Anthem

Anthem

We've all got secrets people don't know..

We've all got dreams we can't let go...

Day 1 and 2

Stuff elimination: Day 1 and 2:  I decided that one pair of shoes equaled 2 days (one for left, one for right).  I got rid of my almost 3 year old pair of Brooks Green Silence (the Ronald McDonald version).  The shoes were amazingly comfortable, but have aggravated my athlete's foot (I know, TMI) for the last year or so, regardless of the amount of washing.  (Meaning that I washed them once, six months ago.)

So, now there's a vacant spot on my shoe rack where these used to rest.  And that, I suppose, is the point.

I also managed to knock out my push-ups yesterday: day 1 - check.  I've got 7 hours left at work to knock out day 2.

New ideas

I often try to think about little things I can do to improve.  Little things that, at a glance, don't seem very hard but have the potential to yield results over time.  The trick, I've found, is to incorporate these little things into an ingrained schedule so that they're easy to accomplish and a revised routine is adapted.

One such thing I've decided on is push-ups.  I don't often find myself with hours of available free time each day, but I can certainly find a few minutes here and there and I'm going to try to consistently do 100 push-ups a day.  Of course, that's in addition to regular exercise, but I figure if I can drop down and knock out 25 just four times a day, I'll make some progress and circulate some blood in an otherwise sedentary day.

The other thing I've come up with involves stuff.  I'm going to endeavor to get rid of one item each day for an entire year (starting today).  I simply have too many things that don't add value to my live yet consume space that is at a fixed quantity.  Books I'll never read, shirts I'll never wear, magazines I'll never open, cd's I'll never listen to again: those are the types of things I'm going to look to rid my space of.  Of course, the criteria for elimination is up to me, whether a pair of shoes counts as one item or two, whether a random piece of paper counts or not; those types of things.

What little things are YOU doing to improve your life?

Mantathlon

Ok, first read the story here:  LINK

Then, let me know if you're interested via comment or email.  If there's even a smattering of interest, I'll host an event at my house later this spring complete with post-mantathlon beverages and maybe even grilled meat.

Events:

• Body-weight bench press for reps
• Body-weight pull-ups for reps
• Half body-weight overhead press for reps
• 1.25* body-weight dips for reps
• Half body-weight curls for reps

For each event you can earn a max of 20 points (1 point per rep), with the winner being the one who scores the most points.

Priorities

The amount of time we have available to us is something I've opined on before, probably more than once, since it's something I think about a lot.  Once time is gone, it's gone.  Each minute that passes puts us one minute closer to the end of our time here.  Not a very happy-thought-inducing sentiment, but an extremely important one when you boil it down to what it means.

It means that it is a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME to spend time on things that don't matter, things that lead us from our goals, or things that don't add value to our lives.  Time spent away from our loved ones can never be changed.  I struggle with this concept and the implications daily.  My struggles are highlighted by having young boys and a wife at home, who all desire my time and attention.  

I think the act of self evaluation is important for each of us to do on a regular basis.  We need to take stock of what things are important to us and what things run counter to that.  I think that is part of the reason I've pretty much stopped running in favor of general fitness and strength training.  Running takes time; no argument there.  It also takes energy.  The combination of the time and energy required to do those things I need to do, at the level I want to do them render running incompatible with my current constraints.

I've run a total of about 40 miles so far this year, with a quarter of that done during a trail race in January and 40% more done during a winter storm where I ran home from work one day and back to work the next.  So, my focus has transitioned into picking things up and putting them down, with the goal of picking up heavier things as the weeks pass by.  I also aim to be spend a lot more time with my family than perhaps I have in the past.  

Each of our lives has chapters, and none of us know when those chapters are going to end, or the book for that matter.  The best we can do is to live each chapter to the fullest and appreciate what it has to offer.  A lot of my running friends express skepticism of my running retirement.  I did too, at first.  Now, however, I think I made the right decision to close that chapter and begin a new one.  I've got lots of ideas for subsequent chapters as well, but want to focus on the current; here-and-now.  My love of running remains and I'll be around the sport for the foreseeable future.  Only my role will change.  I'll continue to time races, volunteer at events, and measure courses.  I might even hobby-jog a race here and there.  

The future holds infinite possibilities, but each new endeavor requires letting go of a past one...

2013

I love New Years.  Almost as much as Thanksgiving.  But I love Thanksgiving more.  Because there's usually turkey.  And stuffing.  And dessert.  And I usually don't have to cook it.  And no-one notices that I eat.  A lot.  But, I love New Years for another reason.  It's the hope, anticipation, freshness of it that I love.  People, all over, think of things they want to accomplish.  They dream, plan, ponder, then on the 1st of January, the execute.  How long it continues after that is up to the individual.  I'm not one to boast of my dismal record of meeting goals or having resolutions last throughout the year, but I don't let that discourage me from continuing to think about ways to improve, or things I want to incorporate to my life.  Each year is different.  As, life is different.  Most years, in the past, I've set one or more running-related goals.  This year I have none.  Running has taken a back seat (though it is still in the car) to being a good husband and dad.  Lately, when I've gone to run a race, I've realized how much more I'd rather be at home with my family.  So, I'm going to push pause on that for a while.  Maybe I'll run a 5k this year.  Maybe not.

My goals aren't as concrete or numerical as they usually are.  I have some targets, but they remain flexible.  In 2013, I want to focus on:

• Health:  More strength training.  I can work out in my back yard, and therefore, don't have to be gone for hours to get my workout in.  I want to bike to work more than I did last year (a mere 49 days).  I want to run a fast mile race (pr is 5:14, ok, so I do have one running-related goal).
• Wealth:  I want to save more money this year.  We did great two years ago, and focused on our mortgage this year, but I want a little more cushion in the bank.  I also want to increase the side-work money I make working at races and certifying running courses.  This helps fund my Roth IRA.  If possible, I want to open up a taxable investment account. 
• Spiritual:  I want to read more books about being a better Follower of Jesus.  I have more work to do in this area than any other.  But I'm not going to let that discourage me.
• Family:  I want to do a good job raising our boys.  I want to be more in tune with Andrea's needs, and work on saying the right thing at the right time.  Providing relief when she needs a break.  I want to bring home flowers more.  I want to spend some quality time with each of my boys.

While I'm not certain how to measure my effort in focusing on these core areas (that may develop as the year progresses), I'm sure that if I succeed, it will be an amazing year.

I hope you all have taken some time to reflect on 2012 and plan and dream of the possibilities that 2013 holds.  Happy New Year!

13.1 12-month Training Plan (part 1)

This is so good I should copyright it.  Simple, brutal, but guaranteed to produce results.  Here's the deal, December starts on Saturday which means you have one month before the new year starts.  Now's the time to pick an ambitious half marathon PR pace (AHMP).  "Ambitious" is the key word here, because we're devoting 12 months to making this ambition reality.

With December as the base month (primarily because we have it left in this year, and why not?), we'll work on some 200 and 400m repeats as well as tempo runs.  What's the big idea?  Why's it brilliant?  Ok, here goes:

During the 1st week in January, (The 1st through 6th, as weeks run M-Su), you'll run 400m (or a quarter mile) in your AHMP, for me that's 400m in 1:30.  This workout will be easy.  An off-the-coucher.  During this week, we'll add another day of interval training 200's faster, 800's slower than AHMP.  The other key workout is a 6-8 mile run at 45-75 seconds per mile slower than AHMP.  Add in 2 other days of easy 3-5 mile runs.

Week 2, the key workout gets bumped up to 2/4 miles or 800m at AHMP (for me 3:00).  Again, easy.  Add another interval day and the same 6-8 mile quality run.  So, 5 days running, topping out at 30-35 miles (us older guys have to recover, you know).

The first month goes by and it's still easy and fresh.

Same goes with the second, though the last week in Feb, running 2.25 miles gets a little taxing.

The fun really begins in March.  We're only adding 90 seconds of the key workout a week, so incrementally it's not much and percentage-wise it should be getting easier, but we begin to push the limits of the body's ability to process the lactic acid and, let's not forget, the weather is beginning to get warmer.

During March, the second interval session gets faster (since we need to make the 90 second laps feel easier) and the "long run" gets bumped up to 9-11 miles at 40-60 seconds slower that AHMP.

April is similar to March, except I've never run more than 5k at 90 seconds per lap pace so I'm pushing into new territory.  Same training plan: 5 days, 1-key workout, 1-interval session, 1-"long run", 2-easy/short.

May is the first real "test".  The rest of the Keys have been time-trial affairs.  In May we aim for a 8k or 10k RACE at AHMP pace.

Summer months to come....