The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-317 – Tim Lee Qualifies for Boston

(Audio: link)

[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4317.mp3]
Link epi4317.mp3

Support my Hood-to-Coast Relay for Cancer Research – https://finishcancer2015.everydayhero.com/us/chris-russell-hood-to-coast-for-cancer-research

Intro Bumper:

Well hello my friends. Welcome to episode 4-317 of the RunRunLive Podcast. I hope you’re doing well and enjoying your summer – or your winter – if you’re on the other side of this rock we live on.

Today I’m going to change up the format a wee bit. Because I can. Because it’s my podcast and I can do whatever I want with it. But it’s not about me. It’s about you. And I hope you can get something, some small glimmer of insight into your own soul from listening to me do things and talk to people and ask questions.

That’s my purpose here. That’s how I find fulfillment. I use my, albeit miserably poetic, communication skills and my passion for endurance sports and my love of learning to give you the spark to do your own thing and have your own adventures. I’m the poster child for proof that the everyman can work adventure and learning and struggle into his life.

And if I can do it and so can you.

I don’t care if you give Audible.com your credit card. I don’t care if you get your razors and ointments and unguents from Harry’s. I don’t care if you use stamps.com or legalzoom or mailchimp – although I think mailchimp has a better sense of humor than constant contact – I just want you to get up off your bum and do something, learn something, feel something. Live. Have an adventure.

So…anyhow…I’m going to lead right in today with my interview of Tim Lee who qualified for Boston just recently using the plan I laid out in my latest book ”MarathonBQ – How to qualify for Boston in 14 weeks (with a full time job and family)”.

This is not intended to be self-promotional. Don’t get me wrong – It tickled me to death that he was able to do this, but I thought you folks could gain some value from Tim telling you he didn’t think he could do it, but he did! He took a leap of faith, went outside his comfort zone and surprised himself.

People always act like there’s some sort of secret code to running faster. There isn’t. All you have to do is consistently run more volume and more quality. That’s it. There are lots of plans that embody this. Actual most plans embody this. My philosophy was to look at that concept and distill it down to the simplest, direct path from where I was to where I wanted to get to – which was a qualifying time.

After Tim I’m going to give you my overly long race report from the Olympic triathlon I did after we last talked. I might even sneak in some music. Because I feel like it.

Again, I don’t do race reports to be self-congratulatory. I do race reports to understand that truest crucible of our sport where that daily mental and physical training meet the reality of race day. It’s where we are laid bare.

I’m coming to you live from a hotel in Atlanta Georgia where I’ve been hired by the local shadow government to take care of a couple bad apples.

It’s hot and humid down here. Coach is ramping me up and has me doing 1:30 worth of work every day. It’s hard to squeeze in. Even if I go out in the morning it takes 30 minutes to stop sweating after. And your clothes never dry. You know I wear the anti-fashionable tech short-shorts and even those won’t dry. It’s super icky.

I wasn’t going to climb back into wet clothes so I washed them out in the tub and dried them in the hotel’s laundry room. But my Hokas are totally stinked out and slimy. It’s not pleasant.

Coach has me doing some surge runs and I’m playing with my pace to see how my heart responds and to see if I’m ready to increase the quality of my training and get some speed back.

The other thing I’ve been working on is trying to get 8 hours of sleep. I know I hunt at being a bit of a wizard at time management, but having such long workouts and trying to get enough sleep is killing me. If I get up at the crack of dawn to do it I’m barely getting to work on time and have to go to bed at 9:00. If I do it after work it’s time for bed by the time I stop sweating! I’m not getting anything done!

But I’ll just keep plugging away…

…

I’ve been testing out Backgammon apps on the iPhone. You kids may not believe this but when I was in college we didn’t have a TV, (let alone internet or cell phones). My roommates and I would have epic card games, bridge and hearts and we’d also play a lot of Backgammon.

What I like about backgammon is it’s a luck based game. You have to have a little skill but it’s not chess.

The first app I downloaded was fine but after a couple games I figured it out. It was very timid, very risk adverse. It made poor decisions because it avoided risk at all costs. I was able to beat it 95% of the time because I took calculated risks. I finally deleted it because it was boring.

Then I got another one that was totally the opposite. It just blitzkrieged me every game. I couldn’t win. The closest I ever got was to be up 8 games to 2 and I lost that match 15-8. I deleted that one too because I think the dice were rigged.

Again, it’s not chess. Skill level can only offset the luck of the roll so much. It’s statistically improbable that I could lose 95% of the games.

Now I’m testing one that’s playing against other people on the web. It’s slow and you have to be online but at least it’s real.

That’s the way it is in life. You’re never going to get anywhere unless you take some risk. It’s the fine art of balancing risk and return that makes the chaos livable. Just make sure you’re not over estimating the risk and underestimating the reward like most people do. Really, what’s the worst that can happen.

Roll the dice.

On with the show!

Section one – Running Tips

Not this week!

Voices of reason – the interviews

Tim Lee

Left Coast living Canadian. Husband and Dad of 1 teenage boy. Determined to run and cycle my way through my bucket list. London, Athens, Tokyo, Honolulu, Alpe D’Huez, Ventoux, Tourmalet, Stelvio, Mortirolo. Just to name a few. 2016 Boston-qualifier.

Twitter: @acmedragon337

Massachusetts Triathlon Olympic Distance Tri Race Report

– https://runrunlive.com/the-real-mass-olympic-triathlon-race-report

Outro

https://finishcancer2015.everydayhero.com/us/chris-russell-hood-to-coast-for-cancer-research

There ya go. Another race in the bag and another podcast in the can. That triathlon had some nice swag too. I got a bottle, a shirt, a nice medal with a bottle-opener in it and a nice bike bottle.

I have some new electrolyte replacement stuff I’m testing too. Seems to work well in the heat and sits in the stomach lightly. Whenever I start testing any powder-based drinks I always mix them half strength to start. If the directions say to add a scoop, add a half a scoop instead and see how that works.

I like the UCan but it doesn’t’ sit easily in the gut when the weather is hot – even though I have a pretty strong gut. I’ve never had any instances of ‘losing’ my drinks but it does get rumbly and it can be a naggy annoyance during a race.

I’m gearing up my fundraising for the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of August. I’m taking a whole week off and meandering across the country from South Dakota to Portland Oregon with my wife. Our marriage has survived 30 years. We’ll see if it survives this!

Check out any page of my website www.runrunlive.com for the donate link. I can really use your help. Remember – 7 years’ worth of Ad-free podcasts for you – the least you can do is throw $20 towards cancer research! I mean it’s Cancer Research not my personal hut tub and floozy fund. I don’t see any of this money, it goes directly to the Portland Cancer Research place.

Like I intimated last time I’m going to bail out of the mountain bike race in August. Instead I’m going to go up to my buddy’s house for a Beer and Bike weekend. Then I’m going to run another relay with my club called the 100 on 100 in Vt which is basically a one day race where I’ll run three legs of 10k or so.

Not sure what I’m going to do in the fall. I have one eye on my Heart to see how much of the AFIB is gone and whether I want to push it or not.

My garden is producing beans and red raspberries like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve got a few apples. My squash, peppers and tomatoes were a bust this year.

The body count on the back yard vermin stands at 3 juvenile woodchucks, 3 bunnies, a raccoon and a grey squirrel. I still haven’t caught the momma yet, but I my parsley is starting to grow back unmolested.

And, finally, after my run last Sunday I took my chainsaw and went out into the woods. I removed that oak tree that was across the trail. The one that knocked me off the head and broke my teeth. It is no longer hanging over the trail. It is cut and stacked. I intend to sneak out there with my truck and fetch it for the fireplace at some point.

…

Don’t forget to say yes to adventure and sign up for the Wapack Trail race on September 6^th at the Windblown ski area in Ipswich New Hampshire and join me for some mountain running smack down fun.

We added a Facebook page and an event for it.

https://www.facebook.com/wapacktrailrace?fref=ts

http://wapack.freeservers.com/

…

One of the things that frustrates me is when people have an attitude of scarcity. Scarcity is a form of fear. It’s a low-level fear that comes from the fear of not having enough or losing what you have. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you have an attitude of scarcity you invite scarcity into your life.

You are born with everything you need. Everything else is gravy. Life is not scarce. Life is abundant.

I see people acting out of scarcity and they tend to hide, and hold back, and hoard. They don’t move out of their comfort zone because of that low level fear of what they might lose. Scarcity eats you alive.

The way out of scarcity is to move. Even if you don’t know where you are going. Even if you don’t know your purpose. Even if you don’t have any discrete goals. Just move. Roll those dice and pick a direction and move.

Once you start moving you’ll find abundance on your journey. And I’ll see you out there.

Closing comments