Re-Starting: What To Do When Your Luck Runs Out On Tuesday May 18th, right about 11:30am PST, my bicycle and I decided to part ways at about 20 mph coming down a hill outside of La Honda, CA. When all was said and done, I ended up with a fractured pelvis and clavicle, a 3 day hospital stay, and a serious detour from my planned 2010 agenda. Despite the pain and new daily challenges, the experience has started an incredible personal journey that has really affected who I am. Post Crash The Hospital The passing out continues for Wednesday, and my body is still in shock. Visits from some local Endurance Nation teammates keep my spirits high, but the reality of my injuries (and lots of swelling!) is setting in: this is serious. Thursday is spent trying to get out of bed and sitting up a lot. I get a head Cat Scan to rule out a concussion. I eat a lot more hospital food and begin plotting my escape. No walking yet, but I have learned that they won’t keep me either. Friday comes and I have a frantic PT and OT session to prepare me for my departure. Carrie C comes to pick me up and after taking 20 minutes to get me from the wheelchair to the front seat of the car, I am a free man. Unfit to leave the hospital but unable to stay, Carrie takes me home for what turns out to be a five day stay. Miracle Turnaround Soon I am taking (seated) showers by myself and even cooking breakfast. I can reconnect with folks online and continue to bond with my newly adopted extended NorCal family. Before I can even blink, we’ve booked tickets for Maura to fly out and escort me back home. My last day is a blur of reconnecting with Maura, saying goodbye to the NorCal crew and getting pumped up for a red-eye flight to Boston from SFO. The flight was pretty uneventful, and by Wednesday midday, I am home in Boston watching my girls take rides in my wheelchair. A Wake Up Call Man, do I have some kick *** friends and family members. While other people mourned the loss of my season for me, I was just psyched to relax and hang out with some really cool people. I am not fired up to get running again; I just wanted to get home to my family. I am simply not scared of the path to recovery, as I know I am not alone. Next Steps While I plan to heal and make a full recovery so I can return to the active lifestyle and sports I love, I also know that I will never be the same person again. The new awareness I have about the importance of family and friends; the significance of caring / giving to those in need (and of accepting that care); even the perspective of understanding what really matters at the end of the day — all of these things have fundamentally changed in me. While I can never repay all of you for the support and love you have given me — whether in person, over the phone, or via text message — know that I can (and will) pay it forward. Please click on the below link to watch the video [If you can't see the video above, please click here to watch it online.]
My first thoughts were with my family. Crashing and getting injured is a risk we all take as cyclists, but nothing makes it hit home more than finding yourself spread eagle on the pavement. I was happy to be coherent, but knew something was up with my hip as standing and transferring to the van with my teammates was seriously painful. Having a doctor in the camp (thanks KB!) was a boon as she was able to rule out most of the serious stuff and keep me focused until the hospital team could care for me.
After a battery of xrays and cat scans, they were able to determine the fractures. Thankfully nothing is displaced — so while it’s painful there’s really nothing they can do. I try walking in the ER and earn an overnight stay in the hospital because I pass out when I try to stand.
Within a day of being at Carrie’s house, I am up and walking. Buoyed by her tough PT love and the support of a local army of triathlete friends who watch me 24/7, I quickly learn where I can be self-sufficient and where I need to rely upon others.
The most amazing part of this whole ordeal — all the ups and downs — is the chance I have had to connect with people in my world in an entirely new way. What was initially an inconvenience has turned into an incredible opportunity. I had no choice but to get off the runaway train that is my life as a dad/husband/entrepreneur/triathlete/coach and rely upon others for physical and emotional support.
I am home on the Cape, with PT sessions lined up until the end of the summer. I have exercise homework and a pile of real work. But I am not stressed. It’s good to be back with the family, and as the accident has shown, the core elements of my life are in excellent condition.
One of the most challenging parts of executing a big training week or weekend is balancing your desire to train with your need to train every day, for several days. Anyone can be a hero for a day; it takes internal fortitude and a great deal of patience to train properly so as to get in several days’ worth of good work…and reap the benefits. In this third installment we talk about selecting the proper intensity and why spacing your effort out across a week is better for your long-term fitness. So Excited, You Explode Summary: Fired up about a new venue, good weather, and the prospect of focusing almost 100% on their sport, most endurance athletes come charging out of the gate. This energy can only last so long, and these early birds quickly go from Day One Hero to Day Two Zero (or worse!). Advice: Proper pacing for your workouts, and the week itself will allow you to reap the fullest benefits of your training. Training Stress: Intensity vs Duration Summary: Even though you might not be riding / running / rowing as fast as you would at home, remember that you aren’t here to do what you did at home. After all, that would defeat the purpose of traveling to train! Instead of leveraging intensity as a time-saver to force fitness adaptations, during your big week your goal is to extend the duration of each and every workout to earn a larger dose of training stress in a more manageable manner. Advice: Here are two tips you can do to Think: Mind and Body Summary: Long hours are exciting during the planning phase, but not so much when you have to roll out of bed day-after-day to get big workouts done. If you ignore your brain, you run the risk of losing motivation long before you run out of energy to actually train. Advice: Seek a balance in all your big week activities to stay engaged and on top of your training. What other tips do you have? Tell us in the comments below! ——————— Become a Fan of Endurance Lifestyle Design on Facebook to join the conversation and check out my free Fit Life eBook for more insider tips! Thank you so much!
As always, I just wanted to thank you for subscribing. This blog is a success because of you and your support. Here’s to your fitness!
Sitting vs Standing At Work: Why You Need to Raise Your Working Game
Posted by Patrick McCrann May 21, 2010One of the biggest changes that I have made in the way that I work in the last year had nothing to do with technology. It is nothing — it is not expensive. But it has radically redefined the way that I both view my work space but interact with my colleagues and then plan my day. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not something you can buy, it’s really something you need to do. It’s as simple as this. Stand up. Standing is, I strongly believe, the next generation way of working. No, it’s not just a way that your evil corporation or dot com can force more workers into a smaller and smaller space, saving money on square footage — it’s ultimately good for your health. It’s good for the way that you think. And it really forces you to change how you plan your day. Let’s Get Physical: Active individuals benefit from standing at work for a range of reasons, from posture, to flexibility, to even counting calories! The Ups and Downs of Standing: This can be a pretty radical change, so it’s important to consider what moving to a standing workstation really means for you. Changing the How, Not Just the Where: So how does standing change the way that you work? This was the most surprising advantage, aside from the fact that I needed to get healthy, it simply changes the way that I work. Equipment for Standing: So what’s required to make this happen? There are obviously work stations you can go out and buy that cost a great deal of money…these elevate your desk and can be infinitely adjustable. Additional Reading / Links: Best of luck to you and if you’ve done this before or you’re thinking about doing it, let us know in the comments, I’d love to hear about it.
Swimming is one of the most challenging aspects of being a triathlete. It’s a great way to recover and pile on aerobic training when the biking and running becomes too much, but actually building swimming fitness is another project altogether. Some folks spend a lifetime — or at least the better part of their first 20 years on this planet — striving to reach their potential. You, on the other hand, only have a few seasons of triathlon in you to get as good as you can. Inside Endurance Nation, we advise you against setting out to climb the entire mountain of swim fitness, as the sheer amount of time required to improve is outside the realm of possibility. Instead, we advocate you take time off for the winter, investing the extra hours into sleep, home tasks or even active recovery from quality outseason bike and run sessions. If you have taken time off from swimming, whether you planned it or not, here’s a road map to getting your swim mojo back. Don’t think in terms of X yards per week, but rather X amount of work to be ready. #1 — It’s Not About the Yards It’s all too easy to fall into a plan that just spits out training sessions and yardage because it gives you something to do. Heck, these plans are crazy easy for coaches to write; all you have to do is add a few parentheses and the workout times/distances double! But the allure of yardage doesn’t necessarily correlate to swim fitness. Just counting yards won’t get you ready to race. But getting back in the water will. Place your focus on building technique first, fitness second, and you’ll be on a much improved path. On a macro level, this translates to the first 4-6 weeks of your re-entry. During this time, you are swimming 2-3 times a week and the bulk of the work you are doing is drills and mindful swimming (slow, and deliberate). On a micro level, this translates to a regular swim warm up that you develop at the beginning of your season. This will become compressed as your focus eventually begins to switch more to fitness (anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks prior to your A race), but the focus points should be the same. This makes it easy to remember and improves the chances that you’ll actually do it. In other words, create your own swim workout “ritual.” Think of it as the 6 or 8 or 10 steps you take every time you swim before you are ready to swim. Just like you drive to the pool, find a locker, put on your suit, shower off, pick a lane, etc…you can develop a process for good swimming prepararation. Here’s an example 500 warm up. #2 — Get Educated / Advised Summary: Improving your swim is a serious undertaking. Doing so on your own is downright daunting. Prepare for this challenge by really doing your research; and don’t be afraid to talk to your fellow triathletes…even they have to deal with the swim! Advice: First identify what type of “learner” you are. Some folks are highly visual, so watching videos of good swimming is helpful. Others are more hands on and need to be physically manipulated into the right position (and reminded!). Some triathletes are very intellectual and just get better by reading about proper swimming…really. A visually oriented learner could: #3 — Get Race Specific Fast Summary: The temptation of many a novice swimmer is to do just what the swimmers do. So you join a masters swim group and end up banging out lots of 50s and 100s, including tons of other strokes. These are very “interesting” workouts, as in you won’t get bored, but they aren’t going to help you get ready for your race. Advice: Your goal on race day is to be able to swim as well as you can for as long as you can. Hoping, of course, that the actual course is shorter than your current swim fitness! Of course, you can also complement your swimming with a Dryland Focus, choosing to master critical skill that you can then take to the pool. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you are consistent and that you resist biting off more than you can chew. Be measured and deliberate in your approach and you’ll see results before you know it! +++++++++++++ Please note the Swim Membership Link above is an affiliate link, so I get some of the proceeds if you do decide to buy something. I definitely recommend this course if you’re looking to change your swimming for the better in 2010. Kevin’s one of the best and his new site is very impressive.
I don’t usually spam the blog, but wanted to share this really cool challenge we have going on over at Marathon Nation (www.marathonnation.us). It’s basically a virtual event, were folks can sign up to run a leg of a marathon over the weekend of 5/15 and 5/16. It’s entirely free and the prizes are for fun stuff, not speed (as in Best Relay Outfit), so everyone can have a shot at “winning.” To learn more about the challenge, please head over to the Marathon Nation blog (here); feel free to pass this on to your friends and training partners! If it ain’t fun…it ain’t worth doing!!!Join A Virtual Marathon Relay
Register to Run and Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
Swimming is one of the most challenging aspects of being a triathlete. It’s a great way to recover and pile on aerobic training when the biking and running becomes too much, but actually building swimming fitness is another project altogether. Some folks spend a lifetime — or at least the better part of their first 20 years on this planet — striving to reach their potential.
You, on the other hand, only have a few seasons of triathlon in you to get as good as you can. Inside Endurance Nation, we advise you against setting out to climb the entire mountain of swim fitness, as the sheer amount of time required to improve is outside the realm of possibility. Instead, we advocate you take time off for the winter, investing the extra hours into sleep, home tasks or even active recovery from quality outseason bike and run sessions.
If you have taken time off from swimming, whether you planned it or not, here’s a road map to getting your swim mojo back.
Don’t think in terms of X yards per week, but rather X amount of work to be ready.
#1 — It’s Not About the Yards
It’s all too easy to fall into a plan that just spits out training sessions and yardage because it gives you something to do. Heck, these plans are crazy easy for coaches to write; all you have to do is add a few parentheses and the workout times/distances double! But the allure of yardage doesn’t necessarily correlate to swim fitness.
Just counting yards won’t get you ready to race. But getting back in the water will. Place your focus on building technique first, fitness second, and you’ll be on a much improved path.
On a macro level, this translates to the first 4-6 weeks of your re-entry. During this time, you are swimming 2-3 times a week and the bulk of the work you are doing is drills and mindful swimming (slow, and deliberate).
On a micro level, this translates to a regular swim warm up that you develop at the beginning of your season. This will become compressed as your focus eventually begins to switch more to fitness (anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks prior to your A race), but the focus points should be the same. This makes it easy to remember and improves the chances that you’ll actually do it.
In other words, create your own swim workout “ritual.” Think of it as the 6 or 8 or 10 steps you take every time you swim before you are ready to swim. Just like you drive to the pool, find a locker, put on your suit, shower off, pick a lane, etc…you can develop a process for good swimming prepararation. Here’s an example 500 warm up.
- Swim 100 easy, very slow pace and low effort.
- Swim 100 as 25 stroke, 25 free.
- Drill 200 as 4 x 50.
- Swim 100 easy, very slow pace and low effort.
#2 — Get Educated / Advised
Summary: Improving your swim is a serious undertaking. Doing so on your own is downright daunting. Prepare for this challenge by really doing your research; and don’t be afraid to talk to your fellow triathletes…even they have to deal with the swim!
Advice: First identify what type of “learner” you are. Some folks are highly visual, so watching videos of good swimming is helpful. Others are more hands on and need to be physically manipulated into the right position (and reminded!). Some triathletes are very intellectual and just get better by reading about proper swimming…really. A visually oriented learner could:
- Scour the inter-webs and YouTube for free videos.
- Shop Amazon for triathlon swimming video resources.
- Ask A Friend to Film You, or find a service such as The Athlete Village.
- Consider a swim workshop, from Total Immersion to SwimFast, and now even some new swimming membership websites.
- You can always go private with a 1:1 swim instructor.
#3 — Get Race Specific Fast
Summary: The temptation of many a novice swimmer is to do just what the swimmers do. So you join a masters swim group and end up banging out lots of 50s and 100s, including tons of other strokes. These are very “interesting” workouts, as in you won’t get bored, but they aren’t going to help you get ready for your race.
Advice: Your goal on race day is to be able to swim as well as you can for as long as you can. Hoping, of course, that the actual course is shorter than your current swim fitness!
- Swimming solo is just fine right now; save the adrenaline for race day.
- Include one “longer” swim set per session. Yes shorter sets allow you to maintain form, but they also don’t allow you to learn to swim tired. Get the best of both worlds by putting both into any given workout. For a Half Iron athlete, this set could be anywhere from 500-1000 yds of continuous swimming and/or pulling (pull buoy); for an Ironman athletes the distance could go up to 2000 yds.
Of course, you can also complement your swimming with a Dryland Focus, choosing to master critical skill that you can then take to the pool. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you are consistent and that you resist biting off more than you can chew. Be measured and deliberate in your approach and you’ll see results before you know it!
+++++++++++++
Please note the Swim Membership Link above is an affiliate link, so I get some of the proceeds if you do decide to buy something. I definitely recommend this course if you’re looking to change your swimming for the better in 2010. Kevin’s one of the best and his new site is very impressive.
Marathon training information and insights from elite coach Patrick McCrann. Find your ultimate Marathon Training Schedule online here: http://www.marathonnation.us/
Facebook
MySpace
YouTube
Twitter