Full transcript: IRONMIND, Episode 11
0:00 This week on Iron Minds. It’s very, very hot. That will be the battle. You have a worldwide audience right now that’s inspired by you. So that’s why you must finish.
0:16 Come on! Let’s go! My name is Brian Rose, and I host a show called London Real. A few months ago, John Joseph, the frontman of the hardcore punk band The Cro-Mags, walked into my studio. He’s the complete opposite of me.
0:41 But something happened. He challenged me to race the Iron Man triathlon in Chattanooga, Tennessee on May 20th on a 100% plant-based diet. Previously, Iron Man trainer Samantha Murphy pushed me to the limit. And I got to see some old demons. John Joseph showed me the spirit world, and I spoke openly about my heroin addiction for the first time.
1:08 I returned to London and was told by Charles Poliquin that competing on my plant-based diet was impossible. We learned about John Joseph’s dark past, and I pushed my body to the breaking point. Then Dr. Gabon Mate spoke to me about my unresolved childhood trauma. And I struggled to balance my family with my personal goals.
1:33 And I traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee for race day. I’m 47 years old and have never run an endurance race in my life. But they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This is my journey to the Iron Man. In the morning, take a little time to yourself, 15, 20 minutes.
2:09 Do some meditation, calm your breathing. Give thanks for the journey. That’s what I do every race morning. I chant my prayers for protection. Can I would just play that?
2:29 Didn’t it shrink a kavacham? You know, you’re going in the elements, man. The water, you got the road, the wind. It protects souls on the path. It’s part of who you are.
3:09 It’s your story. But once and for all, tell your mind who the f*ck this was. You never push yourself in life like this, then you kind of miss out. You have a worldwide audience right now that’s inspired by you. So that’s why you must finish.
4:00 You’ll be coming through that finisher shoot. You would have had all of these things that you would have thought about. That seems so intense. And then it’s gone. We’ll never get that back.
4:18 You’ll never be able to hold on to that exact moment again. John really crushed it. We can see that Brian swam 30, 50. It’s a super solid swim. It’s very, very hot.
5:48 And that will be the battle that they’re going to face today. He’s halfway through the race on the bike. They’re riding almost the exact same pace. I’ve just got an update from the course. Unfortunately, we just heard that John has broken his chain.
6:17 The reality is, once you click over the halfway, you have this kind of big feeling of like, okay, I’m over halfway done. But then those miles from 30 to 40 to 50 can be a little bit tough. John must have gotten his bike fixed. He’s past 45 miles on the bike, so he’s in it. This is really where the suffer starts, to be honest, because it’s hot and you’re close, but you’re never close enough.
7:04 You’re moving really well, Brian, okay? Just keep doing what you’re doing. Make sure you take in enough ice and water. You got this. You’re doing awesome.
7:14 All right? I’ll see you soon. Okay? You look great. Bo’s here at the finish line.
8:34 Brother, come here. I’m thinking about you on that race, man. You have just faced a bunch of demons. This journey for you is a multi-year journey. This represents a pinnacle about letting people down, and now you have inspired with this journey and being vulnerable, lifting up tens of thousands of people, including me.
9:02 How do you feel? I feel great, man. I was always going to finish this thing. It’s hot. That run was crazy, but there’s so many people here behind me all around the world.
9:12 It’s been a real tough journey for me, emotional, but it’s just been absolutely incredible. Just walk me through the race. What was it like for you? Were you nervous? I mean, you’ve never done this before.
9:24 I never done it before. I just tried to make calm. I was kind of calm all week, which is weird. I put in a lot of training. The swim, once I got on there, it felt good.
9:32 The bike, I did my best time ever, under three hours, and then my legs started cramping up, my hamstrings, and I had a slow run, although I think I beat John Joseph. So it was a run was just brutal. My stomach was really hurting, but I didn’t stop. I just didn’t stop. I saw people walking.
9:48 I was like, I’m not walking. I made myself that promise. I got a three-page email last night from Dan Pena saying, leave it all on the course. And so that’s what I did on that bike. I was like, you know what?
9:59 F*ck this. I’m leaving it all on there. So yeah, it’s been a great journey, Ben. It’s been awesome. You should be so proud of yourself.
10:11 Breaking six hours in this heat is incredible. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I’m always happy when a person, when an athlete gives it their all.
10:19 It doesn’t matter if they don’t even make the cutoff as long as they work to their absolute best ability. And so yeah, you did that, and your time shows it. So I’m super happy.
10:31 How are you doing? How are you doing, man? That was no joke, man. You did it. You did it.
10:37 Now, we’re signing up for a fall. John. Thank you, man. No problem. We love Samantha Murphy.
10:46 Samantha Murphy. The instant you reach your goal, that beautiful emptiness, that zen moment of no desires, a fleeting few seconds of peace after months of suffering. And I just want to say one thing. Yes. Congratulations.
11:20 Yes. To Mr. Brian Rowe. First Iron Man killed it. Beat my ass.
11:28 But yeah, he put the work in. 100% plant-based. His whole training camp on there, Samantha Murphy. But there it is. This wasn’t about finishing the Iron Man.
11:44 It wasn’t about the diet or the brutal training. It was about confronting my past, the dark secrets I was ashamed of that continued to pollute every decision in my life. I had to let go of the mistakes, the embarrassment, and the people I let down to forgive myself and those who had done me wrong. John Joseph taught me this. And now I had to do something for him.
12:24 Like all of us, he’s a contradiction. A monk, a punk, a visionary, a street fighter. John had taught me to forgive, but could he? I had to ask him the question that no one else could. You’re getting on such a high and I mean your endorphins are going through the f*cking roof.
12:53 You know, you’re putting in months and months of training to bring to that plateau and then it’s like you’re just emptying the tanks of everything and then the next day you have time to reflect and be like, but it’s like a thing. You’re looking for like, okay, how do I get back to that? I’m just trying to get my head around this challenge thing because guys like us are always like, what’s the next challenge? What’s the next challenge? And part of that got me here, so I respect it.
13:25 But then part of me also wonders, can I be happy without those challenges? No, I can’t. Because if we as humans are not tested, then we don’t advance. Those tests are put there to force us to push through shit. Like people that are like try to avoid challenges and being tested, they’re not getting anywhere in life.
13:48 By willingly placing yourself into difficult situations, you advance. You’re already locked onto that next race in six months and then you mentioned it to me right after the race and Samantha did too. And look, I’m a goal-oriented guy. I think it’s a beautiful thing. But then part of me also wonders, am I still searching for the next challenge?
14:08 And does there need to be some peace somewhere in between where you’re just happy being you? Is this not itself some kind of addiction in itself? Sure, but to do what you love, there’s destructive addictions. If you don’t replace the negative things in your life with positive actions, meditation, and all this other stuff that goes hand in hand, you’re just going to keep falling victim. Why does my brother constantly keep relapsing into drugs?
14:44 He called me right before this race, I’m dying. F*ck you, you don’t even call me anymore. I’m f*cking dying. And he is dying. He’s dying because of the choices he made.
14:55 He hit the bottle, do the pills, do the drugs, eat the bad food. That’s the thing about choice. You know, I was talking to that guy, Dr. Gabon Mate, and he’s always saying that a lot of this stuff goes back to childhood trauma. And compared to your life, I didn’t have any trauma.
15:14 But when you’re seven years old, everything feels like trauma. And he’s always saying, like Brian, is this behavior rooted in something? I know you said that part of the reason you probably went into performing and stuff was because feeling inadequate. But do you ever think about that and forgiveness and how that affects your life going forward? Yeah, I mean, there’s the two dudes that did that shit to me in that home.
15:40 I’ve never encountered them before. I even went back to the foster home and knocked on the door. And I’m glad they weren’t there because I think when I do see them, it’s like I’m going to be like, put your hands on me and did this shit when I was a kid and couldn’t defend myself, but now what? And I think that’s going to be there. I’m not, you know, I could try to speculate however I’m going to act toward that.
16:08 But I already know what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen? I’m going to f*cking snatch them up. I’m not… What would Prabhav would say about that?
16:16 Prabhav would say that a child abuser should get his ass kicked. I don’t have that inner strength to be like, oh yeah, okay, you did that to me, I forgive you. Nah. No. So you’re human.
16:31 I’m human, man. I’m f*cking… I’m just as human as anybody else. The real growth was that I gave up that hate because I just moved on to another place of indifference. You could say it’s worse, but I say it’s what I had to do.
16:48 You know, just block them out. And that’s not to say, if I don’t see whoever, I’m not going to… That’s just that street in New York, f*cking. I’m like a f*cking Irish motherfucker from the Lower East Side. I’m not going to not say nothing.
17:06 What’s the one thing you want people to take away from the whole Iron Mind experience? You! You, look, you are a shining example of what you can do when you apply yourself. That’s the Iron Man logo. Anything is possible.
17:35 Do you feel better as a human? Do you feel better with yourself after doing what you just did? Let me ask you that. How do you feel today? I feel amazing.
17:45 Like a f*cking champion. I think there’s a lot of things. You know, me going through those demons and talking about that stuff to someone publicly and, you know, forgiving myself and people and then going and doing something positive and being open with our past to help other people with their past. And then look what happens. You get a whole host of amazingly positive energy people that want to help you on that journey forward.
18:08 It’s like kinetic energy, man. That’s why I say you could deal with the dark energy or you could deal with the energy of the light. If this path works for me as f*cked up as I’ve been in this lifetime, it could work for anybody. I’m a prime example. And that’s what being philosophical and that’s what having your devotions every day and working on yourself every day.
18:33 Prabhupada said mountains in the path will become pebbles that you could just kick away. And that’s why if I have one message to give, let it be the cold by which the true warrior lives. Never give up. I want to answer. I want to f*cking answer.
19:26 The f*ck’s it going to be? Florida Iron Man. I want to know right now. That’s it. You got the bug.
19:34 In 2001, I nearly died from a heroin overdose. That’s why I’m dedicating my very first Iron Man race to help those similarly addicted by raising money for adaption, one of the UK’s leading mental health, drug, and alcohol charities. Thank you.
