In 1995, Mark Allen was struggling to make history. At age 37, he sought to become the oldest person to win the Ironman triathlon.
Deep into the grueling race — which involves swimming, biking and running — Allen passed onlookers rooting for him.
"I saw these three older women cheering," he recalled. "They were yelling, 'Go, Mark! Go, Mark!' Then I heard one of them say, 'He doesn't look so good.'"
Allen can laugh now. But at the time, he was pushing himself to the max.
He wound up winning that race in Kona, Hawaii — his sixth and final Ironman championship. But it required every bit of his mental and physical strength.
"I had to learn how to manage those down moments when my dreams seemed impossible to achieve," Allen said.
Mark Allen Says Never Give Up
After finishing the cycling portion of the race, Allen was 13-1/2 minutes behind 24-year-old Thomas Hellriegel. Catching up to his much younger competitor struck Allen as a pipe dream.
"It clearly seemed impossible," Allen said. "So I shut off my internal chatter."
He replaced the negative tape loop in his head ("That's it") with an empowering question: "What's the best I can do in this moment?"
Instead of berating himself for falling behind, he shifted gears. Adopting a more strategic attitude, he weighed what to do next.
"I broke it down into what seemed possible," he said. For example, he thought, "Let me make up an inch with every step" of the marathon segment of the race.
By shifting his mindset, he mustered the will to win. He regained the lead just in time to beat Hellriegel, who finished second.
Refuse To Quit Like Allen
Allen, 67, won 21 straight races from late 1988 to 1990, a streak which had never been accomplished before. In 2012, he was voted the Greatest Endurance Athlete of All Time by ESPN.
His road to stardom took some hard curves. He lost the Ironman six times before his first victory in 1989 at age 31.
"Winning it six times was amazing," he said. "Losing six times and coming back was even more amazing."
After failing to win after so many tries, Allen's entourage started to voice their doubts. The chorus grew louder.
"A lot of people close to me, family and friends, wanted me (to quit)," he said. "And I was really close to saying, 'You're right.'"
During some of those early races, Allen lost to Dave Scott, another legendary triathlete who also won the Ironman race six times.
"Mark always had a steely-eyed demeanor," Scott said. "He never gave away his weakness. He never showed any weakness. You could never really get a read on him."
After years of competing against each other, Allen and Scott became friends. Scott, 71, respects his former rival for his fierce will to win.
"He always kept his composure," Scott said. "He always had that aura, that innate ability to stay outwardly calm."
Allen's self-control worked to his advantage, Scott says. It could prove intimidating to anyone who tried to beat him.
"It allowed Mark to rise above what he felt inside," Scott said. "You don't want your competitors to think, 'He's soft around the fringe.'"
Conquer Your Fear Like Mark Allen
Winning the Ironman race tests your psyche as well as your physical fitness. You need to adapt to changing circumstances beyond your control, manage pain without letting it overpower you and train relentlessly.
"The psychology behind this competition is fierce," wrote Laura M. Miele, a sports psychology consultant. "These athletes must face their fears firsthand and be able to keep the mind and body working together. Any disconnect between the two would be detrimental."
Allen was well-equipped to pass these tests.
"Mark certainly had fears," Scott said. "We all do. There's a fine line between perfection and failure. But he overrode those fears."
Heed Your Inner Voice
Rather than quit after losing so many Ironman races in the 1980s, Allen heeded his inner voice.
"A little part of me thought, 'I haven't had my best race yet,'" Allen said. Then he asked himself, "What's my purpose?" "The answer was clear," he said. "My purpose is to go back and have a really strong race and give it my best that day where I push it but don't blow up."
To find that balance, Allen revamped his training regimen. Rather than dwell on outgunning his opponents, he looked within.
To prepare for the 1989 race, Allen shifted his focus. He stopped asking himself, "How can I train to beat Dave Scott?"
"Instead, I'm going to focus my training on my intrinsic joy and satisfaction," he thought. "How can I do my best?"
Face Your Challenge With Fresh Eyes
This new approach led Allen to see Scott through fresh eyes. Instead of plotting to beat him, Allen decided to study him. "He knows how to win this," Allen thought. "Don't be in competition with him. Learn how he does it."
As a result, Allen sought to race alongside Scott for much of the 1989 competition. He watched his opponent and learned from him. "At points in the race I thought I should pull away from him," Allen recalled. "But I didn't until (the very end)."
Allen cites this mindset as a key to his victory. In past races, he admits that he "whined that I wasn't in the lead."
This time, he quieted his mind. Concentrating on excelling in each moment worked better than comparing himself with his rivals.
Scott cites another key to Allen's 1989 triumph. The day before the race, Scott held a press conference.
"Dave, what do you think you can do tomorrow?" a reporter asked.
"I gave three reasonable times I thought I could do," Scott recalled. "It was matter-of-fact. I had no ounce of arrogance."
Allen heard Scott's response. Years later, Scott says that Allen told him it motivated him.
"It inspired him," Scott said. "He didn't cower at all. I think everyone gave up except Mark."
Adopt A Beginner's Mind Like Mark Allen
It's easy to assume Ironman champs are naturally gifted physical specimens. But while they need to keep fit and train intensely for much of the year to ace the one-day competition, their mental edge is what sets them apart.
A competitive swimmer in high school, Allen says he never won any races in the pool. He lacked a winner's mentality.
"When someone got even one stroke ahead of me, I was done," he said.
Eventually, he reframed his attitude. He flipped the script and adopted the perspective of an earnest student who sought to discover the best within himself.
After winning his first Ironman in 1989, he didn't let complacency set in. To keep winning, he adopted a beginner's mindset.
"The pitfall that winners face is to think, 'I've got this. I know how to win,'" Allen said. "But after I won my first Ironman, I knew the next one wouldn't be the same. I kept a certain innocence about my ability. Just because you've won it once doesn't mean you're given the gift of the next win. You have to earn it."
Mark Allen's Keys:
- Won the Ironman race six times and won 21 straight races from 1988 to 1990. Voted the Greatest Endurance Athlete of All Time by ESPN.
- Overcame: Self-defeating attitude that prevented him from beating competitors in his early races.
- Lesson: "Just because you've won it once doesn't mean you're given the gift of the next win. You have to earn it."
