Posted by Joan Laughlin on August 19, 2009 at 4:11pm
Here's a link to Christopher McDougall on The Daily Show last night:http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-18-2009/christopher-mcdougall
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I'm seven weeks out from my race. Last week proved to be the most frustrating week of training I've experienced in a long time. Two bad runs in a row left me very unexcited about getting out of bed Saturday for my 18 miles. My bad runs came from my total inability to stay in any sort of desired heart range, a rarity since I started Eric's program. I had no desire to spend many hours running and fighting to stay in range, so I decided if I was going to do 18 miles, I'd focus on running and worry about the rest later.I had one of my best runs in a long time.I ended up a little sore, but not too tired. I was ready to hit the road again Monday only to get hit by a nasty cold virus on Sunday. I'm choosing to be optimistic that it won't hang around for long so I can get back to "real" training.Overall, training has come with ups and downs.Downs (since the Ups are much better to end with)1. My speed is still down, making me wonder if I'm just not meant to go particularly fast.2. I still can't run in zone 1 (unless a slow shuffle counts).3. Three weeks ago, my Achilles decided to make its presence known after being silent for the previous ten years. I take full responsibility due to my carelessness about stretching.Ups1. Ever so often, I can hit my previous speed in zone 3 and maintain it for a few minutes. I have to believe that it will become easier to do over time.2. I've finally discovered the benefit of a real warm up and cool down portion to my workout.3. Through sheer doggedness, I've nursed my Achilles back to 99%. My job allows me to keep my foot up for the majority of the day, and I was very generous with ice and heat. I also discovered Kinesio tape, which tipped me over from wincing in pain to sighing in relief. I now feel little pain, and I'm super vigilant about stretching both after my runs and during the day.I've also rediscovered the pleasure of running to see what's around the corner and at the top of the hill. Few things give me greater satisfaction then reaching the top and seeing how far I've climbed. So as I sit here nursing my sniffles, I'm looking forward to the next run, even if it does prove frustrating, because, just maybe, it will be the best one yet.
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Eric, I'm still hanging in there and no major problems. Week 12, 13, and 14 has been tough in terms of mental toughness and really feeling exhausted. It feels like my body is being weighted down, but I know this is just to prepare the body to be able to deal with the last 30 miles of the race. Actually, looking at the plan, I've broken everything down and realized I only have 3 more tough weekends. There's a 35 miler this weekend, then a 50, then a 20 miler followed by a 30 miler. Once I can get through these, then I feel I'll be on easy street. I've only missed 4 days in the training plan, and they were just a short one.I did miss the scheduled 45 minute recovery run that I had today because my right shin started bothering me on Friday during the 20 miler. I ran another 20 on Saturday and it still bothered me all day Saturday, and didn't get much better on Sunday. I woke up this morning and still had some slight pain. I'm not real sure what it is. I know the last 3 weeks have been a lot of miles with little recovery and maybe my body is just revolting? Now, the pain is pretty minimal. I'm not walking with any limp or anything. Right now, it's just something that I can feel, but certainly not anything preventing me from running at all. I just want to be cautious and I'm too far into this to get any major injuries. I've actually been completely injury free since March and I really thought I'd get through this with no problem. I'm not sure if this is shin splints or what. Is there anything you can recommend? I hate missing any of the runs, but in an attempt to stay healthy for the long runs coming up, I figured it was ok to skip today.Any help you could provide would be great.
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I have really enjoyed learning from others on this site and I appreciate the "journal" type entries that Thomas, Dustin, Keith, Space Girl and others have posted. I thought I'd post a quick one.In the May, 2005 issue of Men's Journal, Eric noted that, "The brain tends to be overprotective of the body." This is me. My biggest fear has been over-reaching and getting injured. I've had a few experiences in the past where I've started to train very intensely and got injured.When I signed up with Eric, I was nervous as a loose hen with the coyotes howling in the distance.This week, Eric put me through what most of you would not consider particularly hard. For me, the sequence - running, mountain biking, and strength training - was tough on my body. It didn't fatigue me. Rather, it caused significant muscle soreness. But, I decided that I was going to trust that my body could take it. This doesn't mean that I ignored soreness. I've had the usual suite of aches and pains - IT band, plantar fasciitis, an achilles tweak that likes to remind me it's there. I watch these like a hawk, using the foam roller, taking cold baths, stretching. My weak spot has always been my right hip and glute region. The work this week gave me a hot spot, but I dug into it ferociously with a tennis ball and woke up this morning feeling better.The crazy thing is, I finished this week feeling better than I started it. Lower back pain that has been chronic - if not acute - has been diminishing with Eric's core work. The IT band is limbering up as the glutes take over. The hip is taking the work load and coming back for more. The foot strength and stretching seems to have my PF on the mend.Biggest breakthrough was yesterday. I was run-down, but climbed on the bike for a 2-hour recovery ride. Ended feeling better than I started.I am hesitant to make any predictions. This is week 1 of a fairly low-intensity base period. But, for me it was a big step into the unknown in terms or variety and volume. I just offer this up in case anyone is looking for something positive. There are so many posts on the web about nagging injuries, postponed desires, broken hearts and bodies. People rarely write about the positive ... they just go run or ride. This site is different. Even those who are facing some serious physical challenges (and I am not one of them) are upbeat.Thanks to all of you for your posts. Keep on posting!
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“He didn’t even look tired! It’s like he was just…having fun!” – Born to Run (pg 103).
I like to think of Mojo as being magic. But magic just doesn’t happen, you must put yourself “out there” and challenge the norm and what is possible. This often times creates fear, which is natural, but Mojo happens when we look beyond the fear and ACT on it. Dustin's Got Mojo!
In recognition of Dustin Huck's 1,200 mile run journey, I thought it would be fun to have a Mojo Team Challenge to help support Dustin and to help put into perspective the magnitude of Dustin's undertaking. The Mojo Challenge is to see how many miles we, as a team, we can run collectively WHILE Dustin is running 1,200 miles, from California to Texas.
Dustin starts his run Saturday, August 15th. Running With Eric has over 400 team members now, let’s see how many TOTAL miles we can run during Dustin's journey! This means to run as often and as much as you can and feel comfortable doing, with the focus on fun and creating run Mojo.
Run to breakfast, run to the store, take the kids running, run some place new, run at night, run 2 miles further than you have ever run before. Stay within yourself and your ability, but try to do as many runs as possible and make it as fun as possible. Introduce someone new to running, with a run around the block.
This could mean 5, one mile runs throughout the day or one long run, or anything in between. There is no run too short or too long, it all adds up. So get creative and challenge yourself to add to the team total. Many of you will be out training anyway, so just log your daily training miles here in the FORUM section.
To keep it simple, log your DAILY run miles in the FORUM section under Mojo Run – Dustin's Run Mojo. Try to log your miles after each run so we can watch the miles add up daily. We will keep a running tally of the total miles run by the team, so the focus will be on Team participation and Team Mojo!
I will randomly choose a "runner of the week" throughout the challenge who will receive a current Training Package of their choice.
Have fun – have Mojo!
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If there's an upside to being a few weeks away from age 35, it's that I finally figured out a few things with regards to patience, perfection (or lack of it), and how to deal with setbacks. Sure, I don't burn off that doughnut that I scarfed down in the break room at work (I was rushed and STARVING) like I did ten years ago, but at least I don't freak out about it and go punish myself on the treadmill for ten miles when I get home from work. And when things don't go quite according to the training plan (because I had a couple of bad mushrooms and my face and mouth suddenly looked like I was being eaten alive by flesh-eating bacteria last weekend. Oh wait, they still kind of do), I can shrug it off and see what I can still do in spite of that. Getting older isn't easy on the body, but it can be easier on the mind than being a teenager in high school... if you let it be.
I got around to realizing all of this after my mom called and asked what I wanted for my birthday. Honestly, I haven't a clue. Oh sure, VFF KSOs would be nice when it gets colder, and a Garmin Forerunner 205 looks awfully swell, but I'm certainly not about to make anyone shell out that kind of money on me. For the most part, I got all the cool stuff on my Xmas lists from years past already: a horse farm with real live Mustangs (and a Quarter Horse)! I even have an adult- sized hula hoop (for cross-training purposes, you understand :P ) on days when I'd just rather dance around and keep in touch with my inner dork (and spin my hands and hoop right into the ceiling fans... again). To keep from driving Mom nuts and inducing "Mom guilt", however, maybe I should just have her and the rest of the family send me a card and some basic art supplies (I've been meaning to try and take up Chinese brush painting again anyway, now that my first of two college degrees are out of the way). It will certainly keep me away from the ceiling fans.
One thing that I did do this week that I've done in years past (but not enough of lately) is watch the Perseid meteor shower in my own backyard. There's nothing quite like massive Prednisone- induced insomnia to keep you motivated (and very, VERY wide awake) enough to catch a few meteorites streak across the sky over the course of a few hours, and it definitely beats anything you might watch on late- night TV. And you can't not think about the world (and the rest of the universe) around you and realize just how amazing it really all is while you're doing it.
Looking at my training log, I realize that I'll only barely get all of my scheduled runs in this week, that the Prednisone has made me swell up a few pounds and messed with my HR on runs, and when I finally do get off the stuff (Pred) and figure out how to sleep again, I'll probably be scrambling to get all of my runs in next week too once my brain realizes that it can finally rest. But I suppose I still owe it to the Prednisone for keeping me awake for one of Nature's best light shows around. It won't help in the quest of improved PRs, but not everything in life has to. I wish I knew that ten years ago.
* No ceiling fans have been harmed in the making of this blog entry.
** The use of Prednisone should only ever be done under doctor's orders, and should be avoided at all costs otherwise. If you ever have to take it, you won't need to worry about sleeping in late.
*** If you get in touch with your inner dork and take up hooping, be wary of ceiling fans, walls, cats underfoot, and Welsh corgis.
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I did a workout (as part of Eric's "Marathon Prep Camp") in the huaraches yesterday (despite the fact that I seem to have come down with a head cold, so nose breathing isn't always possible), then I decided to run barefoot on the grass next to the trail again for the last ten minutes (since I wasn't able to run on Wednesday). As I have come to expect, my feet found sand burrs (little round thorny balls of pain that seem to exist purely to torture the unshod-- and that includes cats and dogs) yet again, but *this* time I noticed something. The further away I got from the pond, the more sand burrs I'd impale the soles of my feet on. Nearer the pond, the more I'd have to pay attention to make sure I didn't step in the "gifts" left from the local wildlife, but... there were no sand burrs in that area. That's when it hit me: the birds (mostly geese, with a few ducks) have been eating them. They just don't stray *that* far from the pond. So if I stick to a smaller part of the grassy area along the trail, I can run barefoot without bleeding! And I have a bunch of otherwise ornery geese to thank for that!
Towards the end, my left foot found one stray sandburr, so I told the geese, "Hey, you missed one!" One squacked back at me as if to say, "And your point is, you goofy two-legged? Suck it up!" I suppose he has a point. It's not like sand burrs taste that good, I suspect.
In short, the lesson learned was, "Where the guano ends is where the pain is sure to begin!"
I've now thought about bringing geese here to the farm to eat sand burrs (and hopefully grubs and other bugs), but they're really not nice birds, and I just know they'd terrorize my aging corgi. :P
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I'm not the kind of person that says something like this but i just finished reading "Born to Run" and, quite simply, it has changed my life. I could probably write a book on why that is. "Born to Run" is powerful on so many levels. Anyway I am recommending it to everyone I know whether or not they are runners. I believe Christopher McDougall when he says that ultra runners are America's hope for the future.I came across the book serendipitously. I had started training at the beginning of July for the Houston Marathon in January. I am forty-one years old. I ran a few marathons 10-12 years ago. I used to run all the time but for many reasons my practice tapered off, then stopped completely. I ran into a woman I had not seen in years and she asked me if I was still a "crazy runner" and I said, "Oh no, I'm too old. My body can't take that anymore." This interaction rang in my ears for weeks and I thought, "Do I really believe that?" Then I decided to train just to see. Last week, I ran ten miles for the first time in 10 years and was surprised that it felt so easy and that I felt so great afterwards. Then I came across this book. I no longer wonder "if" I can finish the marathon.Thank you Eric for starting this online running community!
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There has been a lot of questions and emphasis placed on running form and technique. A big part of this was sparked by Born To Run and because of this, many runners think or assume this is the only component to running well and injury free. I would like to take this post to add another BIG piece to the equation, running strength. Many have heard me say, "run strong, to THEN go long". Many run programs have runners building endurance or run base first and then start applying speed and strength workouts once the base has been built. I do things differently, I build strength and economy first and then apply "specific" endurance to the strength base.
This is not to far from what the Tarahumara runners instinctively acheive in their running process. As youngsters, they play their unique ball game at short distances. When there is a game planed, a wooden ball is carved out of a wood log, about the size of a soft ball. Each running team has one ball and the team is to run back and forth along a predetermined race course. Unlike races we are used to, the course is very short and the teams run back and forth, rather than from point A to point B. During this running, the team must kick the wooden ball, advancing it with the team as they run the course. Not unlike how we as kids would try and kick that small rock ALL the way home from school!
The runners use special sticks to "pull" the ball onto the top of their foot and they flip the ball ahead more than actually kick it. Each team has a "handler" who is good at this flip. Very similar to American Ultimate Frisbee. This game forces runners to sprint hard, stop and change direction, move laterally, sprint hard, rest, etc. The Raramuri are not just running steady for a long time. Yes, they are running long distances, but in short hard sprints. This is key. This develops great strength in their legs and high end aerbobic capacity that just can't take place in running long and steady. The Raramuri youngers develop this from an early age, as their game distances are shorter than the adult version. Then, as the young runner matures to the adult game, this runner can immediately take that leap in distance without much difficulty because of the massive strength that was built in his youth. He built the strength base, to now run long, strong, and very FAST.
This is exactly how I training Chris McDougall to run 50 miles without much "traditional" running base.
I have put together a short slideshow of this ball game. I hope you enjoy this, as there are not many photos of this game out there. And, I hope this sparks your intrigue to think outside the box with your run base and to do a little less long and steady running.
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Hey Everyone, I interviewed Eric about his training with Chris, Barefoot Running, Strength Training for the Endurance Athlete and more. It was for Episode 40 of the Strength Coach Podcast. Check it out at http://www.StrengthCoachPodcast.com. It is located at the 29:30 mark of the podcast.
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I’ve been a runner for 10 years, albeit not always a happy one. Sometimes my miles were a slog. Usually, they’re something for me to tick off my to-do list. In the back of my mind, I thought it odd that I didn’t look on running with the same joy that possessed me as a child. I chalked it up to my body changing from wiry childhood to lumpy adulthood. Lately, I’ve wondered if it has more to do with the reasons why I run now versus the reasons I used to run. As a child, I ran to have fun. As an adult, I've run to stay in shape, a reason about as far away from fun as possible.Through the dice toss that is Amazon.com’s “books you might like,” I discovered Born to Run. I read a few reviews that said, “I’ll be surprised if you don’t want to get up and run after reading this book.” Slightly skeptical, because I’ve believed forever that some people are “runners” and the rest of us (including me) aren’t, I started to read.When I finished the book, all I wanted to do was run so I could experience the same pleasure described in the book. So I've ditched the ear phones (amazing how they distract from holding a good running form), added some barefoot running, and discovered that maybe I'm a runner after all.Based on the description of how Chris trained with Eric, I did some checking and discovered this site and his training plans. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest decision, but it feels like a good one to date, I switched my training for the St. George Marathon (October 3) to Eric's 20-week plan. Although my mileage times have dropped a bit (still working on hitting and staying in the right zones), I'm feeling wonderful both during and after my runs.My foot soreness is minimal, leading me to think I was already a mid-foot versus heel striker, particularly when I look at the wear on my shoe treads. Now, I focus on keeping my cadence up, maintaining my posture, and making sure my leg movement stays efficient throughout the whole run. I can't get over how it feels like I'm gliding at times.Instead of semi-dreading my race, I'm really looking forward to seeing what my training will help me accomplish.
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Per Eric's plan, I did a 30 mile run last week. I was to stay in z1 - z3 and I walked a few times when I felt I needed it. I ended up doing the run in 5:21 minutes, a 10:42 average pace. This weekend, I had a 35 mile run, and per Eric's plan, the protocol was to run 40 minutes and walk 20 minutes every hour until I hit 35 miles. I ended up doing this in 6:25 minutes, a 10:59 average pace, and that was incorporating in 88 minutes of walking. Just like Eric said, I was able to run the 40 minutes strong, and the 20 minutes of walking gave me enough recovery time to do another strong 40 minutes. Thanks Eric.
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I have experimented enough now to know I have found a great pre run energy booster using Chia seeds.
Make a normal batch of chia gel as I described in the Chia Power gel:
1/3 to 1/2 cup of chia seeds mixed with 2 cups water. Wisk 2-3 times every 10 minutes and then set in refrigerator to thicken.
30-60 minutes before a short, hard run or key long run:
Spread some peanut butter on a piece of whole wheat toast and then spread the chia gel over the peanut butter - enjoy.
Based on my body type, I do better with a little more fat in my diet, so play around with your peanut butter portion based on the length of your planned run.
It is hard to measure and quantify how I feel during my workouts after this snack, but I feel nothing short of what Chris describes in his experience in Born to Run.
E
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I remember running as a kid in New England. Or rather, I remember running after multiple leg surgeries to deal with my external birth defects (I was born with femoral anteversion, which are basically really crooked legs). I would mistake myself for being fast, only to be out- sprinted by dang near everybody else all the time. I ran anyway, from bullies (I was an ugly kid, no bones about it), scary dogs, and more bullies. Sometimes, I'd even run with friends. The one thing I realize now, though I didn't know it then, is that while I was never mistaken for being fast, I could go for hours and outlast others. I kind of wish I'd figured it out sooner, but you know what they say about hindsight.
I remember watching Joan Benoit Samuelson on TV in the early 80s, winning the Boston Marathon and wanting to do that someday, even though the race was really long and trying to fathom how long 26.2 miles really is in a 9 year old head is hard to do. ;) Years later, I'd briefly been part of the high school cross- country team in the early 90s (I'm what Jack Daniels refers to as "highly motivated, but with little to no natural ability"), but I was dropped for lack of any leg speed. Thankfully, that particular private school also had lacrosse and the legendary modern dance teacher/performer Martha Gray. I still sucked at the latter (with Gray telling my father outright that I was definitely "not built for dancing") but it was apparent that I was at least willing to throw myself into it, so I was tolerated. When it came to lacrosse, it turned out that it was the one sport that I had any natural talent at. I didn't have to *just* run; I could charge into people, elbow the hell out of them, and snarl at them-- oh, and get that little white ball. For once in my pre- adult life, being built more like a draft horse than a petite graceful girl (like everyone else around me) was an advantage.
I was forced to switch high schools in junior year due to finances, and the new (public) school didn't have lacrosse. I didn't even attempt to join the track or cross- country teams; I knew better. I swam for the varsity team, and biked around town. I'd do the minimal amount of running in gym class that I had to, and that was it.
In college, there wasn't much for sports to choose from. The president of the college suddenly split with a few million of the school's money in my freshman year, so any and all student activity budgets were slashed. I had stamina enough to walk and sometimes run just about everywhere (I didn't have a car, and hauling a bike up or down 4+ flights of dorm stairs just to ride it seemed like an offer at attempted suicide at best), so that was the only form of exercise I had.
Onward to 1995, when I decided to start running again. Why? Basically, I did it for my mental health. My bike had been stolen, and I was too broke to join a gym. I barely had a clue as to what I was doing. I was armed with a beginning runner's guide from a fitness magazine and a pair of Asics that looked good and were on sale (duh). The Internet was unknown to me, and I lived in a part of Massachusetts that didn't have any running clubs. Like most athletic endeavours that I've attempted in my life, I really sucked at it. Just getting to 30 minutes of nonstop running seemed... miraculous.
So with all of that in mind, I'm not sure what I was expecting when I tried signing up for a 5 mile charity race a year later. I finished close to dead last, convinced that I was going to die from the heat (it was 98 degrees that day, and the race director, clearly a sadist, started the race in the afternoon). It was blatantly obvious (to me) that I had no business even trying to race. I almost threw my running shoes in the trash on the way home, but then I remembered that driving while barefoot is illegal in Massachusetts. The shoes stayed on me, but barely.
I picked up an issue of "Runner's World" later that week, and read an essay by John Bingham in "Runner's World" (his first), and I realized hey, maybe I don't have to be fast after all. That article is really the only reason why I didn't give up. Shortly after that, I moved closer to Boston, found other runners, got onto the Internet, and my running picked up from there. Thanks to some local "Deads" that I used to meet up with on Sundays, I got the nickname that I'm now writing this under (well, if there hadn't been cute Boston University guys standing around by the Charles River, and that dang tree root hadn't reached up and grabbed my foot, which caused me to do a near- perfect somersault... oh heck, the name suits me anyway).
Shortly after finishing my first 6 hour ultra (which happened about 7 months after finishing the Boston Marathon), I was severely injured by a patient at a psych hospital that I used to work at. I spent most of 1998 in pain and in bed, unable to move. I only barely escaped having to go under the knife. My personal life was a bloody mess, and it was all I could do to keep from falling into despair. The one thing that I wanted to do to take my mind off of it all was the very thing I could not do. Prior to that injury, I had actually managed 7 minute miles. I never got that fast again. (I'm lucky if I manage 9s right now.)
A year later, I spent a few days with Roy Benson and several other runners. It was a relief to hear from him that severe injuries like mine usually take about a year and a half to recover from, but that I'd be fine. Then we went out for a long run, and I was asked a very strange question. He asked how many 100 milers I'd run.
"Uh, none." I replied, baffled. "Why?"
"I've been watching you run, and you move just like they do. I think that's going to be your ideal distance."
Wait, my brain was saying. What? My body... me running... 100 miles? Ideal distance? Did he really say RUNNING and IDEAL DISTANCE in the same sentence about ME?!
Well yes, he had. There's one thing I've learned about training for long distance races and having significant others around, however: they get crabby about the training. (And good luck getting them to run with me.) Especially if it's for an ultra, and doubly so if you're as slow as me. When I say, "Okay, I'm going out for a run, I'll be back in 3 hours!" it's damn sure not when I'm in "peak mileage mode". They know that. Hence the crabbiness that inevitably sets in.
And hence why the 100 miler is still on my "to do" list.
Admittedly, getting into a car wreck last spring hasn't helped either:
So I'm starting over. Again. Though at least this time my personal life isn't a mess (on top of the other stuff), and I'm learning that my "heel striking running ways" is probably what held me back for so long as an adult distance runner. So I'm relearning how to run like a kid again too (although the Oklahoma grass is WAY meaner than any crabgrass I ever met in New England. Ever try running on sand burrs? I rest my case!) in huaraches (speaking of the traditional footwear of the Tarahumara, I guess I should point out that I found out about Barefoot Ted and his "minimalist footwear" only a few weeks before "Born To Run" even came out-- and I only found out about THAT from his blog, which I think is pretty funny. Certainly gave me more inspiration when I finally got a copy), and sometimes use a metronome to make sure I stay in range of the right cadence (that annoys the heck out of me-- the noise, not the cadence), and maybe, just maybe, I can go out for a 3 hour run someday and the mileage won't seem so laughable.
(Wow, if you managed to read the whole thing then you must have insomnia as bad as I do. :P)
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Thanks for all the great questions regarding technique. I thought it was time to post some video to further address this.
In the first video, you will see Margot demonstrate mid-foot strike. There have been a lot of questions as to what this is, what part of the foot is involved, etc. View this several times and then watch the second video of her running and putting the mid-foot strike in motion. Notice how relaxed she is and how everything is "inline" with her body. Also pay attention to her arm swing. I did not comment on this in the video, but she does an excellent job in keeping her elbows high and bent...driving the elbows back. You do not want to swing them too far foreward and/or across your body. Key note, there is a direct correlation between your arm swing and cadence. They will mirror each other.
Thanks to Margot for helping with the video. You can read her Blog post on her recovery from ankle surgery and congrats goes out to her for just qualifying for the World Triathlon Championships - E
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“All he wanted was to find one Natural Born Runner – someone who ran for the sheer joy, like an artist in the grip of inspiration” – Born to Run (pg 94).
As a coach, I am very focused on developing peak fitness for my runners, and it brings me joy to see athletes progress and achieve their goals. One of the major reasons I coach, and ultimately the most fulfilling reward, is helping athletes see beyond their self-imposed limitations and to think outside the box, not letting fear get in the way of training for something that almost seems impossible.
Athletes often ask me, “is anything really possible?” I did not know how to answer this at first, as I doubt my wife would think it is possible for her to make the Olympic marathon team and I would agree with her. So, my answer is this. I feel anything is possible that you dwell on and think about and that is driven by passion. When we are driven by the passion of running, we think about it a lot and those thoughts usually come in the form of daydreaming. When we daydream, we often think “big”, but then reality sets in (our thinking) and we reign in our goals to what we know is possible, and not very daring.
So, in celebration of the 200th member joining Running With Eric, I would like to challenge you and, more importantly, support you in achieving your “ultimate goal” for 2009-2010. I want you to think big. I want you to dwell on what would be an impossible goal for you and then commit to it. Most of the time, we think of all the reasons why something couldn’t happen, which will STOP us every time. Let’s not worry about whether your ultimate goal ever happens, let’s focus on committing to it and putting it into action. Taking action is the real reward and often times leads to greater results than originally intended.
Here is the plan. Next week, run your favorite trail or course and focus on the “MOJO” of running or the pure magic that running provides you. Look forward to, daydream, and just go run free. During your MOJO run, commit yourself to a far reaching run goal for 2009-2010. Take a camera with you and when “inspiration” hits, take a picture that captures the MOJO of running to you.
After the run, jump on Running With Eric and commit your goal to the team in the FORUM section under MOJO Run. Make it official not only to yourself, but to the team. You will not believe how empowering this will be…trust me. It might feel awkward to you and fearful or strange, but it will give you great energy and catapult your run passion to a new level. I also encourage you to post your inspirational picture on the PHOTOS page.
The deadline for your MOJO Goal is July 12th. On July 13th, I will randomly pick one person to receive a custom 3-month training plan to kick start their goal success.
This first contest is all about discovering the pure joy, magic, and passion of running – MOJO. I have run with Jenn Shelton, and she is one of the brightest new stars in the ultra running scene right now. She has MOJO and I am sure this is a picture she might submit…if she were a Running With Eric team member.
After all, this is what Running With Eric is all about – Natural Born Runners, running for the sheer joy, like an artist in the grips of inspiration!
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As many of the members of Running with Eric start diving into their Training Packages and get accustom to my run training methods, they soon have questions regarding strength training. So, I thought it was time to address this by posting a Strength Training Circuit that I often have my personal training clients perform during their training sessions.
With the popularity of Born To Run, I have also had many inquiries from a variety of athletes who have read the book and been inspired by our story. These inquires have included former professional foot ball players and many who say they still perform quite a bit of strength training in gym that includes traditional heavy weights to promote muscle mass. This traditional strength work attacks major prime movers and often leads to overloading bigger muscles and neglecting very important stabilizing muscles. This bulk and muscle mass if also very inhibiting for a runner and leads to muscle imbalance and inefficiency.
It is more beneficial to drop the heavy weights and work on developing equilibruim within the body, which promotes healthy movement patterns.
This strength circuit will give you an idea of this approach, while providing you a great, simple and time effective workout to perform without sacrificing your run training time.
Perform this sequence as a circuit, repeating 1-2 times based on your fitness level and time commitment. This can be done several times throughout the week.Wall Squat: 10-20. Progress to 20 reps and work on range of motion. These are hard, do not force it, just stretch it.FB Push-ups: 10 reps. Do not exceed 10, just make 10 hard for you by how slow you move.
FB Crunch and Reach: 10 reps. Do not exceed 10, just make 10 hard for you by how slow you move.
FB Knees to Chest: 10 reps. Work slow coming down. Progress to doing FB Toes to Chest.
FB Prone Rocker: 10-15 reps. Do not exceed 15, make them harder by moving ball further away from you.
Knee Circles: 10 each direction.
FB Lunge: 20 reps. Start with using poles and progress to using no poles and holding your arms behind your head. These are very hard, PERFORM them, do not just rep it out.SEE THE VIDEO SECTION FOR EXERCISE VIDEOS FOR EACH OF THESE.Read more…
