Episode 4-383 – Ted Talks 100 miles
The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-383 – Ted Talks 100 miles (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4383.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-383 First let me apologize for not being consistent with episode production these last 7 months. I was in a role that was very taxing on my time an energy. My basic schedule was to roll out of bed at 4:30 or 5:00 AM, grab my stuff, drive to the train station, get on the train, get to the gym, hit my workouts, get cleaned up, work until 7:00 at night, get back on the train to be home after 8:00, eat something and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. In all of this I had no real office or place to write or record or interview. This left me with the weekends, which after spending all week in the mix-master of work I kinda needed the time off to recharge enough to get through the next week. Through all this I kept my training up for the marathon but just about everything else got kicked to the curb. I had some memorable hard workouts down by the Charles River in the early morning. I learned a lot about the city. I really missed the writing and being able to talk to you folks about endurance sports with the quality and fidelity of a measured mind. Good news for the podcast is that I’m done with that gig and for the near future able to refocus on getting my mind and body straight for the Boston Marathon. Today I’ve got an interview I recorded with one of my old friends and running buddies Ted. We talk about stepping up to a 100-mile distance and what it is going to take. In section one I penned a soliloquy on running my 20th Boston Marathon and in section two I’ll talk about the power of gratitude. Since we last talked I’ve been in the dark place with my training. Lots of hard, hard workouts in lots of bad weather up here in New England. As of today, we’ve had 4 major storms in the month of March. I’ve run in all of them and moved all the snow they’ve brought. I’ll give you a funny, or pitiful, depending on your view point, story. Last week I had a pretty big workout on the calendar for Tuesday. It was an hour and forty-five-minute fartlek run. Looking at the weather I could see that it was going to snow all day Tuesday bringing high winds and 2+ feet of snow. So I sent a note to coach. “Can we move this workout?” I asked. “You’re 5 weeks out from Boston.” He returned. “This is an important week.” And I thought maybe I could do it on the treadmill at the office. But, the Governor declared a state of something and told everyone to stay home and stay out of the city. So I couldn’t get to the treadmill. I set the alarm early to see if I could get out before the storm got too bad. When the alarm went off I could see the wet snow being driven sideways at the window and hear the wind gusts. That wasn’t happening. I worked from the home office all day with one eye out the window to see if the storm might not relent. The snow kept piling up. 5:00 pm rolled around and I knew it was now or never. I was going to lose daylight. I strapped on some flashy lights for visibility and geared up. I pulled out my trail shoes for traction. My neighborhood is a cul de sac with a 1 km loop. I was not venturing out of the cul de sac. The snow was coming down hard and about 6 inches deep on the road. I had pretty good traction because it had started as wet snow and there was a couple inches of slush at the bottom that my trail shoes could hook into. I warmed up for 10 minutes and then timed out a 2-3 minute stretch that was slightly uphill and maybe a 1/3 of the loop. Each loop I’d accelerate into this stretch and bring my heart rate up, focusing on form and turnover. By this time the storm was starting move off. The plows came out and I danced with them on the road. The neighbors came out with their snow blowers and shovels and tractors. I startled more than one coming out of the mist wet and churning forward in the mush. I finished up with over 12 miles, 15 little fartleks and probably 20 laps of the neighborhood – I’m sure much to the amusement of my neighbors. That was a hard workout. Then I changed into my snow moving gear and moved snow for another 3 hours. So that’s life. When life gives you blizzards, give back fartleks and have fun doing it. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to. I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway. “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit. So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported. We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – 20 years of Boston- Voices of reason – the conversation Ted MacMahon Ted MacMahon is a lifelong endurance athlete, having competed in 50+ marathons (20+ Boston Marathons), 10+ Ironmans, and 10+ ultramarathons. He often says, “Having raced in a bunch of races only means that I’ve made more mistakes than most and am happy to help others avoid my pitfalls.” In the past year, Ted won his division in the US National Championships in both the trail marathon and 100-mile trail distances. Native to Massachusetts, Ted and his wife Pamela now reside in Flagstaff, AZ. Ted can be reached at . Finding the right “stuff” can be a lengthy and complicated process. Here are Ted’s go to products: Fuel and recover: Daily nutrition: Rehydration: Hydration packs and more: Game changing ultra camp: Section two – The scientifically proven power of gratitude – Outro OK my friends, after much patience and fortitude on your part we have made it to the end of episode 4-383. Congratulations. You’ve got a lot of spunk for a skinny little endurance athlete. You know what I’m drinking right now? Bouillon. Yup. I needed something warm on this cold afternoon as I sit at my desk and write love letters to the ether. Too late for coffee. To be honest, since my January 30 days of clean eating I can’t drink more than one cup of coffee a day. Rachel detoxed me from the caffeine habit. I do drink tea but all we have in the house is a choice between super caffeinated morning teas and god-awful sickly sweet fruity teas that my girls drink. I swear it’s like soaking potpourri in cheap perfume. Bouillon hits the spot. Lots of nice salt for my sweaty soul. Less than 10 calories. Maybe a pinch of fat in there. Very nice broth. Very sustaining. Just about 3 weeks out from Boston now. I’m in a down week. I don’t know what coach has in store for next week. We have time for one more volume week if he feels I’m up for it. I’ve struggled with a lot of leg fatigue this cycle. He may just put me into a 3-week taper. We’ll see. I’m ready. I’ve done the work. The times I’m running on tired legs would be good enough for a BQ. With a decent taper, some reasonable weather and a little luck I could bring home a good race this year. As taxing as this past training cycle has been I’ve quite enjoyed it. In the sense that I’m proud of having done it. I’m grateful every day for the ability to do it. When I’ve been running down by the Charles in the morning I get to see all the other athletes. It’s not just me out there in the 10-degree weather with the ice and snow and wind. There’s a pack of us. Young and old. This close to Boston or any other spring race I see a fair number of athletes doing tempo work. It wouldn’t be obvious to the casual observer but I see them stealing peeks at their watches and pushing their form. There are some beautiful athletes out there in the morning. Lot’s of unicorn gear. I’m happy that they let an old guy like me join in their unicorn games. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how pretty you are or how good you are. The trail and the morning are both equal opportunity employers. Get out there and get yours. I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -