Myrna Saliba, 62-year-old, medal-winning, ultra-athlete explains what motivates her to keep going despite multiple set-backs.
You mentioned starting competitive running late in life, what led you to this field of competition?
Being diagnosed with osteoporosis. I had to lift weights, which in turn led to warm-ups in the form of running. From there on, I was hooked on the sport; the distance kept increasing and the goals got larger and far more challenging. Today I am a long-endurance athlete; in 2000, I could not run for three minutes in a row at 8km/hr without huffing and puffing. This past July, I finished a double ultra – 7.6km swim, 360km bike ride and 84.4km run in one continuous race no sleep – in spite of multiple injuries.
Did you ever feel that you might have left it too late due to age and body degeneration?
It is never too late to start exercising and taking care of one’s health and general wellbeing. Body degeneration is a reason to keep moving. Active people age far better and stay more functionally independent than others who live a sedentary life. Just a simple analogy, as we are no different: An old car sitting under a pile of dust, yet hardly used, is harder to start than a well-maintained functional car of the same age. Age is just a number!
Do you feel at a disadvantage racing against more experienced athletes who started the sport at a much younger age?
No, actually I feel at an advantage. I am the one better off with a brighter future, because my body is not as beaten up. I have not reached my peak yet, I can still improve while more experienced athletes may be already on the downhill. I give you an example: my husband started running at age 55, at age 69 he successfully finished his first Ironman 70.3. Since then he has participated in three Ironman 70.3 world championships and is again qualified for the 2019 edition, he will be 73. If you look at his results, his times have improved by 30 minutes each year, and he is moving up the ranks at each world championship. Why? because we each have a peak level and he has not yet reached his own.
When you were diagnosed with osteoporosis, what gave you the strength, both mental and physical, to pursue your competitive dreams, even against advice?
People in the face of adversity react differently. There are the ones who freak out and feel helpless and there are the ones who take action and feel hopeful. I am part of the latter group. Feeling optimistic helps alleviate pain and bad news. I am also someone who likes to take charge and be in control of my life. When I was diagnosed with osteoporosis I was not thinking about competitive dreams, I just was not going to surrender to a medical “verdict”. I felt it was my responsibility, not that of my doctors, to get healthy. I had choices, we always have choices. I chose what felt best for me, and listened to that inner voice which said “YOU CAN” even though my doctor was skeptical. My choice at the time was quite challenging but it turned out very rewarding, it led me to competitive sport, it shifted my focus to more positive things. Perhaps osteoporosis is the best thing that happened to me as it helped me discover the power of my mind and the joys of healthy living.
You’ve said that the mind is stronger than the body. Do you believe this is true for everyone? Or is it, like with training, something that you can develop?
The mind is always stronger than the body if we allow it to rule. It’s no secret that success in endurance sport heavily relies on the power of the mind. You can be the best prepared physically to race, but if your mind fails you, you will never see the finish line.
There is plenty of literature on how to achieve mental toughness, you can also seek a sport psychologist’s help. The key to succeed is to practice staying objective and in control of your emotional thoughts. There are many ways to do so: you can use imagery and visualisation or play mental games to trick your mind to overcome pain; you can also use mantras and self-talk to keep focus and battle the negative voices in your head. It’s not difficult, it needs practice. Eventually, you get to a point where you learn to differentiate between mental and physical pain, and that allows you to push upward on your pain-threshold and test new physical and mental limits. A lot of mental pain sets in when your mind realises you are close to the finish, yet you still have to push; the 1km starts to feel like three, the one minute like five and so on. It happens in every race, be it 5km or 50km, a sprint or an Ironman, you always hear your MIND calling you to stop. Yet 50 m before the finish it allows you to sprint as if you just started the race!
Following knee surgery, you got back on track and set yourself even greater challenges, then you suffered a serious shoulder injury in a fall in January, 2018. How did this impact your training and competition and how and when did you decide to get back on the road?
This was tough as right when I thought my knee was getting better, I broke the head of my humerus and it just shattered my hopes. I thought my racing days were over! And then I remembered how I overcame all the hurdles I have faced in the past 17 years and what I achieved. Instantly, I stopped lamenting, and started finding positive excuses to convince myself that I can still do this. So rather than thinking a double ultra is long, I told myself a double ultra is slow, I could technically even walk the run. Instead of freaking out about the long time I have to stay up on my feet, I convinced myself this was the best scenario, for it would give ample time to finish just in case I struggled (and I did). Instead of focusing on being too old to do an ultra, I thought determination, grit and the power of one’s mind is not one-bit age related. After all, I have a tough mind and there is nothing better than a strong mind and a monster goal to motivate me to get better faster. So within an hour I was set on doing my double ultra six months later.
How you were training at this time to ensure continued performance without over stressing your body?
I crafted a plan which could get me there in a very decent time of 30-32 hours and started implementing it a few weeks post-surgery. My first dip in the water was nearly eight weeks post-op. I cycled my heart out on an indoor trainer, as I could not use my arm to manipulate the bike outdoors, I did strength training, initially lower body, then added upper body three months later. I managed some running and learned to walk-race just in case. Six weeks before the race I completed my race swim distance of 7.6km in a pool, and began biking a bit outdoors. I was pretty confident on race day.
What happened then at the race, anything you would have done differently?
What did not happen in that race! I made the mistake in training of not biking after the long 7.6km swim. My arm was very sore, but I never envisioned how debilitating this would be once I got on my bike in the race. I took nearly double the time I needed to finish my bike. We started in the night, it was pouring for nearly six hours. I was clinching hard on my steering as any fall on the slippery roads with the loose screws in my arm meant catastrophe. I was in trouble after the first two laps, but I did not want to quit or get a DNF (did not finish). So, it was a huge struggle with a lot of stops for physio and massage to bring back blood flow to my frozen cold hand. But I kept smiling and telling the announcer “I will finish”. And I finished, with two sleepless nights, in 45h27’58”. I was heartbroken and my athletic ego was hurt, because that is not the performance I worked for, but it was the price I paid for electing not to DNF. Ironically it earned me a reward for being the only woman in the world age 60+ to finish an IUTA race this year and rank in the IUTA 2018 World Cup.
Did you at any time think ‘This is it, it’s time to stop’? And, if not, can you try to explain the passion that has kept you going despite the many injuries and operations.
Yes, this happened briefly only once as I explained earlier, but within the same hour I had made plans to race six months later. Passion is hard to explain. Passion fuels performance, without it, it is hard to excel. You can do, but you will never excel or reach new heights. I am constantly in search of bettering myself physically and mentally. I like to push the envelope, I like to test my limits. When someone tells me “no you can’t” I have to try and judge for myself whether I really can or can’t. I have been injured since September 2015, I had to be operated on three times since, twice on the knee once on the shoulder. I have every reason today with seven disc bulges in my neck, 2.5cm of cartilage missing in my knee, and failing metal hardware in my arm (screws hanging out) to quit but I find it all irrelevant as we do most of endurance sport with the mind not the body. I am not in denial, I am not foolish, I work with what I have, I adapt and I adjust to stay on track with my goals, it keeps me sane, alive and in control of my life.
You are now waiting for corrective surgery on your shoulder and your knee still needs further treatment. Are you hopeful of getting back into running and competition at some stage?
I am. Many people in my situation would have given up long ago. But I am always hopeful and optimistic doing whatever is in my power to stay connected to my sport. I signed up for a quintuple that’s one ironman every day for five days in Switzerland from August 27-31. I am registered as Bahraini but I would like to represent Lebanon (where she was born). I never raced for Lebanon, and there are some charities there I would like to champion and raise money for. For my shoulder’s corrective surgery, I will be operated on before the end of February. I also have a mentor, a motivation guru this year, who will help me stay focused on my goal. His name is Bernhard Nuss, he is a fellow Ultra Triathlete. This year he will be doing 18 single Ironman races in preparation for his Double Deca – 20 Ironman races, one a day, for 20 days, at the same race I am doing. We will share the course on the last five days of his Double Deca and that is motivation to both of us, him being tired after 15 races and me being the rookie at this distance. So all is planned! Hopefully, come race day, I will be ready in tip top shape.
What would be your message for others who are either considering pushing themselves to a new goal or are suffering the pain and frustrations of injury? I would tell them dream, believe, apply yourself and you can achieve at any age no matter what condition you are in. The mind is powerful, physical injury is temporary and even if it were permanent you can still achieve! look at all those amputees and double amputees who finish Ironman, all those Paralympics wonderful athletes! Limitations are in the MIND not in the body.
I would tell them also that HOPE and DREAM are the most precious gifts we are granted as human beings because they give us the motivation to wake up every morning with a goal and a sense of optimism about a plan to achieve that goal. Goals are healthy they give us a vision and a direction, they put structure in our tomorrow, they sharpen our focus and give us a sense that we are in control. That is why I am able to see beyond my surgery, that’s what every injured and bedridden athlete needs to do, set A GOAL to help them pull through.
Anything else you would like to add?
I would like to thank Red House Marketing for championing the cause of women and dedicating a whole publication to us women in Bahrain.
