Your Handbrake On Success...

Like runners, success comes in many guises, shapes, and speed.

Many put down their success in running/endurance/athletics to performance – podium, result or improvement. Yet, many don’t start running/triathlon with the ambition to win, or place, or improve times. Their goals are often about health and fitness, and can be deeply personal. Their reasons to continue to run often differ. Ultimately, all runners – with consistent effort and regular running – improve. 

Improvement comes in many guises too:  in how easy a run or a hill or a given pace feels; how often a runner gets out the door;  how much easier it is to talk when running; learning stuff about their body, running & fitness; buying new workout, active-wear or training clothing and shoes with passion and pride; feeling more confident; losing weight; feeling better; recovering quicker, being less tired and less sore. All are qualitative markers of improving as a runner. 
And are distinctly yours too. 

The quantitative markers – going further, and going faster – are easier to measure. Yet, they are not for everyone, and soon fade as improvement is not linear, nor ongoing and forever. 
The strategies that worked for your first year or two will not work as effectively as you accumulate your running miles, experience and time. And, there will aways be someone faster and sleeker, with brighter and newer gear, who can run further easier.

Many consider "physical fitness” the most important aspect of improving. “Fitness” is an important part of performance. Ongoing performance improvement is as much about "mental fitness” and preparation as it is about the physical.

Many create (mental) barriers, challenges and road-blocks for themselves and train and run (and race) with the hand-brake on. 

You see it in their habits - movement, training, lifestyle and recovery habits; their body-language; you hear it in their self-talk, their out–talk, their words, their message; you sense it in their company, and around others. They often look back on what hey could’ve, should’ve or would’ve, yet didn’t. 

They can obsess about “can’t”, when they really mean “won’t”, “didn’t” when they mean “wouldn’t".

They continue to do what they've always done, yet wonder why they don't improve.
A strength becomes a weakness.

They've become their own greatest barrier to success.

Ask yourself: “how do I think and talk about myself as a runner/triathlete/athlete?”, “how do I think and talk about training and racing?”, “do I think and talk about problems, barriers, weakness and the past, or do I think, talk and act about them as opportunities and paths to improve?”, “am I a I can’t’ or ‘I won’t’ or ‘I haven’t, but will’ thinker?”

Are my thoughts and words destructive or constructive, reflexive or reflective, reactive or proactive?

Do I do (train, race, recover) and say and think the same things, yet expect different results?

Your actions  - your habits of movement, your habits of mind, and your habits of, at and about training – will determine what (if anything) you do about those answers, and your future success.

Go. Think better. Talk better.

Take the handbrake off.

Run better.

Succeed.

Running addiction drug found...

You started running for a reason. Perhaps two.
They're more than likely different to the reasons that you continue to run.

You run. I run. Often separately, yet as a group...as one.

Some say that running can be addictive. Of course, the scientists will pontificate that it's probably not the running you become addicted to, but the neuro-chemicals produced by "...frequent and violent agitation of the body" (James Fixx 1977). 

Apparently, regularly searching for those neuro-chemcial goodies is a key to what keeps you putting one foot in front of the other.

I re-read a 2003 New Scientist article by a pontificator today. It was about addiction to (high sugar, high-fat, high calorie) fast-food, also known as take-out or take-away food. I'm about to come-down from a successful 2013 New Year's Resolution...to eat (at least) one Kit-Kat a week.

I found myself answering the following questions, as posed by DSM-IV guide of the American Psychiatric Association for substance addiction (with my re-emphasis):

1. do you take it larger amounts or over a longer period than intended (do you often run more than planned, or more than you should)?
2. do you have a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control use (particularly on easy days, unloading blocks, or a taper)?
3. a great deal of time spent seeking the substance out, using it or recovering from it's effects?
4. important social, occupational or recreational activities given up or reduced because of substance use?
5. continue use despite knowledge of harmful consequences (particularly when ill, or injured)?
6. increased tolerance with use (experience a need to do more?)
7. withdrawal symptoms?

With many injured runners more worried about not being able to run rather than concern for the injury itself, it's not difficult to see addicted runners easily meet the minimum of 3 of the above.

Allowing myself to pontificate it's easy to see the guilty party: u-runethanine,2.

Whether addicted or not, I wish you all the best for a faster, further, fitter running New Year.

8 Keys to Giving Hills a Hiding...

Just like runners, run training sessions come in all shapes and sizes. So do hills. To become a better, faster and more resilient runner or triathlete, learn to use hills to your advantage - in training (and racing).

Here are my 8 keys to making hills yours...

 1) run hills -  ‘avoidance is rarely a path to success’

 2) plan them – execute a 4-8 week block of hill-related training before your race-specific phase, then only a maintenance session once every 7/10/14 days. Juxtapose your cycle and/or other (leg) training; hill running helps it

 3) run by feel and heed Mother Nature’s lessons – leave the HRM and GPS at home
  

4) prepare your body – with a 2-6 week block of strength training beforehand (2 days/week); or, if you're a seasoned runner, with twice a week for 2 weeks of easier rolling hills or 5-6x100m hill stride(r)s 

 5) prepare your mind  - ‘run over hills, not up them’. See hills as opportunity, not obstacle; as a challenge, not dread; as character and strength building, not effort

6) mix it up  - vary the hills and terrain you run.  Don’t risk getting better at running that one and only hill at the expense of becoming a stronger, more complete runner-triathlete. Use: long mountain walks; cross-country, trail and rolling hills workouts of 45-90minutes; tempo long climbs of 30-45 minutes; solid climbs in intervals of 3-5 minutes; sand-dune efforts of 20-45secs; and, hill strides (70-85%) and sprints (>85%) of 8-15 seconds. Use appropriate sessions to meet the objectives of each phase of your plan.

7) watch the gradient: above 6-8% and you begin to climb, less and you can still run with good technique and form

8) learn and refine technique for running up, over and down hills, and for how running over a hill differs from climbing a hill

     There is nothing new about running hills: champions, improvers, and beginners have and will continue to use them. 

     The trick is in getting them to work for you...

I've GOT the formula to success...

I've been around running a long time.

Although I ran and ran as a kid - sometimes away from things, other times to things - I remember the day, place and time I officially became a runner. That was 32 years and some 835,000 kms ago.

I've learnt a few things in that time - read, listened too, heard, seen, attempted, tried, discarded, remembered, reworked, remodelled, reshaped, retried, and nearly retired. I still learn.

The formula to success in running is something I have always chased, and will continue to do. Not so much for myself, yet for others: those beginning or re-starting, those looking to get better - to go faster and further with more ease; for the experienced and the pros; for those returning from ill-health, for those wanting to prevent and/or come back from injury; and those I coach, mentor and consult.

And, for those prepared to listen, and act -  to learn quickly from what has taken me nearly a life-time to come to know, understand, value, deconstruct and reconstruct, contextualise and apply.

Until this morning, in reviewing some old coaching notes of mine, I'd thought that the formula to success in running was easy, simple, yet not complete.  I call it the GOT formula

• Get Out, Train
• Get Out There - now, wind, rain, hills, snow, sand, heat
• Go Often, Training
• Get Off The couch
• Get Over iT

You GET the idea, right?

Well, how about this then? From The Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport, the proceedings of an International Seminar on the Art & Science of Coaching (December 1979)...

 To those who do have "the answer" or "the formula" good luck to you.  I'm still working on it, and have GOT to get back to it!

Becoming a runner - thoughts on getting going

Running is the world’s best form of exercise and boasts millions of participants worldwide.

The beauty of running is its simplicity – it can be done just about anywhere by anyone anytime, and at little expense.

Running builds fitness, increases health, promotes a healthy body, improves your state of mind, and makes you more energetic & productive. But this you've probably already heard, read or know.

Running also has the power to rewire your brain, and change your life…setting you on a path, or trail, beyond what you’ve dreamt possible.

So running is a good thing. Starting running can be a challenge: energy, time, past experience, perceptions. Here are some thoughts to color those perceptions...

Become a runner…

Becoming a runner… is about making the decision to start, and letting your feet to the talking and take you on a journey to the future. It isn’t about what you have or haven’t done in the past, nor what you do now.

Becoming a runner… is about moving forward - one foot after the after, step-by-step, breath-by-breath. It’s not about what gear you’ve got, how you look, nor how far or how fast you go.

Becoming a runner… is about doing what you can when you can, and juggling running as a new part of your life – as small or as big as you let it. It isn’t about the ability to focus on a single thing, nor to pretend that the inevitable distractions (and disappointments) of life don’t trip you up.

Becoming a runner... is about getting out the door and, yes, making some effort and taking some time - only to have that energy and quality-time come back more-fold. It’s not about blood, sweat, tears and puking, and reaching the depths of your capacity.

Becoming a runner... is about some is better than none. It isn’t about committing endless hours, running everyday of the week, nor having to keep up with anyone.

To become a runner … you only need the desire to start, a little fire in the belly, and a willingness to share a journey with, alongside, amongst and, and maybe later, against others.

Become a runner. Start running!

Matt Fitzgerald's Iron War - the BIGgest race

Matt Fitzgerald’s Iron War is a terrific book, a great story, and a prologue of man all in one.

It’s the story of a BIG race in more ways than one.

Iron War is a book that Matt poured his heart and soul into to tell a story. In that sense it is a book by a man.  The story is about two men and a race - a storyline built over many years, thousands of kilometres, and countless emotions, and culminated in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon Championship in 1989. In this sense it is a story of two competitors and one intuitive, defining moment. Ultimately, Iron War portrays the journey of man – in a world that is becoming smaller and smaller, yet less communicative – how collective and individual meaning can be sought through athletic and endurance endeavours.

Matt’s relationship with writing and his dad, and fitness, running and triathlons has a long and impressive history. Matt uses his skills and a variety of resources – personal interviews and conversations, magazine articles, books, and radio and television productions – to put you in the shoes of two of triathlon forefathers and champions as they develop as athletes and mature into men.

Iron War covers the history and development of triathlon – and it’s movers and shakers – in detail I’ve neither seen nor heard elsewhere. Matt put’s to rest some of the myths regarding the inaugural Ironman triathlon, highlights the evolution of the USTS through, firstly, San Diego, and how though these, the popularity, marketing and organization of triathlon events sowed the seeds for what is now a worldwide recreational and competitive phenomenon.

Matt artfully tells the story of Iron War’s two protagonists – Dave ‘The Man’ Scott, and Mark ‘Grip’ Allen. He dives into their history and their relationships. He highlights their sporting achievements and personal journeys, and how they bring each man to a single, defining moment 2 miles from the finish line. He follows Scott, through a childhood of racing buses to school by bike and on foot, through an adolescence of swimming, water-polo and weight training, on a continual quest to discover his physical, mental and emotional limits – limits tested at all extremes. Scott’s challenge was much about Nature, and the gifts given to us by Mother Nature and her brother, Time.

Allen’s upbringing is followed as closely, nearly draft-legal. Self-doubt, a crucifying painful inner-voice, and a father that had next to no interest in nor intimate relationship with, accompanied Allen through a journey of continually seeking approval (and proof to himself). From dog-paddling across a diving-board pool, to regularly choking as a competitive teenage swimmer the lad discovered that he could run. Lifeguard events, and a burgeoning interest into the spiritual side of life and living, proved to be Allen’s springboard into triathlon.  Allen’s journey was much to do with Nurture, and how attitudes, values and behaviors are inherited as strongly as slow twitch muscle fibres, efficient lungs and a huge heart.

The human heart is many things – an organ, a metaphor, a pump, a charm, a pin cushion, a house, a rose, a gift, and a start and finish line. It sinks, it flutters, it beats, it rocks, it grows, it bleeds, it hurts, it loves , it starts. And stops. It can be given away and accepted; it can be trained and rested, it can be transplanted and nurtured; and, it can be driven. And broken.

Matt Fitzgerald expertly and effortlessly takes us on the journey of  Scott and Allen as they compete against and with each other, compete against others and against themselves in what has been described as the greatest Triathlon (race) ever. He highlights the build-up to the race with grace and the excitable anxiety we competitors encounter pre-race.

And, beyond a start befuddled by the governor of Hawaii, Matt takes us stroke-by-stroke, mile-by-mile , and stride-by-stride  - in near-40C heat among the lava fields of Kona, up out of the town of Kailua-Kona and back, through a defining  moment of intuition and fortitude.

Matt superbly places you there, and in the race. You’re there as spectator and support crew. You’re there as an interested on-looker, and as a competitor. You’re there as reporter, and reader. You’re there as Scott. And you’re there as Allen. You’re wondering what they’re wondering; your wondering what he’s wondering; and you’re wondering what you may.

And, in an indescribable moment of  “feel” – that great human trait – one triathlete leaves the other behind. And leads him to the finish live. One journey to the finish-line is first, yet not finished. The other journey, second, is still unfulfilled.

For a decade Scott and Allen owned the Hawaii Ironman. Each owned his destiny on that day, and beyond. Matt Fitzgerald may not own the story of Iron War, yet he told it the way all good stories should be told: with adventure, and with heart.

Buy a copy of Matt Fitzgerald’s Iron War, take the adventure. And listen to your heart.  Challenging ourselves as people, and as (tri)athletes, in seeking clarity and understanding – even if through a ‘culture of pain’ - is everyman’s war, and perhaps, ultimately, the BIGgest race.

The Battle...

You've had it.
I've had it.
We've all had it.

Some weeks, it's most days. Some weeks, it's absent. Sometimes, deserts us. Other times, it nags us.

No, no...it's not our partner in life, nor our mother-in-law.

It is 'the battle'. It's the internal dialogue we have while deciding between 'now' or 'later'. It's the conversation we have with ourself about putting the session/run off and getting changed and getting out the door and doing it now. It's the whisper of future guilt if we delay, and don't deliver. It's a measure of the call of the running gods, "go and run". 


The battle nestles comfortably with procrastination. For runners, procrastination is the art and science of delaying the inevitable - vigorous agitation of the body by placing one foot in front of the other, at speed, to bring pleasure, pain and pride. The battle is first-cousin to the 'little voice'.


I battled this morning. I coached. I coffee-d. I sat in my car for 20 mins. Procrastination visited. Guilt rang. I changed running shoes three times. In the end, I went. I ran.


As each of us know, each time we battle, each time we defeat the temptation of 'later', once we have our gear on and are a few minutes into our run (or jog) we wonder what all the fuss was about.


The battle is important. It's important you deal with it there and then. Each battle you win is a tick the running gods place beside your name. Persistence and consistency are key elements to becoming a better (and faster, and wiser) runner. Each battle you win is a check for you in the persistence and consistency columns.

I have this rule. If you begin to battle; begin to consider delaying; begin to re-schedule - simply shut up, and put up. Put your gear on. Get out there. And run. Then.

The battle then is done, and won.
And you did it.