Monthly Archives: October 2016
THE MAN WITH THE PLAN…
Last week I posted about my new running coach James and his strategy of kicking me outside of my comfort zone. Well, I got to execute this strategy for the first time in a race with this past weekend’s Lexus LaceUp Half Marathon.
Let me lay down the game plan and tell you how it went.
The goal of this race was not to shoot for a PR. In fact, James didn’t even give me a finish time to shoot for at all. Rather, I had three things to focus on…
- Change my run/walk ratio from a 4:1 to a 9:1 (this would cut my walk breaks in half).
- Start slow and increase my pace with each mile… with a speed bump at mile 10 if I was feeling good.
- Keep my overall effort at around an 8-8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.
ZONING OUT…
Let’s go outside this, shall we.
This week, just a brief post about a particular “zone.”
I’m not talking about “time zones,” those things that drive us insane with jet lag when flying cross-country.
Nor am I talking about “The Twilight Zone,” that crazy place stemming from the marvelous mind of Rod Serling and the reason why you should always have two pairs of reading glasses… just in case of the apocalypse (TZ fans know what I’m talking about).
Nope, today I’m talking about a much more popular and destructive zone… The Comfort Zone. Read the rest of this entry
THE “BYE” WEEK…
This past weekend I experienced a pair of “byes” and it gave me a strong moment of clarity to reaffirm why I love distance running and races.
Let me ‘splain.
My main college team, the Wisconsin Badgers (Go Bucky) were on a bye this past Saturday and while I did keep tabs on my other alma mater Florida State (Go ‘Noles), I kind of felt disinterested in college football for a weekend. It was similar to how I didn’t really care so much about pro football last weekend when my Green Bay Packers were off. A little bit of out of sight, out of mind.
Now also this past weekend I didn’t run a race. I’ve got a half marathon in two weeks, the Lexus LaceUp Ventura Half Marathon, so I was just doing a long run in preparation. Believe it or not, most weekends I don’t run races (only about 12 out of 52 weekends annually am I actually on a bling hunt). Read the rest of this entry
“HAVE WE GOT A VIDEO”?
Just a quick post today and a nice last bit o’ runner’s swag from the REVEL Big Cottonwood Half Marathon.
For each REVEL race, you can add photos (with captions) from your individual run into a video montage highlighting the entire event. The gang at REVEL puts it all together and sends it off to you to share with family and friends.
So I chose a quartet of images that best showed off my race face from amongst the whole batch of race photos. As you know, not every race photo is a winner.
And this weekend the video went up, showing off Big Cottonwood’s beautiful course and the spectacle surrounding the 5th running of the this great race.
Now if you look closely at the 1:55 mark of the video, you’ll get to see me clomp across the finish line. Enjoy… and Run on!
…PUT ME IN COACH!
Coach Coachy McCoach.
One thing that many notable athletes have in common is a great coach/trainer behind them.
- Tom Brady has Bill Belichick.
- Rocky Balboa had Mickey.
- And “Daniel-san” had Mr. Miyagi.
Yeah, I know the last two are movie references. Still works.
Basically, any athlete (real or fictional) can benefit from the wise words of a good coach, someone who can identify your shortcomings and give you advice to help you become better at what you do.
I wholeheartedly agree. And that is why after seven years of running, I’ve finally decided to hire an individual running coach.
While I’ve certainly improved since the first day I laced up my running shoes back in the fall of 2008, I feel I’ve kind of plateaued on my own in the last few years and some outside help might be just what I need to keep getting better and stay motivated. Read the rest of this entry
Tripping The Kenyans 