Tuesday 27 November 2018

Being Mindful While Running and Deepen Your Experience


The word mindfulness has a sort of new-agey, pop psychology, touchy-feely vibe to it, but what I discovered is that mindfulness is really pretty down to earth and straightforward. It relies primarily on a common sense understanding of how our minds work. From that understanding, a few mental techniques flow that is easy to learn and turn out to be just tailor-made for runners and running. It’s no wonder you can’t swing a dead rat nowadays without hitting an article or a book devoted to how well the practice of mindfulness and running fit together like a hand in a glove (which you would want to be wearing if you’re handling dead rats).

The simple definition of mindfulness is “a focused attention on the present with acceptance.” The researcher who was largely responsible for popularizing mindfulness in the United States, Jon Kabat-Zinn, describes how ordinary thinking can be like thoughts, emotions, impressions, and sensations rushing through our minds “like a deafening waterfall.” The problem according to Kabat-Zinn is that we careen willy-nilly from thinking about problems from the past to worrying about what might go wrong in the future, and as we dwell on these things, we attach negative emotions like fear and regret to the thoughts, creating lots of unnecessary stress for ourselves.

By being mindful, that is, by focusing our attention just on what we are experiencing in the present moment, we step out of the rushing waterfall of negative thinking, get off the mental roller coaster, and avoid generating the stress that comes from dwelling on our problems. The acceptance part of mindfulness comes when thoughts of past or future problems do bubble up in your mind. You acknowledge the thought but avoid “attaching” yourself or your emotions to the thought. Then you accept that the thought is there, but you consciously move beyond it and get back to your focus on the present.

A couple of things result naturally from the time you spend being mindful. One, you tend to really “live through” whatever experiences you are having at the moment and appreciate the richness of those experiences. Think of focusing on and really enjoying running through a forest as opposed to spending your entire run worrying about what someone said to you that morning. And secondly, for as long as you are being mindful and staying in the present, you are getting a break from all the usual stress and anxiety you normally generate for yourself from dwelling on past and future problems. Much of your concern about the future is wasted anyway. As Mark Twain said, “I’m an old man and I’ve known many troubles and most of them never happened.”

So how does this all connect up with running? Running by its very nature creates an extremely rich environment for focusing on the present moment. Not only do you have all the physical sensations going on in your own body, the breathing, the movement of arms and legs, the contact of your feet on the ground, the feel of the sun and wind on your skin, but there are all the constantly shifting sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of being outdoors and running down a trail or through a neighborhood.

Half the time when you’re running you get totally caught up in the experience without even needing to remind yourself to focus on the present. It just happens naturally. When a random thought about some problem at your work pops up in your mind, it sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s easy to acknowledge it and then move on. By really paying attention to the running experience, you deepen that experience. Your time running becomes a stress-free zone. Worries aren’t allowed to intrude. At the end of the run, you feel great about yourself. You’ve done something for your health. You’ve got your exercise. You’ve improved your life and you can go back to your work recharged and ready to tackle the next challenge.

Mindfulness also provides an excellent technique for dealing with pain. In fact, mindfulness was originally developed as a way to deal with chronic pain. Running is going to involve some pain and suffering any time you push past your comfort zone, try to run a PR, or run long distances. When you first start feeling pain or fatigue or any discomfort, there is a tendency to try to ignore it or deny that it is happening. This reaction, though, just makes it worse. It makes the pain seem more menacing as if it were such a horrible thing that you can’t even confront it.

You are not, however, crouching in the bottom of a landing craft heading toward Omaha Beach on D-Day, and the front of the boat is not about to swing down exposing you to machinegun fire. In that situation, fear would be justified. In your situation, maybe you will have to deal with a sore ankle for a couple of more hours. This you can face. So rather than run from it, you want to acknowledge the pain and confront it directly, even sink down into it and try to experience it as fully and objectively as you can.

By facing up to the pain, you steal much of its power over you. By not fearing it and not letting it lead to self-doubt, you keep it from triggering a lot of negative thinking that will just cause you to tense up and make the running even harder. Instead, you can treat it as just one of the many sensations that you are feeling. You want to give it a chance to recede into the back of your mind as you refocus on the present and all the other sensations, thoughts, sights and sounds that you are experiencing.

This technique for dealing with pain does take practice. I remember sitting at the prerace orientation for the Leadville 100 Mile Trail Race (“The race across the sky”) way back in 2003. The race director, Ken Chlouber, was famous for his colorful pep talks in which he focused on how bad you were going to feel about yourself if you should decide to quit during the race and not finish. Much to everyone’s surprise, he said, “And now I want to introduce you to someone who is just the epitome of Leadville tough,” and he asked Aron Ralston to stand up. Ralston was the very individual who had just become famous because he had had to sever his own arm off with a dull knife to save himself when he’d been pinned to a canyon wall by a dislodged boulder. There he was standing and smiling with a brand new prosthetic arm strapped to his shoulder. (He was there to pace a runner that year but the following year he finished the race himself.) Chlouber went on, “So when you’re out there whining about how it hurts and you want to quit…”

He stopped there. We could all fill in the rest, and I’m sure every single one of us walked out of there absolutely convinced we were never going to quit the race. How could you know what Ralston had endured? And yet, as usual, less than half the people who started the race managed to finish.

More than half dropped out, notwithstanding Chlouber’s pep talk. My point is that you can feel a lot of conviction about what you are going to do when the pain gets intense and the chips are down, but it is only in the actual moment when you are faced with a dire situation that you find out really how you are going to react.


Practicing applying mindfulness techniques to your running, especially during workouts when you are really pushing yourself, pushing the pace, or going longer than your usual distance, helps. Then when you’re faced with a tough situation in a race, the whole process of confronting the pain, accepting it, and moving beyond it will be more familiar and hopefully more effective.

Saturday 3 November 2018

Spaniard Betalú wins the opening stage in Costa Rica while Armstrong loses more than 3 hours

The Route of the Conquerors in Costa Rica consists of three stages covering a total of 226 kilometers, including 6,764 meters of accumulated ascent and 6,701 meters of descent.


Spanish cyclist Josep Betalú won the opening stage of the Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike race in Costa Rica on Thursday, while Lance Armstrong lost more than three hours.

The organizers of the event, one of the most difficult mountain bike events on the planet, reported that Betalú completed the 86 kilometers of stage one in 4 hours 57 minutes 16 seconds, followed by locals Carlos Arias with 5h09: 30 and Federico Ramírez with 5h16: 45.

The Spaniard is the defending champion of this event, which emulates paths made by the Spanish conquerors centuries ago in the Central American country.

Lance Armstrong, a first-timer in this event, recreationally by his own admission, crossed the finish line in 82nd place with a time of 8h31:34, more than 3 hours behind the stage winner.

The first stage took the more than 400 cyclists from Jacó Beach, Puntarenas province (central Pacific) to Ciudad Colón, in the center of the country, a distance of 86 kilometers covering rivers, mountains, and tropical forests.

The second stage will be on Friday from Tres Ríos, province of Cartago (center), to Turrialba, Cartago (east), slightly shorter at 80 kilometers. The final stage will be on Saturday covering 60 kilometers between Siquirres and Playa Bonita, both locations in the province of Limón (Caribbean).

Over the course of three days of the event, the cyclists will ride 226 kilometers, including a challenging 6,764 meters of accumulated ascent and 6,701 meters of descent.

Saturday 13 October 2018

DANIELA RYF WON IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2018


Daniela Ryf got stung badly by jellyfish during the swim and considered quitting at T1. She decided to push on and smashed her own course record by 20 minutes. Se finished in 8hours 26min 18sec. Second, was Lucy Charles in 8hours 36min 32sec. Third, was Anne Haug in 8hours 41min 57sec.

I don't know about everyone else in the world attempting to follow the race via the FaceBook Live feed, but even with a fiber optic internet connection, it was immensely frustrating to follow the commentary. Five words of commentary followed by 20 or more seconds of buffering and a jump ahead meant not being able to follow the live commentary at all.

The athletes, however, faced a far greater challenge on the Big Island. A calm sea and overcast conditions with almost no wind meant swim and bike course records would be in jeopardy. 



Swim
Immediately from the gun, it was Lucy Charles that dominated the swim. It took no more than a hundred yards or so to get clear water between her and everybody else.


By the end of the swim, Lucy Charles was first out in a new record time of 48min 13sec. That was almost three minutes clear of Lauren Brandon in second and notably 10min clear of defending champion Daniela Ryf. 



Bike
Daniela Ryf put her head down and pushed an estimated 240 watts on the bike. By the start of the climb to Hawi at 41 miles, she was already in second place. Charles still had a buffer of 8min 02sec on Ryf.


By the time Ryf got back down the hill to the Queen K highway, she had closed the gap down to 4min 49sec. Lucy Charles started slowing slightly and by 87 miles her lead was cut in half, down to 2min 38sec.

Ryf made the pass with less than 10 miles to go on the bike and held her pace to be first off the bike with a new bike course record of 4hours 26min 07sec. Lucy Charles came in 1min 32sec off the pace.


Run
Ryf extended that gap by a further 18sec within the first two miles of the run.

From there it was the Daniela show with her lead extending mile by mile. 


By the time the runners had got back to the Queen K from the energy lab Lucy Charles' second place looked secure with close to 9 minutes advantage to the faster runners in her wake. She gave up just three of those minutes over the closing 8 miles.

Top 10:
1. Daniela Ryf 8:26:16 
2. Lucy Charles 8:36:32 
3. Anne Haug 8:41:57 
4. Sarah True 8:43:42 
5. Mirinda Carfrae 8:50:44 
6. Sarah Crowley 8:52:29 
7. Kaisa Sali 8:54:26 
8. Angela Naeth 8:57:34 
9. Corinne Abraham 8:57:54 
10. Linsey Corbin 8:58:57

PATRICK LANGE WON IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2018


Patrick Lange smashed the Ironman World Championship course record in a time of 7hours 52min 39sec. Bart Aernouts was second, also going sub 8 hours. Third went to David McNamee in 8hrs 01min 09sec. All of the top three finishing faster than the previous course record.

I don't know about everyone else in the world attempting to follow the race via the FaceBook Live feed, but even with a fiber optic internet connection, it was immensely frustrating to follow the commentary. Five words of commentary followed by 20 or more seconds of buffering and a jump ahead meant not being able to follow the live commentary at all.

The athletes, however, faced a far greater challenge on the Big Island. A calm sea and overcast conditions with almost no wind meant swim and bike course records would be in jeopardy. 

Swim
At 6:35am the Ironman canon signaled the start of the pro men's race. Immediately Josh Amberger surged to the front. He managed to string the field out but amazingly the entire men's field stayed together on his feet almost all the way to the turnaround.


When the split did come, it was only nine other athletes that managed to stay with Amberger.

Josh Amberger was still at the head of the lead pack out of the water, narrowly missing the swim course record again.

Bike
It didn't take long for super cyclists Cameron Wurf and Andrew Starykowicz to close the gap on Amberger.

At the start of the climb up to Hawi the trio had over three minutes advantage on the remaining athletes.


Cameron Wurf made his move at 87 miles and immediately opened up a gap at the front of the race.

Wurf was first off the bike in a new bike course record of 4hours 09min 36sec. Patrick Lange came off the bike in tenth alongside Tim O'Donnell at 6min 44sec down.

Run
Both Lange and O'Donnell put their heads down and got to work closing the gap. After just a couple of minutes, they linked up with Bart Aernouts.

Patrick Lange used the left turn onto the Queen K to put the hammer down and drop his companions. 


Lange caught and passed Wurf just short of the 10-mile mark.

Coming out of the energy lab Lange had extended his lead 2min 09sec from Bart Aernouts and 5min 49sec from David McNamee. That was the order they held to the finish.


Top 10:
1. Patrick Lange 7:52:30
2. Bart Aernouts +4:02
3. David McNamee +8:30
4. Tim O'Donnell +10:38
5. Braden Currie +12:02
6. Matt Russell +12:06
7. Joe Skipper +13:15
8. Andy Potts +16:55
9. Cameron Wurf +17:53
10. Michael Weiss +18:25

Sunday 7 October 2018

LAURA PHILIPP WINS IRONMAN BARCELONA 2018


Laura Philipp won Ironman Barcelona in 8hours 34min 57sec. Hanna Maksimava was second at 33min 21sec. Yvonne van Vlerken was third at 35min 52sec. 

Cool and blustery conditions greeted the twenty pro women lining up at Ironman Barcelona at 8am on 7 October 2018.

It was a wetsuit legal swim with a water temperature of 20 degrees Celcius.


Swim
Eva Wutti surged out strongly at the start of the swim trying to break up the field ahead of the strong bikers like Laura Philipp and Yvonne van Vlerken.

Her efforts paid off shearing a group of seven off the front. However, it was hard work in the choppy conditions.

Unfortunately, the swimmer on Wutti's feet was none other than Laura Philipp of Germany.

However, it was Hanna Maksimava of Belarus that touched the sand first. The early leader, Wutti, was a mere two seconds back. Natalie Seymour of Great Britain emerged two seconds behind Wutti.

Unfortunately, Laura Philipp at 10 seconds and Yvonne van Vlerken at 17 seconds were right up there with them.

Bike
The race through T1 reshuffled the leaders. Philipp mounted first, ahead of Wutti and Van Vlerken. Had those three ladies been any closer together at the mount line their wheels would have been touching.

Straight away Van Vlerken put down the power and opened daylight between her and the pursuers.


Philipp was not to be out-done and pulled up and passed Van Vlerken up the opening climb. The two exchanged the lead through the first 56km. Wutti was ten seconds back and Seymour a further seven seconds behind Wutti. Ewa Komander of Poland was the best of the rest but already conceded over six minutes.

At the half-way turn point, Philipp had opened four seconds on the hard chasing Van Vlerken. Behind the duo, Seymour was in third but already at a massive 4min 33sec down. 


Philipp grabbed the opportunity to distance Van Vlerken and passed 142km with a 2min 50second cushion to put her out of the line of sight of the Dutch pro.


It was clear that the title would be decided between these two as Seymour was 14min 11sec behind Philipp.

As expected, Laura Philipp was first off the bike after 5hours 40min 35sec of racing. Van Vlerken was second into T2 at 6min 54sec. Her compatriot, Pleuni Hooijman, was third at 19min 33sec.


Run
Any thoughts that Laura Philipp had left too much out on the bike course were squashed when she increased her lead to 10min 31sec at 8.3km. That was further extended to 12min 58sec at 15.5km. 


Laura Philipp was looking more and more in control as her advantage further extended to 16min 49sec at the half marathon.

From there the top step of the podium was a foregone conclusion. Philipp took the tape in 8hours 34min 57sec.

Results
1 Laura Philipp (GER) 08:34:57 
2 Hanna Maksimava (BLR) 09:08:18 
3 Yvonne van Vlerken (NED) 09:10:49 
4 Simona Krivankova (CZE) 09:19:06 
5 Pleuni Hooijman (NED) 09:30:36 
6 Merce Tusell (ESP) 09:33:25 
7 Venla Koivula-Huttunen (FIN) 09:43:52
8 Anni Antikainen (FIN) 09:47:19
9 Dolca Olle Gatell (ESP) 09:52:03
10 Rahel Bellinga (NED) 10:03:13

JESPER SVENSSON WINS IRONMAN BARCELONA 2018


Jesper Svensson of Sweden won Ironman Barcelona in 8hours 5min 56sec. Franz Loschke of Germany was second at 11 seconds. Miquel Blanchart Tinto of Spain was third at 8min 26sec.

Cool and blustery conditions greeted the eighty pro men lining up at Ironman Barcelona at 8am on 7 October 2018.

It was a wetsuit legal swim with a water temperature of 20 degrees Celcius.


Swim
Guillem Rojas took off like a rocket. Before long there were 30 seconds of clear water between him and the chase group.

Rojas maintained his tempo through the remainder of the swim, emerging onto the Barcelona beach sand after only 45min 34sec. 


Following Rojas with a deficit of only 40 seconds was Swedish athlete Jesper Svensson.

Third place down to tenth was separated by a mere 10 seconds but emerged a full two minutes after Svensson.

Bike
Rojas held the gap through T1 to lead out on the bike leg.

Svensson knew that his best chance against the likes of Harry Wiltshire would be to hit out early on the bike. That is exactly what he did, catching and dropping Rojas on the first climb. 

At 56km Svensson had extended his lead to just over four minutes from a pack of nine. Notably absent from that pack was Wiltshire. The pack did, however, include Franz Loschke at 4min 19sec.


At the 90km turn point, Svensson had conceded thirty seconds of his lead to the chase pack.

As an out and back course, Svensson would have seen the split to the chase pack. Consequently, he upped his wattage so that the chase pack was once again at 5min 54sec at 142km.

Jesper Svensson was first off the bike after 5hours 10minutes 36seconds of racing.

The chase pack had been reduced to only four riders who were over six minutes behind the Swede. Of those, Franz Loschke brought up the rear at 6min 29sec.

Run
At 8.3km Loschke had moved into a clear second place and reduced the deficit to 5min 22sec.


Svensson's lead was further cut to just 4min 7sec at the 15.5km mark. Already the Ironman athlete tracker system was indicating that a pass could happen inside the final five kilometers.

Those calculations were further amended when the German blasted through the half marathon mark only 2min 29sec off the pace.

At 28.6km the lead was only 23 seconds and Loschke could now see the Swede just ahead.


After leading the race for 214km, Svensson was finally passed by Loschke. The lead change was far from decisive as the Swede slotted in, pacing himself off the German's tempo.


With a mere 7km left to run Loschke had extended his lead to 1min 11sec over a very determined looking Svensson.

Miquel Blanchart Tinto of Spain was looking like he was on track to the fastest marathon of the day and had moved up to third at 35km. His deficit of 10min 18sec simply too much to challenge for the top two steps of the podium.

Inside the final 2km and Svensson fights pack to take the lead again. The Swede held it through to the finish to lift the tape only 11 seconds ahead of Loschke.

Results
​1 Svensson 08:05:56 
2 Loeschke +00:11 
3 Blanchart Tinto +08:27 
4 Mahr +11:04 
5 Renc +13:06 
6 Herbst +13:15 
7 Scheltinga +14:02 
8 Hanko +16:38 
9 Kramer +16:46
10 Moreno Molins +17:18

Tuesday 10 July 2018

TOUR DE FRANCE 2018 STAGE 4



After he took the yellow jersey in the team time trial at Cholet, Greg Van Avermaet will enjoy the sea view of the Atlantic Ocean even more at both start and finish of stage 4. 

La Baule is Europe’s longest beach (9km long) and one of the most prestigious holiday destinations in France, along with the gulf of Morbihan where the race will end in Sarzeau whose mayor is no other than UCI President David Lappartient. 

Stage 4 is surely dedicated to sprinters without any risk of crashing in curve near the finish like Fernando Gaviria did in La Roche-sur-Yon with the yellow jersey. It’s an usual 4-km long straight finish! Peter Sagan is back in the green jersey and keen to win one more stage although the following one will suit him even more. 

All top sprinters are looking for their first win at the 2018 Tour de France: Marcel Kittel, André Greipel, Mark Cavendish, Arnaud Démare, Dylan Groenewegen… None of them have the double goal of stage win and yellow jersey anymore. It’s all about being first in front of the president.