The Cosmic Meatball

In the last week the sports world seems to not be able to talk about anything other than Jeremy Lin - the Knicks point guard who scored more points in his first three starts than anybody in the NBA since the merger with the ABA in the 70's.  I watched his highlights on youtube and some of the Lakers game where he scored 38 points.  He really is fun to watch - almost everything about his game seems to be in rhythm. 

It's also great to see the reaction of his teammates.  It's like in the last minute of the game when a scrub gets to go in and makes a couple of 3-point shots.  Then they pan to the bench and everybody is going crazy.  Except that Lin's last minute has lasted four games - and he's leading the Knicks to victories. 

I listened to a recent podcast by Bill Simmons, writer from ESPN.com and Grantland, where he discussed sports and music with Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.  I've never really listened to Flea talk much before - he's actually a pretty interesting guy - and much more normal than I had imagined.  Here is what he had to say about success in music:

"I’m a surfer – I often equate things to surfing. As a musician you always have to be doing your exercises . . . stay technically on top of your instrument . . . be working at becoming a better song writer . . . do all this stuff to be the best musician that you can be.   . . . Like as a surfer, when there are no waves you got to be out paddling.  You know, you gotta be keeping yourself strong so when a swell comes – if you’re not the guy who was paddling his ass off when there were no waves you’re not ready to ride the swell.  Like with anything, you have to stay on top of your craft and keep yourself sharp so when the cosmic meatball hits you’re ready to party."

Obviously this is exactly what Lin has been doing.  His "swell" was a compressed NBA season where the players didn't get in shape during the lockout so there are a bunch of injuries - and a Knicks coach who is trying anything so he doesn't get fired.  Many people when given that type of opportunity freeze up - but Lin has somehow taken whatever nervous energy he has and focused it into maintaining great play and inspiring his teammates.

Swells happen in endurance sports too.  As much as I want to believe that I know what's happening in my body when I train (see boring post on mitochondria) - or think that I can control my training enough so that I can peak on exactly the right day - it's mostly wishful thinking.  The days when I've put together a fast time or competed well against a rival, have usually come by surprise.  Not that I didn't know I was in good shape - but that I hadn't planned on running that well on that day - it just happened. 

That's one thing that is difficult with triathlons - you have to sign up so far in advance that there is no riding the swell.  You have to just deal with whatever that day gives you, because there are a limited number of times you can do that to your body in a year.  I have only two races on my schedule so far in 2012 - Kansas 70.3 and Wisconsin IM.  I know when I want the swell to come, in early September, but if racing for over 20 years has taught me anything is that I won't be surprised if there is no swell on that day - but I got to keep paddling.

Last Week

Monday: 1 hour bike
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 45 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim
Friday: 1.5 hour bike morning & 45 min run evening
Saturday: 1 hour swim

Sunday: 1.5 hour bike & 30 min run after bike
Total: 9 hours

This Week

Monday: 1 hour bike
Tuesday: 1 hour swim morning - 45 min run evening
Wednesday: 1 hour bike

Thursday: 1 hour swim
Friday: 2 hour bike
Saturday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run
Sunday: 30 min swim & 1 hour run
Total: 10 hours

 

Finish lines made of sand

Goal setting is a tricky business.  We all know people who have goals that seem a little beyond their abilities.  We feel sorry for them because they seem to have no self-awareness - or worse they don't seem to respect the sport. 

The other extreme are those who don't seem to even  have bothered to get in shape for a race, which are probably 90% of most races these days.  I'm actually a little jealous of those people.  I wish I could just sign up for a race, put in some training whenever I felt motivated, and be satisfied with covering the distance.  It would be far less stressful than 6+ months of training for one day; the weeks where training takes over my life - where days are split into "training" and "recovery".  The days when I don't have dinner - I have "nutrition replacement therapy."

Yes, that would be less stressful - but it would also be ultimately less enjoyable.  It would feel empty.  When I was 13 I signed up for a half-marathon - even though it was far beyond any distance I had run - I was just curious to see how fast I could do it.  I have that same feeling today when I sign up for a race.  And how do you know you've done your best until you push yourself within a hair's width of mental and physical exhaustion in training?  So, I guess I'm stuck setting up challenging goals and suffering through training when sometimes I'd rather be doing other things.

 If nothing else I know people come here for the mixed metaphors (diamond in a haystack).  The title of this post is about how we need to constantly reassess our goals to make sure they are realistic and ultimately how any goal is just a mental construct.  We give it meaning - it has no meaning on its own.  Finally, I disagree with the saying "there is no finish line" - it's not that there is one finish line, but there are many.  The goals we set might be meaningless - just like Sisyphus - the meaning comes from the struggle.

Last Week
Monday: 1 hour bike
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour bike
Friday: Day off
Saturday: 2 hour bike
Sunday: 1 hour swim and 30 min run
Total: 7 hours

This Week
Monday: 1 hour bike
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 45 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim
Friday: 2 hour bike & 30 min run
Saturday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run
Sunday: 1 hour bike
Total: 9 hours

Groundhog Day

It rarely lasts long – if it does, the texture of it changes over time.   You have to work hard to keep it.  Get too obsessed over it and you’re likely to get hurt.

Of course I’m talking about fitness.   

Today was a beginning of sorts – it was the first time I’ve run in over a month.  On September 9^th, I’m signed up to run six times as long as I did today, after I bike 112 miles, after I swim 2.4 miles along with 2,000 other people in a choppy lake.  In other words, I’ve got a long way to go to be successful.

On Sunday I made another first step by attending a swim clinic.  They recorded our swim stroke both above and below the water.  From below it was obvious that I was straight arming it too much – which makes my shoulders do all the work.  Bringing my arms in feels like I’m doggy paddling – but apparently it’s more efficient.  From above water they could see that my left pinky was entering the water first instead of my thumb – which raises the possibility of going off course in the open water.

Today isn’t the first time that I’ve taken the initial step towards a distant goal, but it’s the first time with a full Ironman.  I don’t know much, but I know that’s a different beast than anything I’ve done before.  

Last Week
Monday: Day off
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 1 hour bike
Thursday: 1 hour bike
Friday: 1 hour bike
Saturday: 1.5 hours bike
Sunday: 1 hour swim
Total: 6.5 hours

This Week
Monday: 1 hour bike
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour bike
Friday: 1 hour bike
Saturday: 1 hour swim & 30 min run
Sunday: 2 hour bike
Total: 8 hours

What does it mean to "be in shape"?

Whenever I write a post on this blog I'm aware that I might be the only one interested in the topic.  That's no more true than what I'm about to write.

Taking all these hard science classes recently has made me think about how so much of what makes a great endurance athlete happens at the microscopic level.  Yes, when we get "in shape" we might lose a few pounds - gain some muscle etc - but what really matters is happening within our cells.  All of our cells are dependent on the following chemical reaction C6H12O6 + 6O2 > 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy.  Simple aerobic respiration - and we literally couldn't do anything without it. 

As you probably know the 6CO2 + 6H2O are just byproducts - which is helpful since the process that started made aerobic respiration possible, photosynthesis, only needs 6H2O and 6CO2 + light in order to make 6O2 + C6H12O6.  Photosynthesis and aerobic respiration - the real yin and yang of life.

Anyways, aerobic respiration occurs in a specific place in our cells.  It starts out in the cytoplasm (space inbetween organelles) but the rubber really hits the road in the organelles called mitochondria.  You probably remember mitochondria as being called the "power houses" of our cells.

Mitochondria chillin

But, let's back up a second.  We know that aerobic respiration results in energy, but how does the cell actually store and release that energy?  ATP - basically a nitrogen base, a 5 carbon sugar, and 3 phosphate groups.  The phosphate groups are key - when one breaks off you get a little energy and ADP.  Aerobic respiration turns 36 ADP into 36 ATP - so that they are ready to go around the cell and lend energy to whatever reaction/process needs it (e.g. contracting a muscle fiber so that we can move forward as quickly as possible).

2 ATP are generated in the cytoplasm during aerobic respiration - but 34 are generated within the mitochondria.  There's an interesting theory that mitochondria weren't originally organelles, but were actually bacteria.  These bacteria entered into a mutualistic relationship with cells - where each organism got something it needed from the other.  They were having such a groovy time together that the cell said - "hey mitochondria! why don't you just move into my house?"  The mitochondria said "hey, why not?"  What followed is the most sucessful shackup of all time. And if our cells ever throw mitochondria's stuff out onto the street - we're pretty much screwed.

When we're out of shape our cells have a small number of mitochondria - and they're lazy.  They don't produce as much ATP as they do when we're in shape.  So, the most important thing that happens when we exercise regularly is that our cells get more mitochondria and those mitochondria are more efficient.

The other important process that happens when we're getting in shape is that our body produces more red blood cells.  That's why some endurance athletes cheat by blood doping (injecting saved red blood cells before an important race) or take EPO (a hormone that controls the process of producing red blood cells).  The reason why this is important goes back to aerobic respiration - we need to get those 6O2's from somewhere.

Depending on the distance, the third important part of getting in shape is training your body to store a lot of glycogen, which is broken into glucose (C6H12O6) for aerobic respiration.  Yes, your body can use lipids to get the glucose, but it's much less efficient.

What's the main take away?  The most important thing to be in shape is to have cells that can do a large amount of aerobic respiration - by having a lot of the ingredients necessary readily available (glucose and oxygen) and by having cells that include a large number of highly efficient mitochondria.

How to do it?  That's for another post.  Although I will say that looking at getting into shape at the cellular level shows why there aren't any shortcuts to good performances.  Training consistency and volume might seem boring - but our cells need enough regular stress so that they know to produce those high-performing mitochondria.

Reversal

The most important ingredient in any success I've had with running has had to do with executing a good plan.  There are times in any training cycle when you start to doubt your plan - but experience tells you to keep pushing through - that the full benefits won't show themselves fully until the target race.  There is one major exception to the "stick-to-the-plan-at-all-costs" mentality - injuries. 

I've had an on and off battle with my glute/hamstring issue since August of 2010.  Part of my reasoning in focusing on running this winter was to see how much it could handle.  Well - it appears not that much.  I got up near 50 miles the last few weeks and the pain creeped up with each run.  At first it was only on hard workouts or runs more than 90 minutes - but by the middle of last week I was feeling it even just laying in bed.

Given that it is only January and my goal race is in September it seemed like the perfect time to give my leg complete rest for a month - at least from running.  Swimming and biking don't seem to have any real impact on the injury - so, I'll continue to do those along with weights and yoga. 

I'm also going to go see a medical professional to figure out if there's anything else I can do than just rest.    

A plan for the winter

After I realized that Celtic Solstice wasn't in the cards I decided I needed a new goal for the winter.  Obviously my #1 goal for next year is the Wisconsin Ironman - but I've found that it's very easy to focus on one goal for too long.  I need something different to keep my attention until at least March.  After a long search of several online sources I found the Sombrero Beach Run on Marathon Key in Florida the first weekend in March.  The Sombrero Beach Run has a 10k and 5k - most people run both.

Over the next 12 weeks I'll be using a Jack Daniels 5k-15k training plan.  I have two main goals - 1) to get my mileage up and see how my leg holds up.  I haven't run over 50 miles per week in over a year. 2) to increase the intensity.  I'm going to run at least two hard runs per week - either 5k pace repeats, mile pace repeats, or tempo (10 mile - half marathon) pace.

Here is my plan for this week.

Monday: 6 miles easy
Tuesday: 9 miles 4X200 R pace - 2X400 - 1X800 - 2X400 - 4X200 rest the same as interval + weights
Wednesday: 4 miles easy
Thursday morning: 30 min swim
Thursday afternon: 10 miles 3X2 miles tempo 2 min rest
Friday: 4 miles easy
Saturday: 9 miles 6X1200m @ 5k pace with 400m rest
Sunday: 14 miles easy
Total: 56 miles

Across the wide Missouri

Twenty miles south of where I'm typing this lies the grave of Adam Ingram - my great-great-great grandfather.  He immigrated from Scotland in the 1850's - settling in Cass County, Nebraska in 1857 - only three years after the US signed a treaty with the local natives which helped to make Nebraska an official territory and opened the area up for european settlement. 

So, you could say that moving to Nebraska is kind of a homecoming for me.  I've never lived here before, but we used to come out almost every summer to visit relatives.  I'm guessing that most of you picture Omaha as being on flat land in the middle of corn fields.  You're only partially correct.  Eastern Nebraska and western Iowa are actually hilly.  Driving along I-80 you feel like you're on some kind of slow motion roller coaster - you are always going up or down.  Most importantly for me, it's almost exactly the same terrain as just outside Madison, WI.

There are no major bodies of water nearby to moderate the temperature - so, it gets very cold in the winter and relatively hot in the summer.  The rest of the time the wind blows relentlessly.  Sounds like a pretty crummy place to train - doesn't it?

If you go on Letsrun - you can find several posts that claim Omaha is the worst metropolitan area in the country for runners.  It's true that there's not a big competitive running scene here - but, being only an 8 hour drive from Boulder, CO - the running mecca of America - that's not totally unexpected.  And yes, the weather is difficult - but most of my formative running years were spent in Michigan and Chicago - I can deal with bad weather.

This last weekend I was arranging some stuff in our garage when a little girl walked up our driveway.  She introduced herself - followed by her mom.  It turns out that this couple, who live basically across the street, both ran in college and help to organize local track workouts.  Here's the kicker - the husband, Gerald, has completed two ironman's and is part of a local group that swims every Saturday morning starting in May in the open water at a lake seven miles away in Iowa. 

Gerald even volunteered to head out with me on a bike ride to show me the lake where they train.  On our way back he asked, "Do you like to drink beer?"  - I felt like I was in the episode of The Simpsons when Gerald Ford moves across the street and asks Homer if he likes drinking beer and watching football - except watching football was replaced with open water swims and brick workouts.

 I haven't even mentioned yet that I have a run/bike trail literally out my back yard.  It's only about 1.5 miles - but it has markers every tenth of a mile - no need to drive for tempo or track workouts.  There are several other trails (mostly concrete unfortunately) in town - some that go for over 20 miles.

So for those of you worrying about me - I think things are going to be fine.  Yes, it might be a rough winter - and I'll have to put a little more effort into finding challenging races - but it will be almost perfect for my training for next September.  As I ride over the wind swept hills on a contraption that would have boggled Adam's mind - I'll think about how hard he must have worked to scratch out an existence here.  Physical endurance wasn't recreation for him - it was how he survived.