“Is training or the ability to train superior?” with Sana Arif | Triathlete & Ironman 70.3

🏃‍♀️ Join us in a riveting discussion with the extraordinary triathlete and Ironman, Sana Arif. Explore the intricate balance between physical training and mental resilience, unraveling the paradox that defines champions. Sana shares her insights on success beyond the finish line, the transformative power of discipline, and how lessons learned in training extend into everyday life. Don’t miss this enriching conversation on The Deetaux Show! 🌟

I believe this was my initial motivation when I first started going to the gym. Recalling the initial few days when I visited the fitness center, I was, like, standing on the elliptical, and I couldn’t stop smiling. I was feeling so shy, thinking that I was being observed. While I was working on this, just so you know, I had those stupid kinds of expressions on my face. I thought that everyone was looking at me.

When I was 33, that was the first time I went. I did something different from just going to the gym. I tracked to the base camp of Mount Everest, not to the top, but that was the first thing I did. Jable Shams, the highest mountain in the GCC, is located in Oman. I did that, and then I started doing parkour and muai together, and it seemed like I would do something and then I would leave it halfway because I wasn’t sure if I was doing it or I would either get bored or I didn’t have enough resources to keep doing it, but Tri Salon was something there in my subconscious all the time because I had seen people doing it, but I never thought I would ever do it because it just felt so impossible, especially swimming because I did not know how to swim at all. I started learning to swim from the basics in August. In the 3 months Flying Star Triathlon was happening, it was, um, it’s like a competition, but of course, it was happening on a small scale in Kuwait, and my friend Dia, who runs triathlons, usually asks me, “Okay, so which distance are you interested in?” when she finds out that I’m learning about sports.
and I just replied that I’m not looking forward to it because I don’t even know swimming, so she encouraged me that you can do it.

So, that was the time I would say, apart from a lot of my friends getting credit for teaching me swimming, she was the one who had much confidence in me. Then I started learning in August, three months after my first triathlon race. Even though it was a short distance, it was the happiest finish line at that time I crossed.

It was so amazing that I couldn’t stop grinning, and I believe that’s where it all began. Ultimately, I completed Iron Man, which wasn’t even In my Iron Man 70.3, the distance is half of Iron Man in its entirety, and that was something I never would have believed I could. Even so, on the day of the competition, I doubted my ability to succeed, yet naturally, my mentors, friends, and family had a lot of faith in my ability to succeed.

Dee: This isn’t even a question at all. It merely conveys the idea that individuals barely have time for routine tasks following a typical 9-to-5 job full-time employment as opposed to someone who is trading something similar to Iron Man, you know? It’s crazy.

I can’t wait for you to know. when we delve even more into this conversation.

I come from a family where my cousin and my uncle had always been in some kind of sport so while growing up, I would see them either playing different kinds of sports or doing some

kind of work, some kind of activity apart from doing their regular jobs,  I took a lot of motivation from them, especially my uncle, who had a huge role in it as well. Then I would watch TV shows about sports, or so I always wanted to do something different, I don’t mean to sound like a cliché.

Talking about the people who think maybe women cannot do or maybe Pakistani women cannot do, so I just wanted to show, especially when people say, Oh, you’re just like a guy, you’re so strong, so I wanted to make a statement that… you don’t have to be strong like a guy, instead you can say that you are strong like a girl.

I think it had a lot to do with it when I came back to Kuwait. My friends in the community I was hanging out with were through them, and I kept meeting people who were into different kinds of sports.

Forest I would say that if we talk about runners, like when you’re running or you’re motivating someone to run, you do say run, forest run, or, you know, you would say things like that to motivate another person. I always said something like glory doesn’t come easy, so for that, you like, if you want to be glorified, you need to do something that makes you stand out, yes, like, how your purpose of the show is that even if it’s not about the likes or followers or you want to be out there, when you die there should be something that people remember you for.

For that, you need to work hard. You cannot just be like, Okay, anything I would do would bring me glory, but you need to have dedication toward it.

To begin with, anything is possible.

Absolutely Anything may happen, and this is why Iron Man’s tagline, “Anything is possible,”

I think it’s a combination of both You cannot make a person do a Triathlon If they don’t want to do the triathlon, it needs to come from inside.

I learned a lot when I was training for the triathlon There were a lot of things that I never learned throughout these years when I was training but the Triathlon changed my mindset a lot by how I learned from it or because it was a long process which I had to go through. So, anything you want to do, if you put your mind into it, you’re able to do it If you don’t want to do a triathlon or suppose let’s not talk about triathlon, let’s talk about swimming If you don’t know swimming and you have no interest in doing any kind of sport or any kind of upcoming race, you won’t be. If you don’t have interest, even if someone is training you for it and forcing you to do it, you won’t do it because while you are swimming a short distance, you can still do it, but when it comes to long-distance swimming, you would get tired because you don’t have the motivation and you don’t have a will. Okay, why should you need to know?  Do you want to do it?

Dee:  So, you’re saying ability is far more important than just training. Your ability is exactly why. like you need to know your why.

Your ability is exactly why. like you need to know your why.

I was not able to swim I learned swimming literally from the basics—how to even put your hand in the water, how to make strides, and everything else I didn’t know about it. In my first Aquathlon race, I couldn’t go more than 200 meters because I panicked I saw the water, and I felt that my feet are not touching the floor of the sea I panicked halfway I came out I started drowning and I came out by myself, I would have easily given up by saying I couldn’t do this I did give like for five

Five months later, I stopped swimming but I knew that I wanted to do a Triathlon I wanted to be a triathlete. That’s when I went back for it again. I knew that this was what I wanted.

Anything is possible only if your mind can physically accomplish it.