Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Keep Moving Forward

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done..."

I love this quote!  

Often when I am on a hard run or ride trying to figure out a way to dismiss the current pain this quote will pop into my head and it never fails to give me that little something extra.  Does anyone know who said this? Ironman Champion?  Ultra-Marathoner?  I'll let you know at the bottom of the post ...

The reason I posted this was because last week was hard on me both physically and mentally and it popped into my head quite often.  I was tired, sick, and sore.  My legs felt like they had ten pound weights strapped to them with ever stride, spin, or kick that was taken.  Mentally I had to fight off the voices that kept telling me to quit.  Even though last week was a recovery week and the overall volume was just a little short of 12 hours this was by far the most challenging week of training that I have ever gone through.

What a difference a week makes!

I am back and feeling stronger than ever.  Here is how the week is going so far:

  • Monday:  Rest Day - This was the get my head and body together day - Reset.  I wore compression sleeves all day and ate extremely clean.  Bed time came early as I had a 4:10am wakeup for Master's swim.


  • Tuesday AM:  Master's Swim - 3200yds.  I felt great the entire workout.  The last 400yds were 100yd intervals and I pulled out a 1:36/1:36/1:38/1:40 for those 100's.  Not my fastest 100's but still extremely strong at the tale end of a 3200yd workout!


  • Tuesday PM:  Tempo Bike - 1h 45m (31.5mi) total with 34m of tempo in the middle.  I felt so strong that I did tempo for the entire ride.


  • Wednesday:  BRICK DAY - 1h 15m of Zone 4 on the bike.  This was done on the trainer and I mashed in the big ring the entire time and the legs felt powerful.  The run called for 30m at Zone 4 pace.  This was done in 90F heat and finished up doing 4.01 miles in 30m 44s.  Splits were 7:50/7:40/7:52/7:16 for a 7:39/mi avg pace.  I could of held this pace for a few more miles - excellent run.


So what does all this mean?

My take away is that over the course of a training plan you are going to have highs and you are going to have lows.  The key is to just not overreact to either of these highs and the lows. Trust you plan and do the work and the results will follow.  Or simply, Keep Moving Forward!


Oh, and CLICK HERE to see where the above quote originated. (If you already know I think we can be BFF's)

Thanks for Reading.

Jeff

31 comments:

  1. Bummer that I didn't know the quote. What an incredible week of workouts!! Awesome job!

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  2. Aw, I'm so glad this week went so well for you!

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  3. Jeff - glad your week is better this week versus last.

    I had to laugh at the picture on the top of your blog. It's WAY better than the cow picture you had on there last week. :-)

    Also - thanks so much for the shout out last week about my Crowie interview! I've got a new one up that I think you'll enjoy!

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  4. Don't even need to click on the link- the best part of Rocky Balboa!!! (The reason they cal that one Rocky Balboa is because Rocky V NEVER HAPPENED!!!)

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  5. I think it's Rocky, is he saying that to his son at some point?

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  6. Love the quote. I am not going to say I'm sorry for your bad week because I think that week is responsible for THIS week and it's so very important for that to happen so we learn how to slap ourselves back into reality. GREAT job Jeff getting back into it, you are so much stronger now!

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  7. Great quote and way to work through those highs and lows! Nice brick session!

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  8. I love that quote! It makes me remember that not everything about training is beautiful. We have to work hard and make it through those challenging physical and mental road blocks! You are doing awesome:) Keep it up Jeff!

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  9. I agree with Jennifer. The fact that your body was wrecked is right where you should have been for a recovery week. It means you pushed your body to the breaking point the previous 3 weeks and it was screaming "Mercy!".

    Great start to your week so far. Keep it up!

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  10. The plan beat you up... then gave you a chance to come back haha. Keep your head up man and follow the plan :)

    Can't wait to see the results!

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  11. Good to see that you are using your dog as a chain towel, very green of you. With those short hairs, it doesn't much up the derailleur either. Very smart.

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  12. My take away? You are gonna hand this HIM a new one in November!

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  13. Love the quote.

    Needed the quote.

    Awesome.

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  14. OMG...I think we're BFF's...LOL.

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  15. Alright Quinton and CD -Tri, I'll be over this weekend for a Rocky marathon!

    But as CD-Tri said Rocky V -- the one with Tommy Morrison -- never happened. This is how I view this Rocky also. Just pretend that we never even saw that piece of shit film.

    Was anyone surprised that I'd have a quote from a cheesy movie up? Didn't think so!

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  16. Everyone is posting exactly what I need to see today. I faced a small set back yesterday with my running but every post I have read so far today is giving me the right advice to move forward.

    Thanks Jeff!

    P.S. I love Rocky!

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  17. I probably first saw rocky at too-young of an age with my dad haha. Great quote!

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  18. Thanks for posting this - definitely what I needed to hear as I'm sitting at home sick during my recovery week.

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  19. Own that movie. very impressive and motivating workouts. I want to be you when i grow up, if I ever grow up. Glad you got reset.

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  20. YO Adrian!

    ROCKY ISN'T CHEESY!

    How'd you teach Ernie (or Bailey?) to grease your bike?

    Glad you found a way to tough it out through the ups and downs of training. Keep moving forward!

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  21. Excellent Quote! Im assuming this is from the 06' film you had the link to...which I never saw...but now have as my marathon eve film in 2 weeks. let me know if its from a different Rocky film I need to re watch (sorry I dont recognize my Rocky is rusty)

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  22. Firs off, the picture of your dog with bike grease on it is HILARIOUS!!
    Secondly, I'm glad you had a good week! I hope you have a good weekend.

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  23. I love the quotes, it is very inspiring! :)

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  24. Great quote but the pic at the top stole the show for me. Awesome week of training!

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  25. Love the bike grease on one of the pugs!! That quote rocks! I will admit, I did not know it was from Rocky. I will doing a little cut & paste with that quote and print it out for future reference...thank you. Your week last week sounds like my week this week. Still plugging away though and not letting it get me down, no way! Your training is going great, keep up the strong effort.

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  26. I thought it was a boxer. However, I was thinking Sugar Ray Leonard. Sylvester Stallone, huh. Close enough, right? They only co hosted the most awesome reality show (for the first season only, then it sucked), "The Contender".

    My nickname in elementary school was Rocky. The first movie came out when I was in the 6th grade and I used to get into a lot of fights with the boys. That name stuck up until HS (when I had long stopped fighting the boys!).

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  27. Jeff!

    I'm back... sort of. Sounds like training is going well. Those are some pretty smoking splits, especially in that heat. You are totally going to rock the Iron distance.

    If you are not a religious man yet, just know that you will find God at least once during your Ironman.

    Look forward in following your progress hombre!

    —M

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  28. Your comment . . . .

    . . . .amazing.

    Thank you so much. Well, "thank you" doesn't really cover it but . . .

    well said and MOST appreciated.

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  29. Love that quote! I'm taking it for future use.

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  30. Rented and watching original Rocky tonight. I didnt want to watch the new (06') version in two weeks and wish I had rented this one instead! haha
    -Derek

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  31. YOOOOOOOO ADRAINNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

    Gotta love Rocky!!!

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