Posted by: Joe Nuss in runner, Run, Lifestyle, Friends, Elite on
Mar 08, 2010
Story By Joe Nuss
Photos by Kristen Boness
By Joe Nuss
By Joe Nuss
When Mick Gunter's mother, Karla Bolen Gunter, was killed in a car accident nearly 20 years ago, he was a senior in college and getting ready to start a tour of duty in the Marine Corps. While he hoped to eventually do something to honor his mother, a well-respected teacher, he fell into a trap of postponing his grief in order to deal with his immediate challenges.
By D.C. Lucchesi
Charlie Engle knows about maintaining momentum. As an adventure racer and ultra-distance athlete, you can't run across the country or another continent without being able to keep your focus on a finish line that could be weeks or even months away. But one of this Greensboro resident's current challenges may never have a finish line: maintaining the public's interest in H20 Africa, the charitable component of his historic run across the African continent. Even in the heat of summer training and racing in the Carolinas, the lack or absence of water is never a consideration. But to many in the heart of Africa, it is a striking reality. Engle's epic run and Africa's enduring water crisis are documented in the new film Running the Sahara. The film, narrated and produced by Oscar-winner Matt Damon, is being showcased primarily at major marathons until the end of the year. An advance screening in Charlotte gave us the opportunity to talk to Engle about the film and the effort to access water in Africa.
Many of you probably already know who Alex McDonald is. Alex moved to NC last year after completing medical school and his full-time gig is now as a professional triathlete for Timex - something most of us can only dream about. Alex is obviously known for being fast (2007 IM Lake Placid winner, 2007 & 2008 Duke Half IM winner, etc.), but he's also a super nice guy. Most age-groupers know Alex as the "fast guy that cheers for everyone as he's winning the race." I received an email from Alex today, and thought I'd share it with you. It gives you an idea of how hard these guys train, how fast they are, what sort of opportunities come their way, and unfortunately what kinds of obstacles they must overcome to stay on top of their game.
After a great start to the season at Ironman California 70.3 I entered 4 week block of very heavy training. I was training 30-35hrs each week, averaging about 20k in the pool, 350 miles on the bike and 60 miles of running. I was certainly tired by the end yet I focused on proper recovery and nutrition before and after every workout and my body responded well to the training stress.
At the beginning of April I then entered a heavy racing block. I began with a local race in North Carolina, the White Lake 1/2 where I had a great race, but a flat tire caused me to miss first place by just 30 seconds. None the less it was a great mental practice to stay calm and continue to move forwards in the face of adversity. A week later I raced at Ironman Florida 70.3 at Disney world which was a great venue. At this race I lost focus for a few minutes at the start of the swim which cost me a few minutes and I was playing catch up all day. Despite the depth of the competition I knew with a better swim I could have had a top ten finish. Lesson learned and I will certainly make sure to avoid such loss of focus in the future. Then 3 weeks later I made the trip to Middlebury CT to race at the inaugural Rev3. My goal race for the first part of the season was Ironman Coeur d'Alene, just 2 weeks later, so I did not give myself much rest prior to this race and entered it more as a learning experience and practice race. However, a week before Rev3 I was training pretty hard and my hip flexor began to cause me some pain while running. I had rested it yet it was still very painful to run. I had diagnosed myself with tendonitis of the hip flexor, but you are never supposed to diagnose yourself, so I went to a sport medicine doctor. My diagnosis was correct and rest was really the only option. As a result Rev3 became a swim and bike race for me and I had decided not to risk further injury by challenging myself on the run course. At the Rev3 I definitely felt the affects if racing 5 half Ironman in just 5 weeks along with heavy training leading up to IM Coeur d'Alene and felt very flat and fatigued during the race, so I treated it as a last heavy training day before I taper for IM Coeur d'Alene.
This past friday, a little over a week before IM Coeur d'Alene I tried running again, having not done so for almost 2 weeks. After a through warm up, I began to jog lightly and immediately the pain returned. At that point I began to worry that I might not be ready to race an Ironman a week later. After a conversation with my massage therapist, my wife (she's a doctor also) and my coach I decided that I would not be racing. A best case scenario would be a sub-par performance and further injury to my hip which would possibly persist for the rest of the season. Instead I decided to focus all my energy on healing and set my sights on Ironman Lake Placid at the end of July. Having trained and race on that course numerous time, including winning the race in 2007 I certainly have some positive memories and energy associated with Lake Placid.
Although this injury is very frustrating and has interrupted my plan for the first half of the season I know that this is the best decision which will allow me to emerge stronger and faster. Please take a look at my website and blog for all the details www.alexmmtri.com
Lastly, I I have been asked to serve on the newly formed Timex Performance Center Advisory Board for the NY Giants new training facility in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. As a professional triathelte, physician and ambassador for the sport this is a tremendous opportunity. A one of the four member advisory board I will collaborate with world class orthopeadists, sport trainers and NY GIant atheltes to bring new ideas to the sports of American Football and endurance sports. Although the board is still in it's infancy and constantly evolving we plan to meet quarterly to develop new and exciting technologies as well as training methodologies. This is an excellent opportunity as an athlete and physician about which I am very excited.
Thank you again for your support and I hope to continue as a contributor to Endurance Magazine.
Alex McDonald
www.alexmmtri.com
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Gu and Gatorade and PowerBars have long been quick energy fixes for endurance athletes. For a couple bucks a pop, you can energize yourself with some maltodextrin in it's various forms for a good 45 minutes until the calories are burned and you pop another gel or sip some more drink or take another chewy bite of a vanilla crisp energy bar. All of those energy sources are great products for endurance sports, but they hold little water to a much more cost-effective source of energy: WORDS.
Words are free and when used in the right way, can energize someone much better than maltodextrin. You don't even have to re-say them every 45 minutes to an hour.
When you are at the Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon in Wilmington this weekend, or the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, remember to not just cheer for those athletes during the race, but speak words of encouragement before their difficult endeavor and speak words of recognition after the amazing feat of athleticism they have just accomplished.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 - DURHAM, NC - Endurance Magazine, the premier regional resource for healthy lifestyles, has been awarded the 2008 National Award for Editorial Excellence from the Association of Running Publications. Out of 34 regional publications across the country, North Carolina-based Endurance Magazine and its editorial staff, led by Managing Editor Joe Nuss, was recognized for its perpetually creative and inspiring editorial and production style. Complemented by world-class photography by Tamara Lackey Photography, and innovative visual design by 8dot Graphics (both based in North Carolina), Endurance Magazine breaks through traditional health and fitness content paradigms by connecting real-world lifestyles with real-world people who take on extraordinary challenges. "Our mix of immediately useful content and life-enriching personal connections helps us reach out to new readers with each issue" says Publisher and founder Steve Lackey. "Over the years we have found our creative niche and have been able to inspire and motivate all types of people across our region. As more people learn about Endurance Magazine from beyond North Carolina, our subscription requests from other states have grown".
When asked what makes Endurance Magazine so popular with such a broad audience, Nuss explains, "Endurance Magazine is blessed with an amazing community of people willing to share their own passionate narratives about endurance sports. Our emphasis on storytelling, design and photography, with the sport itself as merely a backdrop, enables us to explore the universally relevant themes of physical and emotional triumph in attempt to bring together everyone from elite athletes to those that have never before laced up a pair of running shoes (but think they might want to some day)."
In only his second year running ultras,
Bandwidth.com CEO
David Morken finished the
Wasatch 100 (miles) in 26 hours and 51 minutes. Finishing this torturous run is remarkable for anyone -- David managed to cross the finish in 22nd place (out of 241) - and this is someone who trains at sea level while most others are at altitude all year. After bonking in his first try in 2007 (hypontremia symptoms after the temperature dropped dramatically overnight), David came back with even more focus and had an amazing experience in 2008. Note: David is not only CEO of his company, but is also a father of 6 children (all under the age of 18). He keeps it all together with a calmness and intensity that is unmatched (and he gets a LOT of help from his family and friends). Congratulations, David - you are a true inspiration -- looking forward to watching you and the Bandwidth.com team tackle the 2009 Race Across America (RAAM)!
Track Charlie as he runs across America.
Charlie is blogging each day and is even keeping us updated via Twitter (just get an account and you can follow him there) http://www.twitter.com/.
A few months ago I wrote about swimming an entire 60 minute workout without goggles - just opened my eyes in the pool and embraced the freedom of swimming without goggles - until I got out and realized the chlorine had melted away half of my contact lenses (not recommended as I had a headache for two days). Still, I was pretty impressed with myself for sucking it up and getting through the ‘adversity' of that particular workout.
I was reminded of this when I saw Michael Phelps win gold at this year's Olympics in his premier event - the 200 meter butterfly. He could not have looked less satisfied - tossing his cap and goggles onto the deck as if they were not worthy of being in the pool. Turns out, upon entering the pool his goggles filled up with water and stayed that way for the entire event. For just over 1 minute and 51 seconds he crushed all challengers - essentially with his eyes closed.
The average person would be quickly consumed by the negative vibe associated with something going wrong - especially at a time like this (an Olympic finals event). And I guess that is why people like Phelps are able to consistently perform at the level they do - they seem to have an uncanny ability to block out anything that is not moving them in a positive direction - they inherently, and seemingly proactively, eclipse any potential negative energy - at least for as long as they need to get to the finish.
I am sure this is the same type of positive consciousness that elite gymnasts dip into when they fall of the balance beam and then get up to continue executing severely complex techniques with perfection to complete their routine. It has always amazed me.
On August 24th we will kick off the 2008 Ramblin' Rose Women Only Triathlon Tour in Winston-Salem, NC. With over 50% of the participants being first timers, the value of embracing this positive mindset will be significant for all involved. And as anyone who has witnessed one of these events knows, there is plenty to go around as hundreds of mothers, daughters, sisters, and grandmothers cross the finish line beaming with pride and accomplishment. This too, consistently amazes me. www.endurancemag.com/ramblinrose
For our cover story, Charlie Engle, along with his partner Marshall Ulrich, is about to embark on a mission that is certain to test his positive consciousness as they strive to cross the US from San Francisco to New York City in 45 days - on foot. Imagine what your perspective would be after running across the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range only to find, once on the other side, that you see nothing but desert as you start into Nevada - with 80% of the country still left to cross. Is it:
"Holy crap, I just ran across the Sierras! - I am awesome!" or perhaps,
"I'll never make it across this miserably endless desert".
Which way would you see it? [Their run starts on September 13th.] www.runningamerica08.com
Some would argue there is a collective energy - a collective consciousness - that exists for us all to tap into - that affects all of us. The more positive energy we put out there, the more there will be for each of us. Our Endurance Magazine Citizen team will be looking for some of that energy at the Duke Half Ironman (especially on the run portion) this month. If you have a moment on September 14th, feel free to send some our way.
Inspire. Perform. Endure.
-Steve
PS - Rule #63: Never pass up an opportunity to compare yourself, no matter how far-reaching, to the most decorated Olympian of all time.
