I know it has been a while since I posted, but it was for good reasons.  A lot has been happening around here with the end of the school year, work, and long course swim season cranking up.  And I have been dealing with some stuff that I didn’t want to talk about at the time for fear of worrying some people.

Many of my Facebook friends know I have been dealing with a freaky headache issue.  Here’s the deal.  About 6 or 7 weeks ago, I was 4 weeks into my 100 push up challenge and was up to around 140-150 push ups in a workout.  And then one day, by the time I was finished with my workout I ended up in the fetal position with a headache so severe it felt like I had a stroke or an aneurysm.  Never in my life have I had a headache hurt so bad.

Being the moron that I am, I took some ibuprofen and blew it off.  I continued to do my push up workouts to the best of my ability and finished every session with a monster headache that lasted up to 9-10 hours (with drugs).  After about a month of that, the engineer in me started doing some analyzing and experimenting.

One thing I quickly discovered (which has been my saving grace.)…….it doesn’t hurt when I run.  Woo-hoo!  That would have sent me into the emergency room after the first time.   Push-ups????  Pfft!  Running????  Hell no!  I even did a few workouts where I ran my last mile or so at a heart rate of around 175 bpm.  If something was going to pop in my head, I was going to give it every opportunity to do so.  Nothing.  No pain.  No issues.

So let’s take the analysis a little further.  The headaches seem to be centered on my forehead which is the location of your sinus cavities.  And with my history of allergy/sinus problems I would have bet money on it.  Nope.  Sinus x-ray showed minimal allergy inflammation.  Definitely nothing that could cause that severe of a headache.  Especially when triggered only by push-ups.

Several people asked if I was holding my breath or maybe the body position with my head down was the culprit.  That sounds logical except that I had been doing the same style push ups for 4 weeks already without the slightest issue.  But to further test it, I did some standing bicep curls which resulted in the beginning of a headache.

Now for more engineering.  My expert analysis leads me to think it is a nerve/muscular issue somehow centered in my upper back.  Running doesn’t hurt it.  Riding a bike is not an issue.  But any exercise that tenses the upper back muscles seems to trigger it.  By the way, if you are moving houses any time soon, do not call me.  I found out when moving Lara out of the dorm that it sucks as well.

Since I am only an engineer and not an actual doctor (even though I could play one on TV), I did go see a neurologist to try to rule out some more stuff.  This past Wednesday, I did a MRI with the dye to see if there are any blockages, aneurysms, leaks, tumors, little mice spinning on treadmills, or anything at all in my head.  It will probably be a couple of weeks before I know the results of that.  But the doctor’s initial diagnosis was something they did not know much about that eventually will go away.  Yep, pretty vague.  Oh, but there is medicine they can give me for the pain.  Or not.

So where does that leave me?  Hell if I know.  I am just running my ass off trying not to do things that trigger the headaches.  Of course, as soon as I hear back from the doc about the MRI I may start “experimenting” with different strength training ideas.  Something has to work without causing the head explosions.  Until then…………

If you accomplished your goal, take time to revel in what you have done!  If it was truly epic for you then you should be overwhelmed physically, mentally and emotionally.  And that is a good thing.  Enjoy the endorphin release (not the double rainbow crying type).  Enjoy the pats on the back and the “Good Job” that people will tell you.  You earned it.

Now is a good time to reflect and remember all the hard work you did to accomplish your goal.  And it is a great time to thank all of the people who helped you along the way.  Like I said in an earlier post, you may have to do the training and racing, but a lot of people sacrifice to get you there.

Take time to recover!  A couple of days after your event you may feel great.  But your muscles and organs may still be feeling the race day.  Ease back into things to keep from hurting yourself.

And if you failed………….hmmmm, welcome to my world.  I will probably get some backlash from my friends on this one, but I consider my last epic race a failure because I DID NOT FINISH!  I am an engineer.  If you take the race car to the track and the wheels fly off 60 miles into the 100 mile test run………..it’s a failure.  You go back to the drawing board.

So if you failed, break out the slide rule and go back to the drawing board.  Figure out what lead to the failure.  Examine every aspect of the race and identify what worked and what didn’t.  Fix it.  And then go back and kick some ass.

If you failed and walk away from it forever………..I’ve got no words for that one.  That concept doesn’t even register in my brain.

If you failed, it’s simple.

1. FIND THE PROBLEM
2. FIX IT
3. KICK ASS

THE END.

Of course, being master of this domain (I AM TIMBEAUX), I will offer a few ideas and ponderings that should apply to most race days.

• Do not expect miracles on race day – If you have been training by running 12 minute miles, do not expect to be ticking off 6:30 miles for your 5K or marathon.  It ain’t gonna happen.

• Do not try anything new on race day – This is standard issue indoctrination for everyone who has done a race in the last 20 years.  And for good reason.  18 miles into a marathon is not the time you want to find out the brand spanking new shorts you are wearing have an offensively protruding seam in the testicular region.

• Try something new on race day – But wait…….didn’t he just say NOT to try anything new on race day.  Here’s the deal.  If you have trained with homemade molasses and prune flavored gels, but they cause projectile vomiting on race day…….try something new!  Before you abandon all hope for success, try anything and everything that is available.  Something might work.

Other than that.  Smile as much as you can through your gritted teeth.  Thank the volunteers because they can be the difference between success or failure.  Try to enjoy the day (or days) the best you can.  And give it all you have.  No regrets.

That could be the whole post because that is the gist of it.  If you want to succeed, you MUST do the work.  However, there are some things to keep in mind.

First, do not panic if you have a setback.  Like I said in my post about planning, life happens.  Things will come up that can cause you to miss a workout or two.  Things will come up that may derail your training for months.  There is nothing you can do about that.  Don’t panic.  Adjust your plan.  Rethink you goal.

Most of the challenges I have done required a lot of obnoxious training.  There were many times when I buried myself with layers and layers of fatigue and it was hard to crawl out of the pit I had dug.  And I was literally crawling at times.  Learning to listen to your body and the signals it gives you will be crucial.  You must be able to decipher hurt from injured, sore from strained, fatigued from over-trained.  Often it is a fine line between each of those conditions.  And being on the wrong side of the line can be the difference between success and mind numbing, soul crushing failure.

Try to keep things in perspective.  Your amount of training should be relative to the goal you have set for yourself.  If you want to set a PR in a 5K run, weekly 20 milers probably will not get you there.  When I trained for my 100 mile run attempt, my longest run was only 40 miles.  Of course, I DNF’d at 60 miles, so ignore that example.  Actually, my legs and body felt good but my feet were gone.

Keep everyone updated on your training via a blog, email, Facebook, etc so you can get advice and motivation when needed.  I have always believed in the concept of “shared pain.”  If you are training with some one, then you know they are hurting as well and the pain is lessened.  The same applies to talking about it.  Friends and acquaintances who have gone through it before can relate to your struggles so it makes the suffering a bit more palatable.  Plus, they may have some good advice to lessen your pain.

No matter what, just press on.  For ultrarunning, it is called Relentless Forward Progress.  There is actually a book written about it.  The bottom line is to just keep moving forward one step at a time until you realize your goal.  This will not happen overnight.  So ignore all the “Lose 50 pounds in one week on the Ex-Lax diet” or “Run a marathon and have abs of steel working out 20 minutes a week” infomercials.

DO.  THE.  WORK.

Let’s be honest.  If this goal were easy, you would have already done it and wouldn’t be reading this stupid blog.  There are days when you will not want to do the training.  There are days when you will be so tired that curling up on the couch with a 6-pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and a glass of milk seems like the most logical option.  There are days when you will want to give up.  So plan for these days and have a way to deal with them.

Motivation is a very personal thing.  What works for one person may not get me to glance up mid bite from my Reese’s.  On the other hand, something that dumps a gallon of adrenaline in my system during a hard workout may not raise your heart rate one beat per minute.  So you must find what works for you.

In the past, there have been several things that always work for me.  In no particular order of success:

• Tell Everyone You Know - Your friends, family, coworkers, etc. can become a huge source of motivation if they know what you are trying to achieve and how much it means to you.  When they ask how training is going it holds you accountable to making progress.  Or you could learn to lie a lot (not recommended.)

• Tell The Rest Of The World – In case you haven’t noticed, I have a blog (Pssst. You are reading it.)  Whenever I decide to do something extremely stupid……..I mean whenever I decided to accept a noble challenge, the order of notifications is similar to this:  Christine (my wife), Lara & Mason (my kids), the world.  Everyone who knows me already knows I am usually up to no good, so they can read about it here.  And knowing that people are monitoring my progress keeps me on my toes (or feet or hands and knees or curled up in a fetal position.)

• Join a Charity Team – In the past, I have raised money through the Janus Charity Challenge for my Ironman Triathlons and been on a team with the St. Jude Heroes and the St. Jude Marathon.  I believe that at most major races there is some access to a charity or fundraising site.  Undertaking a huge athletic endeavor while raising money for someone else takes the event to another level.  It is built in motivation because you are doing something for yourself and for others.

• Help Someone You Know – You don’t have to sign up for a huge marathon with 5,000 charity fundraisers for it to be effective.  Raising money for someone you know with an illness or need can cause you to dig even deeper because it is personal.  I am always inspired by the sole efforts of one man or woman biking or swimming or running billions of miles in honor of a loved one or for a personal cause.  They do not have to look very far for motivation (see here =====> Run for WWP)

• Look In The Mirror – There are many, many, many days when I look in the mirror and some asshole is looking back at me.  He doesn’t care if I am tired.  He doesn’t care if I am hurting.  He doesn’t care if I would rather go lay on the couch and watch cartoons.  He doesn’t care about any of my excuses.  So before I skip a workout, I always go have a chat with that guy to get his opinion.  By the way, he has never told me to take the day off.

As I said, motivation is personal.  You may not need it every day, but you will need it one day.  It is much better to have a stockpile just in case.

Planning for a big challenge can be just as fun.  There will be lots of research via reading books, scouring the internet and talking to more knowledgeable people.  You may have gear purchases to make for your challenge and for your training.  You may be traveling to the race location, so travel plans need to be considered.  You have to figure out a training plan, get a coach or find a group training for the same event.  And most importantly, how much will this “vacation” cost?

One thing that has worked for me is to start at the race day and work backwards.  You may not know everything you will need, but it will give you a starting point.

• RACE DAY -Where am I, how did I get here, what am I wearing, what gear do I have, who is with me, where did I sleep last night, what will I eat & drink, where is the after party??????

• 1 WEEK TO RACE DAY – Am I ready, is everything packed, are all travel arrangements verified, does everyone know how to get there, am I excited, am I nervous, am I scared out of my frickin’ mind?

• 3 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS TO RACE DAY – What gear do I need to buy so I can train and race, where will I train, who will I train with, how many massages can I have each week, who do I need to talk to, how do I prepare myself so I can answer “HELL YES!!!” to the “Am I ready” question?

You do not need to have every detail planned out before you get started.  However, you want to research enough so you don’t do anything stupid that will get you injured or hurt.  The people you meet will end up being the biggest resource you will utilize in this entire process.  So never be afraid to ask questions.

Also remember, that you still have to live.  Things will come up that may not fit in your “plans.”  It is okay.  It is called life.  Adjust the best you can and press on.