Crank up the Suck

With a snowstorm Friday and another one last night I was left with little choice this morning other than to run my long run on the treadmill.  I'm OK running on the treadmill for a while, but 24 miles is a bit much.  Actually, it sucks.  A lot.  The only good thing about having to do a long run on the treadmill is that it is great mental training.  When running 100 mile races there are times when you feel completely spent and your mind starts focusing on how many miles you still have left to go.  In reality this is the very worst thing to do because it gets overwhelming.  If you just stay within the moment things almost always get better.  This happens when you go for a long time on the TM.  I decided to video tape myself during parts of the run to share my thoughts.  I hope you enjoy it.

I am really excited for this week.  Tomorrow I am the guest speaker at the Concord Kiwanis Club meeting.  I am giving a presentation on running the Leadville 100 last year.  It is the same talk I gave to the Concord Rotary club a month ago.  On Friday I am giving a new talk at an event in Hampton NH.  The event is called the March Fourth Motivation-a-thon.  Starting at 9am there will be 12 speakers giving motivational speeches.  Each speaker will talk for 45 minutes and the event will go for 12 hours.  I am the only non-professional speaker at the event.  I will be going on at 3pm.  It is being held at One Liberty Lane East in Hampton.  My speech is called "It only takes one person to change your life".  If your in the area I'd love to see some familiar faces!

Now for my weekly recap.

2-21-2011
Monday AM - 6.5 Miles (56:35).
Nice morning. Ran in a pair of pre-production Go lite Tara lite shoes that they gave me to test and review. Was hoping to find a zero drop shoe that has enough cushioning to run 100, but these are not for me.

2-22-2011
Tuesday AM - 7 Miles (1 hour).
Treadmill. Easy. Didn't do full strength training, just pushups and situps.

2-23-2011
Wednesday - 15 Miles (2:07:44)
Awesome run on the snowmobile trails.  Had a sharp pain on the top of my foot, then later realized it was from hooking my feet under the treadmill when I did my situps the day before.

2-24-2011
Thursday - 13 Miles (1:50:12)
Ran the snowmobile trails. Was warm enough to wear shorts! 

2-25-2011
Friday - 10 Miles (1:25:51)
Treadmill easy running at 8:30 pace. More watching "Weeds" on Netflix.

2-26-2011
Saturday - 7 Miles (1 hour)
Easy treadmill run.

2-27-2011
Sunday - 24 Miles (3:23:00)
Due to snow, ran my long run on the treadmill.  Crank up the Suck!!!  Watched many episodes of Weeds on Netflix.  The run sucked, but I got through it. 
Totals
81.5 Miles
11:45 Hours running
20 min strength training

The Sacrifice it takes to make the cheese.

Sometimes its hard to stay focused on the goal.  In order to get my training in I have to get up at 5am at the latest.  Most days I get up and run for at least an hour.  Then I quickly eat, shower and head off to take my son to school 1/2 hour away and then try to get into the shop before 9.  Then after working all day I get home, eat and pass out on the couch.  Hopefully I get to take the family out to eat if Amy hasn't made one of her awesome home made suppers, which is even better.  I usually watch about an hour of TV, or work on the computer finishing emails, writing my blog, answer company emails, etc. 

Tomorrow my schedule looks like this.  Get up at 4:45.  Get out onto the trails by 5:15 at the latest.  It is supposed to be 1 below zero with 10 mph winds.  Its also very dark in the woods at that time for at least an hour before the sun comes up.  That means my world will consist of a little beam of light focused on the 3 feet in front of my feet for that first hour.  My hands will be cold.  For the first couple miles my feet will be cold.  My eyes will water.  I will be uncomfortable. I need to run 15 miles, or a little bit more than 2 hours.   When I get home I need to quickly shower, eat and get on the road.  I will drive for 3 hours to CT where I will attend a repo auction for Harleys.  I'll be on my feet all day, bid on about 200 bikes, drive the 3 hours home (if there is no traffic) eat a quick dinner and get to bed early so I can get up on Thursday at 5 am and run 7 miles and do a strength training workout.  Lord knows when I'll actually get a chance to stay up an extra hour (ok..3 1/2 minutes) and make love to my wife.

The point is, you have to have passion and drive to do the work if you really want to achieve your goals.  It takes sacrifice on your part and understanding and support of the people around you.  As Cypress Hill says in "Rock Superstar" "Show the sacrifice it takes to make the cheese."

This shit doesn't happen by accident.  You have to want it and then commit to make the sacrifice.

Motivated!!

What an awesome week this was.  I'll get to my running update in a little bit, but first I want to talk about some other things going on.  First, the shop.  We are kicking ass.  I mean really, seriously kicking ass.  I have such an incredible crew of people who bust their ass and care about the shop as if it were their own.  That's why we are doing so well.  I am so thankful for all of them.  I believe that the economy is turning around and people are sick of not spending money.  And whats better to spend money on than a motorcycle!

Second, I met with a customer of mine this week that owns a company that does motivational speaking.  I recently attended a seminar that she put on and after she invited me to speak at an event that she is putting on March 4th.  I am the only non-professional speaker at the event.  I am psyched to be speaking because that is one of the reasons that I have decided to tackle this challenge of running 5 100 mile races in 5 months.  I want to share with people how I have gone about doing things like building the business and running 100 miles.  I realized a while ago that I used the same system to achieve these big goals and I've also realized that I might be able to help others do the same.  I am going to speak about how one person showing faith in my abilities completely changed my outlook on life.   You can read about what happened here.  I will give the details of the event and the time I'm going to be speaking as soon as I get it.

OK, so on with my weekly recap.

2-14-2011
Monday AM - 6.5 Miles (56:38).
Ran on the snowmobile trails.  My notes say that I was a bit stiff at the beginning, but loosened up quickly.

2-15-2011
Tuesday AM - 7 Miles (1 hour).
Treadmill. Easy. Also did 30 min of strength training.

2-16-2011
Wednesday - 15.2 Miles (2:12:13)
Beautiful day. The snowmobile trails were as hard as pavement and super icy. Had to be very careful on the downhills.

2-17-2011
Thursday - 7.5 Miles (1:04)
Ran the snowmobile trails. Did 3 Hill Sprints, both up and down on a .10 mile very steep icy hill. 

2-18-2011
Friday - 12 Miles (1:42)
Treadmill easy running at 8:30 pace. More watching "Weeds" on Netflix.

2-19-2011
Saturday - 7 Miles (1 hour)
Easy treadmill run.

2-13-2011
Sunday - 20.1Miles (2:59:19)
What an awesome run. Although the wind was pretty gusty as time it was nice out. Wore my yacktrax and felt very efficient in my stride. I'm not tired and nothing hurts.

Totals
75.2 Miles
10:54 Hours running
30 min strength training

Fatass 50k and Weekly Summary Feb 7 - 13th (with Video)

This week was great.  I managed to get in 82.2 miles and still feel excellent.  On Saturday I ran 31 miles on the Rockingham Rail Trail and had a blast visiting with some old friends.  This is the first time I have run over 20 miles since the Manchester Marathon in October and I couldn't believe how easy it was.  This is the first time I have ever run 50k without any soreness or fatigue at all.  It is a huge mental boost for me to think that this slow base building I've been doing has put me in the best shape I've been at this time of year. 

The absolute best part of this run was when we stopped at the half way point and were hanging out in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot.  John had micro spikes on his shoes and didn't want to go inside to use the bathroom because they are pain to take off.  So he deciced to go pee next to their dumpster.  His back was turned to the parking lot but some guy who was going through the drive through thought it was offensive to his kids to see somebody peeing and freaked out.  He yelled at John and said "THINK!, I'VE GOT KIDS IN THIS CAR!!!".  John stayed calm and  just smiled at him when he was finished.  Unfortunately when he was finished getting his order he decided that he should be a tough guy and yell at John some more.  He opened the passanger window and yelled over his wife at John.  Again, he said that John should THINK.  John said that everybody pees and he should mellow out.  The guy said that he could call have John arrested for indecent exposure.  John laughed at him and said that his back was turned and he and his kids couldn't see anything.  Then John said the funniest thing I heard all day.  John says "Its not indecent exposure you moron.  You didn't see my penis did you?".  You could see the guy freak that his kids just heard the word penis and he was about to get out of the car when his wife convinced him to leave.

It was hilarious.  Every kid goes pee outside.  I'm sure if the guy didn't make such a big deal out of it the kids wouldn't even have noticed.  Instead he made an ass of himself.  Nice example.  The only thing he could have done better is to have gotten out of the car and actually got in a fight with us.  Pretty stupid. 

I never fail to have some type of memorable adventure when I run with this group!  It was a fun day.  Below is a recap of my training for the week.  Keeping with the tradition of last week, I took a video of my Sunday training run to show some of the trails that I'm running on. 

2-07-2011
Monday AM - 6 Miles (51:31).
Ran on the treadmill at 8:35 pace. Again, skipped my strength training because I was worried about getting to work in time to be prepared for our weekly meeting.  I think I'm going to move my weights day to Tuesday.

2-08-2011
Tuesday AM - 6 Miles (51:30 min).
Treadmill. Easy.  Also did 45 min of strength training.

2-09-2011
Wednesday - 12 Miles (1:40:15)
Treadmill again.  Watched some episodes of Weeds.  Its hard to run when your laughing your ass off.

2-10-2011
Thursday - 7.1 Miles (1 Hour)
Ran the snowmobile trails.  First outdoors run in my new Merrell Trail Gloves.  Awesome shoes that have the same feel as my VFF's but no individual toes.  They are extremely well vented and it was 8 below zero.  My feet were freezing.  After a 2.5 mile warmup I did two hill sprints, both up and down, on a .25 mile steep section of the trails.  This is the beginning of my more specific training.  Up to this point all my runs have been very easy base building runs.

2-11-2011
Friday - 10 Miles (1:25:46)
Treadmill easy running. More watching "Weeds" on Netflix.

2-12-2011
Saturday - 31Miles (6 1/2 hours)
Joined my friend "Sherpa" John Lacroix, Josh, Leah, Dan, and  Julie for a Fat Ass style 50k fun run.  Josh, Leah and Dan bailed at the 1/2 point and me John and Julie did the full pull.  I ran a lot slower than I usually do on my Sunday long runs and had an absolute blast.  Felt awesome, zero soreness or fatigue.
2-13-2011
Sunday - 10.1Miles (1:27:50)
Snowmobile Trails.   I couldn't wait to get out this morning.  Had an incredible run in the Merrells and felt great.

Totals
82.2 Miles
31:47 Hours running
30 min strength training

Weekly Summary - January 31 - February 6

1-31-2011
Monday AM - 7 Miles (1 hour).
Ran on the treadmill at 8:35 pace.  Still working on easy running to keep ankle safe.  Feels super easy, like I'm not even working out.  Was supposed to do Strength Workout, but in a rush to get to work.

2-1-2011
Tuesday AM - 6 Miles (51:33 min).
Treadmill.  Easy and boring.  Watching "Weeds" on Netflix.  Love that show.

2-2-2011
Wednesday - 15 Miles (2 hours 8 min)
Ran at St.Pauls School with my friend Ron who is training for Boston.  The track is a .10 mile track.  We did 150 laps. Ron feels it is easier than the treadmill.  Ron's going through a tough time in his life.  I enjoyed our conversation and being there for him.  I have so many friends that have helped me when I was in a tough place its nice to be the one who can listen.  Ran in my Five Fingers for the entire 15 miles.  Felt great.  Nice track surface.  Felt very easy and relaxed.

2-3-2011
Thursday - 7 Miles (1 Hour)
Treadmill. My notes say "Feels great running so easy on the treadmill"

2-4-2011
Friday - 12 Miles (1:43)
Treadmill.  More watching "Weeds" on Netflix.

2-5-2011
Saturday - 7 Miles (1 Hour)
Treadmill - Warm up for workout
45 minutes Strength Training on Bowflex machine.  Also did push ups and sit ups.

2-6-2011
Sunday - 20.06 Miles (3:12:05 - 9:34 pace)
Snowmobile Trails.   Did not want to run this morning.  Overdressed and was sweating a bunch.  Ended up being a great run, but tiring as the snowmobile trails were pretty soft and sucked the life out of me.  Brought my flip cam and took some videos.

Totals
74.1 Miles
10.54 Hours running

It was a great week for me.  My training went well and we are super busy at the shop.  One very interesting thing happened to me.  On Tuesday I attended a seminar on becoming a public speaker and ended up getting invited to give a motivational speech later this month.  I will give more details here on my blog as I get them. I am really looking forward to it!