Running with Purpose

In my last post I talked about specificity of training. Just so you know I wasn't blowing smoke, I wanted to let you in on a bit of my training. And, related to that, I need to make an announcement.

First, I'm in Leadville Colorado. I have been training for the Leadville 100. My training hasn't been all that I wanted because of a few obstacles: I work too much, life gets in the way sometimes, and it's hard to train in Oklahoma for a 100 mile run in the Rocky Mountains. But I've been doing as much running, plyometric training, weight lifting, and finger-crossing as my life allows. Tomorrow morning at 6a I'm going to run a 50-mile foot race that starts in Leadville. After that I am going to climb a couple 14ers and probably pedal my mountain bike in a few places that make me giggle. I planned to do this because it's as specific a training stimulus as I could think of. The 100-mile race is 4 weeks after the 50, so I know I'll be healthy again by then. And stronger.
There is a lot of mental torment that comes with racing. Especially races this long. And I'd like to talk about the mental side of things in a future post.

I have decided this year to raise money for a charity called Coffee Kids. They help coffee farming families, which is a cause that is very close to my heart. I am taking pledges for Coffee Kids based on the number of miles I run at the Leadville 100. So if you pledge $1 per mile and I finish the race, you will donate $100 to Coffee Kids. It's a great cause. If you are interested in reading more about this effort or pledging, go to the plege page at CoffeeIlluminati.com. You can keep up with my efforts and struggles on the Coffee Illuminati blog.

We have also decided to make Coffee Kids the beneficiary of the DoubleShot Duathlon and 5k Trail Run this year. A portion of the proceeds from the race will be doated to Coffee Kids, making your race more purposeful too.

Training, part 1

Maybe I'm not a great person to ask about training.  Then again, maybe I am.  

First, I'm glad you're thinking about competing.  It's going to be a lot of fun.  Goal number one is to finish the race.  Goal number two is to have fun.  Goal number three is to finish as fast as physically possible.  

I have bad news for all but a couple of you:  you're not going to win.

Now that you know that, you can loosen up a little.  Focus on the goals above.  Think about them when you train.  Goals for training should be the same as your goals for racing (finish, have fun, do your best).  

Your body (and your mind) adapts very specifically to the training stimulus.  If you had a math test coming up, you wouldn't study biology in order to get the neurons firing up there and help you pass your math test.  Your body is the same.  

When you put demands on your body, if those demands are something your body isn't prepared for, it will break down some and then after those demands are over, your body will repair itself in a way that will allow it to deal with that same stress better the next time.  So if you jump up and down for an hour, the muscles in your legs (and other parts of your body) will have small tears in them.  The way your body repairs those tears will allow you to jump up and down for an hour next time more efficiently with less damage to your muscles.

So what I'm trying to say is, you need to train specifically for whatever task you plan to undertake.  Then rest and let your body recover.

The key to longevity is have fun.  My philosophy is to do what exercise you feel like doing today and when it's not fun any more, it's time to stop.  More on that later.