Gary’s Fitness Blog

The idea of "milestone" birthdays has been an increasingly large topic on my mind lately. I do not normally think about my birthdays and honestly hate the idea of a birthday celebration, but I think that the next few months are going to be interesting for me from a psychological / personal happiness point of view.

Why? Because I turn 30 in September.

I am not complaining, I do not feel old, I do not believe my days of "living it up" are over….. it just seems that as I think about the fact that I am turning 30, I begin to think about 5 and 10 years ago and all that I thought would have happened by now.

For those that know me, you likely know that I like operate on multi year plans. In general, my 2 year plan is pretty specific, 5 year plan is outlined and 10 year plans are fuzzier mile-markers. Here are a couple examples of plans that are easy to point to and that I am currently in the middle of:

a - 5 year Ironman plan. I first shared the sketch of this plan back in September of 2006 in my post, "4 days to first 140.6 triathlon ". It has obviously changed to a small degree, but even when life variables change I try and stay steady. We’ll see how much it changes when Nikki starts school full-time?

b - 5 year business development. One of the reasons that Nikki and I wanted to move back to Kentucky is that it was going to offer us the ability to start our own business. Moving back here in August of 2005, I thought that it would take around 3 years for us to both be able to step away from "regular jobs" and try being on our own 100%. Nikki went full-time in April of ‘06, I went in April of ‘07. So things have been moving quickly and we’re as passionate as ever to serve others in health, fitness and performance.

Other guys do the same thing:

1. I was recently listening to Competitor’s Radio and heard an interview they did with Dean Karnazes . They talked about his journey to becoming the "Ultra Marathon Man" and how it began with him running 30 miles on his 30th birthday (from a bar I believe). I haven’t read his book, Ultra Marathon Man: Memoir Of An Extreme Endurance Athlete but Nikki has and she said this event is discussed in the book also.

2. This past week I got an email from Bill Anders , who had some questions about training for his goal to run 40 miles on his 40th birthday. He said he got the idea from the site, B-FitB-day . Because Bill is in Iraq, he’s modifying the standard goals for B-FitB-day and just running his age (did I say "just" run his age!).

And the list of events like this goes on. It makes me wonder, why is it that guys find it a necessary step in life to prove that a birthday (or passing of time) has not proven their mortality? I guess the most famous defiance of age over the years has been the events that Jack LaLanne has done on his birthdays.

In the book, "Timeless Healing " by Herbert Benson, PhD, he discusses how men tend to die around the time of their birthdays. Specifically, men tended to die prior to their birthdays because looking ahead towards their birthday as a sort of deadline. The paper that Benson referenced was actually titled, "The Birthday: Lifeline or Deadline?" by Dr. David Phillips from the University of California, San Diego.

It’s interesting as I look at my own thoughts about the upcoming 30 year "deadline", there are many things that I thought were in my 10 year plan during my 20’s that have not happened. The biggest item that I had on that list was getting my Ph.D, which still comes up a lot within my mind as a source of dissonance.

What do I have in mind for my "milestone" event?

In May, I made a post titled "Help me find my new challenge ".  At the time I wasn’t looking forward to my birthday, but I think that as I come up with ideas, I will.  The idea of riding across Nebraska is probably out at this point - but what I have on my mind right now would actually be more challenging physically - and pretty cool (IMO).

Stayed Tuned.

What milestones have you faced?

It doesn’t have to be a birthday, but I’m interested in hearing others fitness or life milestones that you have encountered.  How it impacted you?  How it propelled you to better places?  Etc.

See you on the roads!

The picture above is from this past weekend. The weekend was a good reminder as to what balance can create for your health, sometimes fitness, but may not be a positive factor for performance. Read On.

This past weekend Nikki and I spent Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon at the Boone Creek Anglers Club. It was a short retreat with the other trainers and families from Fitness Plus (the studio we personal train at). It was a great way to spend some time socializing, relaxing, hiking and just being around nature. We often take little trips outdoors in order to get away. Thankfully, we live in Kentucky where there is a lot of natural beauty to be explored. (Even though people say that we should still be living out west if that is what we truly desired… take a look for yourself. Pictures here.)

The whole experience allowed me to solidify some thoughts that I have been having on what type of year I would like to have in triathlon, running and competing.

The process of an active lifestyle:

Last year around the New Year, I wrote a post discussing the benefits of setting up process goals. It sounds easy, but often we fall into the outcome based thinking. As I approached Ironman Wisconsin in September, I felt that pressure to become more and more outcome focused. Some of that pressure was from others always asking what my goals were, some of the pressure was within in my own mind deciding what would be and what would not be successful.

I feel like I succeeded in fighting off those pressures and just allowing my training plan take care of itself and allowing the race to happen. (You can read my race report if you want.) The interesting thing for me was what happened after the Ironman. I quickly became dissatisfied with my accomplishment and found myself looking for how I could “better” my efforts this year. And by better, I mean, how can I prove myself to others and myself again.

By November, I was making plans to do two and possibly three ironman distance races in 2008. And my training plan was beginning to be sketched out. But that is not what I want to be about. I can’t force myself to be happy only by beating “x” or even out-doing myself. Triathlon, running and all the activities that I’ve competed in over the last 9 years has been about a lifestyle.

I find it interesting that on January 1st, 1999, I sat down and wrote down on a piece of paper

“complete a marathon”

And nine years later, I fully anticipated completing a couple marathons and iron-distance triathlons in the same year. There could be a lot said about the change in lifestyle that has occurred during that time!

This year I have decided to revive my commitment to the lifestyle, the daily process of being active. I’m not 100% sure what that means right at this moment, other than it means I will seek balance in my activities and I won’t target an A race.

Why? Well my thinking is this; when I have an A race chosen each day is geared towards one single day of the year. This reality alone makes it difficult at time to chose activities that will increase my enjoyment, because the activity chosen is the one that will prepare me to do that race better.

I will still race, but hopefully no race will become more important than another. Nor will any race become more important than my Saturday rides. There might be a lot of peace available for myself if that is true.

The bottom line is that I’m taking the “Basic Week” idea to a lifestyle extreme of having a noncompetitive anticipation as my end. The reality is that is where it all began 9 years ago. As an 11 hour Ironman athlete, that is really where it is anyway!

Balance and Athletic Success:

My perspective of this as a coach is that this is not an optimal strategy that results in the best possible race. When it comes to health and fitness there is a level of balance that we all can achieve; when it comes to race performance, there is often little room for balance. The best athletes are those with a life that has little balance involved in it. If you have any questions about this, watch the documentary “What it takes“.

I received the documentary (along with the trainer version and Showdown) for Christmas. It is a very inspiring and interesting video, but you don’t see much balance available for those at the top end of the sport. They live swimming, biking and running.

Many of you are probably saying, “yeah but”. Yeah but, I don’t want to be the best. Yeah but, I’m an age-grouper not a professional. Yeah but, etc….

The truth is that at the long end of the tail, there is not much balance - even for the “everyman”. I personally will not be a top professional in Hawaii, I know that. But even when I compete against myself, I realize that to become a much faster Ironman than 11 hours, I’m going to have to sacrifice a level of balance.

In 2008 I will likely not become a faster Ironman athlete, but I will be very active. That’s the point.