The realism spectrum

The realism spectrum.

I made that up in the hopes that it makes me sound super smart.

I have decided that realism is a spectrum rather than a point.

I have always asked myself, "What is realistic?" in terms of how fast I can run a particular distance.

If you are running a 12 min pace for a 5k, it's probably not realistic that you are magically going to pump out a 7 minute pace at your next 5k.

I have my paces. I know how fast I can run a long run. It's been a few years since I've run a standalone 5k. (Not exactly, but the 5ks I run in the winter are usually through snow and ice, not really conducive to a fast 5k).

I've always been stuck in this mode of "So what's realistic now? Can I run an 8:00 pace 5k? Is that too fast?" Because....as much as I'd love to believe I can do something, there are some paces that are just not realistic.

EVEN with a favorite quote of mine, in mind, "When you believe it, you can achieve it," there's a line between being realistic or unrealistic.

And of course, I've heard stories of people blasting through a to a PR.

HOW do they do that? HOW? I've been running for over 30 years now. HOW do these PRs happen? You go into a race, particularly a 5k where there isn't a whole lot of time to go too slowly. There's still an aspect of pacing. Pacing at much higher output but still pacing.

And yes, I tend to over-analyze.

And no, I haven't told any of this to Coach. I would prefer that she remains my Coach. On second thought, if I haven't scared her off yet....



Let me step back and 'splain this way.


I had a pre-race prep run today. My goal was to run intervals at my 5k pace. This is ridiculously hard for someone like me who:
1.) Over analyzes everything
2.) Hasn't run a standalone 5k with clear roads since Nov 2012. (That just happens to be the last time I PRd the 5k).


As I was running, I started thinking that there is a lot of space between what is clearly realistic (like me running a 10:00 pace for a 5k) and what is on the very edge of realistic (like me running a sub 8 minute pace for a 5k)--still I consider it realistic, even if it's on the furthest boundaries. (With my most recent PR being in the middle).

Maybe, just maybe the boundaries of the spectrum aren't really boundaries. Maybe they're more like a rainbow, you can see it, but they always seem to be just out of reach.

I realized that in order for me to make sense of this, realistic goals cannot be points on a line.  I need to work within a spectrum.

From a 10:00 pace to a sub 8 pace, any one of those paces are realistic for me. This gives me a feeling of success as well. In the past I'd say, "I'll run a 7:00 pace" and if I miss the 7 pace but hit an 8:00 pace, I would have been disappointed only because I didn't hit some randomly selected point on a line.

If I view it as a spectrum, anything within my spectrum is a WIN.


For me, the best part is that I don't have to face my race with a time goal. I know I simply need to put together my best race. My time and pace will fall somewhere in my spectrum.

I guess the easiest way for me to say it is that my goal for my 5k is to chase rainbows.

Birthday Wishes

Who didn't love Michael?

Guess who's birthday is coming up?

Unlike some people, I'm looking at you Ms/Mr. 100 x 100's, I don't like doing those crazy birthday workouts. In fact for a long time, I just ran my birthday in minutes. Since I started with Liz, I don't even put my birthday in my TP log. It's a day for me.

With adult kids, I've struggled to figure out how to celebrate my birthday. They're on budgets, and I hate for them to buy me presents. To make matters worse, being on this nutritional plan, I don't have any desire to have cake or any type of dessert. We used to go out to this big birthday dinner. It was a blast.

On 10/25, I'm running a 5k. I had this idea to wake up my two college students to run with me. I sent a text to the family. Immediately, I heard from Googs. I told him that I'll wait to hear from JMan and Mr. Tea.

To which he replied......

Then, Mr. Tea finally piped in that instead of running, he'll make us breakfast.....

And no....Mr. Tea does NOT have a blood clot.

Just wait until JMAN finds out that he's running a 5k on the 25th.

This is going to be the best birthday ever.

Removing Hope

That sounds odd, doesn't it? Remove HOPE?


"What's your plan for your half marathon?"

---Oh, I'm hoping to.....

"What are your goals for next year?"

---Oh, I'm hoping to.....



Most of you know, that I'm constantly in the pursuit of being better today than I was yesterday. 

I have always been one of those incredibly annoying athletes because I'm constantly asking my coaches for feedback. If I hear, "You're doing everything right", I know they're lying.

This year, 2015, I found that I was analyzing myself a lot more than I have in the past. I want to stress this point. I was not being critical of myself. I look at myself as a whole person, the good and the bad. The incorrigible and the corrigible.....errr....um....anyway.

This was also a year of waiting. Constantly waiting. I had big plans for myself this year. Unfortunately, things happen that get in the way of the BIG THINGS, sometimes. Although I accomplished everything that I had wanted to accomplish AND I hit my 5 year goal THREE years early.....there were a few things that I had to put on the back burner.

Once my season ended, I was able to address the back burner issues.

One of those issues was my use of the word "hope".

I use that word as my excuse. I use that word as a means of saying, "If I don't hit my goal, that's ok. I was only hoping to do it." FINGERS CROSSED!

It took away my control of the situation. I can hope the donut shop has some chocolate donuts left when I get there.

But I shouldn't be hoping for anything when it comes to a race.

I'm either ready, or I'm not.

I either have the guts to go for it, or I don't.

I either eat pain, or I spit it out.  #tasteslikevinegar


For the past 6 weeks, I've been seeing those small but significant glimmers of awesome in my running.  I started thinking, "What if I really believed that I could accomplish something?"

There's a saying. Something along the lines of  "It doesn't get easier. You get better."

I can see that. Last year, I held plank for a minute, and it hurt like hell. This year, I hold plank for a minute, and it hurts even more because I'm doing it better. I'm stronger than I was last year, so it hurts more this year. Muscles that haven't worked since....well....maybe EVER....are now getting their chance to shine.

When I run hard, it hurts more this year because I'm running harder.

Every single one of those little steps means I can push harder than I have before.

I want to believe that I can accomplish certain goals, but I'm not quite there. The good news is that I don't have to believe it today.

For now, I'm going to grasp onto those small glimmers of awesome and believe that they are the building blocks for the EPIC SHIT that I'm going to accomplish....very soon.



Now. Let's run  that 5k.

Relationship Status: It's complicated.

I've learned a lot about running this year.

The best part is that Coach has figured out what works for me.

Running is so much more complicated than I ever gave it credit.  It's not difficult, necessarily. It's complicated.

You can do speed work. You can log hundreds of miles. Of course, that makes you a runner, but it doesn't make you a "good runner".

My running (specifically recently) has improved by leaps and bounds.

This year, I did a lot of reading (articles on running). I watched a few athletes that I consider to be very good at the whole running thing. I listened to a couple of people....some....complete strangers.

I noticed there was a trend to what people were telling me.

Then, I had the most horrifying experience of watching a video of me finishing a race.

I took all this information, and I started really paying attention to Liz's workouts.  Liz always tells us why workouts are important, and what it will teach us.

I took those lessons to an even deeper level.

Here's what I've learned about myself.

1.) When I got my bike in April, one of the things that bike fit dude told me was that my left leg is longer. Now this is totally normal, but all of a sudden....it struck me that I was running differently on the two sides of my body. On my left side, I was dragging my left leg. It was almost scooting along the ground.

I passed along the feedback to Liz, who promptly gave me brand spanking new drills to address this issue.

For months, I had to focus on picking up my left leg. The weirdest thing was how weak I was. I was constantly having to work out this sore spot in my left hamstring because it wasn't used to be worked like that.

2.) Overstriding/Heel striking. There's a lot of debate about this issue. Believe what you want. Logic eventually won me over on this issue. I didn't care about articles telling me that heel striking is wrong. I didn't need to be lectured. I needed to figure out on my own, WHY this would be practice that I'd want to get out of.

I watched videos. Not "how to run" videos. I watched regular videos of people running at races...home videos, news coverage.....and I looked closely at runners' feet.

I started counting points of pressure. Heel, midfoot, front foot. That could be 3 seconds of contact with the ground.

I counted midfoot landings. There was really only one point of contact: mid foot then push off.

Three seconds, per leg, per step? That sounded like an awful lot of time. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the longer your foot touches the ground, the slower you go. (It's the same concept as overgliding in swimming).

This is NOT easy to change. I had to slightly shorten my stride. It was so slight of a change, but required so much effort!

It required a lot of lower body strength because I'm changing my stride. Whether it's habit or my natural running form, it has taken a lot of work on my part.

3.) Cadence: Hand in hand with shortening my stride (slightly) was cadence. When I shortened my stride, I noticed my cadence picked up. That's good. It's exactly like riding a bike. However, I quickly learned that at a higher cadence, I only had two speeds FAST and ALL OUT.

It took me months to learn how to have a higher cadence even while running at an easier pace.

A few things that we did to address this:

        a.) Very fast cadence work on the bike. Get off the bike and go run immediately. The high cadence work stayed ingrained in my brain. It transferred over to the run.

        b.) Treadmill/Outside running. Earlier on, there were a few sessions that Liz specifically wanted me to do on the treadmill. They were very fast, high cadence. The first few times, I thought I was going to fly right off the back of the treadmill.

I didn't take long for me to realize that a 7:40 pace feels very different with a faster cadence than that old 3 points of contact running that I had been doing. (For the record, I can now do these at sub 7 pace).

After awhile, I realize that the treadmill completely took out the opportunity for me to heel strike. It also ingrained how FAST certain paces felt. When I went took the exact same workout outside, I knew how a pace was supposed to feel. Then, I learned how hard an effort felt.

4.) HOW to Run Hills: This was one of those times where the light just came on, and I thought, "Why am I doing it that way?"

There have been many many articles and videos about how to climb a hill on the bike. The concept is that effort should remain the same but speed will drop.  On the downhill, effort remains the same but speed increases.  That's how I've always ridden.

But I was doing the exact opposite on the run. WHAT?! Most recent research shows that runners who maintain a consist effort (allowing their pace to drop on uphills) run the fastest!

Well, I'll be damned. Here, I was relaxing on downhills and really pushing the uphills.

5.) Arm swing: There's no better way to turn your legs over faster than moving your arms fast.
At every race, I hear people yelling at me "MOVE YOUR ARMS". I never understood the connection. I felt like I was moving my arms.

Now, I realize how EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.


All of this requires incredible strength. Liz and I have been hitting strength training hard. I am do a lot of core work. I do a ton of leg work.

For the first time ever, I understand how important all of these pieces are and how they work together.

I always thought running was just about moving your legs faster or slower.

I had no idea how hard it was to learn how to run efficiently.

For many years, I thought those fast women runners had a secret.

Now I know I was right. They did have a secret. They knew how to run.

Gettin' my Edjumacation on

For a long time, I said.

Great coaching + great athlete = great results

I need to amend that little formula to:

Great coaching + focused athlete + great nutrition = the BEST results


I have had a great week of training, from finally nailing the butterfly kick (seriously, my coach did his happy dance and then proceeded to yell out "YOU FINALLY GOT IT!")

Before then it was always kind of like, "You want my body to do WHAT? again?"  One day last week, I got to officially meet the new coach who will be rotating with Coach Andrew, and he spent time with me after masters.....and it finally clicked.

Now if I could just get my arms to work.

Yes. I know. I'm not training for any swimming events. AND CERTAINLY not for anything that would require me to swim fly competitively....or even moderately fast, which will ONLY happen which the largest pair of fins imaginable. I don't think that goes against any rules, right?


What I have actually spent my time on is, of course, running & nutrition.

Let's start with nutrition.

I had no idea how many people read my blog until I posted about my nutrition update and how amazing it has been. It has not been overnight, but in 4 weeks.....you wouldn't believe the changes: physical changes, speed gains, overall health....I'm blown away.

Many people contacted me. As much as I can give "general details" of my program, most people are understanding to the fact that I pay for this help. I'm not comfortable giving out the details of my nutrition plan. I don't post the details of my training. I'm certainly not going to post the details about my nutrition.

By the way, I'm down 8lbs and several inches (if you're keeping track).

If you are interested in what I'm doing, drop Dina an email. If you want any help with your nutrition, you don't have to be an athlete. Mr. Tea is following a general plan based on what she has me doing, and he's lost 18lbs in 4 weeks.


However, there is one thing I really want to share with you. I have an extremely busy schedule. Mr. Tea has always made lunches for me that I can pop in the microwave. Recently that hasn't been possible.  I went on a search for ready to eat healthy meals.

There have been a ton of new companies that have started just in the past year.

I've tried just about all of them.

I recently found Fuel Food. The first thing I did was talk to Dina about the program. She got back to me a few days later and said, "This is the best food program I've ever seen." That's from my nutritionist.

That sealed the deal for me. I ordered 10 meals. (That's the minimum required.)

A little bit of background on the guy who started the company: he has been a competitive athlete and coach for professional boxers. He started a personal training company which visited pro-athletes & even celebrities. He found that many of them struggled with what to eat and when. SO, he started making them meals and would deliver them to his clients.

Voila....a business is formed.

Take it from me. I have TRIED ALL the plans out there. This is hands down the best.

Here's why:

1.) The food is the BEST tasting food around. It's all organic, grass fed, range free, etc. The food itself is delicious. I have not had ONE meal that I didn't love.  They are the ONLY company to issue a credit if you do not like a meal. It's pretty much risk free to try. This is the only place to offer fully customizable menus. You can choose from 60 meals per week. 

Speaking of which, if you use my link, you will get 5 meals free. And, I get 5 meals too. :) So, there's that. 

2.) They are the only website to offer: Paleo, extreme competition/weight loss, balanced nutrition, treat meals & snacks.

3.) You can choose ANY meals and any number of meals. Other programs require a certain number of breakfast, lunch & dinners. Other sites will send a "pre packaged" meal set. If they send you their pack, and it contains fish, but you don't eat fish....well, you're out of luck...you're getting fish.

4.) Have I already said that the meals are delicious? They are super quick. 1:00 to 1:15 in the microwave, and you're good to go. You can also heat them up in the oven. But, if you're like me...

5.) No other website offers the diet specific plans for specific needs such as paleo, balanced nutrition, etc. When you visit the site, you'll see (very clearly) the differences in meals. 

6.) If you need nutritional help, they will put a plan together for you. Obviously, I'm working with a nutritionist. I can't speak to the help they offer, but it's a nice touch. Simply offering that to their customers is a huge help. You don't have to order foods blindly. Dina told me which menus to choose from.

The Cons:
1.) This is a pre-made, healthy, meal delivery service. Like all plans, it's not cheap. The lowest plan runs $9.50 per meal. You also have to pay for shipping. However, you can sign up for more meals which drops the cost quite a bit.  Other websites include shipping or offer free shipping, but FuelFood is hands down my favorite.

2.) International friends (particularly Canada and Mexico), sadly, they don't ship there. But, if you're interested, you might be able to contact them to find out if they have an option.



Training
Because of my nutrition, my training has gone to whole new levels. I feel great for every single work out.  I'm starting to see muscles that I haven't seen in awhile. I'm so excited to start racing to see where I am.  In fact, I have a 5k in Oct.

I'm doing so much behind the scenes. I feel like I'm learning how to run from the feet up. It's one thing to tell someone to run faster. It's completely different to teach them how to run fast.

For the past 2 years (in particular), I learned how to race the oly. I will never say that I excelled at the oly because I didn't. But I learned a lot.

Recently, I've found that working on the oly and sprint for the past few years was the best thing I could have done to get me ready for longer distances.

I'm going to be so ready for my 70.3's next year. SO. Ready.

I have a great coach. I'm completely focused. My nutrition/fueling is on target. I'm setting myself up for the my best year yet.

OSF is Back

What is OSF?

Yes....YOU long time reader in the back. WHAT is OSF?

Long time reader in the back: I know this one! It's Operation Super Fit!

YES! Operation Super Fit is BACK.

OSF is my off season goal. Super fit can be whatever YOU want it to be. It can be run fitness. It can be getting leaner, getting stronger. Whatever you want it to be.

Usually, I start OSF right after the holiday season. Since my tri season ended MUCH earlier than it normally does, I thought, "why not now?"  I'm strength training 3x per week. I'm working with a nutritionist. I'm running, a lot.

My goal for OSF is to become a more efficient runner. OSF will end in Jan. I'm also hoping to hit my race weight at that time.

I can tell you this: Three weeks in, and things are looking good!

This is the first year that I'm 100% in with OSF. In the past, I've done it half assed. Not this year!

I have some races coming up. I'm not expecting magic, but I am hoping to see a little bit of improvement from race to race (as long as conditions allow).



Wanna join me?

The want, the drive & the why

A few years back, I was picking up my race packet for an olympic distance race. At the same time and location, there was packet pick up for the Harvest Moon 70.3.  To this day, I remember seeing those athletes picking up their packets and getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I knew I wasn't ready to go back to that distance.

Over the weekend, I was riding part of the same course. When I passed the run signs, I became really excited about next season.

I am ready.

Being "ready" means something different for everyone.

What it does not mean (for me), and has NEVER meant, is thinking that I'm NOT capable of doing a 70.3.  What it has always meant is the really important things in my life are at a point where I can train happily. I'm not talking about waiting for the perfect moment. Training for the 70.3 is tough. It's like having a baby. There's never a perfect time. But, I knew that there are times that are better than others. I want to make sure that my work life, my personal life could handle the stress. In addition to that, I wanted to make sure that my head was also in the right place.

For so many years, you have heard me say, "I don't want to do it. I'm not ready for it."

I knew when those things came together, I would want to race it again, and I'd be ready for it.

Recently, I have learned how much I want to do this.

I've looked at myself honestly. I've looked at where I need to change my attitude. I know where I need to take training more seriously.

Most importantly, I looked at my nutrition, fueling & weight. Where I want to be and where I am aren't the same places. I know I have to drop weight to get there. I'm holding myself back, particularly, on the run for the simple fact of carrying around extra body fat.

I think I'm more driven, right now, going into next year than I have ever been.  Every single run I treat as the most important work out of the week. I look at every meal and snack and think about the choices I'm making and how it will help me get where I want to be.


You'll always read bloggers that talk about their "why". Why they do what they do. Why they are going long. You have to know your why. You have to believe and trust your why because it will be called into question when you least expect it. You need to be ready to answer.

What's my why?

Because I'm ready. Because I want it.