Inspiration

Going Within: The Secret of Mark Allen’s Success

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If I asked you to name the top five legends in the sport of triathlon, chances are Mark Allen will be on that list. Allen completed a 15-year career in the world of elite athletics with a 90 percent top-three finish record, going undefeated in 20 races between 1988 and 1990. He was named “Triathlete of the Year” six times and after retiring in 1996 was called “The World’s Fittest Man” by Outside magazine.

What cemented Allen in the annals of endurance sports history, however, was his epic battles with the iconic Dave Scott at the Ironman world championship in Kona. After six years of defeat, Allen was finally able to turn the tables on Scott and go on to win his first of six consecutive world championships.

Was it his training, nutrition, bike, or even shoes, that made him finally pull it together to beat Dave Scott? Ask Allen and he’ll tell you it was his belief in shamanism that made the crucial difference.

I keep finding myself running into Mark Allen and his spirituality in rather oblique ways. We’ve never met face-to-face, but my life intersects with those who do know him and have sought his counsel. The stories of their encounters with Allen, when taken in total, paint a picture of a quiet, humble man who dispense nuggets of wisdom. In other words, he seems to be a guy who just has it dialed in…and someone I’d like to know more about and perhaps, one day soon, have a chat about life and triathlon over a bottle of a sports performance beverage.

1) Question: How would you describe Shamanism to someone who is not familiar with this belief?

Allen: Shamanism is a fairly broad term, and each tribe or culture that practices it has their specific beliefs and methods of using shamanism in their daily lives. I have practiced Huichol Indian Shamanism since 1990 under the teaching of Brant Secunda. Huichol Shamanism is very simple on the surface, but very powerful and deep at the same time. In the broadest definition it would be honoring all of life through ceremony, pilgrimages to places of power in nature, and prayer. It is a way of connecting with the elemental powers such as the fire, the sun, the earth, and the ocean in a way that both brings transformation and energy to one’s life but also helps keep all of life in balance, which is certainly something that humans as a whole are failing miserably in at the moment.

One way I have described the experience of shamanism is to recall a place in nature such as a mountain peak, or a beautiful lake or the ocean when you had that feeling “Wow! Look at that!” In that moment where you are just overcome by the beauty of the place you have made a connection with it, and in that moment you forget that you owe money on your credits cards or that your job in not fulfilling or whatever else might be bugging you, and you just feel good. Shamanism helps people to have that experience but in a more predictable and sustainable way. It is what I used to be able to go to the Big Island of Hawaii, which is certainly a very powerful place, and feel at home and to be able to really have the race I had tried to have for some many years prior to making a connection with the Huichols and Brant Secunda.

2) Question: Do you see your involvement with shamanism as playing a role in the mental training of the athlete or the spiritual? Or is it both?

Allen: Both, and really there is such a strong connection between physical, mental and spiritual that they cannot really be separated if you want to address total fitness. But unfortunately, most people only look at the physical and very few look at the mental component and only a small number even come close to addressing the spiritual element and how that can affect performance.

3) Question: What led to your involvement with Shamanism and your decision to integrate it with your triathlon training and racing?

Allen: The moment that this happened was in 1989. I had raced the Ironman six times with everything from mediocre to disastrous results. Dave Scott was winning. I was falling apart. I could outrace him everywhere else in the world, but not in Hawaii. Prior to the Ironman that year in 1989 I saw an ad for a workshop that Brant was going to be leading along with his teacher and adopted grandfather Don Jose Matsuwa. There were pictures of both men in the ad. They both had a look on their face that was peaceful yet very powerful. It captured my attention for just a moment. But I had not heard of shamanism or the Huichols before and just kind of kept flipping through the magazine.

Well, around the half marathon point with 13 miles to go in the race, Dave Scott and I were in the lead and on a pace that was going to set a new world record. The problem was that he felt great and I was fading. At the moment Dave was trying to surge and break me as he had always done Don Jose’s image came back to me and I was filled with this energy or life force. From that point forward I just got stronger and stronger, and went on to win the first of six titles at the Ironman.

That’s the short version of the story, but safe to say I would not have won the race without Don Jose. Shortly after that I met Brant and started to study with him. He became the conduit for me begin to learn and practice Huichol Shamanism. I really took up the practice after meeting Brant because it is such a beautiful tradition and he is an incredible teacher. But in the end because so much of my efforts were going into my racing, that was where the insights and strength I was gaining from studying with him were most noticeable at least in an outward way.

4) Question: Many endurance athletes focus their energies on the physical aspects of training. How far do I run, bike, swim, snowshoe, etc.? What should I be eating? What kind of strength training should I do? Yet, few seem to have the interest in turning inward and examining the “softer” side of their training. As a coach, why do you think athletes are indifferent, or perhaps even reluctant, to shift their focus in this internal direction?

Allen: I have asked myself this question frequently because I don’t see very many athletes actually doing any kind of internal or spiritual practice as one of their standard training tools. Yet, everyone knows that when the gun goes off that the internal dialogue and internal state of emotions, thoughts, feelings, perceptions (whether based on reality or not) will all affect the performance. In simpler terms, everyone knows that no matter how fit they are they could choke and have a bad race.

The only answer that I have been able to come up with is that first, on some level athletes know that taking up this kind of practice will force them to actually look at who they are as people and see themselves with a deeper level of truth. This is never pleasant, no matter how much we want to be “together’ as a person, we all know that there are weaknesses lurking inside or things about ourselves that can be hidden until we are in a desperate situation (like a tough race) when truth reveals itself.

It’s much easier to do another 400 on the track than to ask ourselves “What is it about me as a person that might be holding me back from the success I am after?” Self reflection is tough, but ultimately the best tool to free one’s self to experience perfection in whatever endeavor we are pursuing. And for an athlete this means having that great race where everything works as it should.

5) Question: If an athlete were interested in starting to incorporate a spiritual component in their training, how would they go about doing so?

Allen: The best way is to find someone who has had a very positive experience with a method or path and give it a try yourself. Another is to just keep searching for something that really draws you toward it. The problem is that there are many people out in the world of self-help who really are not very together themselves even though they are trying to tell others how to improve their lives. So it can be tricky.

I was very lucky to find Brant and the Huichol tradition. He is very traditional in the way he teaches, and he has earned the right to teach what he does. He went through a 12-year apprenticeship to learn how to do the healings and lead ceremonies in the Huichol Indian way.

He and I teach a workshop together that addresses many of the things that athletes and people of all levels of fitness and spiritual development are looking for. It is called Fit Body Fit Soul. We are teaching it twice a year in 2007 here in the US. It addresses health, fitness and well-being on many different levels. I talk about training, nutrition, and tell many of the stories of integrating the worlds of Sport and Spirit together from my years of learning from Brant and having him be such an integral part of my success in triathlons.

He teaches Huichol practices for healing your body, heart and spirit as well as ways to live in harmony with yourself and the earth. These may sound like things that have nothing to do with athletics. But think about it, the most powerful performances come when we have the right balance in our training and when we feel centered or balanced within ourselves. The opposite of this would be if one is fearful or angry or unclear. This is certainly not a good way to improve your performance. But being balanced and doing the right kind of training is.

You can find more about these workshops at: www.shamanism.com/workshops.html. We have one in Austin, Texas November 9-11, and another in Santa Cruz, California November 30-December 2.

6) Question: Do you believe that your spiritual beliefs, particularly as you connect them with athletics, has led to more mainstream media and athletes marginalizing your work?

Allen: Well, I have met with the entire spectrum of reactions from others when I discuss shamanism and sports in the same breath. I usually fish around to see what level of reaction I might get from it. At first I actually didn’t say much if anything about studying with Brant or how that had been such a huge part of how I did what I did. But by not saying much I also felt like I was in a sense lying about how I won…lying by omission. So now I just talk about it and if people do like it or think I’m a bit nuts, that’s their problem not mine.

I often acknowledge that in the Western world there is almost no paradigm for having an understanding of the connection between Sport and Spirit, but that in other cultures you would be questioned as being a bit off if you did NOT make this connection and that you are not considered “normal” unless you do have visions or mystical experiences. Certainly studying shamanism is not going to be for everyone, even though it is actually a way of life that every single culture had in the beginning.

But the other side many people who have interviewed me have portrayed my experiences in a very positive light. On some level they get it. Athletes are the same way. There have been a lot of people who have come to our seminars who tell me that they heard my stories for many years but never really got what it was that I talked about, but that suddenly it kind of made sense and that they really wanted to have an experience of making that connection between sports and a spiritual approach.

7) Question: As we move into autumn, the triathlon season is coming to an end for many age groupers. A few big Ironman events were just held and for many, that marks the successful completion of their goal. I’ve noticed a trend where athletes often get a case of post-season depression and a sense of “Now what?” The lure of heading out for long rides or runs, or even getting into the pool at 5 a.m., has vaporized. Is this an opportunity to focus within?

Allen: It is more an opportunity to discover one’s self worth outside of a race result. If feeling good is dependent on racing, there is often something deeper that is not really being satisfied or met. The depression can come from too much importance placed on racing. It can come from having tapped into an avenue of exploring personal perfection (something deeply satisfying to pursue), but something that the person may not be doing in their job or other areas of life outside of training and racing. It can be from living a bit of a fantasy that has ended and now they have to do more of the mundane tasks that afford them the time and resources to train.

I always looked at the off season as a time where I could attend to all the things that got put on hold during the racing season. This is a way to keep things in balance in the big picture of one’s life. If you have a family, they most likely got shortchanged on your time and energy at points in the year. Now is a good time to put that energy back in and give up some of the training.

8) Question: If someone wanted to start working toward a better balance between sport and spirit, what is the one thing they could start doing right now?

Allen: The first step is to acknowledge that peak performance is more than just numbers in a log book, and that developing one’s spirit (who they are as a person) is just as important to being a complete athlete as the intervals they do in training.

Do something that stretches you on a non-physical level, that has nothing to do with swim, bike or run, but that could mean everything to your success at doing just that. As I mentioned I co-teach a workshop with Brant Secunda that addresses both Sport and Spirit. We have two coming up soon. One is at The Crossing in Austin, Texas on November 9-11 and the second in Santa Cruz, California on November 30-December 2. You can get more information and sign up by going to: www.shamanism.com/workshops.html and scrolling down to “Fit Body Fit Soul.”

For more information on Mark Allen, or to learn about his various coaching programs, go to www.markallenonline.com.

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© 2007 The Outdoor Journey.