I'm big on The Weather Channel

So my aunt was watching Cantore Stories about the Badwater Ultramarathon on The Weather Channel yesterday, and happened to catch a quick glimpse of me on screen.  In 2009 I was out at Badwater crewing/pacing for Pam Reed.  Little did I know they were filming for this show.  I actually didn't even realize this show existed until yesterday, however, I was able to find it online with some quick help from Google.  No big surprises that Dean Karnazes found his way into some serious face time on this one.  If you are interest in the piece, here it is in two parts.  And my cameo is at 1:54 on part 2.

Dear A$$hole(s),

(to steal a category from coach cane's humble blog)

When there are only four lanes at the pool, all the lanes are already being shared, and multiple people waiting for lanes, it's not a good time for the two of you to stand in the pool at the end of the lane and talk about the shiny new watch one of you just bought.  It would have been one thing if the two of you were having a brief conversation resting between sets, but when you are still talking almost five minutes later, don't get upset when something is said to you.  You are worse than the idiot hanging out on the machine/bench in the weight room.  At least there, someone can do alternate exercises.

Sincerely,

Me...and the other people staring daggers at you last night at the pool

Full Goodwater Loop

Yesterday I went back up to Lake Georgetown to tackle a full pass of the Goodwater Loop.  Although there are extended sections of the the trail with nice footing, much of it is jagged, rocky, and capable of turning your feet into hamburger.  Since the footing wasn't challenging enough, I decided to trip and fall at mile two.  And it wasn't fall.  I was able to target some small thorny vines that were hiding under the verdant foliage covering the ground.  I landed first on my leg and then rolled over to sufficiently cover the other side of my body.  The thorns on this particular plant were small enough that they were not visible to the eye or noticeable to the touch.  However, they felt like fire under my skin with every new footfall.

I briefly contemplated turning around and heading back to the car, but going home wasn't going to make the spines hurt any less.  A couple miles later, I approached the first creek crossing, so I was able to wash the mud off my hands and attempt to cool the burning sensation with the water, to no avail.

After three days of rain, I was expecting sloppier conditions.  Nevertheless, I found enough mud and water to splash through that it kept me happy.  I honestly went out of my way many times to trudge through the mud.  I made a quick stop at Crockett Gardens and Falls to take in the waterfall and snap a couple pictures.

I completed the south side of the trail and made my way over the dam, where I passed more people than I'd seen the entire day to that point.  Once I passed Overlook Park, I only saw one group of boy scouts that I'd previously encountered shortly after starting my run.  My energy levels were falling quickly as I finally made the jeep road on the north side.  There's little cover along this part of the trail, so the sun was sapping what little energy I had remaining.  I hobbled through the final 4 miles or so, alternating between a quick walk and a slow run, both of which were likely the same pace.

Almost twenty-four hours later, the crawling, burning sensation has finally subsided and given way to soreness.  I'll take the soreness over the pain from those tiny vines.  I have no idea what type of devil those vines grow from, but I'm pretty positive they contained poison of some sort.  Still, I completed the 26+ mile loop, so vines didn't defeat me.

Next time maybe I'll dive into prickly pear.

Climbing

I've been climbing at the gym once a week for the past few months.  Over the years, I always loved to go rock climbing when i got the chance, but I'd never been able to go on a consistent basis, so when I joined Pure, I figured I'd take advantage of the rock wall.  Its a good upper body workout and its definitely helping to strengthen my core.  Climbing inside has nothing on climbing outside, but I still enjoy it.  Additionally, its still fairly challenging, as most of the climbing I've done over the years has been crack climbing, which is quite different from an indoor wall.  I've been working on a specific route for a couple months, and I'm finally getting close to mastering it.  Once I get under the ceiling, I keep losing it at a certain point, but I'm getting close.

Katie and I are hopefully going to hit the rock gym in the near future to get more variety and challenge ourselves a bit more.

Mammoth Weekend

I threw down some serious mileage this weekend, doing my first back-to-back long runs in a very long time.  I did a combined 8.5 hours of running between Saturday (4 hours) and Sunday (4.5 hours).  I really have no idea where I get my endurance from, or more importantly, my tolerance for the endurance.  For some reason, I can just go.  And go.  And go.  What I lack in speed, I more than make up for in endurance.

Anyway, on Saturday, I simultaneously reminded myself whey I don't run at the greenbelt and why I need to run at the greenbelt more often.  The interstate highway of a trail that is the main artery of the greenbelt is ridiculously busy on a nice Saturday.  Its not my idea of a good trail run.  However, I went and explored the trails across from the Hill of Life.  I'd always known there were some trails over there, but I had no idea of the extensiveness of the trail system over there.  I spent just over 4 hours on those trail and rarely retraced a step, while not even covering everything out there.

Yesterday, I went back up to Lake Georgetown and explored the south side of the Goodwater Loop, after a quick three mile out-and-back on the north side to scout out a low water crossing.  I've previously covered almost the entire north side of the loop, and I have to say, the south side is definitely the more scenic, interesting, and fun side.  There were sections that made me feel like I wasn't even in Texas.  With all the recent rain, everything was green, so short sections reminded me of being in the Catskills or even the Adirondacks.  As usual, traffic away from the trail heads was extremely light.  Crockett Gardens and Falls was a nice little treat to see.  I did miss a trail marker on my return, which lead me down the wrong path adding mileage to my run.  It wouldn't have been that bad, but it caused me to run out of water before I finished.

Overall, a great weekend of running, but I'm glad to have a day off from running to let my legs recover.  Sometimes it hurts to go long, but it's a good hurt.

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."