Gary’s Fitness Blog

I am about half way through a book titled “Beyond Booked Solid” by Michael Port. The book is a business read, but I just read through a section that seemed to apply very well to an athlete’s attempt at a new fitness goal (Remember - Brad says we are all athletes!).

In the chapter, Projects - How to Get Things Done, Port goes through a list of “simple rules to get things done.” Of course the rules are designed to address a business project, but isn’t taking on a half marathon, marathon or a triathlon a project? A project on yourself!

Think of all the management skills you have to use when you begin this journey of endurance: scheduling workouts, relationship building, family management, coordinating outsourced help (from coach, trainer, nutritionist, physical therapist, etc)… it really is a project.

Reading through the list of rules that Port shares, the one that really made me think about this connection was the last rule - “Have a Compelling Story for Your Project.” Let me share a couple quick quotes from that section:

“Keeping your passion and your focus depends on telling and retelling the story of your project” … “[your story] will become increasingly important as you face problems, setbacks, or any type of project breakdown”

Discussing some research by Dan McAdam’s, author of The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By, Port talks about the value of our story to our behaviors:

“.. when we tell our life stories, we are really just telling ourselves who we are and why. McAdams found, for example that successful people often tell a life story characterized by overcoming adversity, connections with others, and a belief in the future. In fact, the narrative themes we choose when we tell our life story may well be diriving factors in our behavior.”

The Direct Application to the Journey of Endurance:

Some of the stories that I’ve heard over the years are pretty amazing.  When I think about the people that give me motivation to continue my own journey, it is because they have had a compelling story.  Here are a couple stories:

- Gordo Byrn - now he is a professional triathlete, finished top five at Ironman multiple times and has a performance lab in his basement in Boulder, Colorado.  But that hasn’t always been the truth, nor was it the story that inspired me to call him my hero in triathlon.  At the age of 30, Gordo was a beginner, just like most of us - with a full time job, etc, etc.  He used to talk often of his process to “come off the couch” and become the professional athlete.  This story is actually the force that compelled a masters swimmer to tell me about him back in 2001, and while the professional Gordo is interesting, the couch to athlete story is motivating.

- Brad (right here at sweat365) -  The title of his blog is pretty revealing, “Fat Kid becomes Ironman.”  Over the past year, I’ve had the ability to read and share in Brad’s story because he has been open to us readers through his blog.  It is a story that many people probably relate to, especially when they decide to take on this endurance project.

There are many more stories that I’ve heard at races, on blogs and lately on podcasts (steverunner, zentriathlon and confessionsofarunner), but one thing to think about when figuring out your own story is this:

Take control of your story.  Define your own path.  Don’t be afraid to dream (and become) big. Be positive.

I have written about the benefit of positive “story telling” in a post I titled:  Talk Yourself into a Better Triathlon Performance.  It was about the thoughts I had after reading Bobby McGee’s book, “Magical Running,” integrated with some ideas that I shared about - Mental Training for Endurance Athletes.

One of the more personal stories that I’ve shared related to self-image and running was a story I shared a couple years ago, Define Yourself (and Be Positive).  The point was of sharing that story is that we will have face our doubters.  We’ll have people telling us we can’t do that because we are not good enough, fast enough, strong enough, healthy enough or anything-not-like-them-enough.

It might be that we’ll have more people telling us that we can’t than telling us we can.  I even had a guy continually telling me I was “running too fast” - “was going to bonk” - “wasn’t going to finish” while running my first marathon.  (Jerk!)

But that’s the secret.  Develop your story.  Define who you are, what you want to accomplish and then share it.  The platform here at sweat365 gives you that ability.  And then sell that story to every person you see.

Micheal Port says in his book, “Never discount the power of the stories you tell about your projects.  Stories articulate why a project is important to everyone involved, and they keep the project on track.”

I’d love to hear your story.  If you’ve already constructed your story - Please share it by posting a link in the comments of this post.  We can all improve by reading other compelling stories.

In December of 2006, I made a commitment to use a run/walk method for my races in 2007. There is always a lot of discussion and opinions around this idea amongst runners. Here are the two biggest things that I see:

1. Those runners that believe that a “true” runner wouldn’t walk during a race
2. Those runners/sports scientists that believe there is no validity to the method.

I originally came to the idea after listening to Bobby McGee speak during the training clinic at the Olympic Training Center. While I wasn’t sure if I was convinced, I thought that I’d give it a try.

Here’s the link again to my previous post: Does Slow Down mean Walk for me?

My Experience:

The commitment I had was to run/walk every run I did. And looking back, I don’t remember doing a single run in ‘07 that I didn’t walk some. There were quite a few benefits that I derived from this experience. I’ll skip the physiology of it for now (maybe I’ll get to it at another time), but the two things I noticed were:

1. It allowed me to recover easier, which allowed me to run more often (I actually ran every single day in Feb. of ‘07)

2. Emotionally, it allowed me to relax and have peace with the idea of walking, which allowed me to use those lessons during races.

I used the method in 3 key races during the ‘07 year:

1. Derby Half Marathon
2. Mountainer Half Ironman
3. Ironman Wisconsin

To be honest, I believe it helped in all three races. I had some doubts about the idea of walking during the half marathon, but here is what it did: It slowed me down at a time during the race when I was getting caught up in the race and running way too fast. Therefore, it forced discipline into my race when it would have likely been lacking. While 1:25 is not really fast for a half marathon, it was as much as I could have expected considering the training I had leading up to that race.

The biggest benefit that I had during the year using this method was during the Ironman. It was hugely beneficial going into that race knowing I would have to walk, because when I started walking that first mile, I was able to say to myself “this is part of the plan.” That was more empowering than getting to 15 or 16 and saying, “I have to walk because I don’t know if I can run anymore.”

The difference between those two psychological states are worth many minutes during a race. I had hoped that I could go under 3:30 for my marathon split, I didn’t make it as I went 3:35. But I’m convinced that I would have been closer to 4:00 had I not started walking from mile 1.

Who benefits the most?

The athletes that benefit the most from using this strategy, in my opinion, are those that are still challenged by their endurance. I tell athletes that you’d benefit if you are planning on going over 3:30 for the marathon. (There’s no science to that number.)

That being said, I will use this method the next time I try to go under 3 hours. And as Bobby McGee said, he has had a 2:30 marathoner use this method.

The key is determining where your pacing begins to drop. Maintaining a consistent pace is likely the largest performance boost that many runners will see by using a walk/run strategy.

I would be interested to hear others experience using a run/walk stategy and how they felt it helped or did not help them.