Weight training

Back in 2005 when I decided to join the gym and dedicate myself to becoming fit, I started out doing what most people do when they join the gym, I started lifting weights. Perhaps it was because I was approaching 40 that I knew I needed a strategy. Or the fact that my job no longer consisted of me "swinging a hammer", which kept me in much better shape then my lifestyle choices would have otherwise. I knew that I needed to be active to prevent myself from getting "out of shape" and feeling the age I was about to become. So, I joined the gym. I had belonged to a gym for years. I payed a lot of money the first 2 years and then was able to keep the membership up for some ridiculously low price, like $25 per year. But, I would go maybe once or twice every two years or so and that was it. It never stuck. I vowed that this time would be different. 

looking back, I guess there were a few reasons why I was able to start a routine that eventually turned into a lifestyle that I would never want to abandon. It wasn't that I had more will power. I believe that will power is rarely what's missing, I looked at the endeavor with intrigue. I wanted to learn about fitness and learn the science behind it. I bought a book and made clear goals. I had my workouts and I followed them. It became about that, not getting muscles or really being fit. Of course that was a great benefit from it and it's what started it, but you really have to enjoy it for it to become a lifestyle. It did enjoy it and it made me feel really good. 

I worked out lifting weights for about a year, when my daughter Brittany asked me if I would be interested in doing a 5k race. I had never been a runner and in fact HATED running my entire life. I had major leg surgery when I was 8 years old and aside from the pain from that, I was always told (and it's true) that I run funny. But, one of the things that I was doing as part of my workouts, was run/walking on the treadmill. I had gotten up to about 15 minutes straight by this time, so the thought of a 5k (once I figured out how far that was) didn't seem THAT out of the question. So, I told Brittany that I would do it with her. 

I remember the first time running went from something I dreaded to something I loved and WANTED to do. I had just finished 2 miles or so on the treadmill. I was sitting on one of those fitness balls and I was dripping sweat and my body felt so relaxed, like I had just gotten out of a jacuzzi. I've always had back problems and used to pop Tylenol like it was candy, just to get relief and to feel like I was feeling right then. I felt amazing and I wanted to ALWAYS feel like that. And it was natural. 

The rest, as they say, is history. I fell in love with running and have done a ton of races, did some triathlons, including Ironman, ran across America etc... But it didn't come without a little pain. I went through all the usual growing pains that come from your body adapting to the new stresses that come from running. Shin splints, Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, etc... but I worked through them and look forward to (hopefully) running until the day I die. 

But wait! There's just one problem with all of this. That day that I fell in love with running? Just like a teenager falling in love, I dumped everything else in favor of it! Sure, I spent a little time with the weights for a few months. throwing it a bone, doing just enough so I felt like I was doing something. But as my races got longer and my running training schedule got more intense, the less I cared about any type of strength training. Who needed it when running made me feel so good? When I started doing triathlons, at least I was getting more of a balanced workout because of the swimming, but still, when it came time to strength train, I would gloss over it. I just didn't want to train with weights. I hated IT like I used to hate running. 

Too much of a good thing is not good and even though I have tried to convince myself that running is all I need, I know better. I have not been overall fit and am in dire need of strength training. So, I have taken these last 2 weeks that I have been recovering from the marathon to get reacquainted and fall back in love with WEIGHT TRAINING! 

And, I am happy to report, that with a few helpful tools, it is working and we are rekindling our relationship :) 

One of the things that has been really helpful is to have a program to follow. I have tried several apps to help me with this in this past and didn't really like any of them. This time, on Brittany's recommendation, I purchased iPersonalTrainer for the iPhone. It's an amazing app and it's only .99 cents. I look forward to training my 5 days a week and I can really feel the effects of the workouts. Also, they built a new gym near my studio in Burbank and it is a real pleasure to work out there. 

I guess what has become obvious to me (again), is what I preach to everyone else. I needed to make weight training fun for me again. It wasn't that I was lacking will power, it was that I didn't give it enough attention and find ways to make it interesting so I would WANT to do it. Now, hopefully I have done that enough that it will stick and it will be something I'll never toss aside in favor of a "new love". I think I have room in my life for both and I'll be better for it. 

Paul

Some thoughts on training

I've been analyzing my finish time in Sunday's marathon and (for once), trying to nail down what I did RIGHT! I've already talked about the fact that I followed Hal Gigdon's training program more carefully and did ALMOST all my speed work and didn't simply run slower to avoid injury. However, there was something else that was different this time around. I didn't overtrain! I did follow Hal Higdon's advanced marathon training plan, but I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the plan I was following lacked an 8-10 mile run midweek, like the plan I had followed before had. There were no mid week runs over 5 miles.  I'm certainly ok with doing higher mileage, but I'm thinking that this allowed me to do my speed work more effectively. I also refrained from doing a bunch of extra cycling. I did weight train, but I really did try and save my energy and focus for my MAIN goal which was a sub 4 marathon. 

Now, armed with this feedback, I am looking forward to my next goal and FOCUSING on achieving it. One thing I will say though, my legs are still very sore and I have only run one mile since the race. The lower inside of my right shin STILL hurts, so,  I do see the potential for injury.  I will have to keep that in mind as I shoot for faster times. In any event, I am excited! 

I think I will be doing The OC half Marathon on May 6th, where I would like to do around 1:45. My PR is 1:48:17. I think that is doable, given my splits in the full where I was definitely holding back because it was a full marathon. The half is and has always been my favorite distance so I am looking forward to really nailing it. My Niece Stephanie and her Husband Jake will be doing the 5k as their first race (which I am very excited about, and hope to be the first of many for them) along with Brittany doing the half. Then, most likely the Long Beach Marathon on October 7th, where I will try and take everything I learned from Surf City and try and better my time. These three races make up the Beach City Challenge and earns you a cool medal, so why not? I love these races anyway! Brittany has committed to all three and I am looking very forward to doing them with her. It is great to be excited about doing races agin. I realize how much I really miss it! 

I am also registered for the Malibu Creek 50k on March 3rd. When I registered, I had thought I would be working until mid March, then have a little time off. The plan was to do my tour (whether running or cycling) from Blaine, Washington to San Diego, CA as soon as I was done with this job. If I was to run it, I figured it would take about two months. I have been also giving serious consideration to cycling it and making it more of a laid back trip where I could have the flexibility to see all the great breweries along that route and see more things and meet more people along the way. I got a call a couple weeks back and got offered to shoot Motocross starting in May, with a couple shoots at the end of April. I shot Supercross for three seasons and love the gig, the people and of course the travel, so I took it. This changes my plans a little for a Canada to Mexico trip. Hmm... what to do? I could fit a cycling trip into that window, but I would have to back out of the 50k since I would need to leave in a couple of weeks. I will be done with the job I am working on, BUT, I started thinking about my training for the upcoming races. Yes, I would be riding the whole time, but it is certainly not the same thing. I don't want to just run these races, I want to better my times and really focus. I've also been getting more dedicated to strength training and muscle building and riding a bike from brewery to brewery WILL be a bit of a setback in that area as well. SO... I have a lot to think about. Right now, it is just trying to prioritize and decide what appeals to me the most. I would also be doing the ride (running it does seem out of the question at this point, given the time constraint) in the rainiest season. I haven't decided yet, I will just keep an open mind and let circumstances point me in the right direction. Either way, I have great things to look forward to and that in itself is a nice change.

Paul

Finally.... A SUB 4 MARATHON!!!!

Boy am I happy to finally be able to write this post. I finished the Surf City Marathon in 3:56:16!!

I went into the race hoping to finish in under 4 hours, but told myself that I would be happy just to PR. Well, I did both and PR'd by over 10 minutes. I couldn't have been happier.

The wonderful weekend started off on Friday, when my race buddy (and daughter) Brittany and I went to the expo. We love Expos and spent over 3 hours going to every booth, checking out the merchandise and trying all the samples. Unfortunately, our favorite vendor, Dirty Red Gear, wasn't there so I wasn't able to buy Brittany anything from her, but we did see some other cool stuff like this.

Which is something I say, but wouldn't wear. And, this

Which is something we both say, in fact it was printed on Brittany's bib for the race. She didn't end up getting any clothes but we did get new race belts from Hippie Runner and they worked great. They were lightweight and didn't bounce during the race. Yeah, we really do love the expos!

Leaving the expo, we had someone take a picture of us at the entrance and as we were going back to my truck, I looked into my window and caught this.

The inside of my truck was dark but the reflection in the side view mirror was glowing. It was phenomenal! Even better than what I captured, as when I finally got the door open and lined up the shot, the sun had set a little more and it was glowing a little less intense than it was a minute earlier. Nevertheless, it was a magical moment and a precursor of the weekend to come.

My start time for the full was at 6:30 and Brittany's was 8:10 for the half. With almost a full 2 hours between our start times, I wasn't sure if Brittany wanted to go that early with me, but she said that she wouldn't want to sleep in on race morning anyway, so my Dad was kind enough to drive us both down to the race to avoid parking issues and we got to enjoy a perfect morning together.

We got there so early, it was dark and there was hardly anyone there yet.

A few minutes before the start.

I was very nervous for the race. I trained right on my paces and managed to stay injury free, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve my goal. In the past, I know now, that I had trained too slow. I had had injuries and started doing low heart rate training. Well, too much of that makes you... slow! So, I really stuck to my prescribed paces for a 4 hour marathon and this time would have no excuses.

I also decided that instead of going out at a 9:09 pace and trying to maintain that throughout the race (putting a lot of pressure on myself in those last 5 or 6 miles to not slow down) I would do what I know is not recommended and go out a little faster and bank a little time. I was pretty confident I could do this since I did my last 22 mile run at 9:11 pace and that was a training run and felt fine at the end.


Here are my splits with heart rate.

Mile 1 8:41 167
Mile 2 8:25 179
Mile 3 8:25 179
Mile 4 8:38 181
Mile 5 8:19 179
Mile 6    8:25 180
Mile 7    8:16 183
Mile 8 8:21 182
Mile 9 8:35 180
Mile 10 8:10 178
Mile 11 8:27 177
Mile 12 8:33 177
Mile 13 8:23 178
Mile 14 8:17 180
Mile 15 8:33 181
Mile 16 8:30 180
Mile 17 9:03 178
Mile 18 9:30 175
Mile 19 9:25 174
Mile 20 9:56 173
Mile 21 9:49 174
Mile 22 9:23 175
Mile 23 10:10 173
Mile 24 10:33 173
Mile 25 10:31 174
Mile 26 10:13 175
Finish 9:27 179

My overall average heart rate was 177, compared to previous marathons, this was 2-3 bpm lower, so I definitely don't feel like I went out too fast. I slowed at the end mainly due to fatigue in my legs, not overall fatigue and when I finished, I felt great everywhere except my legs. I felt much better than I had in any prior marathon. I had figured that if I could get to mile 20 by about 2:50 minutes, I would have an hour and ten minutes to do the final 6.2 miles. I got to the 20 mile mark at 2:53 and felt comfortable with that. I kept doing math in my head and knew what pace I had to maintain to come in under 4 hours. My legs were feeling heavy and I walked the water stations the last few miles and did a gel and some shot bloks that were provided by the race. By 3:30 I only had 2 1/2 miles left and was pretty sure I was going to make it. I did get a slight cramp in my left calf that luckily didn't turn into a full cramp, then about 5 minutes later, got one in my right calf. I thought, that might be the only thing that might actually stop me from my goal. Luckily it didn't. 

Running all of those "marathons" across the country really helped me mentally in the race. It has erased the stigma of 26.2 miles in my head. Yes, there are all the physical things that happen when running 26.2 at this faster pace, but I have run more miles so many times that I could tell myself that it was "no big deal". It worked enough to keep me going and not slow too badly. I only had one pace group pass me and that was the 3:55 pace group. I have had pace groups pass me in past races and it is so demoralizing. Watching your dream go past you literally sucks! But with a 1/2 mile left to go at 3 hours and 50 minutes, I was sure the 4:00 pace group wouldn't pass me this time. It was the best half mile of my life. I enjoyed knowing that I was finally going to break 4 hours and let myself smile and enjoy the crowd. I opted to not listen to any music this race as well. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it, but I sure did not miss it. I felt more present and was able to be in my head more, mostly in a good way. 

My Father came out and cheered us on at the finish. Brittany finished the half in 2:28:33 and her goal was 2:30. Mission accomplished for her as well! We met up with my Dad and went to the beer garden and met some friends, then, met a coworker of Brittany's who organizes the cycling volunteers and had a great conversation with them over some Stone IPA. Wow! what an epic day!

Now that I have finally ran a sub 4 marathon, I need to come up with another goal. I would need to shave 26 minutes off of that time to qualify for Boston. Somehow, that seems a little less out of reach now!

Paul

Good training

My training for the Surf City marathon has been going fantastic! It feels so good to have all of my runs in my calendar and have a specific goal that I am working towards. It makes me a little disappointed in myself that I sputtered along for so many months. But, I am back at it now and I must say, I have never felt this prepared for a race since I started racing. My paces are all on track for my goal time. Looking back through my stats leading up to all of my other races, I am consistently close to a minute per mile faster. That's a good thing. When I first started running, I was plagued (like most people) with some injuries that threatened to sideline me for awhile. That really bummed me out and I discovered low heart rate training. Which basically gets you to slow down a bit, which in turn, tends to mitigate future injury.

I believe in low heart rate training, but like anything, TOO MUCH of a good thing is bad. You HAVE to mix in speed work or else you become, well... slow! It worked out ok for me because I needed that huge aerobic base for my cross country run, but, it wasn't that great for races. Now, I am mixing in speed work, tempo runs, hill training, Lasso 800's etc. and everything is working beautifully. I did my last 20 miler at a 10:01 avg. which is much better than my previous long runs leading up to my marathons. My tempo runs have been very comfortable at around 8:30's and it was effortless to do a sub 9 the last mile of my 12 on Sunday. All very good signs to shoot for a sub 4:00 marathon. Boy wouldn't that be great? But, I will be happy with a PR of 4:07 or less.

Now, all this running has got me thinking about another adventure. Of course running across Europe holds a great appeal for me. But, realistically, that may be a few years off due to logistics. So, maybe something a little more close to home. Possibly the southbound route from Canada to Mexico, or maybe Maine to Key West. An east coast run sounds like so much fun! I have become so fascinated with history that my own little tour of the 13 colonies would be amazing. We'll see, but it is very much on my mind and when I do a big run this time, it will be coming from a happy place. Not running away from anything, but towards something. Meeting great people and seeing beautiful places. That sounds like something to look forward to!

Goals are good!

Yes, goals are good! It's funny, I kind of forgot this for the last year or so. It was hard to get excited for a race, but once I committed to doing the Surf City Marathon, everything just sort of fell into place. My training has been going very well. I have a goal time in mind and my paces have been right on target for my projected time. It has been nice to be training at higher paces as opposed to the slower paces that I was training at in preparation for my run across America and the couple +50 milers I did earlier this year. I have a 5k this Saturday that I am running with Brittany and I am very excited to be able to do races with her, now that she is a California girl again :)

I would love, of course, to PR the 5k. I'm not sure if I can do better than a 23:13, but I'm gonna try and it's gonna hurt. I get the most nervous for 5k's because there is no time to settle in. It's uncomfortable the whole way at close to my max heart rate. I prefer half marathons, but there's nothing like a 5k to see where you are really at.

I have retired the Vibrams for the time being and have been running in these.

The New Balance Minimalis shoes. After running so many miles in the Vibrams, I needed to find a very light shoe and these are working great. There's no doubt the Vibrams helped my form tremendously and switching to these shoes has made running a faster pace seem almost easy. And now, I can step on rocks and I don't feel it. That's a good thing!

So, I have taken my own advice, registered for races and have very specific training runs in my calendar. All is right with the world.

Paul

Surf City Marathon

Have you ever had such a bad headache that once it was gone, you felt better than If you had never had it? That describes, pretty well, how I feel right now.

Chris and I finished the run one year ago on Wednesday. It's been an interesting, and quite honestly, a tough year. Ive struggled with setting a new goal, which for me and most people reading this, I'm sure, is a must to keep my sanity. My only real goal for the last year has been to see how much of the beer, that I've been brewing, I can drink every night. Of course, I'm pretty good at hunkering down and achieving the goals that I set for myself..... this probably hasn't been the best thing to spend my time on.

Depression!

Since I have been back from the run, I have become FASCINATED with history, particularly American history. Seeing so many amazing places across this country, especially east of the Mississippi, has given me a voracious appetite to learn as much as I can about our past as a nation. In my studies, I have been especially interested in the Lewis and Clark expedition. For obvious reasons, I am intrigued by their story of crossing this country. It's easy to draw a parallel between theirs and our journey, although, I will concede that even though the "Galt" and the baby jogger and Chris's bike and trailer were harsh conditions, they didn't compare to what Lewis and Clark encountered on their journey west. But what is no doubt the same no matter when and how you embark on such a long trip, is how you are forced to look inward and confront yourself, sometimes what you see is good, sometimes it's not so good. Also, the things that everyone gets accustomed to, the daily routine where your own little world, with it's trivial details, becomes drastically stripped away and suddenly, it's hard not to see the bigger picture. The TV doesn't matter, who's ON the TV, REALLY doesn't matter. How many toys you have or how nice your clothes are, just doesn't seem important. It's hard to step back into "regular life" where those priorities are crammed down everyone's throat 24/7. It's easy to feel like an alien at times.
I've told the story of all the people that tried to hand me money when I was pushing the baby jogger. They thought I was homeless. It makes me think sometimes. "Homeless"?? It has such an automatic negative connotation to it. I'm not talking about freezing, starving people here, with children, looking for shelter. But I would venture to guess that there a a good number of people who CHOOSE to be "homeless". They are "dropping out" if you will, from the rat race that has been created as a result of the industrial revolution. I've seen a documentary on this and there were several people who said it. They don't want to play the game. And I understand. The rat race is a hard thing to go back to and it's hard not to ask "why?" Even though it was way back in 1809, I wonder if these weren't some of the feelings Lewis and Clark had? Sadly, Meriwether Lewis shot himself. Luckily, I haven't been that depressed.

Selfish

I've talked about it before, I believe that the thing that I needed to discover about myself, and I DID, in a REALLY BIG WAY! Was how selfish I've been my entire life.
One of the hardest things for me, has always been to find balance. In this case, it has been about being strong, being true to yourself, not letting people get in your way, being goal oriented and accomplishing anything at all costs!! But, in doing so, I realized out on the run, that I have hurt many people over the years, not caring how they've felt, only caring about myself. It wasn't malicious, it's that my priorities were wrong. I thought that the ends justified the means and that if I could achieve everything that I wanted, I could provide everything to the people that I loved. There's that saying "The road to ruin is paved with good intentions".

It's easy to only think of yourself. More so now, with the "Me Generation" and our reality shows, facebook feeds and twitter feeds all about US. Even my blog, is mostly about me. We have slogans "If it feels good do it!" Or my new favorite "Follow your heart". Which the more I think about it, is just an excuse for people to do whatever they want, often ignoring any commitment they have made. Like they need to do whatever it is that they are being lead to do by some inner voice. I've always listened to that voice inside me, but I've also argued with it when I need to. When we have people like Kim Kardashian (who I have no kind words for) saying that she "followed her heart" and filed for divorce 72 days after getting married. Clearly, not everyone should be listening to their heart.

Of course, listening to your heart can be a really good thing. Again, it's all about balance. As it's never good to hurt someone else. It's also not good to hurt yourself. In my pursuit of being "selfless" I managed to lose myself. It's been nobody's fault but my own. I stopped thinking about me and what I wanted. I stopped communicating with friends. I stopped dreaming about the future. I stopped living, basically. I was waiting.... waiting for something that I had no control over. I've always told my daughters that the best way you can be good for someone, is to be the best person you could be. Here I was, not taking my own advice. Finding that balance is hard. For me, it is being strong, motivated, goal oriented and driven, without hurting anyone in the process.

So, why am I laying this all out in my blog? Because I know we all deal with this in some form or another. If you do endurance sports, you've no doubt wondered if all of your training is taking too much time away from your family. Or if the hobbies you do are worth the time you devote to them, etc. My conclusion is to exercise "rational self interest". I think of it this way, if a plane is going down, and you have a baby next to you, it's better to take the first breath from the oxygen mask, so you can keep giving oxygen to the baby. That's not being selfish, that's balance!

So, I've finally started thinking about me again and registered for my first big race since being back. I'm doing the Surf City Marathon on February 5th. Pretty cool since this was my first Marathon back in 2007. It feels great to be training for a race and have a training schedule in my calendar! It also feels good to be me again, this time, hopefully keeping all of my priorities in order.

What's next?

What do you do after you've done something you never thought you could do? That is the question I have been asking myself for the past 8 months. For me, that thing was running across the country. It was such an epic journey for me that most things pale in comparison now. It has been hard to get excited about training for any races. Of course, after running such long slow distances, training to get faster at any distance is a formidable enough challenge. I could train specifically for any distance and focus on time. That would be good, but so far I just haven't been able to commit to a race. I did do a 56 miler around a park near me in March and trained to do 100 miles around the same park in April. The park is 4 miles around and it served as a good place to do it for logistical reasons. I had my own little aid station in my truck and 4 miles is a perfect interval. The problem was, BOREDOM! My 100 mile attempt ended in disappointment when I stopped at 14 loops, doing 56 miles once again. Physically, I could have gone on, but the motivation wasn't there. I guess you can't underestimate the threat of an official DNF or just the existence of a good old fashioned finish line. Perhaps even the lack of support from spectators or actual aid stations played a part. I would definitely like to do a 100 miler in the near future, but it will definitely be an organized race! Speaking of long distance races or "Extreme Marathons" if you'd like to call them, I took part in episode of Runner's Roundtable in April. That was fun and there were some interesting stories told of some really cool adventures.

As far as training goes, I have been averaging about 25 miles a week, which is on the low side for me, along with about 2-3 hours of cycling a week. I have started weight training which feels great! Running all of those miles before, left little time for lifting and now the body feels much stronger than I did with my emaciated upper body from my run. Oh, I miss triathlon training! Perhaps another Ironman.....

On the run, we toured several craft breweries and since then, my love for great American made beer has turned into a love for brewing. I brewed my first extract beer in January and just recently started brewing from "all grain". As with any hobby, there are many things to learn and many more things to buy! There is a real science to brewing beer and it is fascinating, all the many aspects of it. And of course very gratifying when you end up with a great finished product. In this case, a closet full of my favorite types of beer! It's a good thing I run so much :)

I've been working on writing my book about the run. I have about 18,000 words, which is 8 chapters in my case. Talk about tough! My original reasons for the run slowly transformed to a spiritual journey in which I confronted many things about myself and my life. There was a lot of time to think during those 120 days of running and what I learned about myself has motivated me to share in my book, what I believe were the reasons that I needed to do the run in the first place and what I learned about myself in the process. Like the memories that came flooding back while running through the desert in winter or through the Great Allegeheny Passage in fall, writing things down about your past can be an emotional experience. It is very cathartic, however and I hope that it is inspiring. AND, I hope that it doesn't suck!

So, the goal now, is to come up with a goal! One that will excite, inspire passion and preferably scare the crap out of me. I don't think there is such a thing as being "fearless". It's doing things in spite of your fear. And that is where I am most comfortable and feel most alive. I'm looking forward to it!!