New PR!

...for my blog.

I was looking over the numbers/data for my blog, as I always do--that's the triathlete part of me coming out--and as of today, I've hit a new high for traffic in a month.  I realize my blog traffic numbers are still crap compared to the "pros" out there, but it seems as though I'm gaining steam.  I'm going to keep rolling and see if March can keep up!

2012 Race Schedule Shaping Up

After only doing 4 races last year, partially due to injury, I vowed to do more races in 2012.  It looks like the schedule is starting to fill up, which makes me happy.  I may not end up doing all these, but I should end up at most of them.  The ones in bold are ones I'm already registered for or completed.

2/19 - Austin Marathon
4/7 - Hells Hills 50M
4/14 - Possible race
4/22 - The Maze
4/28 - Fat Ass style run (details to come)
5/5 - CB&I Tri
5/13 - The Loop
6/3 - Comrades Ultramarathon
6/17 - Pflugerville Tri
6/23 - Captain Karl's (brick?)
7/15 - El Scorcho 50K
7/21 - Captain Karl's (brick?)
7/29 - Mock Half IM
8/11 - Captain Karl's (brick?)
9/9 - Ironman Wisconsin
?/? - Fall/Winter Marathon?

I might go broke with registration fees.  Anyone feel like sponsoring a "just ahead of the middle of the pack" runner?

Goodwater Loop long run

Today I make the trek up to Georgetown to do a little scouting of the Goodwater Loop at Lake Georgetown.  I've portions of the loop many times, but I'm making it a point to scout sections I've not been on before in order to prep for a full loop and possibly multiple loops some time in the near future.

I set out from Jim Hogg Park and ran counter-clockwise.  I had previously covered the section from Jim Hogg to Russell Park, but I got plenty of new ground covered on the sections past Russell Park.  I ended up doing about 2:47 on the out-and-back.  I had originally planned for two hours, but then felt pretty good and decided to go for an extra thirty minutes.  Then on the way back, I took a detour on a side trail that added the extra 17 minutes.

I'm hoping to set out from Russell Park next time and see if I can cover a significant amount of new ground, and then possibly just go for a full loop on the following outing.

Saucony Kinvara 3 - Wear Test/Review

Last night, I was one of the lucky few to wear test the Saucony Kinvara 3s through an event with Rogue Running.  The event was a pub run sponsored by Saucony, who was very liberal with giving out free gear...mostly to encourage people like me to blog about it and give them good press.  Hey, it worked.

I got a vest, a running shirt, some arm warmers, a couple pair of sun glasses, and a set of beer mugs.  Not to mention, free beer.  We took to the streets decked out in bright orange Saucony gear and ran down Sixth Street to a few bars, spent some time at each bar, and then ran back to Rogue for some post-run refreshments.

I'll preface with the fact that I've not run in any of the previous version of the Kinvara, so this was a new experience for me.

We were all outfitted with all-black versions of the Kinvara 3.  This shoe drops on May 1, so it was interesting to get a sneak preview of the shoe.  Weighing in at 7.7 oz, the Kinvara definitely made me feel light on my feet.  The shoe had the classic Saucony fit: snug around the heel and roomy in the toe box.  I'm a fan of the Saucony last.  Theirs and Brooks both seem to work well for my foot shape.  The sizing seemed pretty true, as the shoe fit similarly to other brands in the same size.    My first instinct was that the shoe felt like a lighter, less cushioned version of the Cortana (read my review).  To me, it feels like what the DS Trainer was to the Nimbus--a lighter, sleeker version.  While not as soft as the Cortana, the Kinvara still had ample cushioning and felt like a smooth ride.  The flex grooves give the shoe a decent amount of flexibility, which was nice because I'm not a big fan of stiff shoes.  Some of the material in the upper felt similar to what the original Nike Lunaracer consisted of.  The heel-to-toe drop in the 3s remains the same as the 2s (and the Cortana) at 4mm.  Lastly, I noticed that the heel was beveled, which leads me to believe the shoe is a little more heel-striker friendly, although still geared toward mid-foot striking.

The price looks to be going up to $100, but the Kinvara is still a great value at that price point.  I'm not sure it would be my daily runner, but it would be a great shoe to do tempo and track work in.

Mental Training (part 2)

In the second part of mental training, I want to look at my first Ironman race as a case study of how a an amateur, such as myself, employed the same tactics Chrissie Wellington mentioned in her article to achieve an optimistic goal for a race.

Going in to IMAZ, I knew how to run, but that was about it.  I'd spent a lot of time on my bike, but I had no idea what it felt like to race 112 miles.  And I was a terrible swimmer.  I worked with Jonathan Cane on my physical training to prepare for the event, but I really had no clue what to expect.  I sat down and planned out my race strategy, my nutrition, and, in the end, checked off on every point Chrissie mentioned in her article as well.

My goals going into the race were:

• Primary goal - Cross the finish line.  Walk, run, crawl, whatever.  Just get across.
• Secondary goal - Finish in under 14 hours.  I figured if things went well, this one was attainable for me.
• Optimistic Goal - Finish under 12 hours.  This was the "everything goes right" goal.

In the end, I notched an 11:46, despite several things going wrong over the course of the day.  I was able to persevere because I had prepared myself mentally during training to overcome obstacles.

I'm going to take each of her points and relate them to my preparation and how they helped me to achieve my goal.

Have a mantra and/or a special song to repeat

My mantra stemmed from my fear of the swim, but I applied it to the entire race.  I wrote "KMF" in Sharpie on the back of each of my hands.  The acronym stood for "Keep Moving Forward."  My goal was to keep moving forward regardless of what happened during the race.  If I couldn't run, I'd walk.  If I couldn't keep my head under the water, I'd roll over and back stroke.

When the gun went off at 7 a.m., my heart rate skyrocketed, and I went into full panic mode.  However, I kept forward motion in the water while I settled myself down over the course of the next 15 minutes, all while repeating my mantra.  Eventually, I settled down and got into a groove.

I had made a rookie mistake and left my drop bags at the hotel that morning.  It threw off my plans for the bike and the run, but I decided what was done, was done, and kept moving forward.  When I got terrible calf cramps on the run, I found a comfortable pace and dealt with running slower than I wanted to.  When the cramps became relentless, I walked.  However, I kept repeating my mantra and always kept moving forward.

"KMF" was so ingrained in my head that by the time I got to the starting line at IMAZ, there was nothing that was going to keep me from moving forward toward the finish line.  Figure out what your mantra is and use it.  Or maybe it's a favorite quote.  Or a line from a song or movie.  Everyone is different, but I promise, when you find that piece that keeps you going, it works.


Keep a bank of positive mental images

For me, the "bank of positive images," consisted of recalling past successes.  I could recall a moment on a training run where I was bonking hard to the point of my vision was blurry.  I was miles from home and I wasn't even sure how I was going to take another step.  I took a quick break, got in some calories and slowly eased back in.  By the end of the day, I had run another 20+ miles through a severe thunderstorm.  I had come back from the brink of failure to finish.  Over the course of my athletic "career," I've had many moments where I was able to succeed despite tough circumstances.  I used the images of those successes to propel me forward as things got rough.  It was an "if I can get through that, I can get through this" type of thing for me.

Maybe you are somewhat new to racing, so you don't have the athletic successes to look back on.  You can still employ this tactic.  Think about other facets of your life where you've overcome adversity and apply it to your situation.  I've seen cancer survivors use their battle with the horrible disease as the positive.  "If I can beat cancer, I can beat this race."

Maybe still, your positive mental images are beautiful scenes from nature.  Everyone is different.  Use what works for you, and visualize different things until you figure out what it is that works for you.

Practice visualization beforehand

This one is simple, and I alluded to it in part 1.  You simply visualize the finish or tough parts on the course.  Visualize yourself crossing the line or cresting that tough hill.  For me, I was lucky enough that Universal Sports was airing the previous year's IMAZ race coverage.  I put my bike by the TV and watched the coverage, imagining myself on the swim, bike, and run on the course.  I saw my bike next to the other riders on the course, and imagined being right there with them.  When I arrived in Tempe, I'd never set foot on the course, but I already knew what I was getting myself into.

I also googled finsher's photos for IMAZ to see what the finish line looked like and imagined myself crossing as Mike Reilly yelled, "Scott Towle, YOU are an Ironman."

Break the race up into smaller, more manageable segments

Another simple thing to do, but something a lot of people don't think to do.  My first ultra was a 60K that consisted of nine loops.  Instead of thinking of it as 37.2 miles, I thought of it as 9 segments.  After three I was 1/3 of the way done.  After four?  Almost half.  Six? Two thirds!  Eight?  One left.  That was much more manageable mentally than thinking 16 miles down (four loops), only 21 more miles.

I applied the same thinking to IMAZ.  Trying to think of covering 140.6 miles over 12-17 hours was too much to wrap my head around.  First, I divided the race into the three disciplines.  Then I sub-divided each of those.  The swim was one big loop, so I essentially considered it an out and back.  I just had to get to the far end of the loop, and then it was "downhill."

Once I got out of the water, the swim was done and didn't exist anymore, nor did the run.  I had to concentrate what was at hand.  The bike was three out-and-backs, so I tried to ignore mileage and think of it as 1, 2, 3.  On each loop, I divided it in two--a long climb out and cruise back to town.  Three of those and I was done.

Once on the run, the swim and the bike didn't exist.  It wasn't going to do me any good to be bummed about having a bad swim start.  The run was four loops.  Again, four is much more manageable than 26, so I thought of it in quarters.

How you divide the course is up to you, but it tends to be a lot easier to tackle things in small chunks.

Remember that training is about learning to hurt

This one is pretty straight-forward.  You push yourself in training so that you know what it feels like to hurt on race day.  You progressively overload your system so you can adapt.  The mental part of this comes in on race day when you are hurting or struggling and you can think back to a time when you were hurting during training.  You already know that feeling and know how to get through it.

When I was starting to fatigue on the bike around mile 90, I thought back to a couple of the really tough rides I did with my friend Francis and how I was able to finish out rides with dead legs.

Get people to support you

Again, straight-forward.  The more support you have, the easier it makes things.  I was lucky enough to have my parents out on the course for support.  The more people you have on the course, in my opinion, the better you'll likely do.  It's a bit of an emotional/mental lift to see familiar faces on the course and can many times be what you need to pick the pace back up.  There was a point on my final run loop where I was getting very down.  What kept me going was that I knew I'd see my parents soon.  Once I passed them, I knew the next time I would see them was the finish, which is what helped propel me to the end.

Another thing to consider is that when you are feeling down, and you know you are coming up on family or friends, you'll keep pushing.  No one wants their support staff to see them walking.  For this reason, I like to have a few people on the course that I know where they are going to be, and a few "surprises."

If people can't accompany you to your race, the support can come from emails, text messages, phone calls, even social media sources.  I can't even begin to recount how many people texted me the day before the race offering support.  Just be sure to let everyone know you are going to bed early.  It sucks when you finally fall asleep and then you get a text from someone wishing you "good luck."

Mentally recall inspirational people - 

Chrissie mention in her article, "You might want to consider dedicating each mile to a special person in your life."  I did exactly that.  I wasn't able to finish the list, but the idea was there.  I dedicated each mile of the race to a different person for different reasons.  There were key miles that I thought back to during the race.

Another way I mentally recalled people who inspired and helped me a long the way, was to associate people with the things I had with me in the race.  For example, I bought my wetsuit through Jackrabbit Sports in NYC where I worked once, so I was able to recall all my friends from the store when I was on the swim.  My friend Roz gave me some Roctane gels she didn't want, so when I took those gels, I imagined Roz's smiling face with me on the course.  I associated people to almost every time I had with me, so I always felt like I had my friends and family there.

Consider racing for a cause that is bigger than yourself

This is the only point I didn't hit head-on while doing IMAZ.  I've done races for charities or in memory/honor of people before, and I can say that it definitely helps push you further and longer.  When you are doing something for someone else, the race becomes bigger than you.  Once the race is no longer about you, then it's easier to push pain and fatigue aside.  One thing I always went back to when I was riding with Texas 4000 back in 2004 was that I wasn't riding for me.  When I was tired after battling a head wind for 80 miles and I just wanted to get off the bike, I looked down at my top tube and saw the names of my grandmother and a close family friend, both who lost their battles with cancer.  I knew that regardless of how tired I was or how much my ride was sucking, my worst day was still better than what they had to go through during chemo and their battle with cancer.  I had nothing to complain about.  Put your head down and keep moving.

I was able to combine the elements Chrissie highlighted, along with some solid training, to achieve my optimistic goal, even with several things going wrong over the course of the race.  Next time you are zeroing in on an "A" race, do some mental training.  You'll reap the benefits on race day.

With all that being said, as important as mental toughness and training is, you still have to put in the physical work or you won't see the finish line.  Success on the course is the result of mental and physical preparation (and some luck).  I'll end with a quote from Bobby Knight:

"The key is not the will to win... everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important."

Mental Training (part 1)

(I'm splitting this into two pieces, as the post was getting quite lengthy, look for part II tomorrow)

At this point almost everyone has probably read the CNN article about training your brain written by Chrissie Wellington. (if you haven't, check it out here.  There's some great advice in the article)

None of the things she mentioned in the article are incredibly groundbreaking.  In fact, they are the same things I've been told by coaches over the years, and the same things I tell people I'm working with.  Even if not groundbreaking, the advice is still solid, and if it takes a professional athlete of Chrissie's caliber to get people to listen, then so be it.

I'm sure you've heard the saying "running is 90% mental" a thousand times, and that's essentially what Chrissie is saying.  However, mental preparation is one of the most often overlooked parts of training by both athletes and coaches.  It won't guarantee success, but the mental aspect goes a long way to capturing success.  An athlete toeing the line with doubt in his mind will likely slow or fail at the first signs of trouble or fatigue, whereas an athlete who is mentally prepared is much more apt to fight through and persevere.

I tell athletes two things all the time:

• "You can only train your body so much.  After that, it's all about your head."  I say that more to people entering the ultra world, but I think its really applicable anywhere in endurance sports.  Once your body is trained physically, race day comes down to your mental state.
• "Your body is dumb.  It will do what your brain tells it to do." Again, I use this as advice for ultra athletes, but its applicable for most distances and disciplines.  The human body is capable of amazing things, but it is your brain that has to power those feats.

Steve Prefontaine claimed that he was successful because he was able to endure more pain than his opponents.  That's a classic example of mental preparation.  When he began to hurt, he knew his opponents were hurting as well, which only drove to him to make them hurt more.  He turned a negative (his pain) into a positive (making his opponents suffer).  His strategy wasn't always successful, but I think his running legacy speaks for itself.

Mental preparation is more than just race strategy and having a positive attitude.  Recently, my sister ran her first half marathon.  When she was recapping the race for me, she mentioned that during training she visualized crossing the finish line.  Spending time visualizing crossing the finish line or conquering the biggest hill on the course can go a long way to helping accomplish your goal, especially if you are unable to train on the course you will be competing on.  Google pictures of the course, look at course maps, and visualize yourself at those points on the course.  It's not the same as training on the course, but it prepares you for what you will encounter on race day.

When mental preparation is mentioned, I immediately think of Christopher Bergland.  He told me while training for Ironman World Championship, he would not only put on the same clothes he was going to wear on race day, but he would even put on the same sunscreen, even when training on a treadmill indoors.  The idea was that he was forming positive neural pathways during his training sessions.  He talks about this and a lot more in his book The Athlete's Way.

To sum it up succinctly:  Give me two equal runners who physically trained equally, however, only one went through mental preparation.  My money will be on the runner who mentally prepared every time.

In Part II, I will break down my experience and plan going into my first Ironman and relate it to the points that Chrissie made in her article.

On to Austin

I just finished out a rainy, 26 minute shakeout run.  Tomorrow will be my first stand-alone marathon in 14 months.  It's hard to believe its been that long, but Ironman Training and injuries will do that.  I will be able to handle the distance, but there's not sense in me trying to even remotely push the pace, as I just don't have it in me.  Instead of suffering for 26.2 miles, I'm just going to go have some fun.  This will be my second Austin Marathon, but the first on the new course.  I ran Austin back in 2001, when I had little idea of what I was doing, although I was way better off than my first marathon.  It should be fun to run through my hometown.

Lance's Tri "debut" - and some insight

As you may or may not know Lance Armstrong has gone back to his roots and is doing triathlons again, but this time he's concentrating on long course, with the ultimate goal of qualifying and competing in the pro ranks at Kona.

In the ESPN article, I noticed this quote from Bevan Docherty, who was the eventual winner:

"I thought Lance would absolutely cream us on the bike, but he was probably in a similar position to me where he wasn't too sure how to pace himself," he said. "He certainly looked like he was holding back and that was probably why he ran so well off the bike."

Lance raced smart.  He could have hammered the bike and blown everyone away.  Then he likely would have fallen apart on the run.  However, he held back and had "fresh" legs for the run.  His 1:17 run split was a lot faster than what a lot of people predicted he could do.  It's going to be interesting to see what Lance does as the year progresses.  I'm not going to say he's going to win in Kona, but he'll be in the mix.

Also, the quote brings up a good point.  If you want to run strong, you need to ride strong.  However, you can't overcook yourself on the bike or you are screwing up your run too.  The key to running better is getting stronger on the bike.  Its a delicate balance though, as you don't want to hold back too much on the bike.  Lance only lost by 31 seconds.  Did he hold back too much on the bike?  Its something most struggle with, but its similar to negative splitting in the marathon.  Sure, you can go out hard on the first half (the bike) and hope to hold on, but not many are able to.  Not only that, but you typically feel miserable in the late miles when you are trying to grasp at strings.  Instead, go out strong on the first half (the bike) and put yourself in a position to finish the second half stronger (on the run).  It's bad enough to suffer the last 8 miles of a marathon after the wheels come off at mile 18 because you went out to fast.  Now think about going out too fast on the bike and having to suffer for an entire marathon.

The simple version is, the stronger you are on the bike, the faster you can ride and still feel "fresh" for the run.  How do you figure out how hard to run off the bike?  Bricks are a start.  Experience from doing races is priceless.  After a race, sit down and really think about how you felt on the bike, coming off the bike, and on the run.

Some of this I learned from experience, some of it was pounded into my head by Jonathan Cane, and some of it I'm still trying to teach myself.

Last "long" run

I knocked out a muddy 10.25 miles in Walnut Creek Park this afternoon. Its was a little cold, but the just meant I (mostly) had the trails to myself. I ran it at a really easy pace, although the course wasn't always the easiest. There are a few gnarly hills out there. I felt good throughout the run, although it was only a little over 10 miles. I'm confident in getting through Austin, but it sure won't be any time I'll brag about.

I'm pretty sure this is what I look like when I swim

Last Long Run, New Trails

The Austin Marathon is in a short two weeks.  My training has been compressed a bit, so I shortened my taper since I'm not trying to race the marathon anyway.  I was having trouble getting motivated, so I decided to take a risk and see if I could find my way from Balcones District Park down to Walnut Creek Park.  I'd never run at either park, and I definitely had not explored in between.  However, I'd seen some hints of trails between the two from the train windows on my way to and from work.  Additionally, I looked at google maps and noticed that some of the propsed Walnut Creek Greenbelt hike/bike path had been constructed.  From the knowledge I had, I was pretty sure I could get from one to the other without stepping foot on a road, although I did have a backup plan in case I hit an impasse.

I ran for about 40 minutes in Balcones District Park first to get good and warmed up.  This was a good thing, as I chose to shed my gloves and hat before forging into the unknown.  Once I left Balcones, it was fairly easy to find my way down to Walnut Creek Park.  It took a few creek crossings and some exploration, but connecting was actually fairly easy.  I hit a few dead ends, but it was always easy to find an alternate path.  This is roughly how I got there:

Once in Walnut Creek Park, I couldn't believe I'd never run there before.  The trails felt endless as I tromped through the mud and water that covered most trails.  I got completely lost in the park several times, but I didn't really care, as I was having a blast running down the sloppy trails.  There wasn't a lot of elevation overall, but there are several places that you can definitely do some serious ups and downs if you want/need it.

With both of these parks being in easy striking distance, I'll definitely be adding this route to my arsenal.  I ended up doing 3 hours and 20 minutes without really repeating any trails except the out-and-back between the parks.  There are definitely more miles of trail in Walnut Creek Park I didn't even get a chance to explore.  I can't wait to go back next weekend!

8 Bloody Miles

No, I'm not English.  I managed to trip over some uneven concrete and fall last night.  I feel directly on my hand, then shoulder and knee.  As I laid on the ground in the dark, I slowly rolled over and tested the movement in my wrist and fingers praying I hadn't broken anything.  Once full movement was confirmed I stood up, checked my knee and should, and walked to a lighted area.  I looked down at my and to see a nice section of skin missing and blood running down my hand.  The pain was pretty severe, but there wasn't anything I could do about it but finish my run.