One of my sporting heroes is Lance Armstrong. Leaving aside doping accusations, we know Lance as a 7 times consecutive Tour de France winner from 1999-2005, an achievement all the more remarkable given his diagnosis and treatment for testicular cancer in 1996. He is also the founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation which unites, inspires and empowers people in their fight against cancer and which has achieved global status.
Riding the Tour de France is one of the hardest sporting events there is. Obviously Lance had abundant natural talent – after all he won the World Championship when he was only 21. I can remember him showboating as he crossed the line after riding away from the bunch in pouring rain in Norway. Lance however, didn’t want to be known as the winner of one day races. He wanted to become a great Tour rider. His coach Chris Carmichael commented that when he met Lance in 1990, Lance had more ambition than skill. “He was pretty impetuous and he had to learn how to be patient. He had to learn the principles of training from pedalling more efficiently to shifting and braking, to mastering techniques such as cornering, riding in the mountains and sprinting. These all take time to become second nature.” Lance agreed, saying “There is no quick fix. Popular TV infomercials promise great results with 15 minute workouts just 3 times a week. In reality it takes commitment and motivation. Throughout the 1990s, except for the year I took off to recover from cancer, I worked full time at cycling. I entered the Tour de France four times between 1993 and 1996 and yet I finished only once. You could say that it took me a decade to win the 3-week 1999 tour”. That decade was a roller-coaster with some sporting triumphs but many setbacks for Lance.
I have never been an elite cyclist but Lance has been an inspiration to me both on and off the bike. I hope he will be an inspiration to you. I hope he (or if he doesn’t appeal to you maybe a different sporting hero) inspires you to get the most from your gastric band or bypass weight loss surgery. You may think how on earth can a sportsman inspire me – I hate sport! Well, whatever obesity surgery you may have had, you will need patience and determination to get through the inevitable bad patches. Lance once said that he started cycling as a youngster so that he could gain control over how fast and where he could go. Most people have weight loss / obesity surgery so that they can gain control over an aspect of their life that’s difficult to manage. The same principles of training that apply to elite athletes apply to you. When you leave hospital you are given Your 10 Band Success Rules or if you’ve had a gastric bypass, Aftercare Rules. These form the skeleton of your training programme. The good news for you is that if you train hard, you too can take a similar path to achieve your personal best.
Dr David Ashton
21st June 2011
