Mental Toughness and Willpower in the Marathon

That's what I've been pondering lately.

Well, to be more exact, I've been wondering about the mental toughness and willpower needed just to get to the marathon.

I'm on my eighth week of the Pete Pfitzinger Marathon Training Plan. I have 10 more weeks to go. It's hard.

Before I started the Pfitzinger Plan, I went through an eight week Intermediate Half-Marathon Training Plan, just to try to get my body into some kind of shape that could handle the rigors of serious Marathon Training.

And of course, before that, I did 26 races in one year...which you'd think might help one get into shape.

So quit whining and suck it up, right? Well, that's sort of my point. To date, I have. And I imagine I will continue to keep training hard. But it wears on you. I'm a pretty positive guy, especially when it comes to my running, but I'm going on six months of training now for a singular event...with a very singular goal. And negative thoughts creep in.

To wit, "there's no way I'm going to be able to keep this pace for 26.2," and "I really, really could use a week off right now," and "I'm way too old to be doing 50 miles a week," and "Am I insane?"

I keep telling myself, "of course it's hard, if it was easy, it wouldn't be Boston, right?" And that works. Usually.

Ten weeks to go.

Amazingly enough, I think I even wrote an article on Mental Toughness way back when. Can't seem to find my copy of it.

I need to look harder.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Running and Triathlon Links Monday!

Here's the latest and greatest on running from the last week:

Shamrock Run Portland Results! - Did you run?

Fatuma Sado wins LA Marathon, Gender Challenge, New Car, $155,000 - not a bad day's work

Peter Kirui and Firehiwot Dada take NYC Half Marathon - Oregon's Kara Goucher takes 3rd in pre-Olympic tuneup

Canadians take the win at Chuckanut 50k in Bellingham - Oregonian Max King was in the lead but took a wrong turn late

Another take on the Chuckanut 50k, from the Bellingham Herald

And a very nice article on Bellingham's Chuckanut 50k from Running Times

Kenyan 10,000m Olympic Trials to take place at Prefontaine Classic in Eugene...probably - the Kenyan Governing body, Athletics Kenya, seems to put out new, confusing information on this daily

London Olympic Organizers will supply 150,000 condoms to the athletes in the Olympic village - for 16,000 beds - let's see, the Games last for about two weeks, so that's about one and a half condoms per night for every "pair" of athletes in the village...wow - busy, busy, busy

Interesting new Reebok ad - what's your call? Degrading to women? Degrading to men? Sexist? Funny?

A review of Tyr's new $1200 wetsuit - sometimes I hate triathlon

Hot, sexy pictures of tricked-out tri bikes - if you're into that kind of thing

Ironman Champ Chrissie Wellington is going on a book tour - she doesn't even come close to the NW, so if you want her to sign your book, you'll have to travel a bit

Photo by Andy Bronson of the Bellingham Herald

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Triathlon with an Indoor Swim!

Well, in the Northwest, that's not really unusual. In fact, there are multiple triathlons just in this week that have indoor swims. However, the YMCA Spring Sprint Triathlon in Boise has another odd twist. In fact, it has to be the strangest thing I've ever seen in a triathlon!

Get this...they swim the 750 yard leg on Friday night...then do the bike and run legs...on Saturday morning!

Just consider that for a second. You could absolutely go all-out on your swim. Just crush it. Then go home and go to bed! Wake up the next morning and be fresh as a daisy for the bike.

If nothing else, this "split-day" triathlon would lead to some super-fast times. Although it seems to almost take the toughness and endurance aspect out of the race completely.

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF APRIL 2nd TO APRIL 8th

April 6th and 7th / YMCA Spring Sprint Triathlon / Boise, ID

April 7th / Spring Classic Sprint Duathlon / Portland, OR

April 7th / Horse Butte Trail Run 10m / Bend, OR

April 7th / Beaver Freezer Sprint Triathlon / Corvallis, OR

April 7th / ShotGun Trail Blast Trail Run 50k, 25k and 10k / Marcola, OR

April 7th / Relief Run 10k and 5k / Ontario, OR

April 7th / Tulip Run 5m / Burlington, WA

April 7th / Easter Marathon, Half Marathon, 10m, 10k, 5k, and Duathlon / Longview, WA

April 7th / The 4k-7k on 4-7 / Maple Valley, WA

April 7th / Mud & Chocolate 4.5m / Redmond, WA

April 7th / Apple Capital Spring Duathlon / Wenatchee, WA

April 7th / Lynch Creek 5k / Eatonville, WA

April 7th / Miles for Meso Memorial 5k / Federal Way, WA

April 8th / Spring Run 10k and 5k / Stevenson, WA

April 8th / Mud & Chocolate Half Marathon / Redmond, OR

On the photos: I entered in "Crush the Swim" to Google and liked the first shot, but then I saw the photo of Dara Torres (age 44, born exactly a week after me) and thought "Holy Guacamole! I've got to post that! Look at those freaking 44-year-old abs!"

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Peachtree Registration Opens March 15th!

Do you want to run the biggest race in America? Well, here's your chance.

Just a semi-long road-trip to Atlanta and you could be one of 60,000 runners in the Peachtree Road Race. Also known as "the largest race in the United States."

Sort of an odd registration process. You can head over to the Peachtree site any time between March 15th and March 22nd, register, and then they'll put you into a really, really big hat and on March 23rd, they'll draw 60,000 names out.

Which means, I guess, they think they might actually get more than 60,000 entries? Wow. They had 55076 finishers in 2011, so I guess it's possible.

Of course, for $17 bucks and a short jaunt to Spokane, you can run with 51,303 of your closest friends at Bloomsday. Well, that was the number of finishers - Bloomsday actually had over 56,000 runners signed up themselves in 2011, making a pretty good push for first place in the ol' big-ass race category. The cost for Peachtree, by the by, is twice as much as Bloomsday: $35. And actually, that's not that bad, these days.

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Mt. Ashland Hillclimb Registration Opens Soon!

Well, to be exact, it opens March 20th, at 8:00am.

Go right over here to sign up.

And don't dilly dally: it usually sells out pretty fast.

Of course, if you're a big weenie like me, just ignore the whole thing. The Mt. Ashland Hillclimb is 13.3 miles long and has over 5600 feet of elevation gain. Yeah, it's hard. As the race organizers are happy to tell you, its got the "second most elevation gain of any continuous hill climb in the continental US."

So there's that.

On the plus side though, the race directors are smart-asses, which I enjoy, so be sure to read the FAQ's.

Yeah, that's Jenn Shelton, apparently at the Mt. Ashland Hillclimb, I guess. That's the photo that came up at the top when I Googled it anyway. And for the ladies, I've also included a shot of Ashland Superstar Erik Skaggs, at the top of the "hill".

Enjoy.

Photo(s?) by Andy Atkinson.

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Best Running Song for March - Foxy Shazam - I Like It

Hey, I'm not proud of myself for picking this song...but listen to it and try to tell me I didn't do the right thing!

Somehow, Foxy Shazam, yes...Foxy Shazam!...is the first band to make a repeat appearance on The Two R's Best Running Song list. If you recall, they first hit the list back in April of last year with Unstoppable. Now, almost a year later, they hit the list again with I Like It. And man, I like it! If this song doesn't speed up your run from sheer joy, or, I don't know...maybe fear...than you may just be dead already.

I do believe that this guy is the closest we'll ever get to getting Freddie Mercury back...and there's nothing wrong with that.

And yes, I've got to link to the song that made Foxy Shazam and "I Like It" possible.



Rock that run!

Past Best Running Songs:
February: Foster the People / "Don't Stop"
January: Hot Hot Heat / "Bandages"
December: Camp Lo / "Luchini aka This Is It"
November: Wolfmother / "Joker and the Thief"
October: Phoenix / "1901"
September: Matt and Kim / "Daylight"
August: Collie Buddz / "Holiday"
July: Pretenders / "Tattooed Love Boys"
June: The Wombats / "Moving to New York"
May: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros / "40 Day Dream"
April: Foxy Shazam / "Unstoppable"
March: Pharrell / "Fun Fun Fun"
February: Puff Daddy / "Come With Me"
January: We Are Scientists / "The Great Escape"
December: Cee Lo Green / "F**k You"
November: Tokyo Police Club / "Breakneck Speed"
October: Two Door Cinema Club / "Something Good Can Work"
September: Stone Temple Pilots / "Cinnamon"
August: Louis XIV / "Guilt by Association"
July: Devo / "Fresh"
June: Saliva / "Your Disease"
May: Metric / "Gold Guns Girls"
April: OK Go / "This Too Shall Pass"
March: The Hours / "Ali In The Jungle"
February: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs / "El Matador"
January: White Rabbits / "Percussion Gun"
December: Deftones / "Knife Prty"
November: The Kooks / "Always Where I Need To Be"
October: At the Drive In / "One Armed Scissor"
September: Silversun Pickups / "Lazy Eye"
August: Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros / "Johnny Appleseed"
July: Deathray / "I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)"
June: Raconteurs / "Salute Your Solution"
May: Tea Party / "Save Me"
April: Bloc Party / "Like Eating Glass"
Ever: The English Beat / "I Confess"

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Garmin Connect and Forerunner 110 Problems

In other words, "Arrrrggggghhhhhh!!"

Garmin, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to slouch down to the lowest common denominator and make some changes to "time data fields." In their words, "more accurate and meaningful (and less confusing)" by removing the "moving time" field completely.

And not just remove it from this point forward, but remove the "moving time" data from all past runs stored in Garmin Connect as well! What?!?

Let me try to explain why this is a horrible idea. "Moving time" is a pace average that shows how fast you've run a particular mile with the benefit of removing the time where you were not running (at a stoplight or bathroom or collapsed on the side of the road perhaps). In other words, it's the only pace number that you care about. Why would anyone want to know the pace they ran with the 90 seconds added in where you were standing at the stop light? Nobody needs to know that!

Here's a snapshot that I had of an old run with "moving time" included: the only one I have anywhere since Garmin erased it from every run in the Garmin Connect database!

Note the "moving pace" and "average pace" were the same here because this was a race, and I didn't have to stop anywhere.

And here's a capture of the new data.

Note the slow Mile Two (stoplight) and the slow Mile Five (stoplight) - I'll admit the slow Mile Six was due to the elevation on that mile. But without the "moving pace" designation, how can you tell you were stopped at some point during the mile? It just looks like you were dragging ass!

Ah, but Garmin says, don't worry. Just set your "Auto Pause" feature on your watch. That will do the same thing automatically.

Yeah, I would, you bunch of geniuses, but the Forerunner 110 doesn't have the Auto Pause feature!

So instead of having three columns of data, and letting everyone choose which column is most useful, Garmin eliminates one column from the entire history of runs that anyone with a Forerunner 110 has ever done...and gives you no way to get the information back.

Here's Garmin's explanation about how they got rid of the "moving pace" because it was too confusing for the masses. Of course, they don't mention that Forerunner 110 owners are just screwed.

Well, you could go buy a new $200 Forerunner 405, I guess. Gee, I wonder if they thought we might have to do that?

Seafair Torchlight Run Discounted Entry Fee!

Today Only!!!

And just $15. That's a good deal right there.

Plus, you can sign up to run with KIRO Anchor Jenni Hogan, which would be all good as far as I'm concerned. Yep...all good...

Sorry, distracted there for a moment.

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF MARCH 26th TO APRIL 1st

March 30th / Badger Mountain Challenge Trail Ultra 100m / Tri Cities, WA

March 31st / Badger Mountain Challenge Trail Ultra 50k and 15k / Tri Cities, WA

March 31st / Birch Bay Road Race 30k, 15k and 5k / Blaine, WA

March 31st / Girl Scout Cookie Run 5k / Spokane, WA

March 31st / Make a Change Trail Run 10k and 5k / Corvallis, OR

March 31st / Yakima River Canyon Marathon / Yakima, WA

March 31st / Champoeg Spring Challenge 10k and 5k / St. Paul, OR

March 31st / Running of the Fools 10k / Longview, WA

March 31st / Can Do 10k and 5k / Bothell, WA

March 31st / Dash Point State Park Trail Run Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k / Federal Way, WA

April 1st / Race for the Roses Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

April 1st / April Fool's Day 10k and 5k / Salem, OR

April 1st / Seahawks 12k Run at the Landing 12k and 5k / Renton, WA

April 1st / Seattle RainMan Indoor Sprint Triathlon / Seattle, WA

April 1st / VZ 5k / Van Zandt, WA

April 1st / Dirt Dash Trail Run 5m / Hagg Lake, OR

April 1st / Wenatchee Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Wenatchee, WA

April 1st / Run to Africa 10k and 5k / Lebanon, OR

April 1st / Fool Your Fat Fun Run 5k / Stayton, OR

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Pete Pfitzinger Marathon Training - FTW!

Whew...just finished week five of the 18-week Pete Pfitzinger Marathon Training Plan. The long run yesterday was a 16 miler, in which I was supposed to run a number of miles at marathon race pace (well, who's kidding who, I was supposed to run 10 of the 16 miles at marathon race pace, but that just wasn't going to happen).

So we're now three months away from my goal race in Newport. Will I be ready to run at Boston pace in three months? Well, that's the question, isn't it?

I think I'm improving. If we compare my run yesterday to a long run (12 miles) from three weeks ago, I'm definitely getting faster. In both runs, I had five miles that were at a pace well above average. In the run three weeks ago, those five fast miles were averaged at 8:15. Yesterday, those five fast miles were averaged at 7:48. Which is good, because that's the pace I need to run the whole stinking marathon at in Newport.

So the speed is coming around. But what about the endurance? I won't lie, I don't think I could hold that pace for more than about eight or nine miles right now. Can I increase that to 20 or 22 in three months (figuring that I can somehow survive the last few miles on willpower alone, I guess)? I don't know, but that's the goal.

Sometimes you've got to put the over-thinking and worrying aside and just trust in the program. The Pfitzinger Plan has worked for lots and lots of runners - there's no reason it shouldn't work for me, right?

Right?

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Basic Swim Technique and Instruction

Hey, it's March. That means it's nearly Spring. And that means...that's right, it's nearly Triathlon Season!

And as always, the one thing that seems to scare people away from signing up for their first triathlon is the swim. People hate the swim. Personally, I love the swim, but I realize I'm in a very tiny minority.

So who better to offer up some swimming tips than a former Olympic swimmer and the best swimmer on the Pro Tri Circuit? That's right, Andy Potts.

Check out this short video here of Andy showing you the way to hit the water.

Good stuff.

Then get out there and swim. Tri season is just around the corner!

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