One of the easiest and most powerful forms of performance enhancement is visualization.  We have all heard of visualization and have probably at some point watched Olympic skiers preparing for their run down the hill doing visualization.  Their head is bobbing back and forth, going in crazy circles, all with their eyes closed.  They are visualizing every corner, bump, turn, and “seeing” exactly how they want to perform.

This is not often talked about in endurance sports and I would go even further and say it can and should be used in any type of desired outcome, sporting or in life.  This is because to achieve goals, you have to see yourself doing so.  To improve, or in your case, be able to performance in your race and gain the success you seek, you have to be able to clearly picture what you need to do, how you need to reactive, and how you will perform in certain race situations.  And this includes how you deal with your pre-race preparations.

There is overwhelming scientific and anecdotal evidence which demonstrates the undeniable fact that visualization can improve your sports performances - there are numerous scientific studies which have shown its effectiveness.

I'd like to share one classic example of the power of visualization with you. During the Vietnam War, there was a Colonel who was captured and incarcerated in a POW camp for seven years - five and a half of which were spent in solitary confinement. Prior to the war, this Colonel was a golfer with a handicap of four.  To keep himself from going crazy in prison, every day he would visualize playing a round of golf. He would play each shot, and each hole in his mind, and every day he'd play a different golf course.

When he was finally released and returned to the USA, shortly afterward he was invited to play in a celebrity Pro-Am tournament, and despite being underweight and suffering from malnutrition from his ordeal, he hit a round of 76 ... right on his handicap, despite not having held a golf club for over seven years!

Visualization works because it has a measurable, physiological effect on our body. In fact, neurologically, your body can't tell the difference between a 'real' experience, and a vividly imagined one. You consciously know one experience is real and the other is imagined, but at the cellular level, your body can't tell the difference.  So you can literally practice bridging that gap in a race scenario, in a chair!  You can practice how you WANT to race and run.

Because there is a muscular response to visualized activity, it makes it possible to 'program in' desired racing scenarios and even emotional responses prior to your race. In other words you can 'program in' to your body at a cellular level, a 'muscle memory' of how you want your body and mind to perform come race day.

Visualization is not hard and there is really no way to do it wrong, you can just get better at it.  Effective visualization takes patience, consistency, and great attention to detail.  I instruct some of my clients to sit in a comfortable chair, close their eyes and create a “movie” in their mind’s eye.  This movie starts at your pre-race warm-up or whenever you feel is necessary to deal with your negative self-talk.  (You can even make a movie for your training sessions.)  As your eyes remain closed, with your mind’s eye, see yourself at the race acting, performing, AND thinking in a positive manner.  Make it as real as possible and detailed as possible. Hear the crowd cheering and your nice and smooth foot strike, running relaxed.  Experience your breathing, see yourself bridging the gap of other runners ahead, and create the success you want in this movie.  Again, start from pre-race, all the way to the finish line, seeing every part of the race that results in your desired outcome.  As you are doing this, notice the feeling you get inside yourself, of what it feels like to perform well and to achieve everything you want.  As you get comfortable with this feeling, attach a mantra to this feeling and repeat these words whenever you need to be effective in training, racing and in future visualization sessions.  It is very important to always use the SAME mantra because your body can now respond in real life to this emotional feeling that took place during visualization.

This technique is very powerful, so make it fun so you look forward to doing it.  You now have the ability to create whatever outcome you desire.  I will end with another true story.  I was coaching an Olympic Distance triathlete trying to qualify for the World Championships and during her visualization movie, I specifically told her to see her goal time on the clock as she crossed the finished line.  She performed this “movie” in her mind for a week leading up to her race.  On race day she qualified for Worlds with the exact time she saw in her visualization sessions.  True story - scouts honor!

Ya gotta see it to believe it - E

I've been working with Northeastern State University Army ROTC, doing a running clinic with them monthly since August. Today I had the opportunity to test out the obstacle course with them at Camp Gruber. Here are a few pics!

Eeeeaaaaallllllmooooost...  I did finally get it!  

This one was one of my favorite, over 1 bar, under the other...a challenge, especially as you got higher,...

The goal was to jump from the lower post and hit the upper post at the hips and flip over. I got it, but it wasn't pretty!

And who doesn't like playing in the sand?

All in all, it was a blast....Maybe an obstacle death race in my future?

Trail runner looked forward to her first spring run on the trails in Arkansas. As she stepped onto the trail she remembered the last time she was out there, snow on the ground, animal tracks everywhere to be found. Although a cold morning, spring was in the air and evident in the woods.  The redwood and dogwood blooming, green patches of grass rising up, pushing aside the leaves of winter. Trail runner is training for several extremely difficult and long trail runs this summer, and today she was to push hard on some hill repeats. Less than a ¼ mile into the forest she heard hawk’s loud call greeting her. “Ayeee!” she yelled back to greet him as well. Squirrels darted back and forth and the sun was dancing between the trees. The forest seemed happy to have company to share it’s splendor, showing off her new spring decor. Trail runner’s thoughts drifted to the hill repeats to come. She rounded the corner going down the ridge into the gap, and before she knew it she flew right over a rattlesnake~ utsa'nätï. “Whohoa!” she yelled as her feet instinctively lept over utsa'nätï. She stopped and turned around to look. She was now a safe enough distance that she felt comfortable observing him. “I remember you”, he said. Trail runner was a bit startled to understand utsa'nätï, as she had all but forgotten her last encounter with the animals of this particular forest and had almost let it slip into her memory as a dream.

Trail runner fumbled through her memory of the last trail run in this forest. It was an adventure indeed, complete with a race with deer and rabbit! But, she did not remember seeing utsa'nätï. “You ssssseeeee”, he said, “I heard how you helped deer that day, therefore I will not harm you today, I will help you”. Trail runner looked at utsa'nätï, and remembered that it is said that the deer and snake act as allies. When one is injured or harmed, the other will avenge the offender. In accordance, since trail runner showed compassion to deer during their race, helping him and providing him nourishment, snake determined that he would balance that with a gesture in kind today.

Utsa'nätï went on to teach trail runner a story that would help protect her in the future, as he knew she was bound to encounter other utsa'nätï on her adventures. He began, “One day long ago, Cherokee children were playing in the field when they stumbled upon utsa'nätï. The children screamed, drawing the attention of their mother. She saw the snake posed to strike at one of the children and she threw a rock at its head and killed it. Afterward she felt a pang of guilt for having to kill a living creature, but she felt she had no option. Her husband, hunting in the woods suddenly heard the rattling of many utsa'nätï nearby. He asked the crying snakes, “brother snakes, why do you cry?”. “Because our leader has been killed” they replied. “We are mourning and planning our revenge”. The brave offered to help, He told them, “If there is something I can do, I will do it,” he promised.  “Be sure you mean what you say”, said one of the utsa'nätï. “For you may regret your promise once you know what happened.” “My word stands firm”. “Ask and it is yours.”  The utsa'nätï swarmed together determining how to avenge their leaders killing. They returned to the brave and said, “It is your wife that killed our leader. To make things right again, she must be sacrificed.” The brave fell to the ground and cried. The utsa'nätï assumed he would go back on his word and started toward the village. The brave asked, “Where are you going?”. “To exact our revenge,” the newly appointed leader said.  “My promise is my bond,” the brave insisted. “Just tell me what you want me to do”. “When you return home, tell your wife you want fresh water from the well,” explained utsa'nätï. “I will be there to bite her, but I promise her death will be swift.” “As you will,” said the brave. Once there he did exactly as he had promised; asking his wife for fresh water from the well. His heart broke when her heard her cry as the snake struck her foot. The brave went to the well and held his lifeless wife in his arms. “It is done!” he told utsa'nätï. “Balance has been restored once more.” “you are a man of your word,” said utsa'nätï. “As such, your people shall always be protected by our clan. I will teach you our song. Teach it to your people. Then, should our clans ever again encounter each other, by singing this song we will know that you are friends and not strike out to kill you.”  

Trail runner listened intently and after absorbing all that she heard, she spoke, “I was not aware of this bond, I am Cherokee, but was not raised traditionally and do not know this song”. Utsa'nätï replied, “I know, but because of your kindness to deer, I will teach you”. He taught her the song she now carries in her heart, grateful to utsa'nätï for the kindness he showed her. She would not forget the story, the song, or utsa'nätï’s kindness shown her that day.

-Thank you Charlotte Kunchinsky, author, columnist and poet for the above reiteration of the story of the Cherokee learned the snake song.

I am Cherokee, not raised traditionally and not fullblood, I am learning my heritage. I am very proud of my Cherokee history and ancestors. These stories give me a way to explore my own heritage and give me a creative outlet. It also gives me something to do as I run many many many miles solo on those trails in training and racing. I thank my “traditional” family and friends who are patient with me and teach me much.

Well, I haven't posted anything since deciding to try running again.  As I said, I felt particularly unfit and still had the chronic remnants of many injuries received over the years.  Reading Eric's book really inspired me but I realised my feet were in a terrible state from many, many years of wrong shoes and NEVER walking barefoot!  The answer came in the form of Eric's 6 week beginners course.  I am now 4 weeks into it......and LOVING running!  This is a completely new experience for me.......I can't wait to get out at the end of the day  (my dogs also say thank you Eric :)).  In fact, I think I now have a bit of tendonitis in my flexor halluces longus, (probably been overdoing the slant board whilst training), and I am having real problems resting it......I just want to run!  I was very good for a couple of days and then....my B2R shoes arrived.......couldn't help myself........thought I'd just go for a walk and try short jogs, just to see how they felt.....you know?  Well ended up running for 30mins!  Back to ice and anti-inflammatories!

Anyway I just wanted to say a very big thank you Eric.  I may only be taking baby steps, but it feels how I always thought running should!!!

A little aside - I have also changed my diet in a fairly major way and between running and diet I have been able to reduce my anti-hypertensives by half!  Hoping to prove all the medics wrong and be off them by the end of the year!

Here is a great podcast conducted by Bob Babbitt of The Competitor's Radio Show

“The Cool Impossible is by far one of the best training books of the past decade.” - Competitor Magazine

http://competitorradio.competitor.com/2013/05/eric-orton/

Since December we’ve been focusing on training, intentionally avoiding racing early so I can be as ready as possible for my Cool Impossible, the US Skyrunning Series - Ultra. This was my first opportunity to hit the trails racing. I entered the 25k distance so I wouldn’t need much if any recovery following the race and be able to jump right back into training. It was somewhat of a last minute decision to enter this and we didn’t intend to change my training plan for it. The week leading up to this one ended up being topsy-turvy with a cold virus for me and then a sick husband, complete with emergency room party and overnight stay!! As crazy as the week was, I just kinda went with the flow, ran when I could, and did what my body and life would allow. It could’ve been disastrous, but I ended up feeling pretty primed for a race. I think I was also ready to let loose some pent up energy!  By Friday my cold was resolving, husband not only home from the hospital, but ready to run his own race, and kiddos excited to be at the lake helping the race director and the aid stations.

Got out to the race start, located on a trail system around Lake McMurtry. Good to see friend and race director Ken Childress, with Tulsa Area Trail and Ultra Runners (TATUR), his wife Dana, and many friends I don’t get to see except at these kind of events. The kids would be volunteering at the start/finish, so we got them hooked up and I took off for m

y warm up. I usually sneak off by myself, giving me a chance to relax and get a feel for things. I pondered my coach’s last words before my race. We had talked back and forth about awareness, finding that line in racing of not going out to hard, but not being too conservative either. He told me, “And if you battle Walter every minute, you will not go out too hard - contemplate that one”. Awe Hell.  I didn’t get what he meant. As I was warming up I was trying to figure it out.. Does he mean I should battle Walter the whole way?  That doesn't sound fun. Hmm...if I am battling Walter I won’t go out too fast. Will I let Walter hold me back? I dunno. I shook my head and made my way to the start.

Friends immediately pulled me to the front and teased about following me. This is the part that makes me most uncomfortable. I have done extremely well at local races and I get a fair amount of teasing/compliments. It’s flattering, but hard not to convert that to pressure. I felt more comfortable though, not pressured, confident in my ability to perform, but not expecting anything. That used to really stress me out (it still does if I choose to let it), and I see how it stresses other runners, even keeps them from racing. Expectations, expectations I thought others had...expectations I had or thought I should have. But, finally, I am learning... WHO CARES?!! Really, who cares where I finish? Nobody’s life depends on it, I’m not going to be the hot topic of anyones conversation if I come in 2nd or 5th or 35th. Yes, I want to finish first and I am going to race as smart and competitively as I can, but

 I am not going to let that desire be destructive. Now, I will say that is easy for me to say and hard for me to practice myself, but I’m getting it. Racing in other states has helped too. Coming in first and coming in 671st are both good teachers! Coming in at the front of the pack, strong and confident, feeling great, and coming in just under the cut off, wheels off, gaskets blown...after training your ass off for months for that ONE race...gives you perspective.

Oh sheesh, look at me, got all off down a rabbit trail! So, my goal for this race was to run smart but still “go for it”. To find that sweet spot. The race director yelled go! There were about 7 or 8 guys in front of me and I ran out with friend Jenny. She stayed with me for the first half mile or so on trail and then as I warmed up I sped up. For the first 2 miles I played back and forth a bit with a couple of guys and then found myself alone, the lead pack out of sight and the rest behind.  All by myself I thought….as usual, here I am, aaallll by myself, ...waa! That lasted about 3 seconds before the views and the trail caught my attention.

The trail was mildly technical single track windy trail with short up and downs. Some pretty views of the lake to the right. Then came….The Leep o Doom!  Ha, Its a break in the trail, between two large boulders, and about 24 inches across. A short jump, but miss it and the penalty is severe...many feet down between the boulders. Next up, field running...very narrow deer trail through a knee high grassy field. With the sun rising over the lake, this was a really peaceful section. I was solo and feeling fast and free.

I look at my watch and Walter speaks up…”You aren’t running as fast as you’d 

hoped”. “It feels a little hard, doesn’t it?  Harder than is should?” I 

started to tell Walter, “No, it doesn’t” and push past, fight,  or ignore Walter. Then I thought for a second, “If I am battling Walter…” The sun in my face, the grass hitting my legs, the lake in front of me...I backed off...and Walter smiled, nodded his head and disappeared. 

Back on to single track mildly technical trail. I was running at a moderate effort, watching my heart rate. My goal was to run the first ¼-½ of the race in heart rate zone 4a-4b, not letting myself race in 5a until close to or after the halfway mark if I felt I could. I could feel it...I was in zone 4b early, but could always tell when i’d drift up into 5a.  I knew the effort I felt when I got there was too high to sustain likely, so I would bring it down just under 5a. It was also going to be the first really warm day in Oklahoma. We have flirted with temps up in the low 70s some, but today it would get to over 80 with sunny skies.  This took it’s toll on many, especially the 50k ers. No course records broken today. I made sure at every aid station to dump water on top of my head and down my back. I absolutely hate the heat and tend to turn into a whiny blob when I get uncomfortably hot. At mi 6-7 I started to let myself get into 5a if it felt good and it did some. I just kept featuring this line, below and I wasn't racing, too far above and I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain, and likely drag my ass across the finish..

I was feeling really good around mi 7-11, really happy that 4b-low 5a was feeling not too uncomfortable and strong. I was making sure I was hydrating and fueling well. I drank water from my handheld and took in a gel every 20-30 or so minutes, and eventually some cola toward the end of the race. I sipped consistently from my handheld of water and never felt bonky. Miles 11-15 were harder and more uncomfortable.  I didn’t feel as strong, but strong enough to push. I liked this sense. Usually at this point  I am not able to push, I am too uncomfortable bordering on miserable. Not today. I had controlled myself well early and had gas in the tank.  There was no dragging.. Around mi 12, I encountered a copperhead...poisonous sneaky snake. Fortunately, I was alerted by other runners or it would’ve been an even closer encounter! Those suckers are so hard to see, they match the dirt and leaves perfectly. Welcome to spring/summer trail running in Oklahoma. That did perk me up a bit! I was able to run it in to the finish feeling strong and appropriately spent. I finished first female and seventh overall. I had promised my daughter I would eat one of her aid station creations and here it is. It was sooooo hard for me to choke that down! Just looking at cookies or m&ms on a aid station table is often enough to turn my stomach upside down. I got it down...and kept it down as she proudly watched! Blech! My son on the other hand had decided to plant himself in a cedar tree at the finish line….a choice he would soon regret as he itched, scratched, and sneezed the whole way home!

Close your eyes and crank it up and let me know how you plan to challenge your running in a NEW way this weekend. 

Hi Everyone

Yesterday my B2R Trail shoes arrived along with a pair for my wife and a pair of the road shoes for my running partner Jeff. All in all it took 3 weeks for them to arrive which is very good given the distance they had to travel and having to clear customs before being delivered. As Jeff is also the local Post Master we opened our shoe boxes in the post office like kids at Christmas with new bikes. Jeff even took his shoes and socks off then and there trying them on in the post office. After admiring and weighing them (and getting a few funny looks), as we both could'nt believe how light they are, we arranged to meet later in the afternoon at the local oval to take them for a spin. 

 When I arrived home I took the photo that you are looking at now and sent it to my sister in Adelaide who I have given "The Cool Impossible" to as a gift. Her Message back was "OMG! Very different, once you've transitioned, the others will feel so odd" and then I messaged to her that's exactly the point and what is supposed to happen. To realize how weak our feet and legs are, how lack of muscle equilibrium holds us back and how through the philosophy's explained in the TCI can truly open the door to our own Cool Impossible.

Now I know that Eric suggests that one transitions into these puppies but I just had to go for a run on the road in them. I don't think anything could have stopped me, Iike I said, I was like a kid at Christmas with a new bike. So I ran the 4km or so to the local oval where I completed phase #1, day 1, of week 5 of the Strategic Running Foundation. As I ran to the oval I felt, I think for the first time, every muscle in my foot and leg and though uncomfortable it was'nt so bad that I had to stop. I didn't find the Zero Drop an issue and liked the way you naturally run with better form, however they do at the same time illustrate exactly how weak your feet are.

On the road the feeling in my feet and legs was similar to what I experience when I do the slant board excercises but not as intense and when I arrived at the oval running on grass cushioned my feet and they felt great to run in.

After finishing our session I was driven home and shortly thereafter my calves began to ache and I thought I would be very sore today, however to my supprise they weren't sore at all just a little stiff. However, not wanting to push my luck, I didn't run in them today and will leave running in them again until Thursday.

Jeff has also reported that his calves are fine after his first run in the road shoes on grass.

Thank you Eric for all the hard work putting these together and making them available to everyone, there a great shoe.

Have to share my new favorite place to run. It sucks actually...in a really awesome way! I've posted a few pics in the past. It's the World's Highest Hill, Poteau Oklahoma. I have a good friend who lives at the base of Cavanall hill. He has etched trails all over the hill.

Some are brutally steep and technical. I usually start in Josh's back yard. There is also a paved road that climbs 5 miles from the base to the top. Yesterday I took the lateral trails, rolling trails that run back and forth near the base for about 45 minutes before taking the very steep and very technical 1 mile trail climb, with a whopping 1 switchback to the road. This one mile climb, it is sorta...kinda..not really runnable?! Josh can run it, I can run it...very slowly and with high heart rate with a huge hand-on-knees recovery as soon as I hit the pavement.

Then the next 2-3 ish miles are up the paved road to the top.  It's hard to look up when running this section as it is kinda defeating to see what lies ahead at times. with about 1/2-1mile left to go you see this...Josh's contribution...there should be another painted phrase just up from that that says, "dig deeper!"

It is so steep right here and after 4 miles of climbing one of the toughest spots.  You top out and the wind is usually pretty wild.  Here is where I usually take a breather and eat some pocket fuel...here is where I feel like I can actually eat solid food, and it's a nice treat for the effort. Next I like to hit the powerline instead of going back down the road. There's more trails off the powerline that I can access. It is a wicked little powerline though...very steep, sandy, rutted out, slickery fun in a scary sorta way. I typically move very slowly down this sucker. About a half mile down I cut over onto more rolling trail to recover and hit another really wicked..no switchback, technical straight up trail back to the top.

Then it's 3 miles down the pavement back to ole Joshes etched out 1 mile technical descent to his back yard....which has a swimming pool I hope will be opening soon!! Sunday's run was to be easier effort and it was nice to slow down and grab some awesome pics, spring has sprung in Oklahoma! 

Two years. Two years.

104 weeks since I decided I'd make a bit more of an effort with what used to be a very alien pursuit for me. I've gone from being a panting mess that struggled to make it a couple of times around the local park to running literally thousands of kilometres over the last twenty-four months. I've run through the night, I've run for hours to see the sun rise, I've headed out to find peace and time to think. Sometimes, I've done it with hundreds of other people to be a part of a tribe and specifically to be bombarded with noise and activity. I've run a marathon to get to the start of the hilliest cross-country race I've ever run; I've run seventy-five miles on my own and plan to have another crack at 130 miles later this year.

The point of this isn't 'what I've done', it's definitely more how I've got here - that's what it's always about. Maybe it's a fractal-like situation where however large or small a scale you look at, the message is the same:

It's not each step you choose to take, technique is about how you move your body to make each one. It's not about how far you've gone on a particular run, it's about what you've done and learned on the way. It's not about how many runs, or what kind of runs you've been on in year, it's about you through that year. How, never what.

My 'how' of the last two years has already been told here, but that's not to say there aren't always new horizons to cross - and it seems I'm always in need of new horizons.

If I'm honest, I'm at the end of a few months of what was probably resting on my running laurels. I spent a period of time where I wasn't trying too hard to actively improve my running, I was just enjoying being able to do it fairly well. For my own pride's sake, I hope that this is an easy trap to fall into - I can comfortably run distances that would make other people squirm, so there was little impetus to really examine my technique. If anything, I was feeling not just like my running was going well, but also that I was a good Runner.

This was all very well, but my body decided this wasn't enough of a journey. While my mind was obviously quite happy with the state of things, my body decided I needed a reminder that getting better is kind of a good thing. It did this in a way that I had thought I'd grown out of - it gave me shinsplints.

Finding myself struggling through this to run even half of my normal times has driven me back to a place I quite enjoy being: the start. Sort of. The start of a period of fresh growth, at least. By having my carefree enjoyment randomly curtailed by a nagging pain, I'm being forced/allowed to re-examine everything about my running again. Even though it sucks that I'm working through an injury, it's actually infinitely better to feel like I'm at least working at it.

One last thing: it's nice to not only see the development in myself, but in others too - I think I've mentioned before that my girlfriend and our friend Luke have been inspired to start running a bit more. This continues apace - last weekend we all had a great off-road 10k race around Arlington. We ran it together, so there was no looking to shave seconds off my previous year's time, but what can I say - in this case, running slowly with other people seems to feel like it has more rewards than running quickly alone. Who's have thought it?

And who'd have thought shinsplints could be a good thing?

- Ben

Back to basics

Its been 3 months since I finished reading TCI and started on strength training and just under 3 months for wearing my B2R road shoes.  To be honest, I thought I'd be further through the program, especially as I've been diligent about doing all the strength exercises 3-4 times per week but I'm kind of stuck on the Transition phase and not wanting to go further until I've sorted out some lingering soreness in my right heel.

While I haven't progressed along the training program like I'd hoped I have gained a lot since the year began. Here's some of the things I've learnt so far:

• I used to over-stride and my cadence was too slow at around 164
• I can now run with a cadence of 180 pretty consistently (a metronome app on my iphone sorted me out)
• when I'm running on the flat and feel my elbows starting to flap out sideways from my body, I'm feeling unsteady and need to focus on form
• when the inside of my right ankle starts to ache I need to pay attention to how my forefoot is striking the ground - nice and even and not too high compared to the rest of my foot
• when the inside of my right ankle keeps aching (even when I'm not running) then I need to stop and feel for the lump in the muscle running down  my shin bone and press on it while flexing my foot (a la the sock doc's plantar fascia suggestions) to get it to ease
• when my ankle starts aching I'm feeling unsteady and I need to focus on my form, especially my knee drive
• when I run slowly to keep my heart rate low but keep my cadence around 180 it can feel a bit like prancing ;)
• when my cadence drops off I need to focus and be mindful of what I'm doing
• when my feet or ankles start aching I need to relax them and focus on my knee drive
• it doesn't matter how long it takes to complete the transition program and I felt more at ease with how I was going once I let go of a timeline (doesn't mean I'm not eager to move on to the next phase but I'm not going to beat myself up about it either!)
• when I first try to do an exercise (hello wobble board lunges!) and can't even manage to do it at all, I know that its OK and just the act of trying means that it will get easier the very next time I attempt it and keep getting better from there
• some exercises are easier some days than others
• I can do a lot of different things to help my body when its feeling a bit 'off' - eg if my hips or lower back is feeling sore or tight, I can do some 'windshield wipers' and it will ease

These things are not what I thought I'd gain when I started out but I guess that's the way with any change:  you never really know what you're going to get until you get going.

I stopped eating sugar in January 2013 (since I read Sarah WIlson's I Quit Sugar book - I'd definitely recommend this if anyone is struggling with letting sugar go) so haven't made massive tweaks to my diet since reading TCI but I've been testing out my relationship to carbs like bread and rice.  I don't think that relationship is over but its certainly become less involved and far more casual.

Bring on the next 3 months...

Speedwork and brainwork today! track work with 2x400 and 4x1000 at near max effort...well, I was hoping they'd be more "near" max effort as opposed to just plain "max effort!".

 Speedwork runs/track runs are always my favorite and most nerve wracking runs. I absolutely love the challenge, but I tend to get very nervous about them and worry worry worry, before AND during. I'm working on that though and am making brain progress, which I hope will enhance speed progress. Intentional or not, I knew coach was taking me to an uncomfortable place today to do some work.  Instead of fearing it (well a little healthy fear), I looked at it as an opportunity to build and construct. I would be going into a "disaster zone"...that place where effort/pace feels like you are dying, not sure if you can keep it up, fearing failing and just falling completely off pace or quitting before the interval is over feel. This was where I was  going to be working today. I wanted to work on my brain here... in that place... and I did. 

The 15min warm-up always seems forever as I anticipate the intervals, so I just relaxed, told myself to enjoy warming up, no need to get my hr up immediately, it would rise plenty later. I gradually worked up to zone 3. Next, increasing speed over a couple minutes or so and a 400m at a little under what the speed intervals would be. Took a minute to regroup and off for my first 400m. First felt pretty decent, had to back off to keep from going too fast on both. 

Next up...the 100

0m intervals. "Ok brain" I thought. I pulled out my mantras "just go for it" which allows me to let go and clear my mind and relax. The first lap went smoothly, second lap was feeling pretty tough, but hanging in there, the last half lap was intense but no need to add any mantras.  Nice rest after that one. Second 1000m the first lap didn't feel quite as good and by the mid-end of the second lap my pace was faltering..Here came the worry, "i'm n

ot going to hold it"...then I reminded myself, "who cares?!", "just go for it". I relaxed again and pushed.  I was at max effort the last 200-400 of that one for sure despite a slower pace. Hands on knees after and a short walk before resuming a slow jog for the completion of the rest interval.

3rd 1000: A little worry eeking in, Hello Walter! "You didn't hold the pace on the last one...how much slower are you going to go on this one?" "Are you just going to fall apart and quit?". I looked at Walter, "w

ho cares?!" and "just go for it"-that felt good. Walter disappeared and I took off, but I was holding back a little worrying about what I should do to not blow up "what effort can I maintain for the next __ meters? I was thinking about the

 next 400, 800 meters, I was not in the moment. I was worried about the future (albeit short future!). Finished that one a little slower than the last. 

#4: This one I

 spent trying to figure out what I could maintain for the full 1000. Again, I was letting fear hold me back a bit. I didn't want to blow and quit. I was working this puzzle, but it wasn't working, it didn't feel right. This ended up being my slowest interval.  Ok Ok I thought, what does my brain need to do.  I'm missing something, I know it, I just don't know what it is.

#5: Again started out thinking, holding back a bit trying to figure how the next 400, 800 meters was going to play out and then it hit me. "run in the moment". Aha! Don't worry about the next 400m. Don't worry about blowing up. Run in the moment, moment by moment, don't worry about the next moment. And blammo, I felt it. The puzzle piece fit and I ran in the moment. With that slight shift in thinking my pace came back down being the 2nd fastest interval. Now, the only interval I stayed on my goal pace was the first.  All 4 of the following intervals were over. But the coooolest thing is, I'm not disappointed. Last year or even 3 months ago I would have been beating myself up about it. Not today. I hit the construction site and worked. And worked well. I gave it my best physically and mentally and made progress on the construction of an ultrarunner.

Pics of ultrarunners from the Prairie Spirit 100 and 50mi ultra this weekend.  Such an amazing day and change, with amazing people, well, family really. Saw true grit, shameless whining;), and the true spirit of humanity. You cannot look in the eyes of an ultrarunner during a race and not see amazing depth of character and emotion, you can truly see their soul, and it is always beautiful and humbling.

Now I know that many of you already know and enbrace this, so please humour me.

It's not that I have been completely oblivious to the relationships between Heart Rate, Fatigue, Form, Foot and Leg Strength, Proformance, Mindset, Muscle Soreness etc but until I read The Cool Impossible and started the 15 Week Foundation Program as described in The Cool Impossible these linkages were not front and centre in my mind. They were there, a shadow, a knowing but not really important, it was the distance you ran and time it took that were front and centre, these were the foundation stones of a good runner, or so I thought. 

Enhancing my new self awareness has been the use of a heart rate monitor, which I have never used before. I had never even considered useing one until I read the TCI and it's been a revelation to me, helping distill the methodology behind Eric's training program's. Using a heart rate monitor has, in real time, allowed me to track how my heart rate and performance is affected and influenced by fatigue, form, mindset, awareness and the like. How the relationships between each of these element's changes when we add in, subtract out or otherwise changing what we do and/or how we do it. (as I know most of you already know) 

This new found awareness has started me really thinking about how everything we do, as Eric describes and explains in TCI, influences and acts upon the other elements within both our running lives and our lives in general. How every piece of the puzzle fits together to make the whole and how the whole is affected and acted upon by each of it's parts and how the sum of our parts is greater than the individual parts. How strength influences form, how form influences fatigue, which influences heart rate, which influences breathing, which influences performance. Then throw in  breathing patterns, nutrition, rest, midset, environment and you have a complex, multy faceted equation that is both complex but so simple all at the same time.

I've come to truely realize that it is a complete circle, with all things acting upon and being acted upon. To me, all these elements working in harmony reflexts the beautiful symmetry that is human movement and reinforces how we are all truely Born To Run.

 P = T.+ N. + R. + M.   or  Performance =  Training + Nutrition + Rest + Mindset

           F. + T.R + N.                                   Fatigue + Training Restrictions + Negitivity

Thank You very much for humouring me.

4 x 7 min speed intervals today.

Nervous as always before speed work..At first glance the pace looked not too shabby to hold, but then, "what if you can't you hold that pace?" "you held a faster pace with these same intervals last year what if they are too hard, what does that mean about you?", Hello Walter! Of course I didn't recognize those thoughts yet, they were still more feelings squeezing around my chest as I started the first interval. "this does seem harder than you thought it would" and then I recognized it. Hello Walter! And then I thought, "here Walter, you can have those questions, you worry about it...I'm just gonna go for it!" so "just go for it!" became my mantra and I didn't worry about anything else. It didn't matter. The "hard" didn't frighten me, It didn't mean anything. It felt great to just "go for it!"

It was too beautiful a day to resist. Breathless, slightly chilly, but glorious spring sunshine; perfect running weather. And I had to go into town anyway, so I slipped quietly out of work and tried a cautious mile down to the bike shop. And I didn't collapse in agony on the side of the road. My knee held up pretty well, perhaps feeling very slightly sore in the last 100m or so. And I didn't seem to have forgotten running form, and with lots of things to think about it may even have improved. Fast into the knee drive... and then let the ground come to you - be patient. I was worried this would slow that hard won high cadence, but no, spot on 180bpm, straight out of the box. Running (even!) taller, straighter - could I feel those fitball lunges coming into play? No idea of pace, no idea of HR, but it felt effortless. I could imagine running 50 miles with that kind of efficiency. And, oh, the feeling of sun and wind on face and skin.

There's lots still to do, particularly on getting this knee strong. It's not just building up the non-existent quads - it's getting them to fire appropriately - they have an annoying habit of sagging on the slant board, even with my knee locked out - I have to watch them in the mirror and consciously tense them up again. But it's getting there. I can even do pistol squats, provided I've got support on either side so that the knee doesn't take all my weight on the way down. Cheating? Probably, but it feels like work and the right muscles are getting tired.

Blah blah blah.

After a few months off this winter to recharge and a few good blocks of training, I was ready for my 1st race. I was really excited to get on dirt and test my legs. I didn't have a time goal. My race plan was simple, don't go out too hard, ease up a little on the hills, and put it into another gear for the last 5k. Here is what I emailed to Eric.

I had a really good race. I learned how to push myself to another level
of pain. I will explain in a second.

I was 2nd in my age group and either 4th or 5th women overall. They only
have official results for 1st female overall and age group awards. I am
going off what people are telling me about overall women. I know I was
25th out of 327 men and women. A lot of men got chicked today. I forgot
to turn watch off at the end . My time from them was 2:26, 8.48 pace,
the course was longer -16.57miles. My avg HR was 172 and my max was 188-
yikes. I never looked at it after the 1st 3 miles and went by feel.
There was wind and the temp was perfect for me . Race start around 37
and finishing inflow 40¹s.

I started like you told me. I eased into zone 4 and didn¹t go higher for
at leaf the 1st 3miles. There was a nice hill and I kept it easy. Then
I stopped looking at my watch. I fueled after hard efforts. I had 3
gels. there were 3 hard long climbs and 2 fast downhills. There was a
good technical section and then some dirt roads. I knew that there were
only a few women ahead of me . After about 8 miles we were on a long
climb with switch backs and I saw a women slowly gaining on me. That was
it, my competitive side kicked in and I didn¹t want her to catch me. I
stuck with our plan and kept it easier on the uphill knowing that I could
go harder on flats and downhills. She got within a hundred yards of me
with 5 miles to go. I had one more uphill and I hoped that she wouldn¹t
catch me on it because there was know way I could hammer it and then kick
it into another gear. She continued to gain on me but I kept pushing.
This is were the new level of pain kicked it. This is a time when I
would have probably eased up a little. She finally caught me with about
200 yards to go. She did what I did at the 10k. I was spent and so was
she, she said that I had been pushing her for the last 8 miles. We
crossed the line together. I literally thought I was going to pass out.

Anyway, body is tired but I was able to eat and drink pretty soon after
so that was good.

Thanks as always. Your training is key to my success.

Yes, it is quite possible I have gone completely off the deep end but if you are willing to follow me, it should be entertaining at least! I thought about waiting to blog about Walter until I completely understand where I’m going with this, but writing helps me understand, so maybe we’ll figure this out together as we go. Let me give you a little background. If you’ve been following along you know I am doing the US Skyrunning Ultra series: Cruel Jewel in May, Speedgoat and La Maratona in July, Angels Staircase in August, The Rut in September, and Flagstaff endurance run in October. As I am getting everything arranged it is becoming very “real”. Each race has 13,000-17,000 feet of vertical gain over 50k-55mi course. The most vertical I have ever done was at Leadville, 18,000 feet over 100 miles. Squish a little less than that gain into 55 miles and you have Cruel Jewel.

This series is my cool impossible, and it is huge and scary, but I want it and I smile every time I think about it...and then fears crop up….Will my legs really do this? You live in Oklahoma...you have one hill that is 4 miles long and 2000 ft high….a hill. And Oklahoma sits at about 400ft above sea level. All but one race is at altitude. Look at your mountain races you’ve done….yeah, you finished, but you just survived them….what makes the fears more intense is that I know I want more than to survive these races….I want to race them, I want to do well, dare I say I want to finish in the top 5 in my age bracket! Now that’s just nuts, but I want going for it.  I don’t want fear to limit me. I don’t want to care about the actual result, but the “going for it” part. Unless I can let go of the fear of failing, I can’t fully go for it. And if I can fully “go for it” in training and racing, then the result no longer matters. Ha! if only it were that easy! All of these fears and doubts have been internal. When they crop up they envelop me.  Sometimes I can use the visualization of thoughts and fears dangling from the ceiling and I get to choose which ones I want to take hold of, or just acknowledge and go on. But when those thoughts are more feelings, and in particular when they occur when I’m running/training they seem to come so from within that I can’t shake loose or “choose” what to do with them.

The suggestion came that maybe I should consider giving these fears or this voice in my head that expresses these fears a funny name.  Hmm...A name for my fears. Enter Walter...let me explain...Jeff Dunham is a comedian/ventriloquist. Walter is one of his characters. He's a sour faced old man, critical of everything and sarcastic as hell. In a way, he is part of the comedian which reminds me of the fears being a part of me but separate too. I see him when those fears pop up. I can hear his voice, “what makes you think you can do this?”, “you seem to be breathing hard, this hill shouldn’t be that hard for you should it?”

So yesterday I had a 12 mi trail run...and lo and behold I ran into Walter.  On a long slow slight uphill I could literally see walter. His wrinkled face questioning me...and scouling, "this hill isn't as easy as you thought, it would be, you are only in low zone 3, why isn't this easier for you?". Before I realized what was happening I laughed and told him, "because it's a hill, you idiot!" Walter disappeared, and I immediately felt light and happy again, pleased and relaxed, thinking how ridiculous this old man questioning me sounded. And then I realized that was the first time I had ever separated those negative feelings from me...saw them for what they really were and saw how silly and tiny and powerless they were. I think I like having walter around. I have no idea if I'm crazy or on to something. I am definitely in uncharted territory with my mind.

Well, I've made the decision.....to try again! Here I am 52yrs old, hypertensive and never managed to run more than 7kms without injury! Most of the time I spent trying to run was with teeth gritted, just trying to finish! BUT.....I have this urge to run! I had finally given up trying and then I read your book. I now realise how little strength I have in my feet and legs and, because of this my form is more like a crab in reverse! So, here goes....strength training and trying to improve form by some short barefoot runs (very short at the moment!) before starting phase 1 of the programme. One question though - if I am doing the drills, how often and how long should I spend on them? Ultimate goal (dream) - to run a 50miler! Oops, maybe I'm aiming a little high HaHa! Oh well back to training...watch this space!