Saturday, July 7, 2012
The Importance of Failure
Friday, June 8, 2012
Paul, how do I increase the distance I can run?
Increasing your distance is pretty simple. First off, make the increases gradually. Increasing from 2 miles to 3 miles won’t work very well. Think about increasing your longest run by a ¼ mile a week or ½ mile at the most. So next week plan to do a 2.25 or 2.5 miler. It sounds like 2.5 is doable now.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Get Your 8 Seconds Back
Ritzenhein probably thought about workouts where he didn’t give it his all. Keep that in mind as you approach your next workout. Do you want to give away those 8 seconds and miss reaching your goal? Or do you want to grab more weight or stay on the treadmill another 10 minutes or add another workout to your week so that you don’t have to wonder what if?
Like I tell my Spinning class every Sunday morning. Your goals are reached through the work you do when no one is watching.
Friday, November 11, 2011
But It's Not Berry Season
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Your Own Reality Show
Monday, September 26, 2011
Paleo Part 3 - The Good, the Bad and the Great Bonk
- I dropped 9 lbs in the first few weeks. It was all fat loss. My body fat % dropped from about 13 to around 8.5%. Most of it was in the lay around my gut.
- That change in body comp led to a leaner, stronger look that was noticed by my colleagues and friends. It was without a doubt the leanest and strongest I’ve ever looked.
- My energy level improved as did my sleeping habits. No more late night carb binges and no more bloated feeling throughout the day. I woke up ready to go.
- And without getting into too much detail, my digestive system profoundly changed for the better.
- Weight loss is not a goal of mine. Losing the 9 lbs put my under 200 for the first time in 20 years. There is something about being under that number that concerns me. Even though I felt fine I thought I needed to eat more or add more carbs to up my weight.
- My friends are not necessarily eating Paleo. I have determined that keeping granola and ice cream in the house for my girlfriend when she visits is not something I can do. If those two items are around I eat them, plain and simple.
- It can be expensive to buy whole foods all the time. I found about a 25% increase in my food budget. I believe it is worth the investment but it is something to be aware of.
- Meal prep takes time. My schedule permits me time to prep meals on some days and no time on other days. I have friends who do all their meal prep on Sundays for the week. I have not gotten to that level of nutritional organization yet. Still working on it.
Monday, September 12, 2011
It’s what you do on the tough days that matters
It’s what you do on the tough days that matters.
Saturday I participated in my favorite event of the year. It is a two-person team triathlon that features a ¾ mile run into a 1.5 mile canoe into a 14-mile bike ride into a 5K run. Both partners need to stay together throughout the race.
The weather was accomodating considering the massive amounts of rain we’ve had in
But you never know what might happen. Did the weather change? No. Did someone get dumped out of the canoe? Maybe, but not that I saw.
No, my good friend and former race partner sprained his ankle a quarter mile into the ¾ mile run. Not sure what happened but with a large group running down a narrow path it doesn’t take much to turn a perfect day for a race into a dissappointing day where you and your partner can’t finish.
The thing is, the “can’t finish” part doesn’t come into my friend Mike’s vocabularly. At 63, he is as fit as the fittest 30-year-olds I know. I can’t keep up with him on a bike. I’d like to think I can out run him but secretly I never enter running events with him so he doesn’t have the opportunity to prove me wrong.
Mike and his partner finished the run to the canoe, proceded to paddle to the 8th best time and then got on the bikes and worked their way up to 6th overall. They averaged 17.4 mph. And one of them had a sprained ankle.
Then came the 5K. 3.1 miles of running. That just wasn’t going to work. So they walked it. It took them almost an hour. One team after another passing them. Teams they knew they would have beaten.
Mike hid the pain long enough to run the last few hundred yards to the finish line with his partner. They would have finished in the top 5 if it weren’t for the injury. They finished 50th.
The point here is not “gut it out no matter how bad the pain.” I don’t believe in that. There is no need to risk permanent injury. Mike assessed the issue and decided to keep going. He knows his body. His partner stuck with him.
The point is anyone can have a great day when the conditions are perfect and there are no obstacles in your way. Sunny skies, well-paved roads, nice bikes, etc. The question is, how do you respond when something doesn’t go according to the perfect script? Do you pack it in and say “wait till next year”? Do you let it ruin your whole race? Or do you just work harder on the canoe and the bike knowing that the run is going to suffer?
The sweet justice is that they still qualified for 2nd in the Masters Division and collected a medal. Goes to show you what happens when you finish.