Benefits Of Higher Intensity Strength Training

Runners tend to rely exclusively on just running to achieve and sustain their fitness.  Undoubtedly, running provides an incredible sense of accomplishment and the greatest return on investment of time and effort.

However, focusing predominantly on just one activity has its drawbacks.  Runners can become mentally stale and overdevelop certain muscle groups; making them more injury prone.  Additionally, the law of diminishing return takes effect. As a runner becomes more fit it takes more effort to achieve greater caloric burn and cardiovascular benefit.

One of the most effective solutions is to incorporate higher intensity strength training.  Just one session of higher intensity strength training per week can yield significant physiological and mental psychological benefits.  Runners will jumpstart their metabolism and protect themselves against injury by improving their muscular balance.  Replacing just one run per week with a higher intensity strength training will also improve a runners overall mental state and enthusiasm for running.

Just as hill work, intervals, speed work and long slow distance are important components to a successful running program, a variety of higher intensity strength training exercises will provide greater overall fitness benefits.  I recommend a combination of weight training (e.g., bench press, dumbbell curls, military press, etc.) and strength training (e.g., lunges, squats, pull ups, push ups, etc.).

Runners can improve their running efficiency and technique with greater core and upper body strengthening gained through this type of workout.  It’s important to be moderate and consistent when adding this new component to your training program.

Replace just one run per week with a higher intensity strength training workout and enjoy improved fitness and less down time due to an overuse injury.

What Would You Attempt If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?

That is an extremely easy question for me to answer…NOTHING!  The fear and possibility of failure is an important motivator in all that I do.  I have never been interested in anything that doesn’t require a significant effort with the odds stacked against me.  This recent 12,000 mile motorcycle journey was the epitome of everything that attracts me to an activity.

Completing a motorcycle endurance ride is similar to training for and running a marathon…it’s an experience wrought with challenge and accomplishment.  I have always been attracted to the extreme in any arena I have chosen to enter.

Circumnavigating the United States was the basis of seven additional endurance events, progressively more difficult as the mileage increased.  I was given 21 days to complete the Four Corners Tour which required documented stops in Madawaska, Maine/Key West, Florida/San Ysidro, California and Blaine, Washington.  I completed this epic journey in just 8 days.

In the middle of the Four Corners Tour I attempted a Coast to Coast effort from Jacksonville, Florida to San Diego, California in under 50 hours.  I rode my motorcycle (without sleep) for 40 consecutive hours to complete this portion of my ride.  This is an effort I will be forever proud to have accomplished because it tested me on so many levels.  Riding through the desert in 124 degree heat at the end of an exhausting ride took me deep into the well of exhaustion.

One story that makes me laugh hysterically now that I’m completely rested occurred in Key West.  I had ridden 23 hours and arrived in Key West at just after midnight.  I didn’t know if I was hallucinating or everyone was actually as strange as they seemed.  I was required to have my picture taken in front of the Key West post office with my motorcycle and towel with a unique number proving I was there.  I wanted to get in and out of Key West as soon as possible so I pulled up to a guy in a Jeep just pulling away and asked, “Would you like to make a quick $20.00?”  I knew that was a mistake as soon as I said it.  But in my state of exhaustion I quickly added, “All you have to do is take a picture of me.”  He continued to pull away and stated, “I don’t want any part of this.”  Thankfully, he gave me the time to explain my ride around the United States and that I was required to have a picture taken.  He readily agreed and refused my $20 in the end.

Another interesting experience happened after my Coast to Coast effort.  After  I arrived in San Diego I noticed a stretch limo racing up behind me at a high rate of speed.  I moved one lane to my left and the car followed.  So I moved one more lane (there are lots of lanes in California) and the car followed.  I noticed it slowed to match my speed.  Once it pulled beside me the windows came down…along with a LOT of other things…and a group of about 10 women showed me more than any man deserves to see…in a lifetime.  I assume they were just warming up for a bachelorette party.  Little did they know there was a happily married middle aged man behind the helmet…so exhausted the shock factor or whatever their intention was, was completely lost on me.

I met the most wonderful people throughout this trip.  In Portland, Oregon my GPS took me into someone’s gravel driveway tucked into the woods.  I had a wonderful conversation with a husband and wife who invited me to stay for dinner.  A woman in Virginia asked about my trip and was so surprised that I was doing this completely alone…she said…”Bless your heart!”  Something I learned was extremely common in the South.  Similar to, “Did you notice that Mary has gained nearly a hundred pounds…bless her heart ?”

I was only able to run once during this entire trip.  When I arrived in Portland, Oregon I ran with Kristen Wilson LaBarca (http://happyrunningmama.blogspot.com/2013/07/running-on-empty.html) whom I coached for Boston (3:30:30) and the Newport Marathon (3:25).  She took me on a 6 mile run on the Wildwood Trail in beautiful Forest Park.  It was great to connect with the earth again and spend time with someone as special as Kristen.

Another incredible highlight of the trip was being able to stay with John Killen and his wonderful family.  John is a passionate BMW rider and was kind enough to ride out and meet me along the Interstate late at night at the conclusion of a 1000+ mile ride from Billings, Montana.  I had the best meals, slept in the quietest room, and enjoyed their amazing company for nearly two days.  It was difficult to say goodbye but I was feeling the gravitational pull of New England.  John and Wendy took the following pictures during my stay.

I made it to St. Louis and spent a day at my office and reconnected with so many of my colleagues before riding directly home.  I rode for 23 straight hours (except for lunch with my father and step-mother in Ohio where I made it perfectly clear that I only had an hour…I’m such a special son) to make it home at 3:00 a.m.

Taking the final exit off the Mass Pike never felt better.  I was so relieved that I made it home safely and so darn proud of what I accomplished.  I never would have been able to accomplish this without the unwavering support and encouragement from Lori.  The many friends that I’m blessed with provided another degree of support and encouragement.  I also thought about two dear friends (Fulvio Abela and Kevin Dully) that we lost recently.  Their example inspired me to give this my best effort and, despite the odds, to never give up.

Yes, I made that final turn with tears in my eyes and a heart full of gratitude for the abundance in my life and the opportunity to continue to chase my dreams.

I hope that you’re chasing your dreams, too…even with the distinct possibility of failure!

A Thousand Reasons…

There are more than a thousand very compelling reasons why I should reconsider embarking on arguably one of the most challenging endurance rides imaginable.  So many people who care about and love me have asked ‘why’ I am doing this.  I have so many easy answers but not one the average person would understand.

I will have several days where I literally will ride my motorcycle for 24 hours in an effort to travel more than 1500 miles.  The only stops I will make will occur every 200 miles to refuel and complete the travel log required by the Southern California Motorcycle Association (sponsor of the Four Corners Tour) and the Iron Butt Association (www.ironbutt.com).  These stops are well scripted and take less than 15 minutes.

I have been running every day to prepare for this ride and feel extremely confident in my ability to complete this journey.  I have equal confidence in Wagner Motorsports in Worcester, Ma for preparing my BMW for this journey.

I recognized an endurance gene early in life.  I always had to beg my friends and siblings to continue playing, whether it was a board game or an athletic event.  I would play basketball well past the last sign of light and until I couldn’t see the rim.  Even then, I was tempted to continue playing because I could sense where the basket was and would listen for the result of my seemingly endless shots.  When my friends wanted to play baseball, I wanted to ride my bicycle distances no one ever imagined.  Long before I knew about proper fueling and the travails of hypoglycemia, I would conclude these adventures with the largest bag of cookies the local IGA offered.  I remember using a long pole to travel upstream in a rather large and cumbersome boat that took more than 8 hours…just to see how far I could go…to test my limits.

That is why just completing a marathon had no interest to me.  I wanted to see how fast I could travel 26.2 miles.  When I ran 2:33 on three separate occasions, I was convinced I found my physical limit.  I then moved up to a 50 mile trail race, the 100K (62 miles) National Championships (where I finished 5th) then 24 hour runs.  I’ve enjoyed running 50 and 62 miles on the track and look forward to attempting 100 miles on the track in 2014.

So I have listened to a long list of reasons why I shouldn’t attempt a motorcycle ride of this magnitude.  I sincerely appreciate everyone’s concern, particularly for my safety and the well-being of my family.

But I need to explore the extreme boundaries of endurance.   I need to feel that I am alive and that my life means far more than a 9 to 5 job and conforming to the expectations of society.  I need to hope that my adventure might inspire someone else to chase their dreams and begin to believe they can accomplish more than they ever imagined.

So a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t do this is simply trumped by the one reason I need to do this more than any other…I need to live!