This morning, NPR enlisted a panel of college newspaper editors from Dartmouth, Virginia and Vanderbilt for a discussion. All of them seemed anxious to change the world and their immediate focus was sexual assault and racial diversity on campus. They were adamant about finding and implementing a solution to these seemingly never ending problems.
Their conversation reminded me of a Charles Bukowski quote I have on my wall: “You begin saving the world one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.”
It doesn’t matter if it’s campus behavior, social ethics, or triathlon training, substantial change rarely, if ever, happens when it is forced. Fear, threat, or rules are bad places to start changing the world . . . or yourself.
You have to go inside and let it happen.
Three years ago the energy and newness of training consumed me and I forced my body to the limits. I was genuinely motivated by the fear of not finishing my first Ironman. I would not be embarrassed! And, while it worked in the short term, I quickly learned there has to be a deeper, long-term reason for tangling with these challenges.
I’ve realized this process can’t be about false confidence–it has to be authentic.
It can’t be just for your body, mind, or spirit; it has to be all three. They are interconnected (much like swim, bike, and run) and if one doesn’t get enough attention, the recipe falls out of balance.
For years I have tried forcing things I don’t like out of my life, whether that be too many sweets, negative thought patterns, or staying up late. But that’s the wrong approach. It’s more about flooding my life with good, consistent, and meaningful patterns and letting the bad habits leave on their own.
I’m gonna start pulling 3 articles (a swim, bike, and run) every couple days that I think are pretty good reading.
Here’s one on designing your swim training around your “test pace.” Also, check out the Crushing Iron podcast on how to love swimming.
Here’s an article on 5 Ways to cross train for cycling. (Is it just me or is it sometimes hard to find the rest of the article when they hide the “next page” in a jungle of ads?) Or, check out Crushing Iron’s satirical list of 10 Favorite Things About Cycling.
1. Of all things, I am currently addicted to “House of Cards” on Netflix. It’s the strangest thing, and even makes me feel a little grimy. Truthfully it’s everything I dislike about human interaction, but I guess that proves (at least on some level) we (or I) have a little animal left in us.
2. Never eat Taco Bell before a run (or anytime, really). Though, this article points out it may not be as bad as I think. The meat is actually 88% beef and 12% “signature recipe.” I was too scared to look up Caramel Empanadas.
3. I always say I’m gonna wear a Garmin simply to keep my pace “comfortable,” but it’s almost impossible to take an easy run when I wear that demon. I hear that “mile beep” and look down with the anticipation of Christmas morning. Sometimes I get a Chipotle Gift Card, other days it’s a lump of coal.
4. Exhaling on the seven stride is my comfort zone. This is a strange, but important key to my endurance. If I exhale while my left foot hits the ground, then exhale again after right, left, right, left, right, left, I know I can keep that pace for days. Once it creeps inside there, I’m “pushing.” The more relaxed I am, the more I can keep that breath at a faster speed, which led me to this next thought . . .
5. Now, I realize this may sound kind of obvious, but I never take anything for granted in triathlon. In one of my last posts I was talking about the importance of “the catch” and turnover rate in swimming. If we catch and pull the same amount of water, but you turn your stroke quicker, you will be faster. It occurred to me the same theory applies to running. If our strides are equal length but I churn quicker than you, I will be faster. In biking, the catch or stride equivalent would be the gear. If you’re in a bigger gear and we have the same RPM (assuming same weight, bike, etc) you will be moving faster. I’m not sure what this means or if it proves anything, but it seems like the more analogies I hear, the better the chances I will understand and improve.
7. I can’t neglect speed training. While thinking about the above concept, I decided to add 6×30-second sprints toward the end of my run. They weren’t “all-out” blasts, but about 80% with a huge focus on relaxing. I’ve always recognized the key to improvement as breaking thresholds by slowly getting comfortable at faster speeds. If I’m normally an 8:30/min guy and can stay relaxed and in control for a while at a 7 minute pace, holding 8 minutes doesn’t mess with my head as much.
8. Thank goodness for hills. I’ve said it before, but I’m really glad I started running in East Nashville. The “flats” around here are hillier than a lot of places. Just like the speed example, the more hills you run, the more you don’t even notice them. (This one’s for you, Corey).
8. Less coffee, more juice. I could just trade that second coffee for a fresh carrot/celery/parsley juice every morning, I think I’d be a lot better off. The dehydration trade-off alone would be worth the excruciating cleaning process.
9. I couldn’t help thinking about the trail run I missed this morning. My Nashville Running Company training group car-pooled over to Cookville and ran Bear Waller Gap Trail. The pictures everyone posted are incredible and make me cringe in envy (or give me another reason to quit Facebook). I guess that’s what happens when you’re up until 2:30 watching “House of Cards” and the convoy takes off at 7:00.
10. Speaking of guilt, my iPhone text message situation is totally whacked and I am starting to wonder if anyone likes me anymore. Apple has been under fire for this, but it does nothing to soothe my ego when friends don’t respond to my messages. Usually, it goes like this:
Me: Some super-sarcastic remark.
Friend: No Response.
Me (somewhat regretting the message): “Hey, man . . . you there?”
Friend: No Response.
Me: “Come on, you know I was just jacking you.”
Friend (two hours later): No Response.
Me: “Hey, I mean, you’re one of my best friends… I’m sorry!”
Friend (the next day): No Response.
Me: (looks sadly at phone… goes to Taco Bell).
When I started drumming, I wanted to be an instant rock star. I sat at my kit and played as fast as I could. But of course, I sucked.
I asked a lot of questions and every drummer I talked to told me to practice as slow as I could. And you know what, going slow was really hard.
But going slow in practice builds good technique. It also teaches you to stay under control.
I’m sure you’ve heard an athlete say, “The game is starting to slow down for me.” My interpretation of that is, “I’m learning to relax when I’m going fast.”
The road to relaxing at peak performance starts with drilling the fundamentals. Let’s use swimming as an example.
Most of us trudge to the pool with hopes of making a major break thru, but time after time we see our 100 splits stay about the same or start slipping as we get tired. We do this for years on end with seemingly no real gains in speed.
We can think it’s about strength or endurance, but with swimming, those assets don’t matter as much. You can be bursting with Crossfit strength or marathon endurance but sink like a log in the pool. The number one way to get faster is mastering technique.
Body position and less resistance play a part, but moving through the water faster is mainly about propulsion. Are you catching correctly and pulling with optimum resistance? The only way to get there is to consciously learn those sensations.
The key is to slow down and think about what you are doing below the water. Imagine reaching out with your arm and pulling yourself over an imaginary wall. Feel the pressure against your forearm, wrist and hand. Pull with your lats, not your shoulder, engage your core and do it all in a continually smooth rotation of both arms.
There have literally been books written about this one topic, so while it seems easy, it takes a lot of repetition to get it right, and for most, that means taking steps backward. In order to get faster you have to build the right muscles and adapt to your body’s potential.
For some this may mean shorter strokes with a higher turnover. For others, that means a long reach and a longer pull. Either way is fine, but you’ll never get faster unless you slow down to perfect a relaxed and efficient form under the water.
Our coaching staff is continually thinking about ways to make training more effective and enjoyable, so Crushing Iron will now be adding creative workout ideas if you feel like breaking up the monotony. We only have a couple now, but hope to add one or two a week for each discipline. They can be found under the “Workouts” tab at the top and broken out by sport. Here’s an example for the pool:
Band On The Swim
Warm Up
200 easy cruise
100 kick with board hard
Main set:
400 pull/paddles high tempo
3 x 100 BAND around ankles
200 t-shirt swim AND clenched fists high tempo
100 SPRINT
When Steve Jobs started building computers in his garage, he was hungry.
A few years later, Apple was a powerful brand and Jobs faced a whole new set of challenges. The Board of Directors was more concerned about how Apple’s perception, but Jobs couldn’t stop thinking about its soul.
The Suits ran Jobs out of town, so he took his youthful passion to Pixar and NEXT. Apple may have been his baby, but he never lost sight of his purpose.
Eventually, he went back to Apple with real influence. He re-trained the culture to focus on basics and ultimately changed the way we live.
Jobs was a little nuts, but what genius isn’t? Who in their right mind would think they could accomplish the things he did? And what person in their right mind would think they could complete an Ironman?
Somehow Jobs overcame resistance and made huge sacrifices to stay true to his mission. Say what you want about Jobs, but his story is a good lesson for training.
For my first Ironman I was a hungry entrepreneur sharing the message with anyone who would listen. I genuinely felt like I was moving toward a higher plane of consciousness.
Then came Number 2, and I was a more comfortable with the shape of “my business.” The product worked, it was just a matter of consistency.
In year three I have become a little complacent. Automation is taking over, but that’s no way to be great.
Racing is far more than hanging an award on a hook. Being great is a process and it helps to remember why we wanted this in the first place. For me it was to be alive, test my limits, and become a better person.
That is why I train. That is why I sacrifice. That is why I push my body to places it doesn’t voluntarily go.
It always comes back to today, to the process, to the growth. When we start chasing symbols, approbation, and medals . . . we lose.
Here’s a little video I made this morning on our trail run. Yes, I was smelling the roses/snow and really enjoyed it (there will be a post about this later).
This was our third weekend (of 10) for trail training and we’ll hit seven more parks in Tennessee before it’s done.
I’m using a new edit/conversion system, so make sure you up the quality to HD . . . much better. Oh, and be sure to stop by Nashville Running Company for all your trail running needs.
You’re probably getting ready to run this weekend, so here’s a quick little video to help you navigate the wilderness if you plan on hitting trails. Ultra runner, Steven McNeal, shares his take on whether or not you need trail specific shoes. Video provided by Nashville Running Company for Crushing Iron.
Also, if you’re in striking distance of Nashville and want to do a great trail race, don’t forget about the Dry Creek Marathon and Half on February 22nd.
Remember that time when you were craving sweets and reached into the snack drawer to break off off the corner of a cookie then walked away after a small nibble? Yeah, me either.
Yesterday I was craving a trail run. It was a little cold, but the sun finally came back, so around 3:00 in the afternoon, I laced them up.
In an effort to top my cookie with 2 inches of frosting, I decided to run with music for the first time in months. That was my first mistake.
It’s odd to think of running with music as a mistake. I mean, it’s music! Probably the best invention God has rolled out in a long time. But for some reason it always pumps me up just a little too much.
My rule for exercise is always “ease into everything.” But Eminem, AC/DC, and Grandmaster Flash rarely encourage you to chill.
After a few days of rain, the trails were a quagmire and the lyrics pumping my brain assured me this was a minor obstacle. I ripped into shin deep puddles with reckless abandoned. I was “Cleaning Out My Closet” on the “Highway to Hell.”
I’m not sure how much harder it is to run in mud, but by the time I realized I was 4.5 miles away from home I was a little beat up. I refilled my water bottle and contemplated the next move, and for me that’s typically, keep running.
I turned up the music and went about retracing my steps. Six miles was plenty, but after flying through a miniature lake at mile seven (and wrenching my ankle pretty good) I finally stopped at 8.
Still two miles from home I decided I should practice my Ironman-tempo-walk, and that’s what I did. There were a few attempts at running, but it hurt.
For some reason, running with music throws me off. It takes me away from my body, breath, and rational decisions. I pushes me like that 10th beer can give you confidence for the 11th.
My second mistake was running too far. When adrenaline is pumping, it’s easy to do.
But the fallout was exhaustion and frankly, that’s not my motivation. Last night was worthless and this morning wasn’t much better.
I guess the lesson here (and I have no idea how I keep forgetting this) is that moderation is the key to life (even when training for Ironman) and must be accepted. Just when running was becoming fun again, I fucked it up. Don’t let me do that again, no matter how many people would be impressed by a photo of my Garmin.
This morning I joined 36 other runners for Nashville Running Company’s Tour of Trails and confirmed a new addiction. Under blue sky and over frozen earth, we gathered at Bowie Park to explore. It was our first journey together, and . . . we won.
The 6 mile loop is challenging, but fair. Roots and rocks keep you honest, dicey climbs test your will, and calm flats let you escape.
Like most trails, it was as hard as you wanted to make it but pace groups stayed together and enjoyed the frost-covered scenery at a comfortable pace. Conversation was there if you wanted, or unchained if you preferred to hear yourself think.
In the past I have proclaimed that I am “not a runner” which makes it even harder to explain why I’m falling in love with trail running, but it must have something to do with these factors:
– The cushion of the earth and crunchy leaves are undeniably more pleasant than pavement.
– Trail running forces you to pay attention which is a welcome change from the Zombie-land of road running.
– I feel a greater sense of peace when I’m surrounded by nature and every corner offers a surprise.
Trail Running Customs
Because this is a training group, we have guides to lead the way and answer questions. Phil ran alongside me most of the loop and I’m sure he sensed my inquiries building.
Beth with proof that Phil made it
I’ve always been curious about the running tradition of warning others what’s ahead. On the road it’s typically things like, “Car up! Car back! or Curb!” And yes, they all come with exclamation points.
Often this practice gets way out of hand and the entire gaggle of runners crow the first thought on their mind while pointing wildly in the direction of a potential hazard.
“Stray cat! Beer can! Snicker’s Bar!”
As it turns out, trail running has a few customs of its own, but when the entire path is decorated with rocks, stumps, and gravel patches, incessant warnings would drive you to the loony bin. Yet the danger is real. I saw one face plant and many others come close.
Phil told me he warns of upcoming hazards occasionally, like if he runs through a tree branch that has potential to snap back and scar the next runner or if there happens to be a well disguised cliff on the horizon, but for the most part it’s every man and woman for themselves.
He also strongly believes in courtesy telegraphs for poisonous snakes, quick sand, or wild boar. Unless of course, it is a race, then all bets are off.
The Power of a Group
Sign in and sign out so no one’s forgotten
The common theme this morning was that most who ran in the frigid conditions believe they would not have shown up on their own. Me included.
If it weren’t for positive people and group training I doubt I would have started running in the first place, and never in a million years finished an Ironman.
While I haven’t put my finger on why, there is something about trail running that feels more evolved. Treacherous paths are a great equalizer and there’s an unspoken bond that seems to say, “Sure, we can run as fast as we want, but nature always wins.”
I’ve played team sports all my life and there is something about endurance that makes it easier to pull for your competition. Trail running takes this to a new level and, even though we completed our run, I sensed a universal desire to decode our sensations by talking about the trail, our dreams, or life.
That thought consumed me for the 45 minute drive home. How can I make that feeling last? Running further is obvious, but for the first time I’ve started craving a running vacation. A group of people, a rented cabin, and an endless canvas of trails. Seems like great practice for living in the moment.
New on Crushing Iron
Photo courtesy Jennifer Eberle
Stephen McNeal, one of our training leaders and recent 100 mile finisher, spoke about the difference between road and trail shoes before we took off. I will post the video soon and we plan to continue this as a series of trail training tips for the next 10 weeks. They will be available both here and on the Nashville Running Company’s website.
And speaking of Nashville Running Company, you may have noticed their ad in the Crushing Iron sidebar. We’ve created a little content sharing partnership and I’m pretty pumped. NRC is where I started running and it’s a great store with even better people. They have anything you need to get going with trail running along with what may be the best running-store-pint-night in America. Make sure to tell them you saw their ad on Crushing Iron.
