Forget Your Goals.

That "care-free" smile is deceiving . . .  

My daughter likes to go running with me. We hadn't gone in quite some time—our schedules getting jammed-pack in the spring with soccer, work, and school events. When soccer ended a few weeks ago it marked the advent of the running season. I have my running partner again.

This time Sage has set a goal for herself. My amazingly strong-willed daughter has decided that she wants to run a 10k. This goal was cemented and reinforced with steely determination when I told her matter-of-fact that she could not possibly go 6 miles—our longest run has only been 1.5 miles.

In an effort to empower my daughter (after having cut her down significantly), I downloaded the Couch to 10k Program. For those unfamiliar with the C10k program, it is a training program designed for people who are inactive, with no running experience. In 13 weeks it takes someone from zero fitness to being able to finish a 10k run. I had heard somewhere this was a good running program for children.

I explained to Sage that we should approach the schedule like we would a ladder. The bottom rung is where we are now, running anywhere from 3/4 of a mile to 1.5 miles while the top rung, the last week of training, is the 10k race. We can't get to the level of the 10k race without doing every workout, climbing each rung in between. If we follow each step, before we know it, we'll be able to run all 6 miles!

This is a difficult concept for people to digest. Most people look at the end goal, in this case 6 miles, and assume they can't do it. They think about how hard it is to run for five minutes and how much worse it must be to go all 6 miles. It becomes overwhelming, paralyzing even. People give up before they start. I know this because I do it myself. Which is why I planned to keep the training plan a secret and only reveal each days workout as we progressed with the simple promise that by the end of the summer we could do our 10k race.

For three mornings a week I've tapped Sage on the shoulder at 6 AM and whispered in her ear "Ready to run?" It takes her five minutes to be dressed and ready to go, fueled by her enthusiasm and motivation. In spite of the early hour she always wears a smile and is bouncing with energy.

That is until the day she stole the training schedule from me. Her eyes skipped down to the last two weeks of training which included a 40-minute run.

That morning we didn't get halfway down the block before she quit, crying "I can't run for 40 minutes!" We only needed to accomplish several intervals of 4-minute runs that morning, what would normally be an easy task for Sage. That 40-minute workout loomed in her mind like the dark face of Mount Everest. She was at the base of the mountain looking at the peak, at the bottom of the ladder and trying to reach the top. Instead of focusing on reaching the next step, the very-achievable step that would bring her closer to her goal, she focused on what she could not yet do. And gave up.

As you know from my writing I am believer in setting big dreams for ourselves. But it is my firm belief that most of us, after getting our ladder set up and mapping our plans, should forget about that big dream . . . for the time being.

Achieving the next step towards the goal will be challenging, it will be uncomfortable, it will push us beyond our limits, it will take a lot of our energy and focus. Do that first. Do the first step first and then take the next step, then the step after that. Let the end result be at the end. And I promise you, if you are committed to your own "C10k program" you will accomplish your goal.

My uncle likes to remind me of this quote (and I'm glad he does):
By the inch it's a cinch, by the mile it's a trial.

Un-Pause

I'm back by popular demand! Believe-it-or-not I've had a few inquiries as to why the posts have been lagging. The fact is, I've been busy.

I've been Art Directing up a storm.

I wish I could share the covers of the books we'll be releasing in Spring 2014, but unfortunately they are 'top secret' until our catalog goes to press . . . I know you are all dying for a preview!

The one cover I've been furiously piecing together that I am able to share is The Hurt and The Healer by Andrew Farley and Bart Millard (lead singer of Mercy Me). The book should be released just in time for Mercy Me's fall tour. Phew!

I've been full-time Soccer Mom, 

driving children to pratice a few nights a week, faithfully attending games and even coaching a U5 Soccer Team (that's 3-4 year olds). Ever try getting a group of 3 year olds to 'practice' for an hour? To their credit, they were very enthusiastic the first 10 minutes. Beyond that it was all dandelion picking, hand holding, and refusing to participate because the only soccer ball left was pink.

Bear (3yo) playing goalie. 

I purchased a new car.

Since I started commuting 140 miles a day the old Buick has been guzzling every cent in my wallet. It was time to find something a little more MPG friendly. After some shopping around we settled on a much-smaller-than-my-Buick Subaru Crosstreck. MTBR has a nice review on this vehicle. 

Sadly, driving a smaller vehicle has not improved my ability to park inside the lines.

Now that I drive a Subaru I feel that I have fully immersed myself in the mountain biking lifestyle and am epically excited for being able to park in Subaru's VIP Parking section at Iceman this fall--I might just park in there for the heck of it even though we'll be camping at the finish venue again this year.

And we took a family vacation.

While I've been busy orchestrating book covers by day (and night) and transforming to Super Soccer Mom in the evenings, Chad has been working about a billion hours a week and even snuck off for a few days of biking in the mountains. It seemed like it had been weeks since Chad and I had occupied the same space and months since we were altogether as a family. 

Late Friday evening we finally pulled out of the driveway and went North for the long holiday weekend.

Hiking by the river.

Bear taking a snack break halfway through his first ride on the VASA Singletrack.

Running down the dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.

What I haven't been doing is . . .

Training for Lumberjack.
More on that later.

Common Mistakes I Make When Training, #3 Downplaying the Importance of Nutrition

Read Parts 1, Focusing on Time vs. Quality and 2, The Deep End

Mistake #3: Downplaying the Role of Nutrition

Food is my achilles heal. Doughy breads and pastas are my crutch. And I truly believe down deep in the center of my soft core that Karamel Sutra makes everything better—cures the flu, can turn the ledger ink from red back to black, can heal a marital spat—its truly a miracle medicine.

Unfortunately its "miracle" lies in the placebo effect, we all know what a diet full of bread and ice cream will really do to someone.

On the flip side, when I am following a clean diet it is the single component that has the greatest and fastest impact on improving performance.

I am not a Sports Nutritionist, I have no licensing or professional education. All I have is my personal experiments and knowledge gleaned from Google searches.

Finding a proper balance while regularly doing high-intensity workouts or long endurance rides can be challenging. It's not unusual to get to the evening and be craving a large, heavy meal. Or sometimes I'll find my hunger carries over into the next day and I over-refuel. It's true I burn a lot of calories during those workouts, but in my personal experience, burning 2,000+ calories on a ride is not equal to 2,000+ calories of pizza and beer post-ride.

I know some people that can get away with that. That's never worked for my waistline.

This is what has worked best for me in the past:

Fueling for the workout DURING the workout. The rest of the day eat a normal, healthy, clean diet of lean proteins and lots and lots of vegetables.

What this means for me is that I always have a sports drink in my water bottle and carry some food. I try to take in about 100-200 calories an hour, depending on intensity and duration of the workout. The following is my basic nutritional plan (while eating a lower calorie diet high in vegetable content):

3 mile jog around the neighborhood = 50-100 calories of Endura (or similar) post-run
6 mile run / 60 minute bike ride = 100-150 calories of Endura
90 min ride / 9 mile run = 200-250 calories (100-150 from Endura, 100 from food)
2 hr ride (mod. intensity) = 300 calories (200 from Endura, 100 from food)
2 hr high intensity = 300 calories during + 100 post-ride (banana, chocolate almond milk, etc)
3+ hours = 150 calories from Endura/per hour and 100+ from food every 60-90 minutes

Following this guideline for during workout nutrition I have been able to curb post-ride starvation (which tends to result in post-ride over-indulgence and face-stuffing) while also maintaining high energy levels which allows for a more effective training session.

Food is such an important aspect not only for training but for overall health. Nutrients from food build and repair cells and body tissue, help maintain proper organ function, provide energy and warmth.

While food and following a nutritional meal plan will always be a challenge for me, a clean diet is something that I will never stop pursuing whether training for an event or not.