Seeking Imperfect Rides

2020 challenge - embracing cold, windy, rainy bike rides.

By Chris Palmquist

When confronted with an uncomfortable situation, the best athletes are able to “re-frame” how they look at it. Instead of dreading a race day with extremely hot conditions, an athlete might change the narrative for the upcoming day. “Hot days are my superpower!” “Extreme conditions are an opportunity to put more distance on my competitors.” “I love the heat. I love the heat. I love the heat.”

The story that we tell ourselves has a very real effect on how we intrepret our surroundings. Most of us are overly negative in our story-telling to ourselves. What would you think if I told you that it is quite easy to simply swap that negative story with a positive spin? This re-framing will help you feel much better about that day, that race or even an entire season of chaos and disappointments such as 2020.

My 2020 goals have all revolved around lowering stress, increasing health and finding the joy in each day. One of my goals is to keep riding as our Chicagoland weather turns into winter. I’ve been riding through rain, pushing into prairie wind and adding layers to stay warm in the cold. Through my living room window, the day might seem dreary, but as soon as I am pedaling down the road, it becomes beautiful.

I am having fun conquering more weather challenges and redefining what it means to have a “great ride.” My great rides now might be just a few miles. They might be ridden in loops within 7 miles from my house. They might be after dark. They sometimes happen in the rain. Many are solo, some with just a friend or two.

As I ride these imperfect rides, I am focused on the moment. Look at that tree! Feel the wind! Check out that sound. I have taken photos and stopped to ponder. My brain stops spinning, and I feel such gratitude for my health and ability to ride. I have appreciation for every tree and grass and animal that I see along the way.

What story can you swap to find more joy and fitness in this season? How can you re-frame what you are experiencing into an opportunity? Look for the “imperfect rides” and make them your secret weapon in this challenging year.

Pandemic Purpose

My daily, solo sunset rides have been a wonderful way to find peace at the end of each day.

Pandemic Purpose

Chris Palmquist

It has been months since I have blogged – since right before the pandemic was declared. That was when everything about being an endurance athlete and coach changed. As I searched for the answers for my athletes and myself in this new world, I was hesitant to write anything for fear that it would be flippant.

I am still hesitant but as difficult as this year has been, I am seeing successes in my athletes and myself. These successes look much different than the race results of years past but many of them are triumphant and life changing. If we can move each day, we have preserved some control over our destiny in a year where much feels out of our control.

Athletes who are now working from home can now fit in a run or bike instead of having to commute to and from work every day.

Athletes who feel anxiety about an upcoming race can now focus on the joy of the training journey without that pressure.

Getting outside is generally the safest thing that we can do. And nothing is better for our mental health than to move through the outside air under our own power.

Things that are working:

Distance challenges – the GVRAT has an astonishing 19,000+ participants running and walking 1000+ km across Tennessee virtually.

Frequency challenges – Bianchi’s August Riding Challenge - ride your bike every day in August (outside and at least 5 miles) – a fun way to make sure you move each day.

Speed challenges – athletes working on getting their one-mile time down this summer with speed sessions and time trials at the track.

Strava challenges – finding segments and crushing them on Strava.

Nutrition challenges – eating at home allows us to reduce processed foods and substitute healthier options.

Team challenges - our team of five cross country coaches successfully completed the “Calendar Challenge” in April - running together the same number of miles as the day of the month.

Strength challenges – planks, push-ups, pull-ups and other body weight exercises require no gym and make a big difference.

2020 goals must fit into our lives right now. The stress of our daily lives is high – our goals cannot add to that in a negative way. Find a challenge or a goal that fits in and gives you the purpose that you need without adding to the stress.

Keep moving forward

In the end, we love endurance sports for the challenge of the journey, the friends that travel with us and the satisfying feeling of a goal accomplished. A pandemic cannot take any of that away from us. Keep moving forward and we will get to the other side.

Lessons from the Indoor Trainer

It was the third, dark week of February and the wind chills were frigid. We’d been gathering twice a week since early December to ride 90 minutes on Computrainers and the thrill was gone. As I unlocked the studio and turned on the lights, the thermostat read 51 degrees inside. We shivered as we bolted our bikes into place and turned on some music.

I clicked the start button and we began to pedal through a long, gradual warm up. Immediately the grumpy comments stopped and we started to tell the stories that had occurred to us since our last ride. Within a minute or two, we were laughing out loud. Somehow that warm up transformed our moods from, “Why, didn’t I stay in bed?” to “We are lucky to be able to ride strongly together today.”

The course that I had written was another tough one. 40 minutes of broken intervals at sub-threshold. “Comfortably uncomfortable.” Too strong for conversation but at each rest interval we continued with the stories and laughter. Today we talked about everything from photography to brain science to river otters. And as we connected socially, we knocked off one interval at a time.

At the beginning of the ride, the upcoming challenge felt very daunting. But as we rode, we got stronger. Because we had each other, we all finished the ride.

This experience is one that repeats itself over and over in the lives of athletes. The lessons here are many:

• The hardest part is showing up - turn off your rational thinking and just go get that workout done

• Workout friends and workout conversations are the best - seek these people and opportunities

• Completing a hard workout makes the rest of the day better

• Riding partners make hard rides possible, especially on a trainer

In a couple of months, spring will arrive here in Illinois, and we will get out on the trails and roads with the strength of this winter work to push against the headwinds. But right now, it is the laughter that will carry us through the long winter.

Gathering Energy

We head to the North Woods to regenerate and celebrate the past year and new decade!

Gathering Energy

Chris Palmquist, December 26, 2019

The holiday weeks are a chance for everyone recover from year of working, training, accomplishing, battling and achieving. Over the years, I have found this time to be critical for mental health and emotional and physical energy. Here are some things that athletes can do to be primed to start 2020 off with energy and enthusiasm.

Family/Friends First

If you are lucky enough to spend extra time with family and friends over the holidays, make those experiences your top priority. Go for a walk with everyone rather than that solo run - it may feel like a sacrifice today, but you won’t regret the opportunity to talk with your teenagers or reconnect with a relative when you look back on this in the future. Slow down and play a game with your kids. Eat the holiday food and enjoy it. Do the things that you don’t have time to do in the thick of a competitive season.

Reflection

Take some time to formally reflect back on 2019 (and the decade). Go through your calendar, training log and notes. Remember the races, the key training sessions, the workout buddies, the successes and the misses. What worked well? What accomplishments make you proudest? Write all of this down in a journal. How does this reflection effect your 2020 goals? Celebrate and learn from the past.

The best athletes and coaches have a strong reflection practice. Now is a good time to start this practice if you have not reflected formally and regularly in the past. Get a journal and start writing your reflections. This can be one of the most powerful tools for endurance athletes.

Effective Goal Setting for 2020

As you may have heard, resolutions usually do not work. They are often grand ideas for self improvement that are simply too lofty to keep for long. Instead, create some 2020 goals that are based on the daily processes that you can control, measure and build on over the year to great success!

Examples of process-oriented goals include:

• I will swim 2 times per week in January

• I will eat 5 servings of vegetables and/or fruit per day when possible

• I will do my easy workouts at a true, easy effort so that I can crush the hard training days

• I will find and commit to some training days with workout buddies

• I will get 7 hours of sleep when possible by setting an alarm to shut down the electronics and get to bed on time

The above goals, are examples of process goals - controllable, achievable and measurable. When met regularly, these processes will add up to success at races and in overall health later in the year.

Recover, Reprioritize, Reflect and Set Good Goals

Use these last days of 2019 and the decade wisely. Recover and reflect deeply. Enjoy family and rest. Set process goals for January. Do these things well and you will have energy and a plan for success in 2020.

My family will be doing the same and wish all of you a Happy New Year! I am so thankful for all of you!

How is Coaching Different?

How is Coaching Different?

Chris Palmquist

December 3, 2019

Many area runners just completed a marathon while raising money for a charity (bravo!). As a perk for their fundraising efforts, the charity provided them with a “coach” during the training process. Each runner had one or two phone conversations with a coach, then the coach assigned each of them one of three possible levels of training plans based on their running experience and fitness. The runners then followed the training plan with little interaction with their coach. The runners believed that they had a coach guiding their training, but I would argue that they did not. Let me explain by defining the different options that athletes have to guide their training and achieve their goals.

Basic: The Generic Training Plan

There are three general options for organizing one’s training for a seasonal goal.  At the most basic level, many athletes “coach” themselves. Their training may be random - simply running, biking and swimming when and where they wish during each week. Or the self-coached athlete might pick up a magazine, website or book-based training plan and follow it to the best of their ability. The pros of self-coaching include the ability to control your own schedule and the low cost. However, this athlete is less likely to reach his or her full potential. They are more susceptible to lose motivation or to become injured. Using (or not using) a training plan that was never tailored to the athlete’s goals, strengths or weaknesses will drastically limit results. And more importantly, the athlete has no-one overseeing his or her progress with an expert, caring eye. This can lead to burn-out, injury or lack of success.

There are some situations and athletes for whom self-coaching can work well. An athlete with significant prior experience might do well by following a generic or self-built training plan if they know when and how to modify it to avoid injury and experience the correct amount of training stimulus. This requires knowledge and confidence.

Intermediate: Custom Built Training Plan

The intermediate training option is when an athlete hires a coach to create a custom training plan tailored to the athlete’s specific goals, training objectives, strengths, limiters, energy and available training time. In this scenario, the coach and athlete conduct an extensive interview where the coach learns all the above characteristics of the athlete. Then, the coach designs a customized plan for several months of training for this unique athlete. The coach hands over the training plan, then the athlete takes the plan and “runs” with it independently from the coach.

The benefits of a custom training plan are that the athlete gets a unique, tailored plan at a low cost from an expert coach. The disadvantages to this scenario are that once the plan goes to the athlete, the coach will no longer be there to modify the plan, oversee the athlete’s progress, adjust for fatigue/illness/injury, give ongoing advice or to help with answers to all the questions that inevitably come up during training and racing. Even with the disadvantages, custom training plans are a big step up from a generic plan.

At Cloud 10 Multisport, we call these Custom Built Training Plans. Find out more here:  https://www.cloud10multisport.com/custom-built-training-plans

Advanced: Performance Coaching

The best way to train successfully and attain your goals is to hire a personal coach. A good coach will learn everything about you, your goals, restrictions and your abilities. The coach will work with you to set goals and training objectives that will lead to success. Based on frequent communication and analysis of your workout data, the coach will design and prescribe training for you that will fit into your life, push your limits, rest you when needed and progressively work towards building your peak skills and fitness. A good coach will do everything possible to limit burn-out, illness and injury. When your work or family schedule suddenly changes, a coach will modify your training accordingly.

A good coach understands both the art and the physiological science needed to bring out your best. Most importantly, a good coach cares deeply about your achievements – working as your partner every step along the way. At Cloud 10 Multisport, we call this Performance Coaching. More information can be found here: https://www.cloud10multisport.com/coaching

Invest in your passion, reach your goals

The charity runners thought that they had a “coach” guiding them through their marathon preparation. In reality, they were just following a semi-custom training plan – a very different experience from real, one-on-one coaching. Although, they all enjoyed being part of the charitable mission together, they may have had more success in their races if they had a personal coach helping them with the daily questions and challenges that always occur on a training journey.

If you are serious about your goals and want to match your efforts with the proper training, answers and caring that you get from a real coach, make sure that you hire a personal coach. The investment that you make in true coaching will be worthwhile.