Am I a quitter or smart?

Being either a "quitter" or "smart" don't seem to be polar opposites to be in an either-or question. Usually one is considered to be "smart" or "dumb." Also, in a race, one would either keep going or quit.

Well, in last Sunday's Texas Trails 50K race in Huntsville, TX, I entered into the club of "quitters". I have been fighting a bit of an injury in the left glute/hamstring area just after finishing the Great Floridian Triathlon. My left leg just doesn't want to pick itself up correctly, and when I force it, it really hurts. Nonetheless, I started the day feeling OK; the starting gun went off, and away I went.

The first 10K brings you back to the start/finish line to cross the timing mat. As I crossed the mat and headed out for another 20K loop, I thought to myself how well I was doing considering my situation--the day was executing well.

Then at about mile 15 (according to my Garmin Forerunner 305), I tripped on root in the trail. Oh, well...I got up and suddenly tripped again, and again, and yet again. Inside of a single mile, I tripped six times!! It had to be that my injured leg was not picking itself up high enough. Funny thing was that I knew that and was consciously trying to lift it higher. The sixth time I tripped, I hit my knee pretty hard, and decided that to be "smart" I better quit. I proceeded to run/walk to the start/finish line at mile 19, and turned in my chip. I quit.

This is the first race I have ever quit. I could have finished, I had plenty of time to even walk the last 20K. But I was afraid I would hurt myself more that I was already hurting, so I figured I be smart and quit.

Therefore, it is not an either-or question. However, I still internally struggle with these questions: "Was I smart to quit? Or am I just a quitter?"

The Amazing Human Machine

The Texas Trails 50K race scheduled for December 5, 2009 in Huntsville, TX is fast approaching on my schedule. I was started to get concerned that I was not recovering fast enough from the Great Floridian Triathlon (GFT), especially given last week's training.

My mid-week runs are now back up to my typical 7 miles, although I'm holding off from doing any speedwork since the GFT. I also was able to start adding a fourth weekly run this week. I'm also seeing my pace starting to pick back up. However, Sunday morning my scheduled called for 20 mile run.

Upon waking on Sunday morning, I tried hard to justify why I really didn't need to do this run--a rest day would be good for me. I just couldn't talk myself out of it, no matter how fatigued I felt. Mind you, it could have been the Margarita's and Mexican food the night before, too, that wanted me to NOT do the run.

Well, I went out to Terry Hershey Park and got my legs started. Still feeling some slight pain in the left glute area (that tends to feel better after I warm up), the demons in my mind kept trying to convince me to stop. I continued to plod along to mile 6, 7, ..., 13,...I thought, "Why not just walk back to the car from here?" I decided it was better to just keep plodding.

I ended up passing by my parked car at mile 16.25, according to my Garmin. "Now's the perfect time to stop!" I kept on running. I did an out back to complete 20 miles. Wow, I did it! What was interesting to me is that even thought my heart rate was extremely low the entire run, my pace actually improved throughout the entire distance.

I wasn't ready, wanted to quit, but made it while increasing pace the entire workout. It is amazing what the human machine can do even when your head's not up for it!

A 25K workout

It was two weeks after the Great Floridian Triathlon, an ironman distance race, and I decided at the last minute to race the Houston 25K. The 25K is part of the warm-up series to the Houston Marathon. While not being fully recovered, I figured I could still have a good result; after all, I was in "ironman" shape.

There is more to the pre-race story, though. The week prior I had started my crossfit-like resistance training. The day prior to the race I taught an intense spin class, where I participated with as much effort as I was instructing the students to put into the class. Later that same day, I went to a Bodyworks certification class, which, of course, included participating in an hour class of Bodyworks. This class included a lot of squats while holding dumbbells.

You can image the results at the 25K. To review, minimally recovered from an ironman, re-started resistance training, and two hard workouts the day prior to the 25K. As a coach, I insist that you do as I say, not as I do. I think I'll just call this a 25K workout, not a race.

Train safe!

coachgrant.net

Does Crossfit Training Work with Triathlon?

I was introduced several months ago to a concept of fitness training called Crossfit. At the time I was training for the Great Floridian, an ironman distance race, so I didn't want dig into the subject too deeply.

Now that I've raced the Great Floridian, I'm ready for a bit of a change. Sure it is now "running season" in Houston, but I want to try something new. So after several Internet searches, I've found there is a huge amount of folks participating in such workouts. The main site for all things crossfit is found at www.crossfit.com.

So far I've done just two 20 minute workouts outlined (workouts named after girls). I modified the workout to make them easier since I've not done much strength training for a while AND just finished an ironman. These two workouts were very efficient and VERY tough. They made me extremely sore.

More to come.

Train safe!

coachgrant.net