Sport or life can throw unexpected and overwhelming challenges in our path. How we respond displays the strength of our character. I ordered The Comeback Quotient to read in the week before an Ironman triathlon to prepare my mental fitness.
I have appreciated other books by the endurance sports writer Matt Fitzgerald: How Bad Do you Want It?, 80/20 Running and Racing Weight. In The Comeback Quotient, Fitzgerald underlines that achieving success in sport or work is not just about physical fitness and intellectual aptitude, but mental fitness. We need all elements, but “physical fitness enables an athlete to do hard things, mental fitness enables an athlete to deal with hard things, and no athlete realizes his or her full potential without both” (p.4).
Fitzgerald describes “ultrarealism” as the approach that can achieve astounding comebacks. The three steps of making the most of a bad situation are:
- Accepting the situation, rather than panic or denial
- Embracing it with the commitment to “make lemons into lemonade” rather than being demoralised or apathetic
- Addressing the reality with effort and judgment, rather than giving up.
Fitzgerald unpacks the ancient philosophy (including Buddhism and Stoicism) and neuroscience behind this. He offers summaries of reality therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that are helpful for disentangling physical sensations (e.g. hurting legs) from thoughts (e.g. “I’ll stop”). This is not about pushing the limits beyond physical capability. Yet it is being aware that hard limits are not often reached, either because the goal is achieved, or the effort to reach it exceeds the athlete’s motivation and they back off. Fitzgerald’s advice is also not about pushing into silly levels of over-training or over-racing, nor becoming consumed with the goals rather than the process. But his wisdom is facing any situation, however bad, and focusing on solutions rather than being mentally defeated. These are lessons broader than sport yet sport offers a helpful training and testing ground.
The best inspiration of The Comeback Quotient are the stories Fitzgerald narrates, e.g:
- Australian triathlete Mirinda Carfrae who started her 2014 Kona run in 8th place more than 14 minutes behind race leader Daniela Ryf, yet refused to panic or deny the challenge and went on to win.
- Ultrarunner Rob Karr who transformed from running for respect and admiration to running for the inner journey and investing himself in the trail running community. In the process he overcame depression and thoughts about suicide.
- Mountain Biker Kate Courtney was running 2nd in the world champs in 2018 yet stuck with her plan to execute a gold medal ride (process-focused) rather than chase the gold medal (outcome-focused), and won.
- Middle-distance runner Gabe Grunewald who ran (last in her event) between cancer treatments, saying “It’s worth doing even if it’s not perfect” (p.83).
- Ultrarunner Dean Karnazes who when asked about supplements said he takes a giant suck-it-pill daily, and at Badwater Ultramarathon said “I just wanted to leave everything I had out there on that course” (p.96).
- Percy Cerutty, Australian running coach, who taught “Pain is the purifier. Walk towards suffering. Love suffering. Embrace it”, and commonly urged his athletes “Faster – it’s only pain.” (p.32).
- Marathoner Eliut Kipchoge who in the 2015 Berlin Marathon continued to race despite his inner soles coming out, commenting: “That is sport, I have to accept it. I had to finish.” (p34). Later, a big part of his sub-2 hour marathon success was because he believed it was possible, and prepared assiduously.
- Triathlete Lionel Sanders who came from addiction to Ironman in his journey to become his best self and to inspire and give hope to others.
- Fitzgerald’s own comeback journey to an Ironman triathlon at Santa Rosa is interspersed through the book.
My favourite chapter was the final “When comebacks fail”, full of stories of athletes who turned failure into success and finding meaning in other ways. Cyclist Saul Raisin had a crash that left him unconscious for a month but trained to an amazing comeback of ability, only to be told by his team doctors they could not let him race again – ever. He stood by his motto “be happy and content knowing you did your best” (p.185).
Just as character is not taught in a classroom, neither is mental fitness acquired from a book. Nevertheless, The Comeback Quotient is a page turner of a book with inspiring stories and science based theories. It gave me areas to reflect on where I did well and where I could do better in recent events. It is a helpful reminder to execute best possible form in the moment and to bounce back from dwelling on the future finish line. I’ve learned the painful reality of hitting the wall, and mental games don’t seem to be able to get you back into the race competitively. Perfect pacing would be crossing the finishing line as you feel you are hitting the wall, a challenge to execute but one worth planning for.
The book offers invaluable pointers for anyone preparing for physically daunting challenges – whether it is a trainee’s next Basic Fitness Assessment or those attempting special forces selection. As well as fitness and sport, Fitzgerald gives me insight into how I and others can tackle extremely complex and physically demanding challenges in other areas of life. This is part of the core of leadership, chaplaincy and Good Soldiering. As such, The Comeback Quotient is highly recommended reading for soldiers, leaders and chaplains as well as athletes wanting to sharpen their mental fitness, or to help others in a similar direction.
Notes:
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Australian Army, the Department of Defence or the Australian Government.
About the Author: Darren Cronshaw is a Chaplain in the Part-Time Army serving at Army School of Transport, Puckapunyal and previously at the 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Kapooka. For civilian work he pastors Auburn Baptist Church and teaches leadership and research methodswith Australian College of Ministries (Sydney College of Divinity) and Stirling College (University of Divinity).