Angus Lessons- Perseverance

My mind keeps wandering back to the Angus', Julie and Colin. I hung out with them for a couple of days and listened to many of their stories. In doing so, I learned a lot of lessons, many which can be applied to sport. I'll share one of those lessons with you now.

To Recap
Colin traveled across the globe on nothing but the power of his own muscles. He had to row across the Bering Sea. And ride a bike through China, Russia, and Siberia in the middle of winter. What exactly does that look like? A little something like this...

And to think that I won't ride my bike when the temperature is below 40º F. 

Julie rowed a tiny boat from Europe to America, across the Atlantic, through a hurricane (and other obstacles).  When others before her had done this, there were distinct differences. First, they were all men. Second, they always had a support crew to feed them, water them, etc. Julie had a dude (see bearded guy above), fishing pole and a boat. What did that look like when they finished? A little something like this...

Here's what I learned from their Adventures: Don't stop.

That's as simple and as complex as you can get in sport. And, it applies perfectly to endurance training. When your goal is to get from point A to point B, guess where stopping gets you? Nowhere. And that was the Angus Point (patent pending).

Moving towards your goal, even slowly, is still helping achieve your goal. Good stuff right there.

A Case Study
How does this affect me? Great question. Take, for example, my triathlon obsession frosted with the Ironman. I'd really like to get good at it. So far, I suck. That's okay, I can cope with my crappiness. One of my underlying weaknesses is my running. Therefore, I have started to dedicate myself into trying to become a runner. Not an easy task for the slow and weak (meaning me).

To achieve this goal, I have started running more. Sadly, the only real way to get good at running is to actually run (a fact I have worked hard to avoid for a long time now). Currently I am at 5 days a week on my way up to 6 and doing them in the morning. Morning running is actually advantageous. It removes all the excuses later in the day for not running.

However, there is a dark side to morning running. Specifically, it's dark outside. Worse, now that the sun has dropped below the equator, it's not as warm as it used to be. Plus, I am typically tired at 5:30 am. Then, the other day, it rained. That's 5 whammies: Dark. Cold. Tired. Rainy. Pansy (the last one is assumed). In the past, any 3 pack combination was enough to kick me out of my running shoes and back into bed.

That's where I draw on the experiences of the Angus Clan. I am seriously motivated by these people. It didn't matter if it was cold, or they were tired, or they had a boo boo on their pinky toe, blah blah blah. Stopping meant not getting home. The only real option was to keep going. Now, I won't be dragging the Wife around the world any time soon. (Aside: We talked about it. The biggest problem, in her mind, is that she doesn't like seafood and she has her doubts that I'll be able to reel in a cow while in the middle of the Ocean. End Aside.) I also won't be using crappy excuses to not train.

So, with Julie and Colin's lesson on perseverance, I went for my dark, chilly, rainy, tired, pansy-esque run. And guess what happened? It didn't suck. I had a great run despite the obstacles. And that great run motivated me to get up the next morning and run again. Guess what happened? I had a great run. And that great run... Well, you can see where this is going.

I'm pretty sure that's the way it goes with life and I'm definitely sure that's the way it goes with sport. Once you get into a habit of greats, more greats come. Once you get into a habit of laziness, more laziness comes. Being lazy will not solve my running problem.

The only way to get back home is to keep going. Persevere and you will get there.

Post Ironman Stress Syndrome

There are several Post <something> Disorders on the books. Take, for example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is commonly found in soldiers returning from war. Or car crash victims. Or those who have have heinous crimes committed against them. Some spend their lives trying to reacclimate to society while living in the personal hell of their mind forever scarred by the travesty they had just experienced. There are various degrees of horror on the PTSD spectrum, none of them are fun. Without help, sufferers may remain in a state of disorder for a very long time.

Some women have been known to experience Postpartum Disorders. PPD happens after giving birth. These new mothers can have mood swings, grumpiness, or full blown depression. It should go away on its own but, in persistent cases, therapy is required.

Most of the Post Disorders are caused in similar fashion. First, there was an event. Second, stress hormones were released. Third, body chemistry was thrown out of balance. Symptoms arise as a result of imbalanced chemistry as order is attempted to be restored.

Shortly after I did IMLP 2012, I diagnosed myself (because, as a guy, I don't normally go to the doctor), with a new Post Disorder that I'm pretty sure exists but no one has done the research yet. I named my disorder "Post Ironman Stress Syndrome." That's right, I was PISSy. My PISSy-ness helps explain the lag in posts during the month of August. But there's more to the story.

Being PISSy is not fun for you or for those around you. Symptoms include, but are not limited to:

• Lack of desire to remove yourself from the couch
• Penchant to watching bad movies
• Sleeping more than normal
• Overdeveloped desire to eat more than your activity level
• No motivation to exercise
• Urge to blow off normal household chores
• Neglecting or half-assing your blogging responsibilities
• Basically, you have gone from Ironman to what you perceive is the average person

After my PISSy self-diagnosis, my August starts to make perfect sense. In late July, I had an event, I.E. less than stellar IM performance (worst of my lifetime). This crushed the dream that I spent 10 months working towards. To say that I was stressed over the lack of performance would be quite accurate.

This emotional stress was compounded by the physical damage of an Ironman. You muscle tissues are shredded from the effort and distance alone. Then, I learned that the cramp I experienced during the IM run was an actual injury that took more than a week to subside.

My stress was worsened when I realized that for the first time in 6 years, I did not sign up for IMLP. As of this moment, my 2013 calendar is IM free and I am struggling to cope with that reality- which was slowly slipping away from me. IMLP fills up in a matter of minutes so I can't change my mind even if I wanted to.

When you are sore and hurt, what else do you do in your free time? If you're anything like me, you sit on the couch and watch bad movies. This position and activity lends itself to napping and snacking. Before the race, I was eating on par with my exercise. My stomach didn't get the memo that it was time to back off. I gained weight. I never actually want to do chores. As for the blog half-assing... that speaks for itself.

Luckily for me and my loved ones, I have found the cure. Should you find yourself in a PISSy situation, here's what you need to do.

Part 1- Watch this semi-NSFW video (turn down the volume if you're at work or in the presence of innocent/ judging ears).

Part 2- Go for a swim, bike and/ or run. Force it. You don't need to go hard. You just need to go.

Part 3- Sign up for races. Nothing cures PISSy-ness like spending money on sport.

I did all of these and I am seemingly cured. Since my condition, I have done 3 races (race reports soon to follow) and I signed up for a half-distance event in late September. I am training again. Losing weight. I have a plan for a 2013 IM.  I have focus. (Jury's still out on the blog.) I am no longer PISSy.

As with most Post ___ Disorders, PISSy can take over your life if left untreated. Everyone will know you as the PISSy guy/ gal. They'll avoid you as who wants to socialize with someone who is PISSy. They'll say things behind you back that they think you cannot hear, like, "Don't mess with him/ her, they're PISSy." Of course, these acts will only make your syndrome worse. You could slip into a state of depression. Then, you'd be PISS'D. And no one wants that.

Confessions of A Chronic Procrastinator

The Farmer and the Snake

One winter day, a farmer found a snake by the roadside, stiff and motionless with cold.

"If you put me inside your shirt," the snake said, "your body will make me warm and I won't freeze to death."

"Oh, I know your kind," replied the farmer. "If I pick you up, you will bite me."

"Oh no," the snake objected. "Why would I do such a thing, if you are good enough to help me?"

So the farmer had compassion on the snake, and taking it up, he put it inside his shirt. The warmth quickly revived the snake, and resuming its natural instincts, it bit its benefactor, inflicting on him a mortal wound. "Oh," cried the farmer with his last breath, "why did you bite me? You promised you wouldn't."
"Ah," said the snake. "So I did. But you knew I was a snake when you picked me up."

There have many incarnations of this story, from many Native American tales to Aesop to popular musical lyrics of Al Wilson to various religious stories. As I read the story, I can't help but feel a connection to the moral. No I'm not a snake (at least I don't think so), but I am a procrastinator, which is a different kind of serpent.

Examples from my Youth
I used to calculate the maximum amount of sleep I could get before school. Here's how it worked: I am a creature of habit. My morning routine was relatively unchanged. Get up. Potty. Shower. Brush. Change. Eat. Leave. Rather simple and easily repeated. One day, I noticed that I was hitting the snooze button. That extra 9 minutes meant something to me...less sleep. I decided to eliminate the snooze. Then, I started combining morning steps. I could brush while in the shower. I could leave and eat at the same time. Thus, I saved valuable minutes, accomplished all my morning requirements, and maximized sleep minutes. Sadly, sometimes things didn't work out the way I had planned (no clean clothes, no food, someone else beat me to the bathroom, etc). The consequences varied from going hungry to going smelly (Note: Popularity was not a concern of mine). All could have been solved by getting up a few minutes earlier but I made a conscious effort to put it off.

I was your classic nerd in school. Knew-it-all. (See note on popularity.) That's KNEW, as in past tense. I refuse to comment on the present in this portion of the story. Homework seemed like a waste and I refused to bring it home. Unlike most students with this view, I excelled in school. I got good grades on assignments and on tests. How was this possible? Multitasking. See, I would do homework for the next class in the one prior. I developed a skill of taking notes while doing homework. Worked for me. Once in a while, I would fail to complete it all (lousy teacher standing over my shoulder).Was I the best student in class? Nope. But I could have been if only I'd have taken the extra few minutes to do my work ahead of time.

My second pure marathon (done before I found triathlon), was Chicago in 1999. Me and a group of buddies were still in the car searching for parking when the gun went off. The race had started and  hadn't arrived on site. We were not concerned. There were 30,000 people in the race. We parked the car about a half mile out and ran with our gear. When we showed up, the line was still quite long. We had time to go to the bathroom, drop off our gear bag, flirt with some of the volunteers, and jump in line. And to imagine some of those chumps got there an hour or 2 ahead of time. We wasted not a single minute and got to start the race with the rest of the clowns that morning (some were literally clowns).

Not Much Has Changed
Last week, I did the Corporate Challenge with a few of my work buddies. They had obviously not grown up in a world of procrastination. Their thought, let's leave for the race 2-hours pre-start. "But" I chided, "there's so much more we can accomplish in life with that extra time." I wanted to go for a longer bike ride, cut the grass, eat dinner, hang out with the Wife, play with the PRP, and much more. Granted, I had a good time with the Cast so I have no regrets. If it were not for them, I would have arrived at 6:50, roughly 10 minutes before the race, and wondered why I showed up so early.

Don't believe me? Take this weekend's races, when I arrived at the River Ramble, I noticed the official race timer counting down to the start time. It was T-minus 8 minutes and counting. I had my race bib in the building on the other side of campus and had to use the facilities. Plenty of time. After a short walk to the other side which I now lovingly refer to as 'the warm-up', the Wife and I made it back to the start line at T-minus 45 seconds. Crap, I still had thee-quarters of a minute to kill. I guess I'll just stand around like everybody else.

Okay, I admit, that these examples are from lower priority functions. What about the real deal? Not much different for me. I did the Keuka Lake Triathlon. The first real multisport event of the year was this weekend. I've been waiting 8 months for this day. What did I do? I calculated the last possible moment I could get up, get the Wife up (she went with as a fan :-) ), wake up the dogs (more fans), and drive to the race site. Keep in mind that I had to drive 90 minutes to get there. Worse, triathlon has stuff that you need to set up. In a run, you show up. You run. You leave. In tri, you place your bike in transition, set up your helmet and glasses, set up both sets of shoes, make sure you have water and nutrition, get your cap and goggles, body glide necessary areas, and a lot more. You have stickers and numbers you need to attach to the various parts of you gear and self. Further, the RD's feel the need to kick you out of transition long before (15 minutes) the race actually starts. That's 15 minutes of standing around doing nothing when I could be setting up my gear. So, the advertised time transition close time was 7:15. What time did I arrive on race site? 7:02 and I had not picked up my race packet yet. I walked out of transition at 7:14.35 grumpy about the extra 25 seconds.

Surely I change my ways for the big, expensive races. Well, maybe. For the 2010 Ironman Lake Placid, I did get up at 4:00 am for a race that started at 7:00 am. I woke up specifically for feeding. The science says that you should eat roughly 3-4 hours pre-race. Notice how I calculated my wake up time on the more-sleep side of the spectrum. We stayed in a house about 1 mile and a half away from transition. Transition closed at 6:45. What time did I make an appearance? 6:35. I got everything set-up and my special needs down to the pile on time. Showed up to bob up and down in the mass swim start with an extra 4 minutes to spare. I hope to be more efficient this year.

I've Been Bitten
As I sit here idly waiting for a couple of things to happen (race results to be posted and knee pain to subside), I am thinking deep thoughts about characteristics and personality. Mainly, I am thinking about how much time I waste doing non-productive things (such as blogging) and how often I put off taking care of responsibilities. I do actually take care of business, I just don't do it early. Classic procrastination.

Take training: I put off swimming until the last possible date. I don't get serious in the water until about 6-8 weeks out from the main event. I don't need much more time than that to get in good swimming shape. Why start something today that which could be put off until tomorrow? I start biking and running much earlier in the year because it takes that long to build up the necessary speed and endurance to compete at the IronLevel. Not that I'm all that competitive yet. The distance also requires several years to get good. Too bad no one told me that years ago.

If I showed up to a race early, would I benefit? Probably. I would have a chance to warm-up properly. Check out transition and go through the motions. I might get a chance to socialize and develop relationships that would benefit me in the sport. Maybe I could find a workout partner or 2. Maybe I could learn a few new tricks. All of this appeals to me. Will I actually show up to a race early? Doubtful. But, hey, I knew I was a procrastinator when the triathlon-snake bit me.

The Lazy Triathlete

Last post before the big Oklahoma Road Trip. Packing/ decisions not quite done. Here are some thoughts on my lifestyle...

“And even if he's a lazy man – and the Dude was most certainly that, quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide”

- The Big Lebowski

These lines are part of the opening sequence of the classic Coens’ movie. If you haven’t seen this gem, stop reading right now, go rent it, watch, and come back. I’ll wait.

Here's a Simpson's quote on laziness for the rest of us while we wait

'Ah, relax. I don't wanna work. I'm so lazy, I took lessons on a player piano.' 

'Wow, that's really lazy'

-Said Larry Burns with Homer's reply.

Now that we’re all on the same page, I must admit that I am a lazy man. Not Dude lazy, he’s still got me beat. He wrote a check for less than a dollar. I've used the credit card for similar amounts. Still, I get dressed on a daily basis. I view The Dude as my next big challenge, right after Kona. While I’m training, I’m quite focused on the triathlon thing. When I’m not training, I gunning for the Dude. 

Take for example, my morning beverage. In a perfect world, I would not be making it myself. Since I cannot afford a butler, I am stuck concocting the brew myself. This morning I was using the microwave and I noticed that I punched in 9-0-start instead of 1-3-0-start. Both will cause the machine to run for the same amount of time (a minute and a half). It’s just that 90 is only 2 buttons while 130 is 3. You could translate this as 30% more efficient, but in reality, why press 3 buttons when 2 will give you the same result. You have to admit that refusing to punch one extra button on the microwave is pretty lazy.

Even more microwave evidence... If 2:30 is my goal time, I'll settle for 2:22 so that I don't have to lift my finger and find other buttons. I need to only find the 2 and press 3 times. Saves both time and energy.

FYI- one minute thirty-nine seconds is the maximum amount of time in the 2 digit configuration (99 seconds) should you be willing to increase your own personal efficiency.

I’m pretty sure that, if you ignore the triathlon thing, I'm lazier than you. Prove it. In what ways could you win the Dude award?

The Dude Abides!

P.S. The blog is neither evidence for or against my laziness, so don't bother pointing it out.