Last Run Before Boston - Merrimack River Trail

This was the view from my last training run before the Boston Marathon. Having never been in Andover, Massachusetts I hit up Google Maps to figure out the path for my last four miler before marathon day. As I mentally plotted out my route I noticed that the Andover Trail was only about a mile or so away and ran along the bank of the Merrimack River. Actually, I didn't notice the river but the trail was intriguing so I memorized the road names and turns I would take to get to the trail and off I went.

I'm not sure about luck. We put together enough "next right things" and good fortune seems to head our way. Have you ever felt at peace or had a real calmness envelop you? As I came upon the Merrimack River Trail sign the serenity grabbed me. As I ran swiftly over the pine needled path some emotion leaked out of my eyes so I stopped and enjoyed it. I took pictures of my surroundings, the trail, the trees, the river. I believed right then that the Boston Marathon was going to be a success regardless of time.

Neither hurrying or lagging, I took a short video of thanks when I made it back to the trail head and I took this picture. Running alone in the woods is the closest thing to heaven on earth. 

One More Week Until the Boston Marathon

The hay is in the barn.

The first time I heard that phrase was getting ready for the District Wrestling Championships in 1994. Not being to agriculturally minded, it didn't penetrate my hard yet what exactly my coach meant.

"You've worked your butt off, done all you can, now just go out there and wrestle."

That made more sense.

Good miles, not just mileage are what make up the hay for marathoners. Years ago, as a newbie, to me all miles were miles and it didn't matter too much how I ran them as long as I ran them. Then I had a friend suggest running more miles and different types of runs. That worked to make me fast but now necessarily happier. Rather serendipitously, a coworker suggested I try running less miles and make every single mile count. Quality over quantity in a very targeted, specific way.

For the last 18 weeks I have been doing just that. Have I done exactly what the plan says for each and every day? Nope. Pretty sure I even missed one or two workouts but I never let that get me down. The Run Smart Project by Coach Jack Daniels is what has trained me to my fastest marathon time and more important than that, my most enjoyable 18 weeks of training ever. I would recommend this plan to anyone. Please see the plan below and remember that this was specifically designed based on previous race times.

In one week and twelve hours I will be towing the line in Hopkinton.

 

The Best U6 Soccer Game Ever

Last weekend was a marathon in soccer coaching. Six games in two days may not seem like a lot but when you are the person responsible for motivating, coaching, correcting, disciplining, encouraging, and loving all these kids it can wear you down. Stress is another energy sucker. The closer the games the tighter and more squeezed I become inside. I was abundantly positive this weekend, trying hard to build up and praise rather than focus on mistakes. It worked but it forces me to swallow the stress and internalize it. Unfortunately for you, this is where I let it back out.

On Saturday my little's each had a game. Both of those teams are in the Youth Development League. One of them probably shouldn't be but they are really starting to hold their own. My Little Pink's would have tied on Saturday had then not scored on themselves twice and my Little Yellow's beat an undefeated team that day and set themselves up for a battle for league supremacy on Sunday. My Big's won both their weekend games, too close for comfort but a win is a win and they were pumped.

That brings us to the Little Yellow's U6 YDL game on Sunday. Three things everyone should know about coaches. We have great ears, meaning we hear everything, two we always know what the stakes are, and three we all copy each other. The first two were on display on Sunday. I have a rule that the first girls at the field warming up are most likely going to get to start. Interestingly enough, the three that I would want to start were there first but they were talking about how tough this other team was and that we were probably going to lose. This type of talk infuriates me. If that is the mindset going in then you have already lost. I relate this to wrestling because you see it all the time in individual sports. If you don't believe you can win then you are going to lose nine times out of ten. I have no empirical evidence other than listening and seeing body language that tells both the coach and the opponent what's going to happen.

I immediately nipped that talk in the bud. "Why would you think that? Have we played them before? Have we lost a game this year? What makes them so good." I fired these questions at my girls. They stammered and tried to explain they have a new girl who is really good. I was exasperated, "we are really good! Don't you know how good we are?"

This is a fine line. My oldest daughter is very talented but I find when I tell her she is great or praise her too much she takes it for granted and does not work as hard. I have been trying not to praise too much while still encouraging and teaching what needs to be done to get better.

Knowing the stakes came from hearing the other coach tell his girls that if they win they are in first place. I knew this as well and use it for motivation but I have been instilling in the girls this season is that we aren't going to lose a single game, and if you don't lose any games you will always be the best.  

The girls warmed up and were ready to play. They all got to start in their favorite spots so the vibe was good. We play four twelve minute quarters and at the end of the first quarter it was 4-1 us. When they came off the field I asked them, "Do you think we can beat them now?" It was easy to see the buy in at that point. Tactically, at the start of the second quarter is where I made a mistake. I have a girl on this team who could hold her own at the U8 level, not physically but technically. She was begging to play defender. I acquiesced and she proceeded to let two goals go in, in about three minutes. She was looking at me nearly in tears and yelled, "I don't want to play defense." I yelled back, "You said you wanted to play now play hard."

We went into the half winning 6-4. It easily could have been 6-2 but it's U6 soccer and anything can happen. The third quarter was an up and down affair, we scored two more but they scored two as well. It was 8-6 going into the fourth quarter and the tide turned. All of a sudden, they scored three more to take the lead and the girls were shocked. At this point, the parents, grandparents, and families were into the game big time. We scored one to tie it up and then with about three minutes left scored another. We were now back in front 10-9. Tactically, we were set up well. I had my best defender in goal and we needed it. She made at least four great plays to break up scoring chances and when the final whistle blew I was whipped. The constant up and down action, the passing, defensive stands, great shots, it had everything. It's hard to remember they are five and six years old.

As the girls shook hands and the other coach and I went to sign the score card we both just laughed and said that was the best U6 game we have ever been a part of. The referee said it was the best game he ever reffed and I just shook my head. Relief was what I was feeling more than elation. We were the better team and losing when you are better is a bitter pill to swallow. 

I walked to my car and shared some kinds words with the other coach. It was a great game to be a part of on both sides. He knows that my team is better and the fact that they almost won is a testament to the good coaching he does and the no quit attitude of his team. We play them one more time this season and I can't wait.

Why I Quit Fitbit and Fitocracy

Writing equals catharsis. Venting is a synonym of my reasoning for putting this post down today. I can't take being tracked anymore. A long time ago, I was sitting in the Coyote Grill in the now vanished, Mission Mall. At the bar enjoying a nice meal and possibly too many beverages when a middle aged woman asked me a question. She claimed to be working on her thesis about what it means to be American. This had to be around 2002, after the September 11th attacks. It took me about three seconds to answer, "the ability to be left alone" was my response. I'm so clever I thought.  She acted as if some secret code had been broken to her enlightenment, I think she just wanted a threesome but I digress. At least once a month for the next twelve years, I have thought about my answer and it's getting more and more pertinent everyday.

I won a Fitbit Force at work for signing up for the Live Well program offered by one of our healthcare providers. The program itself is excellent and requires minimal effort to reap rewards. Having taken the plunge into the world of high deductible "preferred" care plans with a Health Savings Account the responsibility is mine to make sure I take care of myself and in doing so earn financial benefits for my family. Putting the onus on the consumer to better own and control their healthcare decisions is not something I take lightly but either is my health. Which leads me back to my fitness tracking breaking point.

This fancy little devise allows you to track all sort of things, steps, calories, miles, floors, active minutes, and even your soundness of sleep. The functionality is provided to set a myriad of goals, track them all via your smartphone and website. The website enables joining groups, taking challenges, and competing with other for the elusive top ranking. Winning is a priority of mine and competition is a driver in my life. It's also a forty-five pound plate on my back that is hard to shrug off. Having an addictive personality traits it's easy for me to sucked into wanting to check my stats, wonder where I am on the leaderboard, and put in a few more miles to make sure I'm near the top. These behaviors keep me in shape physically but not necessarily mentally.

Fitocracy is a social fitness website and app designed to harness the power of social gaming, our virtual sharing, status updates, challenges and gamification of fitness to turn us from weekend warriors into Ironmen. Actually, it's really just taking the medium of social networking and attempting to derive the benefits from fitness by fusing this activities. It's probably working; I have no numbers and remember this blog is all about me here people. For over a year, maybe even two, I religiously entered my daily workout, tracking miles, sets, reps, even things like yard work to get as many points as possible. Entering weekly and monthly challenges to pit my mileage against others in hopes of being in the top three or ten. The reward for all this logging was self satisfaction and smugness. There was no one in any of the groups I joined that I knew personally or had any type of reality based relationship with. It was solely competition for the soulless.

I stopped logging activities in the middle of January on Fitocracy. My brain no longer has the capacity to care about what people in the ether care about my fitness. Yesterday, after two weeks with my Fitbit strapped to my wrist, I gave it to my wife and am already feeling better for it.

I don't own a Garmin or GPS type running watch, I rarely wear a watch why I'm running. I like to use Runmeter because it sends out emails to my wife when I start and end my runs so she can make sure I'm not dead or lost. I do my best when no one is watching but the pressure is high and the need to perform comes from within. When my head is buried in my phone, staring at a watch, logging stats in a computer I lose that personal touch. Facebook and Twitter seem to keep me engaged and a big part of that is the people I am engaged with. My family, friends, co-workers, the common thread here is people who know me.

I'm a hypocrite who likes to be tracked when it makes me feel and involves little or not effort on my part. The internet of things and the idea that everything will be connected and networked and smart, possibly is pushing me into old man territory. At Dreamforce this year Marc Benioff, the non-software evangelist, gave a keynote in between strange role plays and Huey Lewis and the News. One of the things he mentioned was a wifi, GPS enabled toothbrush. It would track your brushing metrics and change the relationship between the dentist and patient. Rather than asking, "have you been brushing" he would ask for you to login to the Oral B High Tech Teeth Performance Lab (I'm making that name up) and it would sync your stats and fundamentally change this relationship. Really? Does having the ability to monitor, track, and provide feedback via technology fundamentally change the relationship I have with my dentist? Maybe it does and maybe I'm am setting myself up to be steamrolled by the total connectedness of life. Who knows what will happen but when I deleted my accounts the sense of relief I felt was powerful, maybe that because it helps me feel left alone.