Don't Forget

I think we are hard-wired to know this. Yet with the passage of time (is it REALLY August first today?) it somehow fades from the forefront of our consciousness. It gets demoted to the back burner, like a rookie phenom getting sent back to Triple A for some additional seasoning. We forget. We get lazy and we get sloppy. We succumb to the easy way, that path offering least resistance. To be fair, we are victims of our own societal success. Madison Avenue, mainstream media and our consumer culture expects nothing from us but mindless, instantaneous gratification.  If you see it, you need it, now. Kinda like the guy on the seafood diet. See food - eat food. Same holds true with gadgets, cars, costumes, styles, fads and those quirky paradigms.

We know, yet we forget.

This, in reference to exercise. You remember that. Movement. Elevated heart rate, muscles in motion, blood flow, inertia, power, speed, grace. Hands and eyes coordinated to produce a desired effect. Run, throw, jump. In the good old days of the Paleolithic era, we needed these skills to survive. Not being fast enough to catch that furry little critter meant another dinner of grass and water. When that hungry or scared lioness snarled at you with a mouth watering leer, not being able to unleash some explosive escape power often reduced the tribe population by one.

No wonder we forget. We have everything right here on our desks or in our laps. I see folks all the time at the Safeway giving the appearance that the only exercise they get is pushing the cart down the center aisle. I sometimes play connect the dots, looking from cart to core - all that processed, refined, fat-filled, empty, HFCS, simple carbohydrate, chocolate covered crap goes right there. In deep storage. Sometimes forever. You pay for it twice.

We forget.

I am enthralled with John Douillard's work, Mind, Body and Sport. It rings a note so clear I can hear it resonate for days. Here is another sample, in case you missed the 0530 'sermon from the saddle':

Studying in India, the author asked several Vedic scholars the purpose of exercise. He then lists the (unanimous) top three.

I suggested a few this morning, among them:

Optimal fitness
Good health
Longevity
To get faster
To get stronger
To win Gold Medals
To win Age Group awards
To satisfy ego
To be responsible and stay out of the ER

Please take a moment here to consider your motivation. Why do YOU exercise? What is your purpose for doing all that we do? Or all that you do?

THE THREE GOALS OF EXERCISE

1) To rejuvenate the body and cultivate the mind
2) To remove stress
3) To develop mind-body coordination.

You know this. We are hard wired to understand. It is in your DNA.

I have found that the best way to remember is to do. Preform the acts. Go through the motions. Practice mind-body coordination. And please remember…..

To not forget.

Sync Up

My favorite quote, so far, from John Douillard's terrific book, "Mind, Body and Sport", comes from former tennis great Billie Jean King. The passage was prefaced by another quote from the epic poem Mahabharata in which the great archer Arjuna reveals the secret of victory as establishing yourself first and then executing. To which Billie Jean responds, "it is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility." That combination being first a composed and calm mind and body necessary to create hurricane force (violent chaos). 

Picture 1000 watts of power on the bike. Hitting a baseball twirling toward you at 100mph, feeling your way proprioceptively over a jagged mountain trail, catching a spiral in tight coverage, nailing that three-iron pin high. All demand inner calm and outward power. Many people have one. A precious few are able to harness the absolute power of both. It is why we practice. It is why we drill. It is why we repeat, recover, repeat. We practice with acute awareness the adaptation taking place as we try to synergize these polar extremes, mind-body, in-out, soft-hard, slow-fast, silent-loud, yin-yang.

On those rare occasions when we are in sync, amazing things happen. Personal bests are set, records fall, dreams are realized. Some call it The Flow. Some call it The Zone. 

However you wish to label, it is a skill. A talent that can be learned and refined. We know the components: Show up. Commit. Focus. Work. Breathe. Rest & Recover. Repeat.

The rest are all details. Get good at listening to your body. Make the commitment to improvement. Do what it takes. Eat good. Sleep well. Repeat. 

Sync up. 

Take it from Me

In the wonderful world of advertising it is known as celebrity testimony. Somebody famous, instantly recognizable by the target demographic, endorses a product by using it, wearing it, talking about it, owning it, and instantly the human hard wiring system accepts that product as legit, cool, of value or (at best) something they cannot live another day without. There are more examples of this successful concept than I can list here on a Sunday morning, but for this exercise, I cite two as rather colorful exhibits. 

First is from Camel cigarettes. Seems that as recent as 1949 more doctors smoked Camels than any other brand. Please check out the model at the end, merely toking on screen and smiling. 

Exhibit B is one of the classics from Miller Lite. The boys (all sports celebs) are holding the first Miller Lite Bowling Tournament. There is the usual debate over what makes the beer so special, its taste or weight. And then it's Rodney's turn. 

I bring these up to set the stage for this piece that was published earlier this week from Lake Placid. This, in regard to the top three Men being CompuTrainer users. As well as two of the top three Women. Overall 8 of the top 10 use the CT. Big stuff. The promo idea, in the form of celeb testimony is that if these extremely fast professional triathletes use the CompuTrainer to reach their goals (including their very livelihood) YOU MR or MS age grouper can too. 

Here is the only difference:  They do it full-time and get paid for results. You don't. 

Even more reason to use one. More results in less time. 

Take it from me.

Video is a very cool piece from LP, check it out. 

Be Your Hero

I had the opportunity over the course of the last few days to get in some R&R. We were fortunate to get in a successful shoot of the upcoming Ironman Lake Tahoe bike course on Wednesday, leaving supplemental photo work on Thursday and a late departure on Friday. Due to the initial success of our new product development outline strategy I decided to get outta town early and get to work on the video and beta version. That is being done as we communicate. 

My rest and recovery, relaxation and rehabilitation, took the form of working at nothing. Keeping the urge to run suppressed, just saying no. I needed the time to heal up and allow a few nagging overuse injuries to re-build. This is difficult for me. I like to move. I like the physical feeling of muscular soreness, it feels like success to me. And after last Saturday's 70.3 I was a little run down, road weary and perhaps even suffering from low-grade DOMS, delayed onset of muscular soreness. Simply put, I needed a break. 

So I went to the ballpark, watched some baseball, shot the climb to Mt. Rose from Incline Village, and went to see a matinee of the latest Batman movie, the third and final installment from Christopher Nolan in the Caped Crusader Trilogy. 

I will spare you a traditional movie review as there are others who can transpose film to print much better than I, BUT, there are a few elements that were, perhaps, important to us (athletes) more than the GP, general population. I say 'perhaps' because the elements are universal, we simply find more ways to employ and execute their principals. We put them into play. We do. Here are a few examples, sans spoilers:

When we fist see The Batman he is retired. Hurt, crippled, morose. He has been beat up by bad guys and betrayed by the woman he loved. It hurts to watch. This is NOT the way Batman got to be a hero, let alone a SUPER hero. You want to slap him around, rattle the batcage, and snap him from the funk. Demand that he stop feeling sorry for himself and get out there and back in the game. Even Alfred tries his best. It is a favorite trick of Hollywood. It is called the moment of truth. The moment one decides to act. When we train, when we race and when we live fully, we get to make the same choice. Art imitates life. This is our story as much as an eccentric millionaire with BW embroidered on his batrobe. 

Act. Go. Do. You are the hero in this sequel. You can be super.  Make it so.

Gotham is under siege by a bully known as Bane. He is a combination of Hannibal Lector, Darth Vader and Goliath. He is big, bad, mean and smart. He kicks the stuffing out of Batman the first time they meet. Bane breaks Batman's back and exiles him to an inescapable hell of a prison while he executes a plan to take over Gotham City. In prison Batman meets a sage and a savior. Hello Yoda. He embarks on the journey back. He wants a rematch. It is the only way to save the city he loves and the entire population therein. Moment of Truth II. (Hollywood can do this). He knows that the next time he meets Bane it will be a battle to the death with the fate of the city and 7 million people riding on the outcome. We call it courage under fire. You had better be prepared. There will be blood. You must embody and embrace a no fear policy and accept the reality of death. This is the critical point. You have nothing to lose. Give it all or you lose all. 

Stay in focus. Charge. Summon your soul. NEVER give in. Attack. Be tenacious. You are not alone in this fight.

Lastly, the war on the streets is about to begin. The mercenaries have the police unmanned, outgunned and out positioned. You can see fear in the eyes of Gotham's finest as they prepare to meet their bloody demise. Suddenly from above, the Bat, a turbo charged, carbon fiber, jet propelled, super helio SWAT copter, piloted by The Batman himself, does a low-level flyover and the Boys in Blue cheer and then rally as the posse has arrived in the nick of time. They charge into the face of certain death, sure of their cause and with renewed vigor and purpose. The mere presence of our caped hero has empowered a thousand police officers wielding only service revolvers to attack the oppressors holding cannons, assault rifles and tanks. 

Courage. Purpose. Teamwork. Never give up. Regardless of the odds, do your best.

Batman saves the day, gets the girl and retires to Venice. But not before putting the essential elements of success, valor, integrity and wisdom on display. 

Further setting the stage, Robin shows up, The Boy Wonder, ready for his day in the sun.

We all get one. Be your own hero. Be super. There is a day to fight and a day for R&R.

Ask The Batman. 

To Win

Another day of shooting the IMLT course. Beautiful day in Reno/Tahoe with the roads filling fast with folks looking for some combination of fun, shade, food, rest and/or adventure and excitement. Me, I just observe. I am thankful we shot the course yesterday because today would have been a clustermare (half cluster and half nightmare). The stretch along 28 from Kings Beach to Tahoe City was a parking lot. Not good for video.

Took a break near the swim start, today filled with paddle boards, kite surfers, kayakers, volleyballers and sunbathers and found a couple of rather serendipitous notes. Try these on for size:

YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN

THERE ARE PRECIOUS FEW THINGS IN LIFE, OF WHICH YOU ONLY NEED ONE.

Followers of the blog will quickly put those two into context and join me in the harmony.

My work here is done. We have the foundation of a plan. The idea is solid, the players assembled. The pieces of the puzzle missing for so long have finally appeared, eager, willing, ready, primed. There remains one piece necessary to complete the coup, the final good-to-go from the tower. One way or another we will be at 33,000 feet faster than a Wiggo time trail.

All meaning that I am trying to get an early flight home to get started on the follow up work. There are things to be done that I cannot do from this hotel room.

Pix: Last night at the ballpark, home of the Reno Aces, my hotel Harrah's in the background. Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Winter Games, Bike start and finish, and the swim start at King's Beach.

Biggest Little

They call it the Biggest Little City in the World. Back in Reno to shoot some preview video of the 2013 Ironman Lake Tahoe. It's an easy 45 minute drive from downtown Reno to Kings Beach, despite the delays for road construction. I met with my hosts, Nate and Reid from Trainer Road and longtime CompuTrainer Multi-Rider coach Chad before first light. We were ready to explore and chat about our respective industry specialties. There being three in the wired-for-sound-and-video Mazda this morning.

You know what I do. I am the video guy. I shoot, I edit, I master. I do this in conjunction with our partners the World Triathlon Corporation, owners of the Ironman brand. I shoot the video that eventually comes to market as CompuTrainer Real Course Videos. Shouldn't take long to work the acronym, man.

Nate and Reid have created a terrific new software bundle and site that does amazing things. If you train at home, indoors on a stationary bike, I recommend you take a long look at their products.
Chad Timmerman is an experienced cycling coach who adds the mentoring aspect, bringing together the visual and technical as platform integration.

The four of us drove the course this morning, shooting video with a live mic to capture a rolling narrative of all things triathlon. I will admit up front that the only thing we were lacking on this assignment was coffee. We spent almost three hours in non-stop discussion, grabbing what I think will be excellent video of the new course. We even managed to pinch some video inside Martin's Camp until road construction and a giant yellow Cat road grader blocked our path.

Topping all that, the post shoot debrief produced a game plan and the formation of 'the model'. All those parts melded seamlessly together. The video, the software, the graphics, the workouts, the structure, the entertainment, the motivation and the ways and means to put it into play. Stream it to me baby!

I have the assignment of preparing a sample video segment using the media we captured today, adding a few bells and whistles, perhaps even a glockenspiel and penny-whistle, to use as beta for the additional component integration. The goal is to create one complete, fully functioning prototype to gauge potential. From there, assuming success (as we always do) the sky is the limit.

Could be the Biggest Little thing since Reno.

Pix: Guess where? King's Beach before the sun. Chad, Nate & Reid. King's Beach II. Rose Mtn.

It Ain't Me Babe

I have been thinking a lot about last Saturday. This, in the attempt to cherry pick the low hanging fruit of wisdom. Put some more tangy Rainiers in my experience basket. Keep the flesh, spit the pit. In this excellent article by my pal and longtime mentor Simon Ward, aka The Triathlon Coach, he goes through the same process with much greater insight and eloquence than I could muster in a summer of harvests. 

There were many positives, one of which was simple survival. It was hot out there for 75 miles. I was coming off two intense high performance efforts and not fully recovered. I did a Richard Kimble* swim. My big toe bled. REMs over two days were virtually non existent. Did I mention the heat? To get through all of that and lose 'only' 12 minutes over last year I consider to be a success. A positive even.

I had the opportunity to compete. I showed up and toed the line. I gave it all I had. Regardless of the result, what I had to give was donated to the cause. I enjoyed the process. Every step of the way, despite the sun, wind, distance, competition, frustrations, aggravations, challenges and irritants. That is the whole idea of an endurance event. The weak crumble. The strong prevail. One must manage inside and out. Overcome the minds relentless desire for the easy way, that path offering least resistance, some shade from the sun. Basic relief.

But that is not what we do on race day. We get answers. To big questions. We explore our souls. We push the time, speed or distance to failure. How long can I go at this intensity, how far, how fast? All eventual winners will have built their race around delaying fatigue longer than previous. Maybe by five minutes, maybe by five seconds. Yes, the course was the same distance as last year. But there were other variables at play contributing to a completely different challenge. The elements. External conditions that all must endure. It is the same for everyone. Rain, sleet, sun, snow - you still have to go. 

I took away a bin of lessons and positives from last Saturday. It was  great time, camping, racing, supporting, eating pizza and sipping barley pops. It is part of the overall experience that keeps me coming back, looking for more, searching for the speed, playing in the splendor of our national treasure of a backyard. I consider this to have a very high QOL rating. Off the charts even. What a blast. 

There is only one person in the world that cares that I finished second in (my former) age group. 

And it ain't me.

*Reference is to the 'one-armed man' seen fleeing from the Kimble home on the night of Dr. Kimble's wife's murder in the TV series The Fugative. 

Pic is from campsite looking across Chelan River at a single track trail that seems to be calling me. Maybe there is a Cherry Tree atop.

Off to Reno and Tahoe. Enjoy the ride.