéry once said of swimming: “To plunge into water, to move one’s whole body, from head to toe, in its wild and graceful beauty; to twist about in its pure depths, this is for me a delight only comparable to love.” However, most people don’t feel this way about swimming, because it’s a difficult sport to master. If you aren’t a natural-born swimmer, think of swimming like a technical sport such as golf more than an aerobic sport like running. The best way to hone your technique is to work with a coach and have them teach you the finer points of stroke mechanics. Learn to swim well, and a world of fitness bliss will open up to you.

#3: Stage 16 of the Tour de France -- Les-Deux-Alpes to La Plagne, France

Stages in the Tour de France change frequently, but this 2002 stage covered 179.5km from Les-Deux-Alpes to La Plagne and riders climbed up three soaring “beyond category” climbs. That means these mountain passes are so tough that they’re “beyond classification.”

The racers began by pedaling up the rugged valley of the Romanche, through deep gorges and tunnels to the colossal Col du Galibier, the highest point of the Tour de France at 8,677 feet where the air gets thin. After hair-raising descents of roughly 7000 feet, riders climb the 20 kilometer Col de la Madeleine at 8-percent, plunge down to the Isère River and head back to the sky at La Plagne.

What makes it so tough: Road cycling is intensely difficult because you are forced to ride hard when that’s the last thing you want to do. In other words, if you miss the “pack,” your day is done. The other nine events on this list are more a matter of self-inflicted torture. Road cycling at the Tour de France level requires the max output of endurance, strength, speed, power, flexibility, stamina, strategy, balance, coordination, guts -- and grace under pressure.

What you need to know: In a one-hour ride, you’ll likely pedal your bicycle between 3,000 and 5,500 times. Ideally, your bike should feel like an extension of your body rather than an alien mass of metal beneath you. Watch top-level cyclists on their bikes, and you’ll notice how at ease they are. Much of that has to do with their position. If you aren’t properly positioned on your bicycle, your body will sustain stress with every pedal stroke. A seat set just three centimeters too high, for example, will force your hamstrings to hyperextend and pull on your lower back. So, find an expert to properly fit you on your bike. A few changes to your bike position likely won’t get you to the top of the Col du Galibier -- but it can boost your performance, increase your comfort and reduce your risk of injury.

#2: The Western States 100 – Squaw Valley, California

The Western States is one of the longest-running “ultra” trail events in the world -- and it is arguably the toughest.

This remarkable endurance test follows the Western States Trail, which starts at Squaw Valley, California, and ends in Auburn, California. The craggily footpath ascends 2,250 vertical feet in the first 4 ½ miles -- from the Squaw Valley floor (elevation 6,200 feet) to Emigrant Pass (elevation 8,750 feet). Following original trails used by the gold miners of the 1850’s, runners climb 15,540 feet and descending 22,970 feet before reaching the finish. Most of the trail passes through remote and rugged territory, accessible only to hikers, horses -- and helicopters. The event lasts so long that most participants will run more than twenty miles in blackness.

What makes it so tough: Uphill running stresses your quadriceps muscles. Then, just when your muscles are fully fatigued, you must run downhill. Any runner will tell you that, late in races, the downhills hurt the most, because your muscles undergo concentric contractions in an already fatigued state. When your quadriceps muscles are fatigued, downhill running feels like a professional baseball player is hitting your legs with a baseball bat with every step you take.

What you need to know: Running is one of the most popular participatory sports in the world -- and for good reasons: It’s a potent fat-burner. It’s a quick and simple workout. It melts away stress. And, it’s a bonanza for your health. To reduce pain and injury often associated with running, choose the right shoes, run on soft surfaces, take plenty of rest days and stretch liberally after every run.

There is only one event that frazzles muscles and mind more than the Western States 100, and that is:

#1: The Ironman Triathlon World Championships -- Kona, Hawaii

Each year in late October competitors from more than 30 countries converge on the west coast of Hawaii in the small town of Kailua-Kona, one of the most beautiful places on earth, to brave one of the most brutal sports any human could try to endure. It is a heart-stirring and awe-inspiring display of the strength, resiliency and inextinguishable fire of the human spirit.

The Hawaii Ironman is the crown jewel of the sport of triathlon -- in large part because of its island mystique and searing difficulty of the event. It is comprised of a 2.4-mile rough-water swim, a 112-mile bike ride on a road the cuts a swath through the legendary lava fields and a 26.2 mile marathon, much of it along the barren and exposed Queen Kaahumanu Highway. This road gets so hot that it’s been known to melt the rubber clean off a runner’s shoes.

While the Ironman marathon is only one-quarter the distance of the Western States 100, Ironman requires participants to endure a stomach-churning swim, a back-breaking bike before the body-burning marathon.

What makes it so tough: What’s not tough about this event? Every muscle is pushed to its breaking point during a the Ironman triathlon. In addition, at Ironman you are allowed no outside help -- or the benefit of drafting other people on the bike. Aside from periodic “aid stations,” you are completely on your own. Throw in 100+ degree heat, 4,000 feet of climbing and howling Kalapahuna winds and the Ironman World Championships earns its spot as the world’s toughest test of endurance. Most seasoned triathletes will tell you that no matter how fit and strong you are finishing isn’t a given in Kona. Two-time Ironman World Champion Tim Deboom says: “There are almost mythical forces at work. To compete well there requires learning the island and that only comes with experience.”

What you need to know: Do a triathlon ( it needn’t be an Ironman) at least once in your life. It will change you in ways you never imagined.

When Bannister crossed the hallowed finish line of his record-breaking mile run, he fell to the ground, physically and mentally bankrupt. “It was only then that real pain overtook me,” he said. “I felt like an exploded flashlight with no will to live; I just went on existing in the most passive physical state without being unconscious.”

This -- and the above accounts of trial, tribulation and human suffering -- beg the question: Why do these people willingly inflict such mental, physical and spiritual agony on themselves?

Bill Merchant, of Iditasport fame answers that question: “People wonder why on Earth we do this. Here’s what I tell them: ‘It’s to see how far the human spirit can go – and to become stronger people. We go into the Alaskan backcountry to find cracks in ourselves. We go back a year later to see if we've done anything about them.’”