Ultra-Endurance Racer Leah Goldstein Talks Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

If you need fitness inspiration, there is no better person to turn to than Leah Goldstein. At age 17, Krav Maga specialist Leah won the Bantamweight World Kickboxing Championship. She was the first female elite commando instructor for the IDF and had a 10-year career as a professional cyclist in Europe and North America. Her most recent accomplishment is becoming the first woman to win the Race Across America, a 3,000-mile bicycle race she completed in 11 days.

Dennis Postema: You just made history as the firstever female to win the overall solo division in the world’s most difficult 3,000-mile cycling race across America. What does training look like for that kind of challenge?

Leah Goldstein: It is the hardest endurance race in the world, so the process is not just getting ready physically. I also have a crew of nine people, so it’s a one-year logistical nightmare. You have to think about your doctor, your kinesiologist, your massage therapist, crew changes, and conditions when you’re going 3,000 miles right across the country. You have to be prepared for all challenges that can happen, and you never know what’s going to happen. This year it was a race of survival: who can take the heat. This year had the lowest finishing percentage the race has ever had because of the weather conditions. The temperatures were about 110 to 115 degrees through the desert— that’s bloody hot. It’s boiling. And it wasn’t just through California, it was through Arizona. Even through Colorado where it normally has quite nice temperatures, it was close to 100 degrees. Just dealing with those conditions made the race extremely challenging. Only three solos finished it this year because of that.

Dennis: Was it more of a mental or physical battle to get through?

Leah: You can’t really physically train for an ultra-endurance race because you have 12 days to finish it. So in a 48-hour period, you’re sleeping from zero to three hours. In any ultra-endurance race, it’s 30% physical and 70% mental. To give you an example, say you and I went to a race and you were 100% fit and ready but mentally, you were kind of broken. Let’s say I’m not so fit but mentally 100%. I can guarantee you, hands down, I’ll beat you. It’s a matter of being able to push yourself beyond your limits and learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Dennis: What do you do to keep the mindset of a champion? What is your regimen for that?

Leah: I try to replicate things that could happen during the race in my training. Because you don’t want surprises, I try to train the same way that things could happen in the race. For example, I live in Canada and can’t always ride outside all the time, so I might sit on a stationarybike training station, staring at a white wall for 15 to 20 hours. I don’t use music or a phone, I don’t look at my TV, no stimulation—kind of putting yourself through torture so it’s not so bad when real torture actually happens.

Also, mentally knowing the course, like sometimes you drive the course so you have it in your head. That’s a huge advantage.

Dennis: You became a world championship kickboxer when you were only 17 years old. How old were you when you started and what motivated you to do this?

Leah: When I was little and we came to Canada from the Middle East, my English wasn’t very good. I spoke with a lisp, I had a little bit of a learning disability, and my left leg was growing at a faster rate than my right. When you’re different as a child, you get bullied, so I was bullied and I didn’t want to tell my parents or the teachers. One day I was

clicking through the TV channels and I saw this young Asian guy, Bruce Lee. And I thought, “Damn, he’s fighting, like, ten people. I only have to fight off eight bullies!” That’s how it started.

My mom got me into tae kwon do and I excelled very fast. My father was a boxer, so he taught me boxing skills. But when you mix boxing and martial arts, you get more of a kickboxer. By 12 years old, I was a junior national champion kickboxer, and I didn’t feel challenged anymore. At 13, I remember walking into this old, scummy kickboxing gym. The coach there sees me, and I have this big head because I’m a seconddegree black belt, and he puts me in a boxing ring, and I get the crap kicked out of me. I was so angry, and he said to me, “You know, you take this seriously, at 17 years old I will make you world champion.” That’s when I was 13, so that’s kind of how it all started.

Dennis: You also were a member of the Israel League Commandos and Anti-Terrorism Unit. What was that experience like compared to everything Leah: I knew what I wanted to do when I was seven years old. Kickboxing was just a solution to a problem that I had at school. But I knew when I graduated that I would go back to the Middle East to my family in Israel. So after I won the world championship and graduated high school, I enlisted in the IDF—the Israel Defense Force—and was placed into Base 8, an instructional base for Navy SEALs from different high-level units all over the country. I was the first female instructor to train the commando. I also went on certain assignments with them as well during my period in the military.

In the military, we’re instructors, but we’re also soldiers. We don’t sit there with a clipboard and watch everybody else do it. We go out on these treks with the soldiers, so we always have to be very fit. One lieutenant there who was a national triathlon champion saw that I was always training and very strong. He also noticed that I commuted to the military base on my bike, and he introduced me to duathlons, and that’s how I got hooked on the bike.

Dennis: How are you so self-sustaining as far as managing your accountability and expectations?

Leah: When I choose something that I want to do, it’s 110%. A good example is that my life didn’t really happen when I was kickboxing. I knew good times and friends would be there forever, but unique and special opportunities won’t, so I didn’t party or drink or have friends or do fun things. It was 110% what I had to do for kickboxing. Because the sacrifices are worth the payoff at

the end, and that’s just lasering in and putting everything else on a shelf.

I think that’s the only recipe for success in anything you do. You’ve gotta think about your commitment and not going off track.

Dennis: If you talk to any of the highest performers, they have that exact mentality. It’s you versus you. They don’t care about what anyone else is doing. They look in the mirror and know they’re their biggest competitor and their own biggest fan.

Leah: It’s the truth. It’s as simple as that. When you look at people who have succeeded, you hear the great story of where they are now and what they have, but what about their backstory? When it started way back when they were a seed. And all the struggles and hardships and with almost every single person that’s successful, go back deeper—that’s the inspiration. Once you’ve hit rock bottom, you know how to get out of that, you have that experience, so starting from scratch and from the rawness of succeeding is what makes a person super powerful, and you’ll stay powerful that way. It’s learning from your mistakes and not worrying about anything else. Your biggest rock is you, and it’s no one else.

Dennis: You’re always moving yourself out of your comfort zone and hitting that next level. How do you deal with that mentally?

Leah: You have to learn to deal with that. People like to be comfortable on their nice couch, but sometimes you’ve got to sit on a stone. You’ve got to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s what shows the grit and strength of somebody. Trying new things and discovering new things is how we grow as individuals. It doesn’t matter if you’re 20 or 90, if you sit there waiting for things to happen, nothing’s going to happen. It’s a matter of you moving your butt and moving forward. Doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, the ability to get back up is what makes you powerful.

Dennis: Now that you’ve won the overall solo division and raced across America, what are your plans?

Leah: I won the race, but the time wasn’t great. We were aiming for a 10-day finish, so that’s going to be on the back burner. Also learning from the mistakes we made. So I’ll be training for that in two years. I also have a documentary coming out next year and a revision on my book, No Limits. I’m also with the Canada Speaking Bureau giving presentations and keynotes to different sports groups, business groups and high-risk youth.

Dennis: What advice would you give to young athletes today?

Leah: It’s funny, I had a conversation with another coach about how we give so many medals and we praise kids and

we want them to feel great and stuff. But when I was kickboxing, my kickboxing coach never ever complimented me or told me the things that I’m good at. I knew the things that I was good at. He always focused on the things that I needed to improve at and trying to perfect them. Even when I won the world championship, a clearly unanimous decision, he said to me, “You could have done better.” That wasn’t an insult, but something of a compliment, because you know that you have that much talent. So I think with kids, be straight with them. Tell them they can do better. I think we’re so afraid to hurt people’s feelings, especially kids, but sometimes you’ve got to have that toughness. I’m not saying be abusive, but be brutally honest. If you want it bad enough, then how much are you willing to sacrifice? How much are you willing to work? ’Cause those sacrifices are worth the payoff at the end.

Dennis: So it’s not about focusing on praise so much as proving what you can do.

Leah: What’s the best thing you can do when somebody says that you can’t do it? Succeed. Show them exactly what you can do. Don’t waste your breath by barking or whatever. Don’t say anything. Just do it and prove that you can do it. Prior to the world championship, I had a mishap in the gym where a guy fell on me and snapped my back and my already-degenerated disc. I was 15 or 16 at the time, and everyone said my career was over. The physios said, “You’ll never kickbox again.” I could write a book on every time somebody said I couldn’t do something, but I remember walking and rehabilitating myself mentally and physically, and two years later, I won the world championships. So when you have these professionals saying, “Career over, your life will never be the same again,” most people will accept it. And if I did take that in, I probably wouldn’t have done half the things I’ve done. But I learned that I don’t care what anyone else says, it’s what I want that counts. And I’ll show somebody exactly what I can’t do. It’s not the bark, it’s the bite.

To learn more about Leah, visit her website: leahgoldstein.com.

On Failure and Finish Lines

I have failed multiple times, but if you don’t have the ability to fail, then your ability to succeed will never happen. Don’t expect to fail, but be prepared for it and use it as a strength. It’s an important part of preparing yourself. Because a lot of times, I think patterns are often repeated. When you throw in the towel once, it’s too easy to do it again and again and again. Pro cycling is a good example. I excelled in everything I did up until I was 19. I was a very good athlete, I always excelled, was very fast—not that I didn’t work hard, I worked extremely hard—but once I hit pro cycling in Israel, I was a big fish in a small pond. I came to North America, and I was a shrimp in an ocean and I got my ass handed to me. I went into these cycling races, and I would come in so late that I wouldn’t even know where the finish line was because everybody would leave. I’d see my car in an empty parking lot and go, “Okay, this must be it, right?” I was 30 years old, and I had the federation saying to me, “You’ve missed the boat. You’re too old. You’ll never happen.” It took me eight years to finally prove them wrong. I had the best years as a pro cyclist at the ages of 39, 40, 41 and 42. And that was after my 2005 crash, when I landed on my face at 80 kilometers an hour and broke almost every bone in my body and face. Sometimes it’s a process. Don’t just give yourself one year—it might take you five years. The point is that you have to make it to your finish line, no matter what it is and no matter how long it takes.

How to Track and Measure Your Fitness

It’s so easy to get discouraged when you’re trying to get healthier, and the main reason is that weight loss isn’t linear. Usually, you’ll lose a good deal of weight in your first few weeks but then, as you begin to edge closer to your next milestone, you’ll find the weight loss slowing down. You might even see the scale come to a screeching halt as you struggle to move further forward.

Unfortunately, this is an issue that most people will run into, but you shouldn’t let it be the end of your fitness journey. There are many different reasons for it, and your success all comes down to how you track your progress throughout your weight loss.

#1 Know what the scale is telling you

The scale can fluctuate by as much as 10 pounds due to things beyond your control, like water weight and muscle gain. Your at-home scale can also be inaccurate by one or more pounds. Not to mention that your clothes and shoes will add to your weight and so many other factors that can make you feel stuck. Once the scale stops showing results, sometimes it’s best to ditch it.

#2 Take measurements

A much more accurate way to track your progress overtime is to take measurements of your body using a sewing tape measure. This will allow you to get accurate measurements of your natural waist, hips, and thighs along with anything else you want to measure-like your neck, arms, or calves. Write these numbers down. In a few weeks, take new ones and compare.

Oftentimes, these measurements will continue shrinking even when the scale isn’t showing positive results. But, keep in mind that bloating and eating can cause measurements (especially at your waist) to grow. Always measure first thing in the morning to minimize such fluctuations.

#3 Save pictures

Many people don’t want to take before photos because they dread seeing themselves. But, simply looking in the mirror won’t allow you to see progress until you have made a lot of it. After all, you see yourself everyday so it’s hard to spot gradual changes.

Take before pictures and, down the line, you’ll be very happy you did when you get to share an incredible before-after transformation!