Por Amor al Arte

Now, for those of you who don't hablar español, the title here is a Spanish saying that roughly translates to "for love of the art." This is exactly what my race this morning in Longmont was all about. Sure, I had gone to the Nebraska/Wyoming football game the night before. Sure, I had finally gotten to bed in a smoking-allowed hotel room (they still exist??) at 1 AM, but I was going to race, and that's all I cared about. When I was out on the course today, I was reminded exactly why I love this sport.

Personally, I feel that too many triathletes get into crunching numbers about hours of sleep, calories, training, heart rate zones, etc. going into a race. Yeah, these are all great guidelines, and if they make you feel better, then go for it. I, however, prefer a much more organic approach. I obviously have to make some sacrifices in order to perform at the level I do, but I am not going to become a slave to triathlon just yet by giving up some of the things I love (like football, barbecue, and beer on a Saturday afternoon) just to feel better about my upcoming race. I quote the Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Amanda Beard in saying "If I am not having fun in life, I am not going to swim fast..."

Basically what I am saying is, don't get so caught up in the technical aspect of training and racing all the time and do what feels right. Ditch the GPS unit and run until your mind is clear, not until the $300 electronic tells you to stop. Screw the protein shake and eat a cookie with a half an inch of frosting on top after a workout because it sounds good. Enter in a triathlon on a whim because you want to feel the adrenaline of the starting horn and 60 sets of thrashing arms around you in the water, not because you want to get a PR. In my experience, if you do all of these things, the results will come... but they will also kind of be an afterthought to the journey getting you there.

I mean if I can do this in the morning...

 Following a night like this....

Then I call that a great weekend.

But who am I to say... after all, I came in 4th overall today, not 1st. Well, I can honestly say this has been my favorite post to write so far, I only hope you all enjoy reading it. Thanks for reading, and until next time, as always, FOLLOW THE PACERABBIT!

The Lonely Sport

It occurred to me just the other day... I was talking to a friend about my training schedule, when she asked me, "don't you get lonely?" 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 95% of it by myself. I had honestly never thought of it before this, but yes, triathlon is a lonely sport.

My immediate answer was "NO WAY!! I live a very fulfilling life!!" (cue the montage from 40 Year Old Virgin but instead of Steve Correll doing nerdy things, insert me being swimming, biking, and running)

Now I am not posting this to pout, nor do I feel like a lonely person. In fact, after a 6 hour shift working in a coffee shop (where I am every bit the smiling extrovert my mother raised) I relish the time spent alone. I chose this sport and this lifestyle, and I love it. I truly feel like this is where I am meant to be. The gratitude, even exaltation  I feel after a hard day of training is unlike anything I can get from a social interaction. But, there it still is, only recently brought to my attention... like the stain on your favorite t-shirt that someone finally mentions to you... loneliness.

I don't know why this bothered me hearing it from my friend. It was something I had known about obviously and didn't care about before. Putting it into words made me realize that I had chosen this lonely sport instead of a team sport, or even some other (possibly more sane) pursuit, and that made me wonder what it is about myself that made me this way.

I probably only really feel this coming from my swimming background. Every day I would come to practice knowing I would have my boys there to pick me up if I felt crappy, to hang on for the ride if I was feeling strong. We pushed each other, and along with that comes a deeper camaraderie than simply working together.

I would love a training partner who could really push me, like Eli or Robbie or Brett back in college. I realized this today when doing intervals around Washington Park on my bike (I know, I do this workout a lot.... but it is convenient and relatively standardized) when some guy passed me with one of those bikes with a motor. Essentially, he was cheating, but my competitive instincts took over, and I had to catch him. In doing so, I found that I could go much faster if I had something to chase... a Pace Rabbit of my own, if you will...

I apologize if this got sappy, but I kinda had to get it off my chest so it would stop bothering me. Besides, I feel like I can't tailor this to all of your interests, so I'll write about mine and hope you like them. Again, I am not trying to have a pity party for myself, but rather trying to share some insight into what my life is like as a triathlete. Anyway, thanks for listening to my little rant! Until next time, follow the PaceRabbit!

Motivation

Something we could all use more of, right? Motivation is the catalyst that turns good intentions into great results. For me, this can be a struggle; it's easy to plan a week of training, but when that alarm goes off at 5:30, my memory foam mattress pad has its own intentions. When that happens here are a few tricks I use to spark the Fire and go feed my fast!

A few general guidelines first: 1) Motivation always decreases with time. This means, if you don't wanna go for a run now, you're REALLY not going to want to in an hour. So, JUST DO IT! 2) Don't approach things with an all-or-nothing attitude. If you're really not feeling it today, just say you're going half the distance you normally would. Hey, its better than nothing!

Morning Training:

1- Set my alarm across the room from my bed. That way, I have to actually get up to turn it off. Then, when I'm up, I do 10 jumping jacks. Try going back to sleep with your heart rate up!

2-Get everything ready the night before. This is a double-edged sword. Not only are you much less likely to get going if you have to take 10 minutes to find your shoes and watch, but you're also much less likely to go back to sleep knowing your running shoes are sitting at the foot of your bed, watching you be a lazy ass!

3-Coffee! I know it sounds simple, but trust me, it works. I set my coffee machine on delay brew, so it starts brewing 5 minutes before my alarm goes off. Then, when I wake up, I smell the coffee and can't help but feel the energy for the good fight.

Afternoon Training:

1-Be realistic: If you get off of work at 6, its pretty unlikely that you'll be able to squeeze in a 3 hour bike ride and still keep up your other obligations. Knock it down to an hour and a half, and then do another 90 minutes tomorrow.

2-Set a deadline: I am much more likely to get my training in if I schedule my afternoon around it. For instance, if I set a time to go for a swim, I will plan the rest of my day around the swim, making it seem like a priority, even if its not.

3-Take it one step at a time: This is bolded because it works like a charm. It also works great for the morning sessions. I start by saying "I'm just going to put my shoes on." Then, "I'm just going to pack my bag," and "I'm just going to get in the car and go to the pool," and finally "I'm just going to swim a few laps easy." By the time I am in the water and moving, the Pace Rabbit takes over and I have no choice but to MURDER a threshold workout!

If none of these work, try listening to some pump-up music! My favorite is an electronic group called Coyote Kisses... check them out here http://soundcloud.com/coyotekisses

Or, youtube some sick Under Armor Commercials... These guys know their target audience very well.

Well, I hope I helped you get off your butt and go enjoy this beautiful fall weather! Sorry, I didn't add any pictures this week, and it may have gotten a little wordy for you 3rd grade-level readers out there... :) But I am glad I got my word out. Feel free to contact me at any time with questions about training or anything else at pacerabbit@gmail.com. Until next time, follow the Pace Rabbit!

Estes Park

What's up guys? The other day I needed to get out of the city, much like I do about once a week. I decided to head up to my old stompin' grounds, Estes Park. This is really where I became a triathlete. My passion and drive for triathlon may have been conceived on the country roads of Kearney, and born in Corbett Pool in Laramie, but it grew up in Estes Park.

Now, those of you who know me well understand that there is a lot of emotion attached to this little town for me, growing up and visiting here (always crying as we drove away) and living here for a couple summers have given me an attachment to Estes Park that most people never get. Anyway, I had an absolutely lovely day of training, and a great meal to top it off. Here are the pics.

 On the way up Trail Ridge Road. About a 20 mile climb out of Estes, with about 5,000 feet in elevation gain. These are the kind of views that make you believe in God.

 At the top of Trail Ridge Road! 12,000+ feet of altitude... My legs are wrecked, my teeth are chattering, and the coffee, chocolate milk, and bag of potato chips I just got from the ranger station are the best meal I have ever tasted.

 All downhill from here. This picture captures the raw beauty of the landscape nicely, but fails to grasp the speed of the descent. Looking down at my speedometer, I would simultaneously laugh with giddy joy and shudder with pure terror.

After a 3 and a half hour bike ride (that's 3 hours up, 30 minutes down), a 3k swim, and a 40 minute track workout, I reward myself with a pizza and an adult beverage from Poppy's.  I couldn't mention Estes without talking about Poppy's Pizza and Grill. My favorite place of work, and a dang good place to eat. If you're ever in Estes Park, stop by Poppy's and you'll not be disappointed. This is the #6, a vegetarian's dream with basil pesto, black olives, broccoli, and water chestnuts.

As I have said, I have a lot of memories from Estes Park. Some of them are among the worst I have, the hardest days of my life. Out of this negativity came the person I am today, though, and for that I am forever thankful. However, most of my memories from this charming little town (that is as much of a home to me as Laramie or Kearney or Denver) are among the happiest I can recall, and this lovely day added another to that list.

My next post will be on tips for motivation, something we could all use more of! Thanks for reading this,  it is good to know y'all are out there listening! Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!

Kangen Water

Sorry its been almost a week since you've heard from me! Today, I am going to inform you all about a product that not only benefits me as an athlete, but could have far-reaching benefits to anyone who drinks water... (yes, I mean everyone)

A lot of people ask me, “Sam, what kind of supplements do you use?” It usually weirds these people out when I answer by showing them an unremarkable gallon jug of what appears to be just water. Today, for my first post that is strictly about a product, I am proud to tell you all about Kangen Water by Enagic.

Recently I have been introduced to Kangen Water. For those of you not familiar, Kangen Water is water that has been ionized and restructured through an Enagic SD501 ionizer. The ionization process makes the water very alkaline (pH 9.5), and turns it into a very powerful antioxidant (far stronger than green tea). It also arranges the water molecule clusters into hexagons, which are actually significantly smaller than the “clumps” that other water usually forms. This is called micro-clustering and it allows Kangen Water to super-hydrate the body at a cellular level. Anyway, the chemistry is a bit over my head even with my chem minor, so I will just give you a run down of the benefits I have noticed.

Recovery: The Water, with its alkaline, antioxidant and micro-clustering properties, has been a huge benefit in shortening my recovery times. I simply don’t get sore or feel residual fatigue anymore. This is actually how I really noticed The Water first. At a race in Denver, I had just finished, and was drinking the tap water offered. Then, one of the sponsors of the race, Max Performance and Health, stepped forward and handed me a glass of Kangen Water. At first I didn’t think much of it, until the next day when I wasn’t sore at all. I had no lactic acidic buildup in my muscles! So, I immediately emailed the company, avs19@mac.com (www.MaxPerformanceAndHealth.com). Now I drink The Water every day.

Hydration: Another great result for me is from the small molecular size of The Water. It absorbs into my cells very quickly as a result of micro-clustering of the molecules. This means I can pretty much chug a liter of the water, and within about a minute it is out of my stomach and moving quickly to hydrate my entire body. This helps a ton during workouts and competition; I can stay hydrated without the annoying sloshing of water in my gut.

Detoxing: The second thing I noticed once on the Kangen Water is how much better I felt in general. This is because of the powerful antioxidant property of the water. I literally went through detox as my body became alkaline as opposed to acidic. I lost about 3 pounds that I didn’t even know I had. Even still, if I go without it for a few days, or eat (or drink...) like crap for a few days, I don’t even realize how crappy I feel until I get some Kangen Water and feel better.

Bottom Line... I can workout longer and harder and recover much quicker now that I drink Kangen Water. This is one of those products that literally speaks for itself, all you have to do is try it and you will see the benefits for yourself. Contact Max Performance and Health and let them know I sent you to find out more! 

Until next time, Follow the Pace Rabbit!!!