Memento Audere Semper

Luca you are an IRONMAN

I waited one year for these 5 words! and I had to do 3,8Km swim – 180Km bike – 42,2Km run in one go!! It’s been an incredible journey, in 12 months I have swum 50Km, run 1.271Km and cycled 5.141Km! I have learnt a lot during this year and I want to share with you my top ones.

1.  You won’t be able to achieve your goal without a crew and supporting team: Triathlon is a solo sport, no one can swim, cycle or run on your behalf, but (especially if you attempt an IRONMAN) you won’t be able to cross the finish line without a crew and a supporting team. I needed my coach to help me to find the right strategy, my physio therapist to fast recovering from injuries, my training pals to support each other and of course my family to bring me up when I was down! In business is the same, if you want to achieve your goals you must build solid relationships with your peers, with your manager and with your team mates. Keep close the ones who support you for good and push away your detractors. If you don’t have around you supporters, then move on or you will fail!
2. It’s ok to feel inadequate: by any mean I can say I was fit for the IRONMAN, not strong enough, too fat and too slow! Many times, and especially on the start line, I felt inadequate compared to the other athletes, and not ready to do it…..but I did it! I’m an IRONMAN. Feeling inadequate is ok, actually if you are the smarter person in the room you are in the wrong room. You have to surround of people from who you can learn. Learning from others is a key part of your development, don’t miss it!
3. Take personal responsibility to make it happen: no one pushed me during the year, no one pushed me to swim 50Km, run 1.271Km and cycling 5.141Km in 12 months, no one told me to seek for support when I was unprepared. If you have a business goal, if you have the ambition to get a promotion, if you are not happy in your current role…..then do something. It’s up to you, no one else will offer a better role if you don’t push for it, no one will help if you don’t ask for help, take personal responsibility to make whatever you want to happen!
4. If it was easy everyone would do it and you made too many sacrifices to quit: many times during the year I was close to give up my training, and especially during the race I had very low moments, the run was extremely difficult and painful and I was very close to quit! But I didn’t! In life there are few things you can be certain about, one is that you will face many lows in your career! However, if your professional goal is too easy to achieve everyone would have done it before you. Always remember that you have been working hard, prioritising your goal against other personal matters and made many sacrifices to achieve it, so don’t waste all the effort done so far, keep going and don’t quit!
5. Working hard works and be uncomfortable is the only way you are going to be better: after the swim and the bike I felt extremely strong, physically and mentally. That helped me to manage the run, my weakest part. Well, I have trained more than double compared to the previous year, all those hours spent during late evenings, early mornings, weekends, in the dark, in the cold, in the rain and even in the snow were extremely uncomfortable, however, helped me to build a decent base for the IRONMAN. If you have ambitious goals then work more, study, take every opportunity to learn, do extra miles to be successful. If it’s too easy it means you are not working enough, bigger is the prize more you have to work, if you are feeling uncomfortable it means you are learning something new or improving your skills.
6. Without commitment you never start, however, you have to be patient and engage in consistent actions if you want to finish: last year during my IRONMAN 70.3 (so called Half IRONMAN), I took the decision to attempt the full IRONMAN. I was feeling good after the finish line but disappointed as I didn’t get the famous 5 words “Luca you are an IRONMAN”. The following days I was committed to become an IRONMAN and signed up for this year race……well it wasn’t so easy to re-start to train. I needed to work hard to find my own pace and space, every evening, every Tuesday, every weekend, every holiday break….before getting used to the new routine. In everything you do, if you want to accomplish a challenging goal, you have to be patient, work hard and mostly you have to be consistent!! Do it again, again and again won’t make you the most talented or the best, but will give you the confidence and the mental strength to compete against the others and yourself! If you really want something you must be restless and tireless, work hard and take the responsibility to make it happen!

The IRONMAN’s motto is “Anything is Possible”, and it’s very much true, no matter how bad it is now or how bad it gets, you’ll make it if you really want!

The motto I prefer the most and which inspired me during my professional life is “Memento Audere Semper”, a Latin motto created in the 1910s by Gabriele d'Annunzio, which means “Remember to always dare”: if you don’t risk and you don’t move outside your comfort zone, you won’t grow. Don’t be afraid to fail as it helps you to succeed!!  

Finally, never forget to say THANK YOU!! My Thank You goes to my coach Paolo Barbera , to my physio therapist Davide Bruzzese , to my training pals Gabriele Guidi , Corradino Corradi and all Gorillaz Iron Team, and mostly to my supporting and amazing family (love you!)!!!