A run in solitude

As one of my 25 jobs I like to dabble in, I spend some of my life as a professor in a doctoral program for physical therapy.  Being a runner/triathlete/idiot myself, I took the initiative to start a running club with my student body.  What could be better for a group of future physical therapists aside from becoming, well, PHYSICAL?

Monday was our first night and I was so excited!  Things didn't go exactly as planned.  Below is an email I sent out immediately after the first meeting that I thought might resonate with some of my readers here:

Tonight's run was fantastic. A full loop of Central Park was taken on, and pretty fast I might add. The only trouble: I was the only one there. WHOMP!
Many of you have expressed interest in joining but raised concerns you wouldn't be able to keep up. Nonsense! 
Allow me to tell you how I started as a runner. The winter of 2009 I decided to sign up for my first marathon. To give you perspective, I had never at that point run more than a mile continuously. In middle school we had to run a mile as a fitness test; I came in dead last...and I cheated! I hated running, so why did I sign up for a 26.2 mile race? 
No clue. 
My first training run was 1 mile. I almost died. My long run for that first week was 3 miles. It was the saddest thing you've ever seen, I assure you. I ran when I could and walked when necessitated. It was all kinds of ugly but I got through it. 
So if you're worried you aren't fast enough, will feel embarrassed, will run like a cartoon version of yourself, or are afraid to start, please just picture me during my first week of training. You have nothing on the spectacle I created. No chance. 
For most journeys the hardest step is the first...
Great, now you've got me speaking in catch phrases worthy of bumper stickers. Who's embarrassed now?
If you've never run in your life aside from dashing to catch the train, you'll be fine. If you used to run but haven't laced up in 20 years, you'll be fine. If you're worried you'll get hurt, I know a terrific physical therapist. If you're faster than me, I'll be fine...mostly. 

I plan to be consistent and trust that I will eventually give the gift of running to some.  Only thing better than the feeling I get from running will be the feeling I get knowing I've shared it.

Onward!

Training report: week's review

It's the beginning of another big training week.  What a lovely time to look back at the blister forming, saddle sore inducing, and ever so slightly sun-burned cheeks of last week.

It was overall a great week with some solid sessions.  Without intending to, I hit a new PR for a half marathon distance.  I then felt like I was about 104 years old for the next two days, but it was worth it.

Monday: speed interval run day.  Man I hate these workouts!  "Here Chad, please sprint as fast as you can for the next 15 minutes.  Puke into your eucalyptus towel and repeat 2 more times."  Who designs these things?  Painful as it was, I was able to hold a sub-7 min pace for my fast intervals.  Not great, but not terrible either.

Tuesday: indoor bike ride.  I know people hate indoor rides, but I have to say that in most ways I prefer them to riding outdoors.  Let's face it that after the winter we had, I barely want to drive on these Northeast roads.  I certainly am not interested in sitting on that TINY little saddle and slamming my way through potholes the size of Rhode Island.  Lord only knows where that saddle would end up by ride's end.

Wednesday: resistance training day.  How can a guy who is in such good shape be in such bad shape? 20 minutes into the workout, I was certain my legs would spontaneously detach themselves in an act of defiance and revolt.  I was planning to run afterwards.  HAHA.  Instead I did a hot yoga class.  Equally punishing but requiring less muscular effort.

Thursday: another indoor ride.  Numbers are consistently improving.  Funny what happens when you actually listen to your coach...

Friday: long run!  I was asked to run for 1:45 so I set out to run along the riverside park on the westside of manhattan and take advantage of the relative springy weather briefly afforded to us miserable winter-warn souls.  This park is about as flat as Florida, but I did battle a pretty good headwind on the second half of the run.  I had a great run and was reminded why I love running so much.  At 1:44 I had hit exactly 13.1 miles and felt that was a good place to stop.  My previous 1/2 marathon PR was 1:53.  Nice!  Imagine my continued delight to afterwards notice I had the slightest bit of sun on my cheeks.  First sun of the season = vitamins for my soul.

Saturday: I could barely get out of bed!  I guess I ran harder than I thought I did.  I still hobbled my way onto the bike, but it was a recovery ride at best.  I was consistently 20-30 watts lower than usual, but understandably why.  Still felt good to get the legs moving.

Sunday: I took a day off.  I sat like a champ for 2 hours at a movie theater, and then went home to clean my disease ridden apartment and do some paperwork.  The body needed the break, oh yes.

What was missing from my week?  Swimming...  I truly intend at the beginning of the week to hit my swims, I just seem to miss them somehow.  Thank goodness I'm starting a group swim class this coming Sunday.  That may be all that get's me into the water!

Maybe this would make me swim faster?

Another big week starting today and now less than 3 weeks until my first race of the season: IronMan 70.3 Florida.

Should we have a prize for the person that guesses closest to what my time will be that day?

I can't drink WHAT?

Oh sweet burning nectar of the gods, why hast thou forsaken me?

People, I’ve got a problem.  I’m about to tell you what it is, but I need you to prepare yourself…it’s rather upsetting.

There is a running theory, backed by some moderately strong-leveled evidence that I may be allergic to, of all things, coffee.

Any Buddhists out there?  Perhaps you can tell me what I did in a past life to be dealt this stinging karmic blow?  Was I cruel to coffee farmers?  Was I a thief of all things caffeinated?  Was I Hitler?

It would seem that in this unfortunate turn of events, my body has decided to revolt in the form of reverting back to the painful teenage years of embarrassing breakouts of pimply unpleasantness.  With extensive efforts to figure out why this was happening, it was determined that coffee/caffeine might be the offending culprit.

It just so happens that my first race of the season is 4 weeks from this Sunday at which time I usually try to get off the juice to decrease my tolerance for the magical drug.  That way when I down a Red Bull during the race, I literally grow wings.

So that’s where I’m at.  Today was the last “cup” of coffee, but as you can see from the picture above, that was hardly worth calling a cup.  This coming from the guy who used to down 2-3 venti monsters daily just to get by.

Anyone heard of this?  Coffee allergy?  Where are my naturopaths out there???

Afraid to post

What is it about the fear of failing that can be so crushingly powerful?

Let’s back up a bit.  About 4 months ago I started training in earnest for this upcoming year of racing.  When I say “in earnest,” assume I am implying a normal training schedule for someone preparing for an IronMan race: controlled chaos at seemingly impossible levels of effort.

I sat down with my coach, told him what my goals were for the next 2 years, and he crafted a smashingly clever plan to get me there.  It was then my subsequent intention to log on to my fancy blog and tell you trusty readers all about my experiences: the successes, the whopping failures of days, the changes in my fitness, triumphant battles with our worst enemy…chaffing.

Good plan…I failed.  In fact, I have posted almost zero entries about these months of training.

Where did things go wrong?  Absolutely nowhere.  And that’s what hung me up.

Historically speaking, I will sign up for a race and tell the world about it so I become motivated to train.  That motivation usually lasts for a couple of months and then I start to unintentionally taper (AKA: come up with excuses as to why I am missing my training).  “I’m too busy, my patients need my undivided attention, I feel like I’ve used sandpaper to cover my bike saddle.”

Seeing that as my normal pattern, I was worried I would do the same this go ‘round.  How embarrassing for me to start posting weekly entries on my blog about my training triumphs to only have them gradually die out due to lack of training compliance.  I was afraid of failing with my training.  I was afraid of having to explain to my readers why I stopped training.  I was preemptively embarrassed about writing that all too familiar blog entry about how bad a race had gone because I hadn’t put the work in to prepare.

Flash forward to today.  Today I hopped on my bike, connected to a jazzy computrainer, and performed my 4^th FTP test to mark my fitness.  For those who have done this, you probably just had a vomit burp.  For those lucky enough to have never experienced an FTP test, imagine running at almost a sprint.  Now get gradually faster for the next 20 minutes solid.  If you don’t die while doing it, you get an average number at the end representing how much hell fire you can hold in your legs for 20 minutes straight.

Here were my results from the 4 FTP tests:

December 2013: 192 Watts.  Not bad I thought, but I hadn’t anything to compare it to.  I stupidly asked what pros hit and immediately felt short and unattractive.

January 2014: 215 Watts.  A clear improvement.  My training was paying off.

February 2014: 222 Watts.  A little better, but I was on my new bike.  Sounds like a good excuse, but the fit was totally different from the old bike and I had some accommodating to do.

March 11, 2014…

Knowing this was a 20 minute bout of nasty, I wanted to start my average number fairly high and see what happened.  As the testing went on, to my surprise, I kept getting stronger.  I was working like mad, but the number kept getting better.  Had my 4 strong months of training actually paid off?

I finished the test with a manly grunt, and once the dizziness subsided, I looked at my number.  After doing some quick math, my new FTP was 260 Watts!

That’s still not where I’d like to finish, but it’s a huge jump in 4 months.  Based on these numbers, and assuming the stars align like the IronMan Kona gods demand, I should be able to take around an hour off of my bike time as compared to last year.  That's not a typo, I said 1 hour!

So yes, I have been a bit hesitant to post about my training during this off-season.  I was afraid of failure to the point of inaction.  I was doubtful enough of my own ability to stay dedicated that I made the choice to remain silent.

Today’s results made me feel like I’ve finally got a hold on this training thing.  I find I’m spending less time worrying about what will happen if I fail.  I’m using less energy coming up with reasons why I missed my workout.  I’m wasting fewer resources rationalizing why this year won’t be my year and how I can look forward to future seasons.

And with all of this time to stop fearing failure, I wonder what will happen when I begin to fear succeeding?