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I don’t know why or how I stumbled across this earlier in the week, but I found my first first race.

This was the 2014 TriRock held here in Austin. My dear friend Harry talked me into joining his relay team. I wish I could remember the name of the lovely gal who swam for us. She was the reason we were participating in this relay. Harry rode the bike. And I ran in this Olympic-distance triathlon. I was barely a year into my running journey and had absolutely no interest in racing at the time. I did it as a favor for Harry.

I’ve always enjoyed running fast and pushing myself, and this was my unwanted opportunity to put my running experience to date (I’m not going to say “training”) to the test. The TriRock was held on September 1th, which means it’s still blazing hot in Austin.

There are some memories and minor details rattling around in my brain from the day, but not really worth recounting here. What I remember was when Harry came out of the exchange zone and it was my time to run, I took off. We were participating the relay division, so it’s not like I had anyone lined up next to me at the start of the run. But, in my mind, we were racing, so, I took off. And my lack of racing experience shows.

I think at around that time of my running journey, I was running in the high-seven and eight minute per mile pace on my daily runs. I went out on my leg of the relay at a sub-7 minute pace. It was 10:00 a.m. in the Texas summer, which I’m sure means the heat index was 100º+, and you could cut the humidity with a knife. And I did a bang up job of exemplifying the dictionary definition of a positive split by way of letting nerves and adrenaline get the best of me, and going out way too fast at the start.

I went out at a 6:42 pace and ended at a 9 minute pace. That’s a very large margin in the 10k. And a great example of why you should keep things reigned in at the start of the race.

Have a plan (and a backup plan. And a backup backup plan.), stick to it, and don’t get caught up in the excitement and energy at the start of a race. It takes quite a bit of patience, discipline, and perhaps some experience to do the latter. There’s music and noise and other people. Your adrenaline naturally spikes because you brain knows your body is about to endeavor upon something difficult. You might find yourself sizing other people up, or second guessing yourself, or feeling intimidated or unworthy. Don’t do that. You’ll hear coaches and other runners say it all the time: Run your own race. Unless, of course, you’re of the talented variety that’s in it for a win, podium, prizes, qualifier, etc.

Running and racing is a mental game. You have to be smart, patient, and confident. Assuming you’ve trained for your race you have to trust in your training and stick to your plan. Don’t get caught up in the hooplah and hubbub at the start line. Zone out. Stare at your shoes. Stare at the sky. Say a prayer. Close your eyes. Whatever it is that you need to do, do it. And practice your pre-gun calming ritual. Make that part of your plan.

If you’re trained, ready, patient, and confident, you shouldn’t run consistent positive mile splits. There can and might be some positive splits in there, and those can be for a myriad of reasons such as hills, fatigue, traffic, bathroom break, and, well, the list could go on and on.

Just don’t go out too fast. I remember the day before my first Boston Marathon, the family and I took a chartered bus tour of the course all the way from Hopkinton into Boston. Our tour guide was a run coach and a 12-time Boston Marathon finisher. He told us, “the course starts out downhill. The first half of the race is fast. It’s the Boston Marathon. It’s crazy and exciting and the most coveted marathon in the world. Everyone is going to go out fast. Let them go. Let that wave go past you. Stick to your plan and pay attention to the bodies flying by you, because those are the bodies you’re going to be climbing over at mile 20 on the hills.”

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

I made the decision last night, before going to bed, to let myself sleep in this morning and get the rest that I know I’ve needed. And to rest my left hip. The decision was really made because of my hip.

On this past Sunday’s long run I pulled, strained, or just agitated my left hip. It wasn’t alarming or anywhere near debilitating, but I felt it. It was on my recovery run on Monday morning when I knew I definitely had some inflammation and persistent pain. I stayed the course and stuck to the training plan on Tuesday morning, which was a cornerstone 8 x 800 interval workout.

I’m three weeks out from the New York City Marathon and in my third and final peak week of this 18-week training block. And it was just a week and a half ago when I took stock and acknowledged that this has been the best training cycle I’ve had leading up to what will be my tenth marathon. I feel the strongest, most prepared, and most confident that I’ve ever felt leading up to a marathon. I’ve stuck to the plan exactly as it was designed (short of a couple missed easy runs in the early weeks due to my wife’s uncle’s funeral, and moving our daughter to college). I’ve “nailed” every workout, but there was no showboating. I was honest and aggressively conservative. 800’s at 2:50 have felt great, smooth, and with just the right amount of comfortable difficulty. I baked in some shorter and punchier intervals early in the cycle to test and stress different systems. I kept myself honest with my rate of perceived exertion (RPE) in the hill workouts. And I really kept myself honest in my tempo runs, which were all prescribed as a pace that I could sustain at effort for 60 minutes. But what has really given me the majority of confidence and happiness is the combination of volume and how I’ve felt during and after my long runs. I introduced and allowed myself to run a mile or two extra on my peak week long runs, which are generally 20 miles. In these recent peak weeks I’ve been running upwards of 22 miles, and I’ve thrown in anywhere between 2-5 miles of marathon goal pace pickups in the middle of those Sunday long runs. And I’d been topping out at 60-65 miles per week in many of those weeks whereas in previous marathon training blocks I’d top out at a little over 50 miles per week.

I’ve been diligent with warming up and cooling down before key workouts. I’ve given myself the time to do the prescribed drills before track workouts. I stuck to my supplemental body weight strength training twice per week. And, probably most importantly, my head has been in the right space. I’ve felt good mentally for the majority of these past 16 weeks. Even if a run or workout didn’t go as I’d anticipated, I’d accept it, and I’d always find the positives.

And that leads up to right here, right now. I have a pain in my left hip that could impact the rest of this peak week and the taper that starts next week. The final peak week is that last opportunity to gain the necessary fitness and confidence leading up to a big race where I’d lay it all on the line and let the stacking of days on days and weeks and weeks of hard work culminate into what will become the execution of a very specific and calculated plan.

Yesterday and today I could have pushed through the discomfort that I’ve been feeling the past few days, and the noticeable pain that I felt in my third 800 meter repeat this past Tuesday. And the stubborn side of me really considered it. But there’s a risk and tradeoff. I could have pushed through the pain for the sake of an easy 6 mile recovery on Wednesday. Those easy miles could have irritated and inflamed my psoas or piriformis (or whatever it is in my hip that’s prone to irritation and inflammation.) The pain and inflammation subsided significantly as I rested yesterday. And I very likely could have caused more pain, inflammation or worse, damage, today by going out on a dialed-back 45 minute tempo run. But I didn’t, and with experience and now-wisdom, I know that that’s okay, and it was the right decision for me. A Wednesday recovery run and a 45-minute tempo run today would not contribute significantly to my strength and fitness at this point. The risk outweighs the reward. I know that the possibility of further injury outweighs any fitness loss that might occur by intentionally taking two days off. I’d argue that any fitness loss as this point would even be marginally noticeable.

The confidence and strength that I’ve accumulated over these past 16 weeks allow me to feel okay about dealing with a setback. I was talking to Jenny, who has been dealing with two separate injuries during a single marathon training cycle, no run matters. Life happens. Things happen. We have to travel. We have injuries and setbacks and things will often just get in the way. It’s okay. Running imitates life in that in order for us to grow and improve, we have to constantly learn how to adapt and be conscious and smart about how we react to the things that happen to us. While we don’t want things to happen to us and we want our plans to always work in our favor, that’s rarely what actually happens. We have to control what we can and react and adapt thoughfully and intelligently to the things that are out of our control. And I think that acknowledgment and approach is paramount to being successful in running and in life.

I’m reposting Brad Stulberg‘s 10 Rules for Sustaining Excellence because it’s perfect, worth revisiting often, and 100% applicable in running and in life in general.

1. Be the best at getting better:

Being the best is ephemeral; you either get it or you don’t, and then what? But being the best at getting better is a commitment to mastery that lasts a lifetime. The ​arrival fallacy​ is real. If you think if I just achieve _____ or accomplish _____ THEN I’ll be happy, you are in for a rude awakening. The human brain did not evolve to arrive, it evolved to strive. It’s critical to find meaning and satisfaction in the path. If you make the ultimate goal getting better, the rest takes care of itself.

2. Adopt a process over outcomes mindset:

First, set a goal. Then, figure out the discrete steps that are required to go after your goal. Next, largely forget about the goal and focus on nailing the discrete steps instead. If you catch yourself worrying about the goal, use it as a cue to come back into the present moment. Dig where your feet are.

3. Focus on consistency over intensity:

Anyone can go out and bury themselves, crush it for a day, and post to social media. But what leads to enduring progress is the ability to ​show up day in and day out​ for long periods of time. There’s a difference between what looks badass on social media and what is actually a badass performance trajectory.

Small steps taken regularly over time compound for big gains. The goal isn’t to peak on every single day, it’s to develop a rhythm over time. This often means showing a bit of restraint now so you can get more out of yourself in the future.

4. Use behavioral activation:

You don’t need to feel good to get going, you need to get going to give yourself a chance at feeling good. ​Motivation follows action​. There is no need to give yourself a hype speech every morning. When you are feeling highly motivated, ride those waves. But when you aren’t feeling your best, that’s okay too. Don’t freak out. Just get started and give yourself a chance.

5. Respond not react:

Feel your feelings, but don’t attach to them. You can’t always control what happens but you almost always have ​some control over what you do next​. You can either panic and pummel ahead (2P’s) or pause, process, plan, and proceed (4P’s). The latter is usually a better bet.

Take a deep breath. Tell yourself some version of this is what is happening right now, I’m doing the best I can. It’s a practice for in between pitches, in between games, and in between seasons. It’s true in baseball and it’s true in life.

6. If you are going to compare, then compare yourself to prior versions of yourself:

You can’t control what other people are doing. In this day and age, you don’t even know what is real or fake. But you can look back on your own efforts and see if there is a sense of growth and progression. Focus there.

7. Simple does not mean easy (be wary of online gurus):

Complex ideas, theories, and programs are everywhere because they are easy to hide behind and procrastinate with. But if you ​make what you are doing simple​, you either do it or you don’t. This sort of accountability is key to growth and success. Nail the fundamentals. Keep the main things the main things. Ignore hacks, quick fixes, and anyone trying to sell you a secret.

8. Diversify your sense of self:

It’s okay to be all-in, but not all the time. If you fuse your entire self-worth and identity to a single pursuit, it sets you up for a challenging emotional roller coaster ride, and it almost always makes you fragile.

At the same time, “balance” is an illusion. A huge part of what makes life meaningful is giving your all to the things you care about. Evaluating tradeoffs and making sacrifices is part of being a mature adult. But it doesn’t mean becoming unidimensional. You can have ​different seasons of life for different priorities​, and never completely leave behind aspects of your identity that are important.

9. Remember that fierce self-discipline requires fierce self-kindness:

​Doing hard things​ is hard. If you are going to step into the arena and risk failure, it’s important that you ​learn to have your own back​. Your physical health is only as good as your mental health. We are not minds and bodies. We are mind-body systems. Being a badass requires being kind to yourself too.

10. The people around you shape you:

Emotions are ​contagious​. Performance is contagious. Growth is contagious. On your deathbed, you won’t remember the external results; you’ll remember the relationships you forged along the way. There is no such thing as going at it alone. A huge part of sustaining all the mindsets, skills, and practices above is building a supportive community.

Shot by Runar Gunderson, a kind soul from Norway who graciously and selfishly shares his experience, advice, and recommendations on all things related to preparing for and running the New York City Marathon.

If you’re running the NYC Marathon for the first time, or even if you’re a veteran, definitely check out Mr. Gunderson’s website and be sure to join his very active and helpful New York City Marathon 2024 Help Group Facebook Group (note that this link is for the 2024 NYCM, so look for either “New York City Marathon Help Group” or “Runar’s Runner”).

Amazon Prime released “Ingebrigtsen: Born to Run” today. I watched the first half of the first episode during lunch today. My initial impression is that Jakob is an asshole. He has a deserved cockiness on the track and I’ll be the first to admit that I love and appreciate confidence and cockiness, especially in athletic endeavors when you can back up what you say and how you present yourself in public. But in the first 15 minutes of the show, he’s just an inconsiderate ass to his very-much-pregnant wife. And everyone in the show thus far drives Mercedes and Lamborghinis and I’m rolling my eyes as I write this, wondering if I want to watch the remaining episodes. I will though, because the Ingebrigtsen brothers, Jakob especially, are phenomenal athletes and I’m curious to learn about how they’ve been raised, where the live, how they train, and compete. I’m not as excited to get all of the behind the scenes lifestyle and drama. That’s one of the big reasons why I’m not active on Instagram. There’s an old saying, “don’t meet your heroes.” I’d rather know you as the world record holding runner and not the asshole off the track or road.

I swear I’ve seen this stretch pose eleventy million times in the past 10 years in running-related media. It’s gotten to the point where I’m going to document it in a photo gallery here.

I just happened to stumble upon this video when I opened YouTube the other day and immediately became engrossed. My wife makes fun of me because I gawk at runners. I just think the human body while in flight is beautiful thing. And, just like every human is different, the way every human runs is different, and it’s amazing to see how someone who might otherwise be considered to have “bad form” is an amazingly gifted and talented runner.

I digress. I admittedly didn’t pay much attention to the first sets of 3ks that the guys ran, but started watching in the early reps of the 12 x 250m hills. And then I heard coach calling out “43 seconds.” I then started trying to do math and gave up because 1) 250 meters isn’t a common distance and 2) these guys are just cruising effortlessly after fatiguing themselves on the track just minutes prior. And they all do such a great job maintaining maintaining their form, posture, and picking their feet up, 12 times over.

And I like Coach Metcalf’s simple yet reassuring calls. “Great work,” “looking great,” “fantastic,” “amazing job,” “great mechanics.” And the reminders to relax and drive the elbows back.

The reasons are many, and far behind me at this point. In recent times I’ve found myself scratching my head and wondering why we even started our run club, and why we continue to support it. Like many endeavors in life, there are times when the bad starts to outweigh the good. Or, in running training, when you reach a point of diminishing returns.

But then you see something like this and it all becomes crystal clear again.

I had the pleasure of running with and making some new friends from the Kanawha Running Club when we were in Charleston in mid-July for our daughter’s freshman orientation.

Dan Nehnevaj (far right in above photo) currently specializes in the 20k race walk, recently coming in 5th in the 2024 US Olympic Trials with a PR of 1:23:10. He’s a former assistant Track & Field and Cross Country coach for West Virginia University Tech and, from what I understand, coaches many runners local to the Charleston area. His collegiate athletic resume and WVU bio is impressive.

Hector Falcon (second from right in above photo) is a resident of Charleston, and a Texas native hailing from El Paso. He was the overall winner of this year’s El Paso Marathon in 2:38:03. Hector touts that he had no high school or college training. The guy is gifted, and he trains hard.

This morning Hector pulled off an amazing 2nd place finish in the 51st running of the Charleston Distance Run, which is affectionately known as America’s 15-mile road race. Dan came through in 8th in 1:30 and some change. I don’t claim to be an expert on the hills of Charleston, but I’ve put in some miles in the South Hills area and they’re no joke. They make the hills of Austin and the outskirts of the Texas Hill Country look like cute little speed bumps. The Charleston Distance Run (or CDR as the locals call it) has a grueling 450 foot climb into the South Hills over two miles at the 4 mile mark. It’ll really put your legs and lungs to the test and if you’re not ready for it, it’ll grind you to a walk.

Hector’s training in the weeks leading up to the CDR was, in a word, crazy. I wouldn’t condone it, but I will say that it’s impressive, just on the razor’s edge of injury or burnout. The vast majority of his runs each week are at what I can only assume are at threshold pace. And he’d crank out 50 and 60 mile weeks.

A course preview at race effort. A tempo run a couple days later. Or, as Hector would probably call it “just a run.” A 15:00 5k trial a week out before the race. Why not?

That kind of effort being sustainable over time is arguable but, for me, it’s fun to watch unassociated and from afar.

My plan is to run the CDR at some point in the next three years. I mean, winners of the race in its early years are names like Jeff Galloway and Frank Shorter. I’m confident that I could put up a good fight in my age group, but I’ll leave the top of the overall leaderboard to those whose full bore is on another level.