2012 Race Schedule

I'm about 2 weeks into my base training load, so I thought now would be as good as time as any to post my 2012 race schedule, outline the category of the race for me(A, B, C), and the purpose of it.  Having it out in cyberspace helps hold me accountable and it may spark some ideas for your upcoming season.  It will be here before you know it.

2/11 - Red Flannel 5 Mile Race
Category -  C
Purpose - The primary objective of this race is to get a benchmark of where my run training is,  open up the legs a little bit,  put myself in the 'hurt box' for a while, and shoot for a PR which would be anything under a 7:35/mile pace - I think this is very doable.

4/28 - Drake Half Marathon
Category - B
Purpose - One of my goals this year is to improve my overall base and this early season race will be a good benchmark to see how I'm doing.  I kind of fell apart toward the end of this race last year, so hopefully I can finish strong.  This is also another opportunity to mentally 'embrace the pain' for a longer period of time.  A PR would be nice as well which is to improve on the 8:35/mile pace.

5/20 - Bluff Creek Oly
Category - C
Purpose - This was a terrible race for me last year as I just don't do well in cold temps.  With that being said, I'd like to go back and prove to myself that I can do much better on the course than the first go around.  Doing this race will also allow me to work on race situations, transitions, and everything that goes along with race preparations.


6/2 - Dam to Dam
Category - C
Purpose - Dam to Dam is just a fun race to do and one that I try and incorporate into my race schedule every year.  This will not be an 'all-out' type of race for me as the following week is one of my 'A' races of the year.

6/10 - Kansas 1/2
Category - A
Purpose - This is my 'A' race of the year - the purpose of this race is to put my 6 months of training to the test and reap the rewards. 

7/14 - Lifetime Oly
Category - B
Purpose - I really like this course and I had a good time when I did it a few years ago, so I'd like to give it another go - aka, just for the hell of it.

8/3-8/5 - Mock IM Louisville - Day 1: 2.4 mile swim, Day 2 : 112 mile ride, Day 3 : 2.5 hour run
Category - A
Purpose - To evaluate current training plan, have a strong base going into next year's 2013 IMLou, and understand what adjustments(i.e. limiters) will need to be addressed.


9/2 - Hy-Vee Oly
Category - A/B
Purpose - Hoping the recovery of the mock IM is fairly quick since it spans over 3 days so I can get back to 100% for Hy-Vee.  This is a local race and I regretted not doing it last year.

10/21 - Des Moines Marathon
Category: B
Purpose - I've never done a stand-alone marathon so I think this would be a great opportunity.  I'll have some pretty good running fitness carried over from the Mock IM - the key will be not losing too much of it during Hy-Vee prep. 

Should be an interesting year with a lot of opportunities for growth and, more importantly, a good time of racing.  The key to being able to go into these races feeling fresh is having a solid pre-season plan, and planning recovery accordingly.

10 Quick Hits for Weight Loss

Here are 10 things that you can do every day to lead to weight loss:

1.  Eat breakfast - this is the single, and simplest thing to jump start your metabolism
2.  Take the stairs
3.  Park farther away - a couple hundred yards away from the door will burn more calories and will only take a   fraction longer than it normally does - plus, it will protect your car from dings and scratches from others.
4.  When you wake up in the morning, do some push ups, sit ups, and squats.  Performing these exercises will  wake you up and burn fat due to your empty glycogen stores.
5.  Cook your meals, don't eat out - I can pretty much guarantee that home cooked meals are going to be healthier than eating out in most circumstances
6.  Take an evening walk - Taking an evening walk after dinner with the family is a great way to wind down after a day's work, connect with your family, and burn calories
7.   Eat a big breakfast, fairly large lunch, and a smaller dinner - basically the opposite of what most families do today.  You'll need the extra calories during the day and won't need as many at night when you're sleeping.
8.  Get off the couch.  You won't burn any extra calories watching TV, and people tend to eat more while watching TV then eating with the TV off.
9.  Drink water - sometimes feelings of hunger are misinterpreted as dehydration - be sure to drink plenty of water during the day.  The best part - water has 0 calories!
10.  Cut down on one bad habit a day - if you have 2 pops, drink 1.  If you have a Caramel Latte, get it with skim milk and sugar free sugar.


Doing the little things on a consistent basis with turn into healthy weight loss in the long run.

Setting Yourself Up for Success

If I had my way I'd wake up to the waves crashing against the beach, a morning full of training, an afternoon with the family, and plenty of time to enjoy my hobbies of cooking, writing, and guiding other athletes to success.  All this, plus a heavily padded bank account.  Life is good.

But that is not reality at this point. In the words of my favorite artist, Dave Matthews, 'We'll make the best of what's around'.  This brings me to the topic of my blog, Setting Yourself Up for Success.

1.  Eliminate negativity in your life.  Negativity has a way of dragging us down and not allowing ourselves to be at a higher level to reach our potential.  Turn off the news,  be careful what you're reading on the Internet, and take a look at the people in your inner circle. Also, be careful of your 'inner voice' - replace the negative with the positive.

2.  Set goals - I realize I beat this to death, but I think it's instrumental in achieving success.  Here's an blog post all about goals

3.  Evaluate your time - Is watching 2-3 hours of sitcoms going to help you achieve your goals?  I'm going to guess no.  Just be careful that your time is not spent avoiding work vs unwinding.

4.  Keep Going - In order to be successful you need to keep going and be consistent day in and day out, whether you're training for a race, creating a business, or striving for your dream.  The journey is the best part.

5.  Never Give Up - There are times when quitting is going to seem like a good option, or the easy option.  Why not just "settle' for average?  It took Thomas Edison over 10,000 attempts to invent the light bulb - an inspiration for perseverance. 

6.  Get Uncomfortable - We don't grow standing still, we grow by going beyond our perceived boundaries, both in athletics as well as in our lives.  Get our of your comfort zone and stretch yourself.  Don't be held back by your perceived boundaries.

Workout Scheduling

I love schedules.  I'll make a schedule to create a schedule - well, probably not that far, but you get the point.  I will methodically plan out my workouts around my family life(wife and 2 kids), work schedule,  my daily clients I have for GettingFitness, and various other endeavors I have going on at the particular time.  On my schedule I block off time for swimming, biking, running, and weight training with no in-depth specific workouts, but I do include if it will be easy, long, race specific, tempo, etc.  I then share the plan with my hopefully approving wife to get the 'OK'. 

Awesome, I have a plan and am ready to get to work.  Here's the kicker - I bet I've stuck to that schedule about 5% of the time!  Things always come up - kid's activities change, spur of the moment commitments, doctor's appts, client's schedule changes, work, etc.  Almost weekly, I need to make key changes, but there are rules that I follow to mitigate the possibility of injury and ensure that I have enough recovery to put forth a good effort for the next workout.  These are the rules that I follow:


- don't do back to back speed or interval run sessions
- keep a few days between long bike and long run (except when approaching a race - it's good practice to run on tired legs every once in a while
- If I have to skip a workout, I'll skip weight training - it's not as important as swimming, biking, running
- if doing a big brick session, a recovery day should follow
- if my energy is drained I'm OK with bagging a workout for recovery purposes - one easy/recovery day is better than suffering through an entire week of below average workouts
- never do back to back weight training sessions - I do full body weight training in one day
- I try and have one easy and one harder workout each day(easy bike, big ring bike ride)
- most importantly, family comes first

When I have to throw my schedule out the window I manage to keep track of these workouts in my head and log them into a spreadsheet.  The most important thing is to figure out what works for you, which takes time, experimentation, and trial/error.  If you're questioning what you should do, go easy.

Setting Expectations for Clients

As a coach, it’s very important to set expectations of what you’ll do as a coach as well as what you expect from a client.  The coach-client relationship is essential for reaching a milestone and getting the end result.  If there is not enough information shared, communication lines broken, misunderstanding, or a lack of commitment from a client it makes things more challenging to accomplish the common goal.   Most of the responsibility lies with the coach in this situation by asking the correct questions, engaging the client, and being proactive about feedback with a results-focused mindset.

At times, it is out of the coach’s control, which is why it’s important to set expectations for your clients and what is expected out of them.  Below is a list that I use:

1)       100% effort - I’ve been in this business long enough to tell when I’m getting 100% commitment from a client, and when they’re just ‘going through the motions’.  The 100% effort doesn’t necessarily pertain to the physical aspect of an all out, about-ready-to-pass-out effort type workout, but more about the mental toughness to get through a 2 hour Zone 2 controlled effort trainer ride in the middle of winter.  This effort is 100% focused on staying in Z2 while keeping good form, proper nutrition and hydration.

2)      Follow the Plan - When I create a plan, it’s important that it’s followed.  I create specific training plans for clients based on their needs, goals, schedule, strengths and limiters.  With that being said, my expectation is that plan will be followed.  I understand that ‘life’ happens and that some days will be switched around, and other times some workouts won’t get done.  My expectation is that a client won’t do something totally different in regards to exercise, intensity, or time from what’s on the plan – the plan is created with a purpose and a point.  On the grand scheme of things, if you follow the plan you’ll get the results you want.

3)      Ask questions/provide feedback - It is my responsibility to provide a routine or plan and also to explain the “why”.   If the explanation is not clear or doesn’t make sense I encourage questions to make sure my clients understand the reasons why we do certain things.  Providing feedback and asking questions about anything will help make the workout(s) more enjoyable and foster better communication and relationship.

4)      Open communication - My expectation is that clients will be open and honest at all times.  What I’m referring to is how they’re feeling overall, stress level, eating habits, straying off the path, or how the training is going.  An open dialogue can help resolve many of the concerns, and advice can be given to get a client back on track and re-motivated to get back to work.

Setting expectations on both ends will provide a much more enjoyable experience for all parties involved and allow us to focus on the task at hand.  What do you expect from your coach?

Mid-Day Workout Relief

Today was a picture perfect day for running - sunny, light breeze, and high around 80 with low humidity.  After a week of little to no exercise due to a stomach bug I was anxious to get out for a 5 mile run.  I plan my weekly runs over my lunch hour for a few reasons.

-          It breaks up my day.  Instead of sitting in cubicle land for 8+ hours a day, I get a nice reprieve about 4.5 hours in the day.  This makes the afternoon fly by and I come back with more energy and motivation to finish out the day.

-          Stress relief – my mornings don’t seem to be overwhelming stressful, but when they are the mid-day workout is a perfect release of negative energy.  I can almost feel the stress leaving my body with each foot hitting the ground. 

-          Solving the problem – if I’m stuck on a problem, whether it is work-related or otherwise, my running session allows me to sort through the issue much easier than using Google or sitting in my cube performing somewhat random code changes to make something work. 

-          Me time – Running allows me to be on my own for a 1 hour time block for some “Matt time”.  I use this time for my workout and to sort out what’s going on in my head.  No phone, email, or other technology to distract me except for my Garmin that’s spitting back HR, pace, and a beep for my mile splits. 

-          Creative outlet – 99% of my ideas are created during training sessions, most of them from running.  Swimming and biking require more attention to avoid hitting the wall in the pool or being hit by a car on the bike.  Running allows you to think without actively thinking.  I let my mind wander and ideas start to fester, which engages other ideas and I can capture that idea and add context to it.  Thus, an idea is burn.  Whether or not it comes to fruition is a different story.

My problem now is that some of those ideas get lost or forgotten in between my workout, the shower, and  my cube so I can write down my latest and greatest idea - luckily I remembered today's which turned into this blog post.

-          Re-motivate – I tend to start every day motivated and with a positive attitude.  By the time mid-day comes around, I need to add a little kindling to the fire, and a training session does that for me.   Some of this is psychological, in that I feel like I got some real work accomplished and the other is chemical, the wonderful release of endorphins that sparks up a ‘feel good’ attitude.

I challenge you to try a mid-day workout for 2 weeks and see how it transforms your day.  Don’t have access to showers?  Most employers will allow flexibility to allow you to take an extended lunch to drive to your gym, get in a workout, and get back in plenty time.

Sweat Doesn't Equal True Weight Loss

Nothing feels better than finishing a hard workout dripping in sweat - it feels like I did some real work and got something done.  For me, sweat is a by-product of accomplishing a great workout and a true sense of accomplishment.

A question for you:  Considering all things equal, will I burn more calories if I go for a 5 mile run in 90+ degree temps vs if I go run the same 5 mile route in 50 degree temps?

I will burn the exact same number of calories.  You sweat in order to keep your body cooler so you don't overheat.  Sure, if I weight myself after I run after the 90+ degree run I will weight less than if I'd weighed myself after the 50 degree temp run, but the only thing I've lost is water weight.

It all comes down to the calorie; you burn calories by doing the work, not how much you sweat.  In fact, everyone has different sweat rates.  Some people sweat more than others and at a higher sweat rate, but I will cover this in a different post.

Do the work and you'll reap the rewards.