by Russ Cox

It took me three years from the first time I raced an ironman to Kona qualification. Before I even began that journey there were five years of training from local 5Ks to national triathlons. That’s eight years to go from couch potato to Hawaii. It took patience and stubbornness to achieve my goals. There were no secrets or tricks to reach them; a week on week commitment to hard work was all that was needed.

My old training diaries confirm this -- the details may change, but commitment runs through them all. Throughout my athletic development I've experimented with different approaches, searching for the jump to the next level. The miraculous jump never came; no individual workout made the difference. The accumulation of months of hard training took me forward step by step. Gradual progress.

In that first year of ironman the key to success was consistently training. I had a plan and I stuck to it. I took any opportunity to train and looked for ways to ensure I worked, like joining a masters squad to bring on my swim. I worked as hard as my body allowed; pushing my limits, slowly progressing. The hours weren't huge, but the commitment was. The results were good, but I wanted more -- from completing an ironman to chasing Kona.

There weren't any radical changes in my second season. I increased the workload -- extra intervals and a few more hours each week. My weekends were spent on the bike, holidays became training camps, every spare hour I trained. The only secret to my improvement was I did more. It wasn't a smooth progression, but by the end of the year I saw progress. I'd edged closer to my Kona goal.

I finally achieved it towards the end of my third ironman season. What had changed? My commitment had reached a peak -- I took a break from work to train full time. Kona wasn't going to come easily, I need to do more. Details of workouts and training zones remained unchanged, the volume of work increased significantly. I stuck with it, raced more than ever, struggle through fatigue and eventually qualified. Patience and the stubbornness to keep working until I reached my goal.

My fifth season of ironman racing will shortly come to a close. Circumstances have changed -- I'm working again, but my life is flexible enough to keep the commitment. The “volume over all” focus may change, but the same workouts still crop up. Sometimes I work harder because I don't have the time for more and sometimes I make the space to do more. Subtle changes, but the effort is still there and that's what makes the difference.

When people talk about talent or natural ability, I have no idea if I possess any. I certainly couldn't do what I do now five years ago, let alone 10 years before that. What I do know is the differences between then and now come down to the hours of training I put in. It took years of patient work to get fast.

Russ is a full-time triathlete and endurance coach who has raced and trained around the world. His Trains, Travels blog focuses on endurance triathlon training from an athlete's perspective, covering topics such as nutrition, training, psychological preparation and what to do during taper and recovery. In his Endurance Corner column, Russ shares some of the insights he's learned along the way.