After last weeks beyond dismal long run, I tried a different approach this weekend.  Last weekend, I headed out for my run around 7 AM and it was already sweltering and miserable.  Last night I decided that whatever time I wake up after the 4AM mark was when I was going for a run.  At 3:40 this morning I woke up and had to decide……should I stay or should I go now?  I did some quick math and figured out that I could get my run done before sunrise and hopefully before Christine woke up.  That way I could enjoy a cup of coffee with her.  (On a side note, I haven’t had any coffee since Monday morning in an attempt to kick the multi-gallon caffeine habit.)

I quietly made it through the house and into the kitchen so I could get all my gear and hit the road.  I slipped out the garage, started my watch and at 4:05 AM, I was on the road.  I was hoping for a nice peaceful run.  The weather was not the same as earlier in the week, but after last weekend I would take 78 degrees and 95% humidity.  This was going to be a mental run anyway.  I headed down my driveway as one of my neighbor’s kids was just getting home.  He would be one of two cars I saw the entire run.

Being that early in the morning and pitch black, I planned my route down the street behind my house and by the airport.  It was 2.4 mile “loop” which was pretty boring, but I knew the road and where the pot holes were.  On my first trip to the airport, I jumped a deer on the side of the road.  Wow, this was going to be a good run.  As I headed down the street behind my house for the first time, I was nearly run over by the only other car I saw all morning.  He was on the wrong side of the road.  I watched where he went because he was up to no good.  Or he was the paper delivery guy.

After I headed back towards the airport, I realized I forgot to look at my house to see if Christine was up.  Sometimes when I bail early in the morning, she wakes up.  Other times, she doesn’t.  I was praying she was still asleep because she had a rough week (like mine.)  On my second pass behind my house, I glanced over towards my house and couldn’t tell if any lights were on.  There is a big field behind our house which was recently cleared to build a new house.  I was pretty sure I was looking at the motion light on our driveway, but something didn’t look right.

I headed back to the airport for another loop and left my hand held water bottle at the turn around.  I was carrying another bottle, so I decided I would pick up the empty on my last loop.  Once again, I checked to see if the lights were on but only the motion light was on.  That’s weird, usually it has gone off by now.  The street behind my house is a short street which I turn around at the end, so I came back by again as I headed back to the airport.  Huh…..it looks like my garage door is down and there’s the driveway.  Something did not seem right, but I couldn’t place it.

As I made my way to the airport for the last time, it hit me……..I didn’t see Lara’s car.  It was not in the driveway!  Great.  Somebody stole her frickin’ car!  I was already on the airport road, so I kept running to go get my water bottle.  What the hell, if her car was gone then another 20 minutes wouldn’t matter.  I spent the next mile or so trying to remember if it was there when I left to go run.  Aren’t I the observant one?

When I got close to the house, I decided to turn down the back street and just finish my run.  I was already going down the list of people to call…police, insurance, rental car.  It was not going to be a good morning.  I once again strained my eyes (no contact lenses in yet) to see if I saw the car, but the driveway looked bare.  I made the turn around and passed behind the house the final time.  And then it really hit me…..the garage door was down!

Do what?  I left out the garage door with it open when I went to run.  The only way for it to be shut was if someone had gone in and shut it.  Oh shit!  Christine, Lara and Mason were sleeping in the house!  I took off like a bat out of hell towards the house.  Now the worst images you could imagine were rolling through my head.  As I turned onto my street, still in bat out of hell mode, I was only touching the ground every 2o feet or so.  I am curious to see my heart rate data for this stretch.

I screamed into my driveway and ran straight towards………..Lara’s car.  It was parked directly next to…….the open garage door.  Which was right beside……….the motion light which was not on.  What the hell?  I stopped, scratched my head and started looking around.

Ahhh……….dumbass.  Across the street was my neighbor’s driveway with its closed garage door and motion light on.  Being in a rural area, it is very dark out there.  And my house must have just disappeared in the field.

So suffice it to say, Lara’s car was not stolen.  My wife and kids were sleeping soundly (and still are).  And I got in one hell of an 11 mile run.

Most people don’t know this but training for and racing endurance type events is more mental than physical.  Sure,  it would be extremely difficult to just mentally will yourself along for20 miles if you have not done any training.  But it could be done.  If you want to try that, my best suggestion would be to choose a route that leads to the nearest emergency room.  Because you will end up there.

I often get asked how I can run or ride or swim a certain distance that may appear to be impossible to those who don’t have a clue.  The easy answer is I train for it and then I decide that I am not going to stop until I finish it.  My body may be screaming curse words at me, but my mind will ultimately make the final decision.  And knowing that has made my attempts at long triathlons and ultra running races more easy to digest.  I just won’t quit.

But if you head is up your ass, then you have a problem.  And that is where it was this morning for my not-so-long long run.

I crashed somewhere after 11 pm last night knowing I was going to do a long run this morning.  I woke up at 4 AM, looked at the clock for 20 minutes, and went back to sleep.  The next time I looked back it was 6:45.  I really did need the sleep!  I quickly grabbed my gear, my ipod and two 20 ounce amphipod bottles that had been frozen overnight and headed out the door.  My goal today was an eleven mile run at a decent pace.

One mile in and I was sweating profusely.  I met a neighbor on the road who commented about how muggy it felt.  Thanks.  Now the seed has been planted in my head.  I continued to run along while flinging sweat like a Saint Bernard.  The podcaster I was listing to at the time was talking about his recent DNF in a 100 mile race and the reasons for his quitting.  Damn it.  Nothing physical.  All mental.

After about 3 miles I chatted with 2 more neighbors who mentioned the heat.  I checked my shirt to see if it said, “AM I HOT OR IS IT THE WEATHER?”  Nope.  It said nothing.  The miles continued to tick by slowly and painfully as my mind was working overdrive on how to abort the mission.  By the time I hit 5 miles, my first bottle was done.  And then the next podcaster explained how he got severely dehydrated on a long run.  Thanks.  I needed that.  And I cracked open the next bottle.

By now, I could feel my brain melting.  Actually it was a false reality my mind was creating because my brain wasn’t really melting.  It was just working down the list of catastrophic events that may create a good enough excuse to cause me to head back home.  And then the next podcaster starts talking about his recent race result……..another DNF.  I turned off the Ipod,  drank half the water bottle and turned towards the house.

By the time I got home, I had only gone 7.8 miles.  Both bottles were empty.  I had a headache that went from between my shoulder blades to the tip of my nose.  And I felt defeated.  The only problem was that my legs felt fine.  Unfortunately that made it worse for me mentally.  I jumped in my pool to cool off and chalked it up as a failure.

It’s not like me for my brain to let me down.  But it happens.  And it did today.  Now I need to regroup and get my head back in the game.

You know how they say that you need to do something 21 times in a row for it to become a habit?  That’s bullshit.  I have been trying most of the year to have some sort of strength training in my weekly routine.  I did the Spartacus workouts for 6 weeks straight and I did great with it.  That is until I screwed up something in my chest.  Habit?  Nope.  Gone in a flash.

After recovering from that injury, I started another strength training program that lasted about 5 weeks.  Abandoned.  Cast aside.  Nada.  I don’t even remember why that one stopped.

Since 2003, I have done at least one triathlon each year and usually 3 or 4 of them.  This year?  None.  It appears that I have abandoned the bike and swimming as well.  The only habit that I have consistently fallen back on is running.  And even though for many people the running I do would be considered beyond the realms of sanity, for me it is the easy way out.

With the physical requirements of the next few races I plan on doing,  running alone won’t be enough.  I need some additional strength somehow.  I am 6 feet tall (minus 1/4 inch) with a wing span of about 76 inches.  I can bench press 8.7 pounds.  Something needs to change.  So tonight I did 25 push-ups and 10 modified pull-ups.  They are modified because with my door frame mounted pull up bar and the length of my arms, I would need to be standing in China for it to be a real pull up.  Anyway, it’s a start.  I have until January to get some strength.

Why January?  Because the race website says, “There is a vertical climb on the course that requires the use of your upper body.” If I need an upper body to finish the course, then I will have to make one.

By the way, for all you body builders with the 48 inch chests and the 2 foot arms……kiss my ass.  I can lift 500 pounds one inch off my chest if I have to!  Try lifting it 3 feet!

As of tomorrow, both Lara & Mason will be in high school.  However, due to some wonderful politicians, they are attending two different high schools.  Lara will be graduating from St. Amant this year and Mason will be a freshman at East Ascension.  But I am not going to get into the drama and angst associated with that problem.

Fortunately for us, both of their swim teams practice together and have the exact same swim meet schedule.  For one of the few times since Lara got her car over a year ago, she is actually driving in the same direction that Mason has to go!  So Christine and I actually get to stay home once in a blue moon.

This afternoon when they got home from practice, they were complaining about how hot the pool was.  When you are goofing off in a pool, a hot pool doesn’t bother you that much.  On the other hand, when you are swimming laps and practicing hard, it sucks the life and energy right out of you.  You have to work much harder than you would in a colder pool.

But as Christine pointed out, that can be a benefit.  The extra work being done now will pay off when the pool does cool off and even more so when they have swim meets in a cold pool.

The same thing applies to running right now.  I have been struggling to increase my miles and build a good base with my training.  Each run in the 95 to 100 degree weather with a 105 to 110 degree heat index is a battle.  It is like running in quicksand.  The more you struggle and fight against the heat, the more it drags you down and chokes the life out of you.  The only solution I found is to stop fighting it and relax.

For the most part of the summer, I fought the heat with everything I had.  And the majority of my runs sucked.  A few weeks back, I broke out the heart rate monitor and set up my HR zones.  Each run, I would set my watch to beep if I exceeded a certain zone and it forced me to slow down.  Some days, I felt like I was crawling.  And I was.  But even though the heat was still there, I was not pushing myself into the heat stroke zone over and over.  I just slowed everything down.

My heart and lungs are working extra hard to compensate for the heat, but they are not blowing up.  Instead they are getting stronger.  My weekly mileage is steadily climbing as well as my long run distance.  By the time the weather does cool down, I will be in prime shape for ramping things up to the next level.  And with my race season being in the fall & winter, the timing couldn’t be better.

So for those of you training in this heat, be careful and slow things down.  You will not lose any fitness by doing that.  And if you are a competitor of mine, the best thing you can do is a take a few months off.  It is way to hot out there for you.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Maybe so.  But sometimes a picture doesn’t tell the whole story.  And even more so, sometimes what you see is far from reality.  Here are some examples:

This is a map of my run in Austin when we were at a swim meet for Mason.  The dots are the actual data recorded by my Garmin GPS watch and I uploaded it to my computer.  At first glance, it looks like a winding 7.25 mile run.

In reality, it was supposed to be a 4 mile run.  But I got lost.  The lower part of the map which looks like someones intestines was me running around with my head cut off trying to find my way back to the park entrance.  And the whole time, Christine was waiting impatiently for me.  We can laugh about it now, but then………..not so much.

This is a graph of my training that I pulled off of my Buckeye Outdoors training log.  The time range for this graph is around June of 2008 to February of 2009.  Why is that time range relevant?  Because at that time, I was training for the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile trail run.  At the present time, I am training for the Mountain Mist 50K (31 mile) trail run.  So what does that look like?

Wow!  That looks impressive!  The peaks are so much higher that I must be in great shape already!  Or not.  Let me explain a little closer.  The top of the 2008 graph represents 50 miles.  The top of the 2010 graph is 8 miles.  In 2008, I had 6 runs longer than 20 miles before my race.  Right now, I get tired driving 20 miles.  By this time in 2008, my long run was up to 15 miles.  Right now, I am at 8 miles.

You would think that with this glaring revelation, I would be panicking.  Nope, not really.  I know how to run long distances.  I know how to get ready to run long distances.  Now all I have to do is start laying down the miles.

Okay, this has nothing to do with running.  This is a picture of Christine and me in Las Vegas last weekend.  And yes, I had a little too much to drink.

Some people may confuse this image with an artist’s rendition of hell.  Sorry, this photo was taken during my run yesterday afternoon at 5:00 p.m.  I can see where you might be confused.  After my brain got fried by the sun, I was confused too.

Awwww, look how cute.  A little turtle crossing the road.  This picture disturbs me greatly.  When I went down the road this afternoon for an easy run, the turtle was nowhere to be seen.  After hitting my turn around and coming back, approximately 0.6 miles later, the turtle was half way across the road.  I have never seen a sign so blatantly clear as that in my entire life.

Not only am I running much shorter distances than I should be.  But I am slow.  Slower than a turtle.  Nice.

For some reason, I have a song stuck in my head from a commercial.  “You can go with this or you can go with that.”   If you don’t know it, here it is:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJnqbudMzs

Now it is a pretty catchy song which fits well with the commercial.  The only problem is where it will lead…..

In 2002, this commercial came out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MuYLiFClb0

Another pretty cool song which fit perfectly with the commercial.  So why the concern?  In 2002, shortly after hearing this commercial, I got my body in motion.  I signed up for and finished an off road duathlon called the Purple Haze Duathlon which took place in the middle of a monsoon.  Instead of getting discouraged, I went on to doing sprint triathlons and continued until I finished 2 Ironman triathlons.  One simple song caused me many hours and miles of pain.

Sure.  You can say that is a stretch to blame it on one song.  But sometimes it only takes one song to get your body in motion.  Or maybe one article you read in a magazine.  Or one look in the mirror.  Or one person near to you who dies of a preventable disease.

Whatever the reason, I am glad I decided to “get my body in motion”.  With my family history of every disease known to man, I need to try to cover my bets the best I can.  I want to be around to see my daughter, Lara, graduate from high school, get her doctorate degree and use some of the potential that everyone knows she has.  I want to see my son, Mason, go as far as he wants with his swimming, find what moves him to succeed, and hopefully maintain the caring yet comedic outlook he has on life.  And I want to spend as many days as God will give me with my beautiful wife, Christine.

So if my choices to the question are “you can get with this” being heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes, etc., or “you can get with that” being self imposed pain and suffering in the attempt to stay healthy then my choice will be “That.”

Unfortunately the “that” coupled with my extremist personality will not be a good thing.  A simple “get your body in motion” set off a serious of events that led to my Ironman triathlons.  I have already run a 50K (31 miles) and a 50 mile race and am awaiting the registration to open for another 50K.  I have a feeling the word “That” will lead me to a 100 mile race or even a 126.2 mile race (if I do the Rouge Orleans relay by myself one day.)

Damn commercials.  Why can’t the ones that tell you to sit on your couch and watch NASCAR get stuck in my head?