Iron War Quotes

“It’s all about expectations – hell’s a bit more bearable when you always knew you were going there.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, Iron War: Two Incredible Athletes. One Epic Rivalry. The Greatest Race of All Time.

“The magnitude of the satisfaction that a triathlete experiences upon crossing a finish line is directly proportional to the amount of suffering he has overcome to to get there. This reward knows no ability. Even the slowest of the slow can push themselves beyond existing limits and finish with tremendous satisfaction. But winning often demands and inspires the greatest suffering and thus confers the greatest sense of pride. Often, because of the nature of competition, it is precisely he who has the most guts who is the fastest and experiences the most intense fulfillment at the finish line.

Theoretically, then, the most deeply satisfying experience a triathlete could have in the sport (and among the best in life) would occur at the finish line of a race in which he has overcome as much suffering as he could possibly ever endure, and knows it.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and the Greatest Race Ever Run

“Mindless performance may be especially helpful in endurance sports because of the supreme importance of the capacity to suffer. The more science and technical detail an athlete incorporates into the training process, the more distracted he becomes from the only thing that really matters: getting out the door and going hard.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, & the Greatest Race Ever Run

“Your physical capacities are only part of the big picture,” he told the gathering. “If your spirit is happy and strong, then you’re stable under pressure.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, & the Greatest Race Ever Run

“Who is ultimately stronger? The answer is undetermined.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, Iron War: Two Incredible Athletes. One Epic Rivalry. The Greatest Race of All Time.

“In the hardest moments of a long race, the athlete’s entire conscious experience of reality boils down to a desire to continue pitted against a desire to quit. Nothing else remains. The athlete is no longer a student or a teacher or a salesman. He is no longer a son or a father or a husband. He has no social roles or human connections whatsoever. He is utterly alone. He no longer has any possessions. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow, only now. The agony of extreme endurance fatigue crowds out every thought and feeling except one: the goal of reaching the finish line. The sensations within the body – burning lungs, screaming muscles, whole-body enervation – exist only as the substance of the desire to quit. What little of the external environment the athlete is aware of – the road ahead, the competitor behind, the urgings of onlookers – exists only as the substance of the desire to continue. The desire to continue versus the desire to quit – the athlete is this and this alone until he chooses one or the other. And when the choice is made he briefly becomes either persevering or quitting until, after he has stopped at the finish line or, God forbid, short of it, the stripped-away layers are piled back on and he becomes his old self again. Only not quite. He is changed, for better or worse.”
― Matt Fitzgerald, Iron War: Two Incredible Athletes. One Epic Rivalry. The Greatest Race of All Time.