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.

Ironman Hangover

After savoring the flavor of finishing an Ironman and the aches and pains subside, you feel some emptiness inside, loss of motivation, and just feel blah or letdown - hence the name, Ironman hangover.  You've spent months training, devoting all your free time to this one coveted event, and sacrificing family time, hobbies, and other interest in the name of Ironman.  Months of excitement, anxiety, and anticipation comes to a screeching halt after the race.  While training you think it will be nice to finish Ironman and then  go back to your "normal" lifestyle, but in reality you miss that nervous excitement.

After my 1st Ironman I had a pretty big Ironman hangover, but this 2nd one hasn't been too bad.  My guess is after a week in relishing in finishing the event I went back to the drawing board and made new goals and signed up for more races.  I also went right to work on some home improvement projects that needed to be done.  That void or emptiness of not having anything left on plate for the season has been resolved and I can go back to training.  The volume won't be near as much as Ironman, but it will be enough to fulfill my need to continue training.

How to Overcome the Race or Big Event

- enjoy completing the event, but not for too long
- set some new goals - these don't have to be in sports, but rather in other areas of your life
- hit the reset button and figure out what you want to do next
- try something new and different
- go back to doing some things that you have had to sacrifice not doing during training

For instance, I've set up some shorter races for the upcoming months and a marathon for the end of the season, started putting more focus into spending time with my family and my business, and re-acquainting myself for my love of cooking.

Any other tips for getting over that hump after finishing a major event?

Ironman Couer D'Alene Race Report

Ironman Couer D’Alene was my 2^nd Ironman, and the 1^st one I’ve done in about 3.5 years.  I had some high expectations coming into the race from a PR perspective, and although I wasn’t close to hitting my marks, I was happy that I preserved through a tough day and finished the race.  This race was really well organized, the city was beautiful, and the volunteers were awesome.  I would highly recommend this race to anyone interested in doing Ironmans.

Swim:

The swim was a 2 loop counter-clockwise course with a 10 yard run out on the beach after the 1^st lap before heading out for round 2.  Coming into the race I knew the water was going to be COLD, as in 54-57 degree cold.  In preparation I purchased a neoprene cap and swim socks to help mitigate the cold factor.  The day before the race I got in the water for about 15 minutes and I described it as “tolerable”.   Having a sleeveless wetsuit certainly didn’t help my cause either.  As all 2400 people entered into the water it became a human washing machine for the 1^st 800 meters which is to be expected.  After a lot of going, stopping, face kicks, and swim-overs I found somewhat of a ‘groove’ and began my way around the course.  There was somewhat of a chop and I was taking in a lot of water so I had to turn my head up directly to the sky to get air every other stroke.  It wasn’t a big deal but I’m sure it didn’t help my time too much.  Another issue I ran into is my hands got stuck in a closed fist in the first 400 meters so I was essentially doing fist drills for the 2.4 mile swim, so that made the swim a bit more difficult.  The rest of the swim was fairly uneventful and I was certainly ready to get out of the water. 

T1:

As I got out water the wet suit strippers took off my wetsuit and handed me my bike gear bag.  I was disoriented, still couldn’t open my hands, and shaking uncontrollably so I was directed into the warm tent to warm up and re-group.  I wasn’t able to buckle my helmet or snap in my race belt so a volunteer had to help me get my gear on.  I finally started to feel decent after 20 minutes in the warm temp and off I went on the bike.

Bike:

We had the opportunity to drive the bike course on Saturday so I knew what I was getting myself into for the race.  It is described as a two-loop course with some rolling hills.  The first loop felt great.  My nutrition was going well, I held an average speed of about 17 mph throughout the course, and didn’t go barreling over a cliff which in my mind is a success.  The 2^nd loop was a different story.  At about mile 70 the miles were catching up to me.  My hydration was off and I was starving.  I was eating bananas and energy bars and switching between Gatorade and water between aid stations to try and play catch up.  The course is relatively flat except for about 20 miles of the aforementioned “rollers”.  Being an Iowa flatlander may have swayed my interpretation but there were some tough hills.  A lot of them had a steep downhill portion and a sharp turn then had you going uphill, or a downhill with a flat portion before going back uphill which slowed down your momentum.   There weren’t any daunting hills, just a lot of them.  By the time I got out of hilly portion and heading back into town I was spent.  I had no energy and I coasted back into town with literally nothing left in the tank.

T2:

As I entered the changing tent a volunteer saw me and didn’t think I looked very good so he led me over to the medical tent.  I was checked over and asked if I needed to stop.  I refused to quit and after a little rest and some sugar water I was out of t2 and onto the marathon.

Run:

Well, I don’t know if I would call it much of a run, more of a walk, shuffle for the 1^st 6 miles of the run.  My priority here was getting myself together and getting some quick carbohydrates and sodium into my system.  This included flat coke, cookies, chips, and sports drink.  After the 1^st 6 miles I was able to do some running.  I would pick out a spot ahead of me, run to that point, and then walk.  I continued this throughout the rest of the run and crossed the finish line. 

A lot of things went wrong during the race, but one thing that stood out for me was my ability to keep a positive inter monologue, upbeat mentality, and a ‘no quit’ attitude.  I took away a lot of lessons that will help me in the future.  I truly couldn’t have done it without the love and support of my wife and my family and I am forever grateful for them.  I’ll take next year off from Ironmans, but I’ll be back the following year!