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How To Get Motivated To Workout

February 7, 2013 By 10 Comments

motivationThe #1 question that I consistently get is:

“HOW DO I GET MOTIVATED TO DO SOMETHING?’

The most common variation of this how do I get motivated to workout?

My initial answer is: motivation is overrated. Get disciplined instead.

In short: motivation is fleeting. Those people who who depend on motivation consistently start out with a big bang and fail as soon as something gets hard. As soon as the motivation dries up, they quit. The people who accomplish things get disciplined.

That said, if you’re still convinced you need motivation to get stuff done, I’ve decided to finally tackle this thing head-on. Here it is – Your Guide On How To Get Motivated To Workout

How To Get Motivated To Workout

Read This

The Iron & The Soul by Henry Rollins

This is the only piece of motivation you’ll need to workout.

Realize, even if you can’t do anything else, working out is the one thing you can control. That’s why I think fitness is the ultimate discipline.

bad

Take Cold Showers

I say it over and over and over and over again.

If you think working out is “too hard”, start taking a cold shower every day.

It will be the hardest thing you do all day and you’ll start to realize how terrible your excuses really are.

Do 30 days of cold shower therapy and you’ll slowly find yourself turning into a stronger, more determined, badass-er vrsion of yourself.

cold shower

If you don’t think this will work (like this guy), stop complaining and spend 5 minutes in a freezing shower before saying anything else.

Everyone who’s actually done it says otherwise.

Start Sprinting

Help!

I don’t know what exercise to do!

I don’t have a trainer!

I don’t have any equipment!

I don’t want to get hurt!

I don’t know how to exercise – it’s complicated!

That’s fine, and that’s why I’m going to give you the best exercise in the world: sprints.

The best exercise in the world.

Why? It’s simple:

Sprinting is one of the most human exercises you can do. You don’t need a gym. You don’t need special equipment. You don’t need a coach. You don’t need to learn. You don’t need a video tutorial. You don’t need anything really.

You just need to do it.

So how do you practically make that work? Try this on for size:

Your Sprint Workout

  1. Set a time. Hit Start
  2. Sprint for 30 seconds.
  3. Rest for 30 seconds.
  4. When the timer hits “20 Minutes” – you’re done.

Workout complete.

Boom.

BUT I STILL DON’T WANNNNAA

Cool story bro.

You need to stop talking to other people and finding other reasons for your problems and you need to have a talk with yourself instead.

Get up (right now). Go to the bathroom. Look in the mirror and stare at the person looking at you.

Then you have two options:

OPTION 1

You look in the mirror and tell yourself:

I WANT TO WORKOUT BUT I’D RATHER EAT CHEESECAKE

Then go back to your kitchen, grab your cheesecake and convince yourself that that’s the most compelling excuse you can think of. Then go nuts with your cheesecake and enjoy (feel free to substitute cheesecake with whatever you want – sleeping, food, hulu, video games, etc).

But just remember that the next time you look at yourself in the mirror.

OPTION 2

You look in the mirror and tell yourself:

I DON’T WANT TO WORKOUT, BUT I’M GOING TO ANYWAY.

Then put on your running shoes, get outside and start sprinting (no matter what the weather is outside).

Long Road

Make It A Priority

The only difference between option 1 and option 2 are your priorities. That’s the only difference.

Don’t blame it on something else. Instead of feeling bad about it. Own it.

If eating cheesecake is more important to you than being healthy, living a long life and being there for your kids, that’s fine, but own that decision.

Instead of saying “I don’t wanna” or “it’s hard”, say “It is not a priority.”

Then, go look yourself in the mirror and say that to yourself. It puts things in a whole different perspective than empty-whining about where you’re not where you want to be.

Whenever someone asks me if I can help them to lose weight, I ask them, “How Bad Do You Want It?” If the answer isn’t “REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD” with a hint of desperation in their voice so much so that they’re a little out of breath, 9 times out of 10, they probably won’t succeed.

Realize You Have a Choice

You always have a choice.

Even if you don’t “feel” like it, you can still go do it anyways. You don’t have to be a slave to your feelings or motivations. You get to choose.

Motivation is fleeting. If you decide your actions are dependent on being 100% motivated 100% of the time, you probably won’t accomplish that much.

Everyone has an excuse. Only some people decide to believe them. You choose whatever story you want tell yourself. But always remember you get to choose.

Set Impossible Challenges

You might not be “motivated” because your goals aren’t something you think is worth pursuing.

In that case: Stop thinking so small. Create bigger challenges.

If you’re not motivated to run a 5k, then sign up for a triathlon, a half or a full marathon. If you’re crazy, start thinking about an ultra.

Aim higher. Pick something impossible. Then catch up to it.

Dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You will then have to catch up with them. - Richard Bransonbranson

Results Are The Best Motivation

“It’s easy to be motivated when you’re seeing results”

If I had a dollar for every person who’s gone through Impossible Abs and told me that that around week 3 or 4, I’d have…well…a  lot of money :) .

Seriously, seeing results in yourself is the best motivation out there. But, you have to step out and do something first. You don’t get results from doing nothing – you have to take the step first. In a sense, many times the motivation only comes AFTER you’ve taken action.

THE REALLY ANNOYING TRUTH

No one always wants to go work out.

But we try to to rationalize is that we’re different than everybody. That nobody knows exactly what how you feel. That your situation is incredibly unique to you. And that everybody else’s excuses are terrible, yours are somehow valid.

The annoying truth is that everybody feels that way at some point. It’s called being human.

But what you have to realize is that you’re dying. Your default state is atrophy. If you’re not consciously choosing to push yourself and grow, you’ll atrophy and decay automatically. That’s the default state of life.

No one ever gets better by doing nothing. So, if you want to get better, you’ll have to do something…and it won’t be easy.

Yes, It’s Hard – That’s The Point

Work Ahead

Working out is hard, but you do it anyway because it teaches you how to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

You do it because:

You want to grow.

You want to get disciplined.

You want to get better.

You want to do the impossible.

So you do it.

Staying the same is an option. It’s the easy choice. But it’s not going to change anything. Eventually, you have to look yourself in the mirror and decide if you want it or not. And, if you don’t, all the motivation in the world won’t do jack.

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You have one life to do everything you’ll ever do. Don’t fill it with excuses

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I’m disciplining myself to do 28 days of videos in February. Check them out on YouTube.

Today’s Video is The Myth of Motivation

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photo credit: jenni from the block | tricky (rick harrison) | gato-gato-gato | koalazymonkey

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Kicking A**, Six Pack Abs, Strategies, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

How To Find Out Who You Really Are

November 26, 2012 By 20 Comments

Last sunday I got to interview one of the most intense people I know – David Goggins.

I first wrote about David about a year ago. If you don’t know, David Goggins is a former 300 pound man turned ultra marathoner who’s been deemed by some people as the “toughest athlete on the planet.” He’s done some ridiculous races including 100 milers, Badwater and a 200 mile race.david_goggins runs

David’s changing up his usual ultra marathon racing with his attempt at a 24 hour world record pull up attempt. He made a previous attempt on the Today Show and failed…publicly…in front of millions of people…when he had a partial forearm tear.

A lot of people would have given up, but David wasn’t done. He set out again yesterday to beat the 24 hour world pull up record (which, by the way, is 4,020). This times he’s doing it without the fanfare, in a small Nashville gym – not on national tv. I interviewed him last week as part of the run-up to the event and to him it wasn’t about the press, it wasn’t about the record, it was about his redemption.

He had to find out if he could do it. He had to find out what he was made of.

David and I talked for about 45 minutes – I have about 6 pages of notes from our call, but he said something that stuck in my brain for days after our call was:

People with a soft mentality disgust me. They live and die the same person they were made.

Wow. I let that sink in…

david goggins pullup

Mental Softness

When you stop becoming a talker…and start becoming a doer, there’s a few levels you go through.

The first level is becoming a person that is able to do something. Run a marathon, lose 100 pounds, fight a bear, etc. The next level is becoming a person who habitually does stuff you do not think you can do.

Because once you run a marathon, it’s not that hard to run another one. You can maintain that level with relative ease. Sure, it will take some work, but you can do it and eventually a marathon becomes a comfortable realm in which you live. And even though you can run a marathon, the blanket of mental softness still can be allowed to settle around your life as you stay there…

But if you refuse to stay there and keep pushing. And when you do, you start to rid yourself of this mental softness that tends to permeate most people.

The coolest thing about Impossible Abs has not been the physical transformations – even though we’ve had multiple people lose between 15 and 45 pounds in less than 8 weeks. It’s the mental transformations that take place.

I talked to a few people this weekend who went through Impossible Abs. They lost a lot of weight, but the thing that stood out the most to me was the mental clarity and determination they had. They weren’t mentally soft anymore.

The program is tough, but it also showed them what they were capable of doing. I had a few people tell me that while they’re still not where they want to be, but instead of hoping that one day they might be able to do it, they were determined that it was going to happen. They weren’t just optimistic. They were definite. It was already done in their mind – their body just needed some time to catch up. Sure, they were in way better shape, but they were way more mentally tough than they were just 8 weeks ago. The mental softness was gone.

The whole purpose of cold shower therapy is to eliminate mental softness. It’s an arbitrary task – voluntarily jumping into freezing cold water – but it also teaches you that your body is as strong as your mind will let it be and you can endure (and even learn to enjoy) things you used to hate.

Going Beyond

The only way to find out what you’re really made of is to go beyond.

Go beyond what you’re used to.

Go beyond what you find comfortable.

Go beyond what you think is possible.

Because when you go beyond, everything changes. You can’t stay the same. You have to toughen up, fight like hell and dig deep. You find out who you really are.

Are you the person that calls it in when life gets tough or are you the person that lets out a battle cry and stare the challenge head on.

You have to toughen up, fight like hell and get after it to reallly find out what you’re made of. You have to go beyond. And when you do, you become a much different person than the one you were made.

A man must constantly exceed his level – Bruce Lee

The Challenge

You have no idea who you really are. You have no idea what you are capable of doing.

Why not find out?

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p.s. David stopped this morning around 1am with 3,202 pull ups after ripping open a gash in his hand (picture here – not for the squeamish). He didn’t get the record this time (0 for 2 now), but I can bet you he’s not done finding out what he’s made of yet.

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Kicking A**, Life, Physical Challenges Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How To Get Started Running

November 8, 2012 By 3 Comments

So you want to start running, huh?

Well, that’s a terrible idea that you’re probably going to get addicted to and love to regret in the future. But, if you’re up for it, here we go.

Now, realize that it’s going to take some time to start running. You probably won’t decide to strip down to your boxers and run 30 miles after a few too many shots of tequila (unless you’re Dean Karnazes that is – seriously, that’s how he got started in running).

But, barring a late night tequila run to dull your inhibitions, running can be a little intimidating at first – especially if you’re brand new to the sport. That said, it’s definitely not impossible. After going from a non-runner to an ultra marathoner in the last 2 years,  I’m here to help.

Lets start running!

running

How To Get Started Running

Set Proper Expectations

You won’t run a marathon tomorrow.

It’s not impossible – you can definitely run an impromptu marathon if you want, but it won’t really be an enjoyable experience and it won’t likely lead to consistent running habits.

That said, you can still progress faster than you most likely think you can.

If you’ve never run before, start a couch to 5k program. If you’ve run some distances, look to push yourself, but don’t try to run a marathon tomorrow. Start

Don’t Run For Weight Loss

If you’re a previously inactive person and you decide to take up running, you will probably lose weight. That said, if you’re going to take up running with the primary goal of losing weight, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Running is not the fastest way to lose weight and while it can work – it’s not the fastest way to do it.

If your primary goal is weight loss, it’s probably best to lose a few pounds first and then start running. Running can be a great challenge, but it’s not the best way to lose weight fast. If you start running as a weight loss goal, it can be discouraging.

Start

Interestingly enough, you can learn everything you could ever want to learn about running and talk about it as much as you want, but never actually be a runner.

You see, in order to be a runner you have to…(wait for it)…run.

That means you have to start.

Dun Dun Dun.

That means you have to put your shoes on and get out the door. Put one foot in front of the other. Right, left, right, left. Repeat.

You don’t have to go far, but you do have to start. And, congratulations, once you start running – even if it’s only a half mile or a mile – you’re officially a runner! Congratulations.

Improve Little By Little

Now that you’re a runner, you can work on being a better runner because chances are you’re going to be pretty bad at first. Sorry, but it’s true. Unless you’re ethiopian, you’re probably not a born natural runner – the good news is most people aren’t. You aren’t born a runner, you become one.

But, if you’ve never run before, your first run might be tough. That’s okay. Focus on improving.

Find a solid 5k program and work up to that. Give yourself metrics for improvement so you know that you’re constantly getting better and change something if you’re not. Just because you start small, doesn’t mean you can’t improve quickly.

obstacle races

Make It Fun

If you’re going to run, you have to learn to enjoy it. That might sound difficult at first when you’re hacking up a lung, struggling to run a mile, or having shin splints, but do something to make running fun.

If that’s running with music do that. Join a running club or sign up for an event as a team.

Recently, obstacle races are getting huge and there’s a good probability there’s one close to you. Obstacle races are a great way to break up a longer distance run into shorter intervals while doing obstacles or events in between so it doesn’t feel like you’re running all the time.

In addition, a lot of the time, the events are more focused on the event and having fun rather than running a 18 minute 5k which can be helpful if you’re jumping into a brand new sport and still working on the above bullet point (getting better).

You can find some of the most well known obstacle races below:

running

The 5 Mile Rule

As you progress to longer and longer distances, the biggest hurdle is mental, however; you still need to have the physical strength & endurance to run a certain distance.

In my completely unscientific methods of testing, you need to be able to run 5 miles.

That’s it.

You need to be able to run 5 miles. If you can run 5 miles, you can run as far as you want – whether that’s a 10k, half marathon, full marathon or an ultra. If you can run 5 miles, you can run forever.

Here’s why:

If you’re stuck running 1 mile or 2 miles, running a marathon seems like it would take forever! After all, it’s 13x what you just did. THIRTEEN TIMES! That’s practically forever.

However, if you can run 5 miles, you only have to do that 5 times to run a marathon. That still might sound like a lot, but it’s a heck of a lot less than thirteen times and it’s much easier to wrap your mind around mentally.

On a side note: I personally tend to use this mentality a lot. When running, I think of the distance I’m running in multiples of what I’ve run up to that point. Throughout the ultra marathon, I did this quite a bit (thinking about the race in multiples). Breaking it down seems to make it mentally easier to comprehend and it’s easier to attack in chunks rather than all at once. Probably my favorite quote was joking with my brother:

(For some reason it actually did help).

The other reason is that 5 miles for most beginners is right around the 50 minute to 1 hour mark. Once you’re able to go out and run for a solid hour, you simply start to get comfortable with “being a runner” and you can start to run farther…

running

Running Farther

Once you can run 5 miles, you can start to get your head around the mental barriers of going farther. Also, as you go farther and farther, your legs will get stronger and stronger and you can work your way up through different race distances.

Luckily, the race distances are really designed to do exactly this. You can find a race at your level nearby (no matter what it is). For brand new runners, common race distances are as follows

  • 5k (3.1 miles)
  • 10k (6.2 miles)
  • 15k (9.3 miles)
  • Half Marathon (13.1 miles)
  • Marathon (26.2 miles)
  • Ultra Marathon (26.2+ miles)

If you’re brand new, treat the race distances as a ladder. Start with the 5k, get comfortable with the distance and move to the next rung – the next distance. Get comfortable with that and move up another rung. Repeat that a few times and pretty soon you’ll find yourself running a half marathon and wondering what’s next.

Taking Breaks

You need to rest.

I hate to say that, but it’s true.

I like to go, go, go, but sometimes you need to rest.

Even if you want to go farther (especially if you go farther), you need to take a break. Don’t run every day – especially starting out. You might not only burn yourself out from running, but you’ll probably hurt yourself. Take breaks and take care of yourself

Take Care of Yourself

Running can be a taxing sport on your body but there are a few things you can do to take care of yourself.

Stretch

I need to take my own advice, but stretching post workout is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy, flexible and strong as a runner over the long term.

Contrary to most things you learned in gym class, static stretching (traditional stretch & hold) before your race doesn’t always help and can sometimes make you weaker. If you do stretch before a run, do dynamic stretches like high knees, butt kicks, or leg swings. These will get you warmed out without the bad artifacts that static stretching can have.

Foam Rolling

Sometimes you might feel like you have a knot in a certain muscle or something that you can’t quite get rid of.

If that happens or you have a muscle you simply can seem to stretch, find a foam roller and use it. Target wherever the knot is, and gently use your body weight to roll on or over the spot in order to work out the knot. It’s very similar to a targeted deep tissue massage, so be careful, it might hurt a little bit.

You can also use a medicine ball or a tennis ball depending on the size of the knot, how specifically you need to target it and your pain tolerance.

Ice Baths

Ice baths are like the friend that you want to hate, but always ends up bailing you out in a tough situation, so you sort of have to love them. They are the epitome of a love/hate relationship.

The hypothesis behind ice baths is that it constricts your muscles and blood vessels and drains the blood from your legs through the ice bath. When you get out of the bath, fresh oxygen-rich blood rushes back into your legs to re-nourish and repair your muscle tissues.

Ice baths can also help with swelling and joint pain if you’re doing a lot of pounding on longer runs. Of course, cold water has a ton of purported health benefits, and the jury is still out on them, but give them a shot if you’re sore after a work out. If you thought cold shower therapy was tough, you’re in for a whole new surprise.

Other Things You Should Know

Find Your Motivation

You need a reason to run. For some people it’s about going faster. For some, it’s a social event. For some it’s about raising money for a cause or remembering a family member.

For me, it’s about going farther than I’ve ever gone before. It’s about seeing what I’m made of.

You need to find your motivation for running. You need to have a why. A good one too. This should probably be at the top of this post. Make sure you figure this out.

Running Won’t Always Be Fun.

I said it. Unfortunately, not everything in life is always fun. That’s why you have to have a good why behind it and decide whether or not it’s worth it.

Running Is Not The Fastest Way To Lose Weight.

I said this before, but running isn’t the fastest way to lose weight. There’s a lot of other factors with weight loss (most notably your diet), and it kills me to see people spend hours on the treadmill without seeing a change in their body composition. If you want to start running, then by all means do it. If you want to lose weight and burn fat, then there are better ways to burn fat than running.

Running is Almost All Mental

It really is. There’s a certain strength you need to build up in your legs, but once you get that base level of strength, it all becomes a mental game.

Endurance Running

Endurance running is an entirely different race. I’ve only done one ultra marathon and I’m certainly not the expert, but ultras put even more focus on the mental aspect and less on the physical aspect. In every endurance event, you start to hurt at some point – it doesn’t matter who you are – you’re going to hurt. Endurance in my experience is all mental and it’s all about whether you lean into the pain, or you run away from it. In this aspect, it’s almost a completely different type of sport than long distance running.

running

Things Not To Worry About

Your Running Gear

Your shoes. Your shorts. Your shirt. Your specialized running hat. None of them matter if you don’t start running.

I’ve seen so many people waste time buying the gear to look like a runner that they never actually run. Don’t worry about your gear when you’re first starting out You can run barefoot, in gorilla shoes, combat boots or the best pair of running shoes in the world and they won’t matter if you don’t get out the door.

Get out the door a couple times. Commit yourself to running first and then use decent gear to reward yourself.

Get a solid pair of running shoes and get out the door.

Looking Cool

You won’t look cool at first. You really won’t. The sooner you deal with it, the more you can focus on running. You’re not running to look cool, you’re running to run. Almost every runner ever can relate with this graphic.

what-i-feel-like-when-i-run

Your Time

This is counter-intuitive as the first question anyone asks you when you finish a race is “how fast did you finish it?” The last thing you need to worry about when you start running is your time. Worry about doing the distances and getting your own personal bests. Once you’re comfortable with the sport enough to gauge your own progress, then you can worry about your times and improving them, but don’t think you need to run a 1:30 half-marathon your first time out. Get the miles in first, then worry about the time.

More Running Resources

If you want to get more involved in running, check out the following friends & resources online.

Strength Running

Jason at Strength Running is a running beast. He’s much faster than me (2:39 marathoner – which is really fast for those of you non-runners). He’s my go-to guy when I have questions about running or races coming up.

No Meat Athlete

Matt’s a Boston Qualified marathon with a ton of racing experience who breaks down a lot of running related issues. It’s a great read and well worth checking out if you can handle the entire vegetarian thing :) .

Science of Running

An in-depth look at the science behind running and the latest training theory.

Sweat Science

This Runner’s World blog is another one on the science behind running – a look at the new studies behind running and what they mean for you (great for you engineering types out there).

Birthday Shoes

A pretty comprehensive site on barefoot & minimalist running. If you’re having a lot of issues with knee pain or shin splints, you might want to look into this. It worked for me.

Run Blogger

Another site on minimalist running & running form with a focus on shoes and gear reviews.

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That’s all folks! If you have any more questions on getting started with running, ask away below! Have fun out there. Happy Running!

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photo credit: aldoaldoz | darkmatter | Chema Concellon | Drewski Mac | sebastien.barre

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

5 Lessons Learned From My First Ultra Marathon

November 2, 2012 By 14 Comments

This weekend I ran the Chicago Ultra Marathon.

I never thought I’d actually run an ultra marathon. I told myself after my first ever marathon that that was more than far enough and I was quite okay.

Then I found out about ultras and they kept popping up in my mind. At the same time, I found an amazing organization to partner with, and pretty soon I was working in a coffee shop sitting next to Nicky when I looked up at him and said, “I think I just signed up for an ultra marathon.” What am I doing?

A few months later, after a few months of trainig, I was staring at the starting line this past Saturday, listening to the race director shout out “5 minutes till start!” I lined up, took my sweats off and over the next 6 hours, ran the thing. Here’s what I learned.

Here’s 5 Lessons I Learned From My First Ultra Marathon

Reference Points Matter

The course was a about 31 miles. It was a 10.5 mile loop we ran 3 times. That meant it was a ~5 miles out, and ~5 miles back.

A lot of marathon courses don’t have loops. They’re like big running tours where you can see different parts of the city. That’s great for big cities where you have crowds out cheering, but on longer courses with smaller fields, the number of people tends to get spread out, it’s much quieter and can be more difficult to always know where you’re at on the course.

That’s why reference points matter. They help give you familiar segments throughout the race.

The race was 30 mles, but it was only a 5 mile run, 6 times.

That sounds way more manageable. And while it was still freaking hard, every 5 miles, I had a reference point that I had definitely seen before and after one loop, I was running in familiar territory and began to know what to expect. I knew where hills were, when the head winds would pick and where the break stations were. That might not sound like that big of a deal, but in the middle of the race, it makes a big, big difference when you know that you’ve been here before, you’ve done it before and you can damn sure do it again.

It Hurts Until it Feels Good

As we started running, the pack was pretty close for the first 5-7 miles. You don’t want to take it too fast out of the gate since you’ve got quite a few miles ahead of you. I started talking to a guy named Tom who had run a couple of ultras before and he said something I took me the rest of the race:

It hurts, it hurts and hurts until it feels good.

I didn’t really “get it” at the time, but 10-12 miles later I knew exactly what he was talking about.

It’s All About The Decision

Up until the run actually began, the idea of an ultra marathon was all cerebral. I knew I was running an ultra marathon, but it didn’t really set.

At mile 17 or 18, it hit me. I realized that no matter what, I was going to finish.

It was decided. No motivation needed.

It might take me all day, but it was going to happen.

Chicago Ultra

It’s Not About You

It was a good thing I decided that at mile 18, because miles 22-30 sucked. Like really sucked. I tweaked my ankle and spent an hour fighting a brutal headwind that was on special delivery from Lake Michigan just for me, but there wasn’t a chance I was going to quit.

Because I had perspective.

The race wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about how fast I could go or if I could beat the 200 other nut jobs spending 5+ hours on a Saturday pushing themselves to the limit.

It was about giving a small group of kids access to do something that’s literally not possible for most of their peers.

When you get perspective you realize that your problems aren’t that big after all. Sure, an ultra is tough, but it’s also the opportunity to push myself to do things I never thought I could do. Most people don’t have that same opportunity and there’s a lot of kids out there who just want the chance to read.

Realizing that most of your problems aren’t really that tough. And, when they are tough, don’t quit because they’re hard: keep going because it is hard.

Impossible is Negotiable

Ask anyone I knew 3 years ago if I would ever “run” and they would have laughed your face off. I hated running. I still do.

3 years ago, I laughed at my friend when they asked me to sign up for a 5k. I signed up because there was candy at the end. I remember hearing there was also a 15k race happening at the same time and I can distinctly remember thinking to myself:

15k? Why would you ever run a 15k? That seems WAY too far! There’s no need to run that far.

I’m running that same race this weekend as a cool down run.

When I announced our inital fundraiser goal to build an entire school, $25,000 seemed MASSIVE and unachievable. Now that we’ve raised over $17,000+ already with less than $8,000 to go. It doesn’t seem so impossible anymore.

Impossible is negotiable. Negotiate.

Chicago Ultra Finish

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I’ve got videos of the event that I’ll editing and posting soon on my youtube channel. You can subscribe here.

You can still donate to the #impossible campaign. We’ve got just under $8,000 left to go. Almost there!

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Good Stories, Impossible Things, Kicking A**, Physical Challenges, Races Tagged With: , , , ,

26 Point Tuesday

October 30, 2012 By 4 Comments

I never really knew much about running when I started. In fact I used to (and still do at some points) hate it. I didn’t enjoy it for most of my life and actually threw javelin on my college track and field team so I could hang out with my track buddies without having to run. I hated it that much.

I just started to do it as a byproduct of triathlons and like I said, I really didn’t know much. I had run exactly 1 5k about 6 months before before I started my blog and really only knew about the marathon as far as distances go. I didn’t know if I’d ever run one (it sounded like a pretty far distance), but I figured I might do it eventually – just because it was there.

Then, last year, I did my first one – wow. That was tough, but I did it. That was it I figured.

No need to do that again. But of course, I did again and again. And I started to realize how much more there was to running.

Once you start to dive into that rabbit hole, you start to see how far it goes.

It’s sort of like learning a language.

The deeper you get and the more you know, the more you realize just how little you actually know.

I began to realize that there are marathons and then there are ultra marathons. There are 100, 200, 300 miles races. There are Ironman, Double Ironman and Triple Ironman races. And people like David Goggins do them in their sleep.

It’s mind boggling. Staggering really.

You begin to ask yourself: What is a marathon?

It’s 26.2 miles. 42.16km.

There’s nothing special about 26.2. In fact it’s sort of an odd distance.

Its the distance some guy ran about 2500 years ago between Athens and Marathon in Greece and a bunch of people decided to commemorate the event & create a bunch of races inspired by it.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but at some point you realize it’s an arbitrary number. It’s a good goal, but it’s nowhere near the limit of what you can do as a person.

And you can go beyond it. You can do things that you literally never ever thought you could do (or, for that matter, even knew existed).

And when you start to do that, the things you used to think were incredible become mundane. You realize when you’re training for an ultra that the 26.2 miles you used to think was a massive event, isn’t.

It’s just Tuesday.

And you start pushing a whole new set of limits.

Filed Under: Adventures, Endurance Racing, Fitness, Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Running Back To Back Marathons

October 16, 2012 By 15 Comments

A few years ago, I had never run more than 3 miles.

After a few triathlons and some other short distance races, I ended up running my first marathon – barefoot.

When I finished that, I basically told myself I never want to do that again – I was done running marathons – at least that’s what I thought…

Sometime after my legs had forgotten how much pain they experienced during my first marathon, the idea of running an ultra got planted in my mind. I pushed that thought away and told myself that I didn’t need to do it…and I thought that would be the end of it.

But it wouldn’t just go away…and it kept coming back again and again.

I don’t particularly enjoy running and I’m certainly not the fastest on the course, but I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself to go farther and do stuff I haven’t done before…I think I have a problem…

Finally, I decided if I was going to do it, and realized that I might as well put it all to good use and decided to run a 50k in order to raise awareness and help build an #impossible school in Guatemala (We’re a little past 50% of our goal as a community. If you’d still like to be a part of the campaign, you can find out more info here).

So, I kicked off the training a few months ago and I’ve been slowly adding miles to my long runs every weekend which somehow culminated in me running back to back marathons in consecutive weeks – yup, I surprised myself too.

Why Back To Back Marathons?

My simple answer is why not?

It certainly seemed to be the best option given my training schedule.

See, a big part of running is dealing with the boredom. While some might be especially fast, if you’re not, it can take a little while to get from point A to point B. So when my training schedule said I was supposed to run 22 miles one week and 24 the next, I wasn’t terribly excited about the prospect of spending 3+ hours running around Chicago on my own as the temperatures began to drop.

While training runs aren’t always fun, races aren’t too bad. There’s water stations, usually a few spectators – no matter how sparse – a timed result and food at the finish line. I realized I’d be much more excited, motivated and interested in running a marathon than I would be to run 22 or 24 miles for “training.”

I should note, that this is probably not the smartest way to choose races and most running coaches would probably hate me, but it seemed more interesting to me, so I decided to do it.

Prairie State Marathon

First up two weekends ago was the Prairie State Marathon.

I literally decided the night before the race that I was going to do it (like I said, most running coaches would hate me).

But, I realized I probably wouldn’t run the 22 miles on my own given the upcoming weather conditions. Either way, I showed up early, paid my $90, got my bib number and started running.

The first 18 miles were pretty straightforward. 9 out and 9 back on the north side of the course. I felt pretty good as evidenced by the picture through the first 18 miles of the course. Of course, my legs were tired, but you have to look pumped for the camera. Joel Runyon Prairie State MarathonComing back, you run right by the finish line as you pass the 18 mile marker and head out for another 4 mile out and back on the south side of the course.

It was not amusing.

After being teased by the finish line a little less than 2/3rds trhough the race, the four mile out and back weaved through a marshy/swamp area that seemed to be endless cruel joke where the race director sent you to run for eternity – never to return. Again. Not amusing.

After what seemed to be forever, I finally hit the turnaround and made my way back the same 4 miles to the finish line. It wasn’t pretty but I finished.

Over the next 7 days, I took lots of ice baths, ate bananas and rested. My legs hurt.

Stone Bridge Marathon

The bridge marathon was this past Saturday. After taking the past 7 days off, my legs were feeling better and I figured I would have no problem. We showed up early and somehow it got darker between the time we left and the time we got there – I have no idea how that happened.

When we showed up, I thought maybe 10 people were going to run the race – there was practically no one there. About 15 minutes before the race started a bus with about 50 people showed up.

Whatever the final total was, it was under 100 athletes – easily the smallest race I’ve ever been a part of. Seriously, this was the start line.

Stone Bridge Start

But at 7am, off we went.

Stone Bridge is advertised as a flat course, but there were definitely hills – especially the first 12 miles. I realized about 6 miles in that I was going to feel the effects of the previous week’s race. Around mile 14, my legs decided to let me know how tired they were and my quads were just screaming at me. There were a few time where I had to stop and stretch them out, but I just had to keep going.

After I hit 20 miles, I told myself – It’s all over in less than an hour. You just have to make it 60 minutes. And I did. Again, I finished – it wasn’t really pretty – but I finished.

Back to Back Marathons: DONE.

—

Both of my times were well over 4 hours which was fine with me – considering they were training runs more than anything (and believe me: that sounds as ridiculous to me as it does to you). I’m taking this week easy, filling it with ice baths, stretching and (unfortunately), probably more ice baths.

Next weekend I’ll take it easy with a half-marathon followed by the 50k ultra on the 27th. After that, I’m not sure when my next big race will be. I’m not sure I’ll need to do any more runing after this – but then again, I’ve said that before.

Like I said…I think I have a problem.

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Good Stories, Impossible Things, Life, Physical Challenges

How You Can Help Sponsor The Ultra & Get A Personalized Video From Me

October 12, 2012 By 6 Comments

A little over 6 weeks ago, we announced we were going to build an #impossible school through a partnership with Pencils of Promise. The goal was big – really big – $25,000 to build a school by the end of the year. As part of the effort, I’ll be running my first ultra marathon at the end of the month and running a 50k along the south short of Lake Michigan in Chicago and invited everyone to join in and do something impossible, set a goal and raise money for it.

Our group has raised over $11,o00. That’s pretty freaking impressive, but we still have a long way to go. We need to raise $14,000 still to reach our goal  – a big number, but not impossible. Here’s how we’re going to do this.

Here’s How We’re Going To Do This

The other day I wrote on the blog’s facebook page:

I’m thinking about running the Ultramarathon with a GoPro to give you guys updates throughout the race. Thoughts? Yay or Nay?

GoPro

I was just toying with the idea, but apparently the popular opinion is that people would like to see me in pain. Thanks! (I guess).

I don’t mind that much – I have no problem looking stupid or being in pain. If it’s for charity, then it’s that much more awesome. But, at the same time, I figured we can use that motivation to push the campaign along even further. I explain it a little below, but you can also watch the video.

[watch video here in email]

The Incentives

So, if you want to get involved, here’s a few incentives. Besides supporting a great organization, I’m going to shoot a video for the entire experience. I ran a marathon to praceice last wekeend and will do it again this weekend.

Here’s how you can get in on it and be a part of it.

$25 - A private personalized video thank you from yours truly saying thanks for helping out the campaign.

$50 - Personalized Runyon Face Photo & Thank You :) .

$100 - Sponsor a mile. I’ll be carrying my GoPro to document the race and give you a shout out as a sponsor on a mile marker.

$500+ - I’ll do a public video shout out to you and whatever site you’d like me to talk about and post it on my YoutTube channel.

$1,000+ – I’ll give your/your company a shootout and thank you on the blog. We get ~100,000 hits/month and thousands of subscribers.

$10,000+ – I basically do whatever you want me to do while racing (I get to keep my pants on, but that’s all).

Also, as a reminder, if we hit $25,000 the person who helped raise the most will come with me to Guatemala and actually help build the school (I think this is my favorite part).

Even if you can’t give hundreds of thousands of dollars, something as simple as $25 can make a HUGE difference in the lives of kids all over the world – and especially in Guatemala.

How To Get In On This

If you want to get involved, here’s how

  1. Donate Here
  2. Fill out this 3 second form here and let me know.

If you’ve already donated, thank you! Fill out the form here with your contact email and I’ll be in touch in the next 24 hours to sort out any details we might need.

Of course, you can always donate anonymously or choose to opt-out of anything above, but for tho

Also, tell a friend (both online and offline) even if you’re not quite sure they’re interested. Incredible things happen when you put yourself out there and just ask.

We talk a lot about doing and this is a great opportunity to stop wishing & hoping something will happen and actually go out and do something.

1,000 students. One school. 25 Thousand dollars. $14,000 left to go to open up a whole new realm of possibility for a whole class of students in Guatemala.

It’s a big goal, but it’s not impossible.

Lets do this.

*Although I’m willing to do almost anything, I do reserve editorial privileges on any sites/videos (I won’t be linking to any site I can’t tell my mother about – sorry, not sorry).

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Impossible Things Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Get Your Shoes On, Get Out The Door

September 20, 2012 By 13 Comments

ShoesI’m running an ultramarathon in order to build a school in Guatemala and provide education for 1,000 students.

An ultra marathon: 50 kilometers. That’s 31 miles.

I’d love to say I’m able to just run out the door and do 31 miles just like that – but it actually involves quite a bit of training.

I’ve traded in my HIIT training for long distance runs. And 30 minute workouts for 1-3 hour runs. It’s a very strange to think you’re going to leave at 4:30 and not get back until 8:00 or later. But if you’ve decided to discipline yourself to do something, you just do it.

Nevertheless, the hardest part is always starting.

Once you start, you ‘re as good as done. You never get 3 miles away from home and decide to stop. Even if you do, you’re still 3 miles away from home, so you might as well run back the 3 miles.

But while you’re sitting in your house, you don’t get any closer. You just start hypothesizing about the times you’ll eventually start.

  • I’ll start after I get to inbox zero.
  • I’ll start after I watch my favorite tv show.
  • Or, my favorite, I’ll just do it later.

The one thing running teaches you is that there isn’t a magic trick, there’s just a routine.

Get your shoes on. Get out the door.

There’s a lot of mediocre reasons not to run 20+ miles.

It’s far. It takes a while. I’m tired. I’m bored. My legs hurt. I don’t feel like it. Blah blah blah.

They all suck as reasons, but are moderately persuasive enough to keep you from actually doing something.

If you’re planning a run, just go. Lace your shoes up and get ou the door. If you wait around inside and barefoot, you’ll never start. But once you’ve got your shoes on and get out the door, you’re on your way.

Put your shoes on. Get out the  door.

Even if you’re not into running, you can still use this with whatever you’re doing.

  • Starting a new fitness program? Set your stopwatch and get after it.
  • Writing a book? Pick your pen. Just freaking write.
  • Starting a business? Pick up the phone, make a cold call.
  • Planning an adventure? Bust out the card and book your flight.
If you need to jump start yourself with cold shower therapy, do it.

Get your shoes on. Get out the door.

Start. 

Don’t look back until you’re done.

photo credit: Kasper Bennedsen

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Kicking A** Tagged With: , ,

3 Questions To Kill Every Excuse You’ve Ever Had

August 23, 2012 By 17 Comments

The next time you’re tempted to give up because you came up with a really  good excuse. Ask yourself:

  1. Would I believe this excuse if anyone else besides myself was saying it? (You wouldn’t).
  2. Does this excuse even make any sense? (It doesn’t).
  3. Am I really going to let this excuse stop me? (You shouldn’t).

Then keep going and don’t quit.

Your excuses are invalid 

 

 

Filed Under: Endurance Racing, Fitness, Hustling, Kicking A**, The Impossible