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.
Posted by: Thys Wind in Lifestyle, Events on
Oct 10, 2008
Our "green" initiative, Race Without A Trace, has been a huge success this year. Stay tuned for some hard data on just how effective it really was with respect to the amount of event-related waste we saved/recycled and the extent to which we minimized our carbon footprint across the 5 events that we produced this year. As we set our sights on 2009, we felt it was appropriate to update the Race Without A Trace logo. As Steve would say, it's definitely "the new hotness." Or, as I like to say, it's "off the chain."
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)."
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.
Dancing with Matt Harding - world changer of a different variety.
Guaranteed to reset your perspective at any time of day. Check out this video!
Sunday the 13th of July started early for me. I arrived at Lake Crabtree at about 6:15 AM to take part in the Triangle Triathlon. Joe and Steve had other commitments so I was there to represent Endurance Magazine the best I could. The race went well and I enjoyed hanging out with my good friend Ricardo (November 2007 cover and star WindSpeed client) afterwards. Just as a side note, Ricardo told me about how he's "building" a bike, which to me means you just order a frame and a bunch of components, bring them to a local bike shop, and have them puzzle the bike together. No, Ricardo is actually building a bike, as in designing a frame on the computer, creating molds for a monocoque carbon fiber frame, using epoxy and fiber glass tape, etc. Pretty impressive!
Anyway, now that I'm home relaxing in the A/C, I am probably doing what the 890 other participants are doing (or not), which is checking to see if Set Up Events has posted the race results. At this point in time they aren't up yet, but don't worry because I am checking every 2 minutes! What is it that make race results so great to look at? The funny thing is, once you finally get to look at them the build up simply doesn't live up and you end up feeling sort of let down.
With my thought patterns now officially stuck in the "how about now?, how about now?, now?, now?,..." loop, I thought about a hilarious bit that the well-known comedian Kevin James did about the frustrations of unlocking the driver side door while your passenger keep pulling up on the passenger door handle. Fast forward to 4:25 in the video.
Posted by: Joe Nuss in Training, Run, Lifestyle on
Jul 09, 2008
A dock ran out into the sound just behind the beach house where the children played and swam and each day chased the lizards from the worn planks that grew hot long before the sun was fully up in the midday sky. It was midsummer and other fathers drank and played cards while their children napped in the afternoon, but I mixed a bottle of Gatorade Endurance and sprayed Bullfrog on my back and shoulders and began my run. It was a cheerful beach town and people waved and said hello as I ran along the road on my way to the beach where I would run to the pier and back. It was a windy day and the ocean was choppy like it is in The Gulf Stream painting by Winslow Homer minus the sharks though I knew they were really there because I had seen them before. The soft sand worked my calves too much so I ran closer to the ocean where the sand was firm. Still, the heat and the sand and the wind made the run seem harder than it should have been for that distance. It felt good and I ran past the pier without caring that I didn't have enough Gatorade to run this far.
Joe sent me a random link this week with a subject line that read "Check out this guy...." I opened it and was introduced to a guy I have never heard about, but certainly should have. Now I know that
Marshall Ulrich is the man! No, I mean THE man (if you're into feats of endurance). Marshall is gearing up to run across the country in record time with another amazing athlete,
Charlie Engel. As a warm-up, he completed the Triple Crown of Endurance by completing 116 ultramarathons, climbing the highest summit on every continent, and completing 10 expedition-length adventure races. Want more? He also completed the Leadville Trail 100 and the Pikes Peak Marathon on the
same weekend. He's the only person to finish the self-contained, unaided, Badwater Solo run pulling a 220-pound cart 146 miles from Badwater to the top of Mount Whitney - 77 hours 46 minutes. The cart contained everything
he needed for his crossing, including all of his water. In his free time (whatever little is left), he writes books, guides expeditions, does motivational speaking, and raises funds for a variety of charities.
Marshall's example is one that reminds us all once again that endurance really is an attitude!
Steve has been busy designing some very slick race kits for our team to wear at upcoming triathlons and running events. While we all enjoy competing, none of us are elite athletes. Instead, it might be more appropriate to refer to us as "endurance citizens". We are part of the same community that we also work so hard to inspire. Without giving away too much, these race kits will embrace that notion.
On a separate note, I am an immigrant. So, before I can become a legitimate endurance citizen, I should probably become an American citizen first. Fortunately for me, I don't have to give up my Dutch citizenship entirely as I now have the ability to become a dual-citizen. I have been procrastinating for entirely too long, so here we go. Step 1, download the application, fill it out, and send it along with a large check. Then wait for potentially as long as a year. In the meantime, I'll keep racing with my greencard in my back pocket.
It's not very often that I get to do an early morning run anymore. But WOW --
when I get to, it is amazing! Not only was it 60 degrees and slighly crisp this morning, it was quiet, the trails were clean, my body felt rested and my stride was easy. I recently abandoned using my ipod for the daily runs and started focusing on my breath. This morning, I was on about my tenth deep inhale when my face was adorned with the hard night's work of a spider. My first instinct was to feel sad that I had washed away this work of art. But the sadness eventually morphed into thoughts and feelings of freedom. Who am I to assume that it is discouraging that the web disappeared? Maybe it is just the opposite -- maybe it opens new doors and brings an optimism for new things ahead? Maybe is it freeing to have a fresh start - every 24 hours.
When I wake up, I try to remember that today is a new day -- each day, I try to pause before getting out of bed to remind myself that I am free to start afresh today and MAKE today whatever I want to make it. So as I ran through web after web this morning, my concern for wrecking the work of spiders blossomed into an enormous sense of freedom -- start new; each day. Needless to say, it was a great run!
