It's really sad to me when I hear people talk about how they went on vacation and only gained X lbs.  Or in preparation for vacation they are going to be very strict so they can "enjoy" themselves.  People say it to me all the time, "Brian, you workout all the time so you can eat whatever you want."  I have news for you, we all eat whatever we want all the time!  Unless you're in prison or have a gun held to your head, when you look at a menu in a restaurant or check out at the grocery store, you are making a conscious decision that these are the things you want to put in your body.  The bigger question is, what is it that you want to put in your body?

When you look at magazines in line at the grocery store, so many of them say, "loose 10 lbs!" on the cover.  It seems many of the clients I get at the gym where I currently work have a goal of loosing weight or "getting tone."  What the heck does "tone" mean anyway? I am not a calorie counter.  I'm fully aware of the source of my calories but I dont count them.  I mean, I know that french fries are bad and apples are good.  I also don't train with a heart rate monitor.  It is without question a fantastic way to train in a manner specifically to you, I just dont do it.  I tried it but I got so wrapped up in the numbers, that for 2 weeks, I forgot to enjoy my runs.  And that's why I run, climb, walk, bike etc, for enjoyment.  Whatever your preferred activity, getting better at it is a process.  A never ending process.  Goals are good and some might say very important.  Getting closer to and achieving athletic goals is a way we measure our progress and improvement and I think that's the key, improvement.  And this improvemnt comes not on that final day when you achieve or surpass your goal, but in the process.  

I spend a lot of time training people in the gym.  Some I see once a week, some twice.  Some for 30 min, some for 60.  But when you think about the fact that there are 168 hours in a week, 56 of which are spent sleeping (if you are lucky), that leaves 112 hours awake.  So if you train with me for 2 hrs a week in the gym and come in and do "cardio" for anther say 3 hours, in the grand scheme of things, 5 hrs a week is not a lot of activity.  I mean, I love to see people exercising but the gym is merely a supplement to an active healthy lifestyle.

What I have begun telling all my clients is, it's what you do with the other 107 hrs in a week that will determine how quickly you yield the results from your training.  How active are you outside of the gym?  Do you take the stairs?  Try to get the closest parking spot?  How well do you eat?  Are you "rewarding" yourself with a scone because you just worked out?  How well are you recovering?  Are you taking days off from dedicated training?  Are you sleeping well at night?

So, go.  go to the gym, work your ass off.  This doesn't mean pedal slowly while reading a book.  It means challenge yourself  (Reading I think is much more enjoyable in a coffee shop or at home).  Like your office is for woking, the gym is for training!  Get in, train, get out.  Get on with your day.  Use the gym as a supplement to the rest of your active life so you can continue to enjoy yourself in whatever it is that you choose to do with the other 107 hours each week. 

I once heard a Southwest Airlines flight attendant say, "please be careful when opening overhead bins because as we all know, shift happens."  Well, shift also happens in our weekly schedules.  We runners like schedules and we like to stick to them.  Well, sometimes meetings run late or we get sick or somehow the day get's away from us.  I'm often asked in these scenarios, "what should I do?  Should I skip this workout?  Should I skip my rest day to get back on schedule?"  I say, make a shift.

While the work week may be a Mon-Fri thing, your training schedule doesn't have to be.  Okay, maybe it's easier to follow that Mon-Fri schedule but I suggest thinking of them as "training" days 1-7.  So let's say Wednesday (Training Day 3) you were going to do a tempo run and then strength train on Thursday (Training Day 4.  You do strength train don't you?).  Now, your work meetings run late and you don't get that tempo run in on Wednesday (Training Day 3), shift it to Thursday.  So now Thursday becomes Training Day 3 and Friday becomes Training Day 4.  It's no biggie.  Each workout has a purpose and some flexibility (by the way, you are stretching aren't you?) in your schedule is a great way to not stress out too much and remain consistent.

I know but now my long run will be on Sunday instead of Saturday and I always train with the group on Saturday!  That's okay, email a few peeps and see if they wanna run on Sunday.  Find a different group with which to run on Sunday.  Run with a friend or alone for a change.  It's an opportunity to try something new.  Somewhere along the way if you absolutely must get back to your Mon-Fri schedule, then voluntarily make a shift by swapping days or doing you run in the am and your strength work in the evening.  Just give yourself some flexibility in this matter.  Some runners train on a 8 or 10 day schedule.  Your body doesn't know what day of the week it is, it only knows how hard it's working and for how long on any given day.  So when shift happens, be flexible.

Joke from runtheplanet.com
One man's hobby was running, he spent all his weekends on the park trails, paying no attention to weather. One Sunday, early in the morning, he went to the park as usual. It was still dark, cold and raining, so he decided to return back to his house. He came in, went to his bedroom, undressed and laid near his wife. "What terrible weather today honey," he said to her. "Yes," she replied "but my idiot husband still went running!"

So a while back an NCAA D1 athlete told me she didn't buy into the "everything happens for a reason" BS.  I used to think that way but she really had me thinking about that and I agree.  I think when shit happens (and it always does), there may be no rhyme or reason but we can definitely use it as an opportunity to learn something from whatever it is.  Example, I had some IT Band crap going on (yes the trainer himself was having some aches and pains) and decided to take a couple of weeks off to stretch, massage and foam roll.   What do ya know, my knee was feeling better and so I was looking forward to running on January 1 for the first time in 2 weeks and today, BAM!  I wrecked on my bike as it slid out from under me on some black ice.  What did I land on?  Well the pavement of course and you guessed it, my left knee!  Is there some mysterious reason for it?  I doubt it.


So I'll do what I would tell any one of my athletes to do, lay off!  Keep icing and take it week by week.  I can still shoot for the same race schedule just have to alter my goals/expectations a bit that's all.  The good part is, aside from it being the off-season, I wont need those new running shoes for a bit so if you live in Chicago and wear a Men's size 8  Brooks Adrenaline, Universal Sole ought to have a pair for you.  So if you are having any aches and pains, NOW is the time to take care of it.  Don't run through the pain and expect it to go away!  Get a jumpstart on New Years resolutions with a foam roller if you don't already have one.  I know, it hurts like a bitch at first but it's great for injury cure and prevention.  My Favorite is the Trigger Point Grid Roller.    You ought to be able to get it at your local running store or oder it by clicking the image below.  So Happy New Year and here's to injury free running in 2012!

R Rated Joke:

A businessman was out with some of the guys at the Golf Course. After taking making a long drive, he twisted his knee pretty bad. He decided it wasn't severe enough to go to the hospital, but still wanted to get it looked at, so he made an appointment for the same day.

The doctor greeted the man and asked him to remove his pants so he could get a better look at his knee. The doctor looked at the Businessmans knee and said "You'll need to stop masturbating."

The Businessman asked "That's funny. Why?"

The Doctor replied "Because I'm trying to examine your knee."

Just wanted to have a blog post to wish y'all a great holiday (which ever you celebrate if any) or holiday season and here's to PRs in 2012!