Day Two - bring on Lemmon!

Day two of camp and we had to make a choice. We had planned on riding Mt. Lemmon later in the week, but the day we planned called for clouds, which could mean interesting weather on top of the mountain, so we scheduled the climb for Monday.

We started the day in Saguaro Park running for an hour on a mix of pavement and trail. The sun was just popping up over the mountains and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Very similar to the weather back in CT yesterday:) The real fun began around 10am. We sent the first group off, then I lead my group out 30 minutes later. Mt. Lemmon is not necessarily steep but it's 26 miles! It wears on you hard. My group split up pretty quick near the bottom and I rode with Carri until about the 11 mile mark and then waited so that I got the chance to ride with most. Steve from Canada, the 64 year old is a stud. As I rode with him, he was telling me he's out of shape currently, yet he was leading the first group! We had the Cannondale demo truck at the hotel and Rick from Alaska took a demo bike and climbed the mountain! Typically, it's about 30 degrees colder at the top of Lemmon, yet today, in the sun on the top, it was still in the 80's. This heat and this mountain is a nice slap in the face on day two of camp, and their salt caked faces at the top showed the effort. Hey, they could have been home shoveling snow! Gus looked dazed and confused as though he'd been tipping back some cocktails - it was great!

We all met up at the cookie corner for some monster size cookies. I had a coke float. No more pie shop at the top of Lemmon for these camps after the witnessing the sloppy fat guy sneezing all over the pies last year. We began to tackle the small ascent out of the little town on top of Lemmon and I jumped out of the saddle on a steeper part of the climb and heard as huge SNAP as my right leg drove down hard and the bike jerked around hard under me. My brand new chain snapped! I was able to not crash somehow, and sat on my ride and let gravity take me back to the cookie corner where Jill was still loading up some bikes from a few who were toasted and concerned about descending. I took Spinners bike and brought the saddle up about two feet and headed off. The descent is amazing, with huge switch backs and sweeping turns overlooking amazing vistas.

Arriving back at the hotel, the campers looked spent but were all in good spirits and dinner was quite fun. Usually it takes three days or so for everyone to loosen up, but not this year! We have a group that is doing exactly what I asked initially of them, to lift their ego's and fears, and embrace each day.

Be sure to check out my home page at http://www.hodska.com/ for the camp mvp write ups, pictures, and a new Straz article.

Heading to the pool now for a swim session and video work so I'll post again later. As they sat down here in Mexico (Arizona is part of Mexico, right?), Vaios Con Dios Mother F'ers!

Cheers,

EH

Day One - Tucson Camp

For all of you on the east coast that are getting hit with the current snow storm, you think you have it bad? It was in the high 80's today and I've got a bit of sunburn - that's what tough is.

I like to start out these camps with something that has some impact. The first session should set the tone of the camp, and that is why we began this week and this day with a 90 minute run in Sabino Canyon on the telephone line trail. It was a perfect morning, weather wise, and this trail is really phenomenal. Everyone embraced the challenge and the atmosphere and I could tell that we were/are going to have a great camp.

We have quite the group this year. We have Steve, the 64 year old who drove down from Pendicton, Canada and kept pace with all the cats that are 20 to 30 years younger. Cindy and Rick, or as they are now called - The Palin's, from Alaska, Dan, the Navy stud from California who races pro, Leo from Arizona who was banging out repeat 100's on the 1:10 interval today at the pool, Jeff from Missouri who's trying to convince me it's hilly in Missouri, Carrie from Maryland who finished third in her division in duathlon worlds last year, Carla from Calgary who smiled through all the sessions today, Mike from Chicago who we'll call Ferris and who will qualify for Kona this year - mark my words, then the CT group of Spinner - the mayor of Newtown and Bethel Bike, Annmarie who's fun and way stronger than I think she knows, Jeff who's been to more of my camps than I can count and who's had me laughing my ass off, and Gus who also has attended a ton of my camps and who thrives in this environment.

We also rode for two and a half hours today, and the swam, followed by some assisted stretching.

The group was cramping quite bad towards the end of the ride and the swim. Most have come from cold climates, and even though they were being smart and pacing right today, the dry heat catches up with you.

The group is already gelling - dinner was fun and I can already tell that this is going to be one fun week.

Steve and Annmarie won the days MVP's. OK, a lot went down today but I'm a bit tired and we have another early start so I'm signing off for now.

Tucson Arrival Day

I’m seated on my flight out to Tucson. Flights can be very productive – I got a lot of work done this morning. In about one hour, I’ll be stepping out into the warm air – hopefully! I still have flashbacks of Palm Springs 2006 where it snowed on the first day. The weather looks amazing though for this coming week – it actually is supposed to be in the high 80’s tomorrow!

Today is travel day, get settled in and get the bikes assembled. We have a 5pm meeting tonight before dinner where we lay out the ground rules and expectations for camp. Anyone that knows me and/or has been to my camps know that I basically have three rules that the campers must adhere to:

1. No whining. Really, what good does whining do? I remind everyone that they signed up for this, and that this and that we are all privileged to be able to do this. If it begins to rain during a long ride, it does know good to bitch about it and to complain to your riding partners.
2. Check your ego at the door. I could care less who is the fastest and strongest. There is always a new person who wants to prove themselves on day 1. Usually, the lesson learned is a hard one as they crawl back after blowing up or when they are spent by day four.
3. Expand your limits, if not for this one week. The campers are all here to train with no other worries for a week, so take advantage of this. I prefer high volume at the camps over intensity. Once the campers get home, they can work back in more quality as their schedule usually allows for maybe a third of the volume that most will do this week. I want them to take some chances here and swing for the fence.

A few other points I’ll touch upon tonight are all about getting the campers in the right mind set. Most are intimidated on the first day, and I try anything I can to alleviate this tension. I want those here to not only make themselves better, but challenge themselves to make everyone around them better. This is something that we should think about each morning – “how exactly can I make myself and those around me better today?”. One of the keys to doing this is to free up ourselves mentally, so that we find a place where success and failure don’t matter. Only than can we take those uncompromising chances and really begin to learn about ourselves.

OK, enough philosophical mumbo jumbo. Some other things I wanted to write about:

Huge new discovery in nutritional science this week. I’m sure that you have all heard or read this in the news: To lose weight, it’s not so much what you eat, but rather it’s more about taking in less calories than you are expending. This is revolutionary! What a breakthrough!!! Finally, we figured out that if you burn more calories than you consume daily, you’ll lose weight.

I’ve been catching up on some movies while riding the computrainer. Keep in mind that trainer movies should be filled with action, and not make you think to much. I know there are scholars out there reading this saying it never hurts to think – if you become to distracted to focus on some quality (a trainer ride should be all about quality), then save it for the sofa. I saw a movie with Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie where they play assassins who can bend the path of bullets. It starts out as a combination of The Matrix, Office Space and Fight Club (yeah, it’s that hoaxy) and almost loses me, but I end up hanging in there for one reason and one reason only; Angelina. Goddamn is she stunning. Funny thing is the movie actually gets a bit entertaining. I recommend it for both sexes as I think just as many women find Angelina unbelievably attractive whether they admit it or not. I also saw Hancock with Will Smith which was surprisingly good - Will Smith plays the role well.

I'll be posting daily hopefully with some pictures and maybe some video as well, so stay tuned.

Cheers,

EH

Polar Bear Run

Sunday morning, I awoke feeling like I should stay in bed for a few more hours. I have a hard time doing this though. I wish I could, but when I'm up, I'm up. I planned on running the Polar Bear Run around Lake Warmaug and wasn't feeling motivated about it. Lisa and the kids were coming up to Lake Warmaug with me to visit Anita, the kids sitter who lives close by to the Lake. Before getting out of Monroe, I get a call from Baker who was planning on running as well. He was in the same boat as me in that he wasn't to keen on racing. I could tell that Baker was just waiting for me to give him the OK sign to bail, but Baker is solid - he would never bail on his own. After hanging up, I said to Lisa "Man, I don't feel like driving all the way up to Lake Warmaug to run an 8 mile race at 11am when I could run from here and be done by 11am." She said "Then why are you going?" I was ready to turn the car around but I always am preaching to my kids that you follow through on things.

After registering, I did an easy warm-up jog which didn't feel easy. I knew it was going to be a tough run. Just before the start, I was trying to decide on going with a singlet or a long sleeve jersey; 95% of the time in a race, I'd go with the "less" scenario, however, for some strange reason I decided on the long sleeves thankfully. As we waited for a bunch of bozo's to tie their shoes right in front of the race start, it begins to rain. It's a cold, freezing rain that's quickly drenching us. Since my hypothermia from Ralph's 1/2 IM in 2006, I have little tolerance to these conditions. By mile two I was shivering. At this point, the hammerheads out of the gate were starting to come back, and the rain was changing to a dense snow. This big guy runs up on me and for the next 4.5 miles, we run side by side. The conditions were so bizarre and by mile six, it was a white out and the road was covered. I was still freezing - i just couldn't warm up, but i was still running:) I felt very stiff and my gate didn't feel fluid, yet I could hear the big guy next to me and his breathing was beginning to sound more labored. I dropped him and went after fifth place who had been about 100 meters in front of us the whole race. I caught him with 1/2 mile to go and then kicked it in.

I didn't hang around to long after the race - in fact, I jogged back towards the campground area at the Lake where I saw Lisa and the kids parked, changed into some dry clothes, and headed out. It took me the rest of the day to warm-up, but you know what, I'm glad I went. Smaller races - there are many times where I think "why bother, just get in your training here early", but the bottom line is that it was great to be in the race atmosphere again - to toe the line. And I may not have run as fast as I would have liked but I still ran close to 8 miles at a sub 6 min pace, something I would not have done if I stayed home and trained. It was also very cool to be in the race scenario with 5th, 6th and 7th at the 6 mile mark. This made it exciting and it really tests what you are made of. So it's all good and re-enforces why it's important to get out there and enter some races, even when you don't feel like it.

Cheers,

EH

TOC

Phil Ligget's and Paul Sherwin's voices bring enjoyment to my ears. Have you ever tried watching a televised bike race with other commentators besides these two? It's painful. Bob Roll is also great and I'm even liking Craig Hummer. The conditions thus far at the Tour Of California have been anything but Californian. Seeing these guys race in these conditions is not only motivating, but it can make you feel soft for opting to RUN inside because it's drizzling out.

I'm currently watching a breakaway on the the fourth stage which contains Tyler Hamilton. Funny, even after his bullshit excuses during his trial for being caught blood doping, I still find myself rooting for him in this stage?. What's strange is that I'm typically a one chance kind of guy. I used to be more forgiving, but age hardens you, or at least washes out some of the naivete. You learn that loyalty needs to work both ways. In regards to A-Rod and pro baseball players, I'm anything but sympathetic. What's the difference you ask? I don't know... These pro baseball players are hardly tested and then getaway with such small penalties, especially considering what they make. I'm by no means excusing the cheats in pro cycling. Maybe it's the amount of work and labor these cyclists put into their sport versus the amount they're paid, along with the amount they are tested and the penalty they serve. All of the athletes in these two sports are under great pressure to perform. If anyone thinks that A-Rod was only on the juice for the three seasons he's confessed to, take a look at pictures of him from his early years and compare them to pictures of him from the past five seasons.

There's a lot of illness going around at the moment. My daughter has a fever and upper respiratory bug as well as my kids sitter. Many of my pt clients or their families have something going on. I have been having a very healthy winter until yesterday where I awoke with nausea and a bad stomach. Seems as though it was just a 24 hr bug though as I'm feeling much better now.

I leave for Tucson a week from Saturday which I'm really looking forward to. We have a fun group that I plan on introducing in my blog and on my site. I'll be posting daily from AZ.

Cheers,

EH

My Zen

Lisa and I ventured into NYC a few days ago for an early Valentines Day getaway. The next morning, I felt the need to work off some of ceviche, duck quesadillas, lobster pot pie, and red wine from the previous evening so I met a client of mine in Central Park to run. It was a beautiful morning for running – in the low 40’s and sunny. Towards the end of the run, Lewis mentioned how he was really looking forward to a cup of coffee, to which I commented that a post run cup of coffee is relaxing. He rebutted that often people comment on how having a cup of coffee is relaxing, and how they have coffee places with a relaxing set up inside and how Sirius has a “Coffee House” channel that plays all soothing and relaxing music, yet coffee amps him up – the caffeine gets him going.

So I was once again pondering this yesterday during a running hill repeat session. This was a vo2 max session and I worked it to the point where I was nauseous. On my last set of three hill repeats, I honestly thought I was going to hurl – it was great! Endurance athletes will understand what I mean here. I had 20 minutes still to run home and they certainly weren’t flat miles, yet the pace was easier. During this time, I felt spent, yet my leg turnover felt easy and my head was in a very cool, relaxed place. I felt this way for much of the afternoon following this run. I was in that haze of exhaustion yet knowing I just busted my ass in a solid session and feeling good about that as well as enjoying my overall fatigue.

I realized that I need to be in motion to relax. Typically, people will relax by lying around, maybe reading a book or watching television. Maybe just catching an afternoon nap. Once I’m awake in the morning, I need to get up. I’m not one to lay there half asleep hitting the snooze. I’ve tried – many times, and I’m anything but relaxed. I often wish I could do this, but it’s just not me. While I advocate taking a nap if you can squeeze one in, I just can’t do this either. Yet, when I’m active, doing things I get a sense of satisfaction from, I find my Zen state. When I’m turning the pedals on a long ride in beautiful country, I feel at peace. I think Lisa finally gets this. It took awhile, but she will now tell me every so often that I need to go out and train. She understands that I’ll return in a calmer state.

The funny thing is that the majority of people – the average Joe, will laugh at the thought of exercise and movement as being relaxing, thinking that the body has to be relaxed. But the real key is the mind. I’m sure that most endurance athletes get it.

Climbing On My Mind

Above is my new Cannondale Supersix that will be carrying me around Tucson in a few weeks!

When you get a sunny 58 degree day in February here in CT, you gotta take advantage. I snuck out this afternoon for a nice hilly ride, taking in what I believe to be every single hill within 20 miles of my house, including 188 from rt. 34, Punkup Rd. from rt. 34, rt. 111 from rt. 34, and rt. 34 from from the damn towards Newtown/Sandy Hook. It felt great to ride outdoors without thirty layers of clothing on - I was actually sweating today. As I rode, I thought about the fact that I'll be climbing Mt. Lemmon in just a few weeks, and then thought about the best climbs I've done on two wheels. I've had the fortune to ride in some pretty cool places and up some pretty cool climbs. Here's my list of my favorite climbs that I have experienced, in descending order based on my favorite climbs, not in order of toughness:

9. Idylwild Climb in Palm Springs, CA. - this climb was my first where I was climbing non-stop for close to an hour. The scenery was cool, although the traffic was a negative.


8. Northwest Corner of CT Route - this corner of CT and parts of MA and NY has some spectacular riding and I have a route that's just a killer including climbs up Greer Mountain Rd. and then soon after up Carter Hill Rd. It's just brutal, but very scenic.

7. Joshua Tree National Park, CA - this park has some nice, long gradual climbs, and the park is just so cool.

6. Whiteface Mountain, Lake Placid New York - a bit over 8 miles, The USA's Alpe D'Huezsince it's supposedly equal in distance and gradient. It's a tough climb, and what makes it more challenging is that the six or so times I've climbed it, the weather has always been shitty!

5. Kitt Peak, near Tucson, AZ -11 mile steady climb at a challenging gradient, winding around a mountain with views of desert valleys. The climb finishes at an observatory on top of the mountain.

4. Mauna Kea Climb in Hawaii - This climbs a son of a bitch! It starts at a road in between Kailua and the airport off the queen K and just climbs and climbs for close to an hour. There are some gradients above 17% thrown in for fun near the top!

3. Mt. Lemmon, Tucson, AZ - Climbing for 26 miles!!! The gradient averages just over 6% for the climb which is tame compared to the other climbs I've mentioned, but it's 26 miles! Amazing views and you start in desert, enter high desert, then you actually go through an evergreen forest.

2. Port D'Bales, France - This has only been in the tour once since until a few years ago, it was a dirt road. This is the most challenging individual climb of my list here. It was long - something like 25 kilometers, and had some killer gradients.

1. Combo big day - Peyressoude, Col D'Aspin, Tourmalet, France - Not much to say here that I already haven't said. This triple climb is nostalgic in Tour history, is incredibly challenging, has amazing scenery and views - it has it all! It'll be tough to top this one.

The best part about these climbs is of course, you get to descend them as well.

Cheers,

EH

Cutting Edge

I've mentioned many times about how I have been involved in endurance sports for quite awhile, and how I believe in cummulative base, reaching, changing things up, and always challenging yourself. This year, I'm taking it to a whole new level. I am doing some radical training with the hopes that I will set some new and solid pr's this season. The training is not easy, although it's very time efficient. I'm not going to the pool (what else is new). I'm not riding my bike (save that for race day). No need to run. According to the infomercial, All that I need to keep doing is Hip Hop Abs.

Cheers,

EH

metaphors

Endurance athletes often use the lessons they learn from sport in life. I guess all athletes do somewhat. Besides teaching us more about ourselves, sport can quickly show others ones true personality. Don't believe me? Go play a sport with someone - any sport, and you'll see many of the persons true personality traits. Back to the metaphor of sport and life;

I've witnessed many different reactions thus far on how people are approaching and dealing with the current state of affairs in our country. It's very reminiscent of what I've seen firsthand on the race course. Let's take last years Lake Placid IM as an example. Athletes trained there little asses off preparing for this huge event and day in their lives. They awoke to a pretty miserable day, with cooler weather and torrential downpours most of the day.

Some dealt with the day with such negativism, doubting themselves from the get go. You could see it on their faces clear as day - well not clear as that day. They had the "woe is me" approach. The "why the hell is this happening to me? I can't believe we were dealt this day! This really sucks!" attitude. I talked with quite a few athletes after the race who gave into the day, letting it get the best of them.


Then there was the middle road approach. These athletes went with the flow of the day, readjusting and racing cautiously and hoping for the best. They didn't give in, but they went with the masses hoping for the best later on. These athletes finished a few hours slower than they wanted to.

There were a group that did seize the day. They realized that most were faltering on this obscure and pathetic weather day, and they took hold and upped the ante. They smiled at the conditions, took an opportunity realizing that most would go conservative or falter, and they persevered big. These are the athletes that nailed their goals and even pr'd! Yes, there were some that set personal bests that day. They certainly weren't reckless, but rather, they were calculated and aggressive and confident and driven. I coached a few of these athletes and it was certainly cool to witness.

In this new, interesting, turbulent year, which path will you be following?

On another note, last nights 30 Rock was hilarious! If you don't watch this show yet, why not?

Cheers,

EH

Self Analyzing Running

There are two treadmills at my gym that are set up directly in front of a mirror. The rest face outdoors, peering through the glass wall. Of the 12 treadmills at the gym, only two now will not skip and will hold speed when it's set above 11mph. I was relegated to the one of these which is facing the mirror. As I ran, I analyzed my form, and thought process and how it affected my effort and gait, and confirmed a few things; first, while running at a fast effort, the more that I focused on turning over from the hip, relaxing my upper body, and kicking up behind me, the more comfortable I was at that speed. What affected it more though were two things - If I smiled it felt easier. that simple. Seems goofy, but it works. As I ran at a hard effort, smiling, it turned my thoughts automatically into the positiveness of just running and training in general. Yes, again, sounds goofy, but try it - what have you got to lose? You already look dweeby in your tight running shorts, matching tri-shirt, compression socks, heart rate monitor, fuel belt, and matching wrist and head band (yeah, you know that's you), so you may as well put a dumb grin on your face. The other was thinking aggressive. If I were running say at 11 mph, instead of thinking "try to keep up with this speed!", I'd aggressively try to outrun that speed crowding the front of the treadmill so that I actually had to back off my own tempo a bit.

Too often we get in the pattern of "hoping" we have a good run and can keep up a specific pace, and thinking too much about whether we are going to hard and if we'll blow. Smile and be aggressive and you'll get that much more out of your next tempo, interval or race session. Simple as that.

Not much going on that's exciting...

Trying to think of something to post for the sake of posting - that's no good. The Superbowl? Great game, what more to say? The Doritos commercial was hands down the best one.

Training is going well. I ran the Stratford Sweetheart Run course on Sunday before the Superbowl - my father, and older sisters ran it also which was cool. That's a bitch of a course - just the way I like it. Most of us are too caught up in times searching for courses where we could pr. I always wanted to break 9 hrs in an IM (and I still will!) but I certainly didn't choose the right IM course to do this. I think in the long run, it'll be the challenge of the courses that I'll remember more and that will have more of an impact than the times I did. Ran tempo on the treadmill today which went well. 2 mile warm-up, 3 X 2 miles at 5:30 to 5:40 pace w/ .5 mi easy in between each, then a 1 mi cooldown. Good stuff.

I'm sucked right back into 24.

My motivation is still running well. I'm certainly looking forward to Arizona in a few weeks, however, considering this winter, I'm quite pleased with my drive at the moment. Why not though? I mean, if you are having motivation issues, it's usually due to something that's pretty clear, right? And although we know usually what's causing motivational issues, we still can search trying to come up with other reasons.

I received a rough cut of my trainer dvd and, although I'm overly critical of myself, it's coming out amazing. The production just blows away spinervals dvd's. Hopefully we'll have it ready for release within the next month. You hear that Sean?!

There are some new things up on my home page ( www.hodska.com ) including an excellent article by Greg P. comparing the latest Shimano, Camp and Sram groups, and also the newest from Rob Straz which is a great read.

Cheers,

EH

more random nothingness

I guess the point of a blog is to write your opinions or write boring minutia about our all important self. I'll do my part in this post.

• Yesterday, I stopped at a convenient store in between clients in Greenwich to grab a bottle of water. The guy working the register looked as though he slept in sewage. He grabbed my bottle of water buy the neck/top and scanned it. As I walked to my car in the parking lot, I realized there was no way I could drink this and tossed it.
• Lisa thinks I'm a bit obsessive compulsive.
• We went out to Barcelonas last night for dinner, a Spanish restaurant here in CT. This place is consistent, fun, and a great way to eat in my opinion, meaning ordering a bunch of tapas and enjoying tasting. They have a great wine list as well, so if you are in CT or passing through, check it out. I recommend the lobster risotto, the steak pallard, and the spicy pork pinxto (yeah, I botched up the spelling here but you get the picture so calm down spanish majors).
• I have two friends, Margaret and Greg, who I coach who are turning/turned 50 recently. These two walk the walk and lead by example making them my kind of people. Happy Birthday!
• I ran this morning long with Gus and Ken. It was cold but sunny, and I chose my favorite non-trails run course here in Monroe that offers up everything; it has three killer hills, the worst which is rt. 111 from the base at rt. 34. Gus hasn't run with us in some time and he hasn't run this course in two years, but he is definitely running well. This was our first time on it in maybe a year. We ran well the whole time, covering the course which used to take Gus 2+ hrs in 1:55. This course also has a nice two+ mile downhill. I used to run it quite a bit two years ago in my base season, and coincidentally, I ran my races quite well that year!
• Tonight I'm cooking arroz con pollo. The supermarkets were worse today then during Christmas week.
• I always route for AFC teams but sorry Straz, I just don't know if I could route for the Steelers. I'll be undecided until the kickoff.
• The best thing about the Superbowl will be the fun party we're going to to watch. Man, I hope the commercials are good at least.

Cheers,

EH

Craving some warmth?

Had enough of this yet?

You could be here:

2 spots still left for the Tucson Camp! Go to my homepage ( www.hodska.com ) if you are interested.

Cheers,

EH

sympathy for the obese

Since getting home from Cleveland, I've been ridiculously busy. I like it this way though. Usually my evenings are free for family time, however, this week I've been tied up in the evenings with my sons soccer practice and a couple of talks that I gave.

I spoke Wednesday to the Bethel tri club on pre-season training, and specifically, what we should be doing in January, February and March. Megan S. heads up this club and is really doing great things. It seems they keep getting more and more new members. I enjoy giving these talks - I guess I just like running my mouth.

Today, I witnessed an obese person struggle to get inside their car that was parked at a normal parking distance to the car next to it. I have talked to many of my athletic and thin friends who have zero point zero tolerance for obesity in others. I used to be in the same boat, until I had the chance to work with quite a few - assisting them in getting their health, and life in control. I now feel quite bad for most obese people, and if you look around our country a bit, you realize that the obese outweigh (no pun) the healthy or thin.

Sure, many obese are quite lazy, but until you know their background, don't be so quick to judge. When you have grown up with terrible habits that started with your parents and with bad genetics as many of the obese have, it's harder than you think to get the eating under control. I took my kids to Dairy Queen this past summer and witnessed a mother give her two obese sons large Blizzards (have you seen the size of these?!), and while waiting for the DQ staff to make their blizzards, they woofed down two large sugary frozen slurpee type things. This, in my opinion, is child abuse. Then, they have to also deal with the social insecurities that are compounded as they age.

At the same time, I worked as a cardiac technician and witnessed my fair share of obese related tragedies, so I'm certainly not easy on obesity when it comes to training someone. I remember clearly the first time I was called down to the ER for a code situation. A 48 year old woman was suffering a massive heart attack. She came flying in on a gurney, topless and with velcroed compression pants on, an EMT straddling her and applying CPR. I hooked up electrodes to monitor her electrocardiogram and then stood back and watched. Her left ventricle shut down, and was filling rapidly with blood, so the ER doctor forcefully jabbed a metal straw like device through her chest and into the left ventricle to drain it. Then, they gave her a huge shot directly into the heart to get it going again, as blood poured out of the drain, partly into a container, but mostly all over her and the table. Then, she flat lined, and they got out the crash cart. Before I knew it, the doctor says to an attending nurse "what's the time?" as he removed his gloves and stepped away from the obese mess on the table. The nurse began jotting down notes as they removed some jewelry and placed it in a plastic bag to pass on to her immediate family. I stood there devastated. In fact, I remember an ER doctor telling me to get going in removing the electrodes. Anyways, what a shame, and at 48 years old.

I work with people that could toss out most if not all of the medications they are taking to control diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, ... if they'd just commit to losing weight. I figure that mostly athletes are reading this, so be thankful that you have found a venue that keeps you committed and driven towards a healthy lifestyle. Sure, I realize that you work your ass off for your health as do I. It's still not something to take for granted.

Busy weekend ahead, and again, that's the way I like it!

Cheers,

EH

Cleveland

I'm back.

First, most of my athletes are finished with The Cleanse. If you were one of the one's who stuck it out, very well done. It takes will power. I was talking to one of my athletes today - again, this isn't a weight loss plan, that's just a nice added side effect if you have some weight to lose - she lost 9 lbs and feels great and her husband who she sucked into doing The Cleanse with her lost 15 lbs and feels great. Good stuff. I'll be sending out my Part II of The Cleanse to everyone this evening which describes what to do after The Cleanse to keep the benefits going.

This past weekend was my Cleveland Winterfest Camp that I cohost with my great friend Angela Forster. Angela and her husband Scott are the people that people are proud to call their friends.

Two things you can depend on at the Cleveland Winterfest Camp; Shitty weather and great, genuine people. Not the guarded, "you're out to get me", "who the hell are you", "what are you looking at bitch" CT types (which I am one of), but open, friendly, nice people.

I had a 6am flight out of Hartford on Friday meaning a 3:30am wake up call. Across from the Cleveland airport was a new gym owned by one of the camp attendees, Kyle, who was extremely generous in letting us use the place for Sunday. Ange and Trephina grabbed me at the airport and we headed over to the gym to check it out. I changed into some running gear and by 8:45am, I was out running in the -9 degree temperatures in deep snow, checking out a trail course for the Sunday run. Kyle was nice or stupid enough to join me for this run.

After that, we headed back to Ange's house to set up and prepare for the 12pm campers arriving for bike fit and HR testing on the computrainers. The position changes I made to most campers bike set-ups were quite dramatic. Some of the attendees even traveled far to very popular bike shops for their initial set-up and I wonder if these so called experts even take flexibility, core strength, and the specific events the customer is preparing for into account. HR testing is a bastard, although somewhat easier maybe with a bunch of campers cheering you on.

We banged out bike fits and bike tests all afternoon, one after another in Scott and Anges basement. Don't confuse your thought of their basement as unfinished, cement walls, exposed pipes, cobwebs, dirty floors and musty smells. This is a finished basement with beautiful carpet, an endless pool room, mirrored walls, flat screen TVs (yes, plural), dual computrainers, a True treadmill and a bathroom and shower.

Baker arrived Friday night, in time for Trephina's amazing Thai dinner. Saturday started at 6am, finishing up bike fits and testing, then right into a 2+ hr indoor cycling session. It actually went by really quick - especially for me who didn't ride but instead just barked out orders and controlled the music. One of the camp attendees, Anthony, a "kid" who looked 20 but was 29 had a brand new bike, has never done a triathlon, didn't know anyone in attendance and received this camp as a surprise holiday gift from his wife. This can be an intimidating situation to say the least, but he jumped right in, had a great attitude and really did well. This really impressed me.

After the indoor bike session, I demonstrated running technique and efficiency on the treadmill and showed some of my favorite treadmill secret sessions for those stuck indoors on frigid, icy days. Baker then videotaped each campers running form on the treadmill from all angles, as I made comments about the pros and cons of their form.

Quick lunch brake and then back to Ange and Scott's kitchen for a nutrition and healthy cooking demo including how to prepare your own energy bars and sports drinks using real, healthy ingredients. This was followed up by a standing meditation session from martial arts and eastern medicine guru Todd. He then led everyone through some relaxation exercises - again, great stuff.

After the campers headed out, Todd performed some acupuncture on me which really relaxed me. Well, that plus the many glasses of wine with dinner.

Sunday, we met at the pool at 6am to review and video swim strokes, learn drills, and do a group workout. Then breakfast, then to Kyles gym where we changed and did an outdoor trail run in 18 inches of snow, including hill repeats. Funny, the majority seemed to really enjoy the challenge and extremeness of this run. How could you not though? Sure, the footing was a bit tricky in the small footpath from others and in the fresh deep snow, the strength effort was very challenging, yet the trails were really pretty and light snow was falling and the trees were covered white with fresh snow. It was one of those sessions that most wouldn't do on their own, yet relished in getting out there with the group. We changed into dry clothing and then I went through my strength and core routine for endurance athletes at the gym, followed by a brief talk, nice lunch, and then Baker and I were back at the airport waiting to catch our flight home.

We had a lot of returners at this camp which was cool - it tells me they have really benefited from previous camps, enough so to endure another round of antics from Baker and myself. I am a very loyal guy and respect and appreciate loyalty. Then we also had a nice group of first timers who jumped in open minded and enthusiastic.

Regardless of their beyond shitty weather, as long as they will have me back there, I will be there to cohost these camps. Many said that they were quite motivated coming off this camp and you know what, It charged me up as well.

Thanks to those of you who attended who may read this.

Cheers,

EH

Roll with it

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days. Most are probably sick of hearing about The Cleanse. Hell, the slight chance that there are a few out there actually reading - they may have no clue what The Cleanse even is.

I'm finishing up The Cleanse in a few days so I'm in "lock and load" mode. It's no longer challenging, and in fact, I like it for the most part. Yes, I'm looking forward to a cold beer and a nice glass of wine, but otherwise, it's been fine. I lost 9 lbs thus far although I developed The Cleanse for many other reasons than weight loss. Losing unwanted lbs is a nice side effect. I like not feeling bloated from excess carbohydrates, and I like sleeping better. I like the fact that I'm not falling asleep at the wheel on my drive home from Greenwich each day.

I'm getting in a very solid week of training and for some reason, my motivation is very high right now. Well, I know the reason(s):

• I'm running well which is always encouraging.
• I have my Cleveland Winterfest Camp this weekend and I'm looking forward to catching up with my close friends Ange and Scooter and the great people I've met in Cleveland, even if it's only going to be -1 degree outside.
• I'm looking forward to the season and thinking once again, as I had often in the past, of the fact that my competition is out there training, and if I want to take them, I need to train smarter and better.
• I'm thinking about the fact that in six weeks, I'll be heading to Tucson for a week of warm weather training. I can picture turning over the pedals as I climb Mt. Lemmon or running along the narrow traversing trail in Sabino Canyon.
• I'm reminded often of a quote from Dave Scott, which I read when I first started training for tri's. It went something like; "I believe that I train harder and more than anyone else out there. If someone is going to beat me, it's not going to be because they outworked me."
• I am fueled by the fact that 90% of the population - the population functioning on "average" mode, still question what those of us involved in endurance sports are doing in the first place.
• I have been working with some newbies and their enthusiasm is just contagious.

There you have it. Motivation is roaring at the moment and I'm taking advantage of it.

Be sure to check out Rob Straz's recent article in the "Rants From Rob Straz" column on my home page, www.hodska.com - great stuff. Check the home page every so often because I plan on adding a lot of content frequently over this season. In regards to Rob's column - he's got an opinion and I wanted to hear it - Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers,

EH

NFL + Cleanse = son of a bitch

"Five. Five dollar. Five dollar footlongs!" I had the stupid jingle stuck in my head all day. When that one wasn't in my noggin, I'd hear "I'm feelin' kinda Sunday..." Too much football viewing yesterday. Eli is no Peyton.

These weekend cold, snowy days are challenging when on The Cleanse. Watching football and having a beer or three go hand in hand, not to mention some nice nachos. Instead, I munched on carrots, drank water, and tried to relax. Relaxing is something that doesn't come easy for me. I really have to work at it. I'm envious of those that can relax easily and anywhere. You get through the weekend on The Cleanse though and your home free.

Today was a great day to run. I wedged some bounding hill repeats into a brisk 70 minute run and finished with more energy than when I started.

Cheers,

EH

Weekends are for relaxing?

Weekends are supposed to be down time, correct?

I realized this winter break that I need structure. I can understand how people that retire suddenly plunge into the depths of depression, aging 10 life years in the course of 1 calendar year. I guess some times it takes awhile for things to sink in with me. I'm not the type to sleep in and I'm not good at lying around. I need to do something while watching TV - even while watching football. I love the weekends and at the same time, I look forward to the simple structure of my typical Monday as Sunday night rolls around.

Kenny and I ran two hours yesterday morning. I awoke at 6am in my nice warm bed while it was eight degrees outside, yet, my competition certainly isn't hitting the snooze button. I sucked down a shot of espresso, chased by a large glass of water, threw a couple of layers on and jogged down to the parking area by the trails to meet Ken. We ran a VERY hilly course including a nice two mile climb in the middle. When it's eight degrees out, your body is working extra hard trying to keep you warm and at the same time trying to keep blood pumping through your legs. We kept a comfortable pace, yet we never faded. Both Ken and I have been doing The Cleanse and we both hadn't eaten since the night before, yet we were running at a 7 min/mile clip for two hours. I'm not condoning skipping breakfast and the importance of pre-race fuel, however, I also believe that many of us over estimate the calories that we need and underestimate the efficiency of our physiology. I have to be cautious here as nutrition information is really misconstrued, being interpreted as the person reading wants to interpret.

I cooked a pot of chili today - very healthy and definitely inside The Cleanses boundaries. Greg P. sent me a picture of a meal his wife Beth prepped which was seared tuna w/ wasabi on a bed of arugula and he made the sweet potato healthy fries. It looked restaurant quality and I wanted to post the picture although I couldn't upload the picture he sent me, even though it was probably pretty simple to do.

I sit here finishing this post while watching Pittsburgh unfortunately beat up San Diego and at the same time try and stay awake from the exhaustion of a nonstop weekend. Life is good!

Cheers,

EH

I think it's day six...

I'm a bit light headed from the lack of calories! At least that's what I'm blaming it on...

Here's part of an email Lisa received today from her friend (she used to like me) LW:

"I need u as my moral support! I am doing so well....can't stop now.....went to boxing last night and punched the shit out of the guy,he said who are you pissed at....I said Eric Hodska!!!!"

I get this quite a bit.

Tonight I'm preparing pan seared swordfish. sauteed green beans and mushrooms, and my healthy sweat potato fries.

Cheers,

EH

Another day done

I find that on the fifth day of The Cleanse, things get a bit easier. Mostly in that we physically aren't craving sugar after being off of it for four days. Mentally, we can start to get a bit antsy, but if you think about it a bit more, you should be feeling pretty good physically by day five. The Cleanse should be flushing things through your system so the carbohydrate bloat should be gone and you should just be feeling healthier in general. Focus on this, not on that piece of chocolate you may be craving.

I find that my workouts don't suffer at all. Personally, I think a lot of us are over dependant on calories in short training sessions. It kind of cracks me up to see someone at the pool (on the rare occasion I get there) that's in the water for 45 minutes to an hour and has a full bottle of perpeteum. Right now (meaning January), most of the training is less than 90 minutes at a shot, except for the occasional longer ride. If you go less than 90 minutes, water is sufficient.

A few people have mentioned to me that they like reading about different things that I've been preparing for dinner while on The Cleanse because it gives them some ideas. They also wanted to know if I'd list some lunch ideas. I typically have the same lunch Mon through Fri which is a soy milk protein smoothie with whey protein, ice, frozen strawberries, and flax seed powder. Lisa has the same lunch each day as well - a salad with chicken. However, this weekend, I plan on cooking up some brown rice and beans. It's a great recipe, healthy and easy. Yes, beans contain some protein, but they are easy on the metabolic process compared to meat.

See you on Day 6.

Cheers,

EH

Day 4 in the books

One mistake, and this is a big mistake, that many make when doing The Cleanse is that they don't eat enough during the day. They skip out on a few pieces of fruit, or they are scared of having some peanut butter with their mid morning snack, and/or they skimp on their lunch, both of the latter two because they are concerned about the calories. Then the afternoon 4 or 5 hours rolls around and they become ravenous, setting themselves up for falling off the plan that evening. They are also wreaking havoc on their metabolism by not giving it enough calories, thus slowing it down. Plan ahead and trust the plan.

Lisa and I had a beef stir fry tonight. low sodium soy sauce is allowed but use sparingly. Some other questions that people have asked: Ketchup and bbq sauce is a no go (sugar), salsa is fine, sashimi is fine but sushi with white rice is a no.

Over 1/4 of the way through!

Cheers,

EH

Day 3 done

I actually felt good today. I had a really great run in the afternoon, so that helps. I already getting some bitching from a few about them being hungry at night. What they are really trying to say is "I'm not hungry. I just want some junk."

One of the cool things about The Cleanse (yeah, there are a few cool things) is the opportunity to work some new recipes into the repertoire. Lisa and I have the five recipe rotation going usually. I'm the cook here, so I usually cook the five dinner items I enjoy and that I cook well. During The Cleanse we always explore a bit with different vegetables, stir-frys and different types of fish. Some of these recipes, well, let's just say they were an experiment. But some are really delicious. Regular potatoes aren't allowed on The Cleanse, however, sweet potatoes, which are very nutritious, are allowed every other night. I like slicing them in chip like size, spraying a baking pan lightly w/ Pam, sprinkling on some seasoning (I use a bit of cayenne pepper, some garlic salt, and regular pepper) and baking them.

Cleanse - Day Two

I have been fielding lots of Cleanse questions and I thought I'd try to post something daily about The Cleanse over the next two weeks.

One of the best questions I get frequently is "Do I need The Cleanse?" The reason I invented The Cleanse was that I saw all the current nutrition plans out there and the main flaws I found in them were the fact that they were open ended - people would start a plan trying to make some changes and they didn't see an end. It's easy to say you need to change your lifestyle for good - much easier said than done. When a plan isn't drastic enough to make you realize your weaknesses and is open ended, it's not too long before you are right back to your old habits. Seeing that this is a two week plan makes it feel like something that you can definitely do and succeed with. If you are following it accurately, by the end of week two, you will realize the weaknesses you craved or had in your old eating patterns and be anxious to make or keep these new changes, thus making this plan successful in the long run. Habits are something we establish throughout our life time and they are things that we enjoy and become very comfortable with, regardless of whether they are good or bad for you. The Cleanse makes you address what you truly crave in your diet and where your flaws are, even if we try to convince ourselves that "this habit isn't a problem. I work my ass off in training to justify this." I thought that what I'd personally crave was sugar. It turns out that there were really only two things that I significantly missed in my nutrition regimen. Everything else iffy was pretty easy to eliminate. But the pizza I enjoy once per week was a challenge, especially my home made pizza. The hardest thing though was that I enjoy a glass of red wine with dinner. Lisa and I will sit down with a glass of red wine and relax and enjoy dinner. Now, I actually think one glass of red wine with dinner is a healthy thing, and I'm not trying to justify here - I could go into great detail of why it is healthy and really bore the hell out of you. But at the same time, I don't want to be dependant on anything. Trust me, there are sugar dependant people out there and millions of them at that. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that tell me how much they miss chocolate! Finally, The Cleanse was never a weight loss plan. That is just a very nice side benefit if you have weight to lose. It does cleanse your system though and gives your metabolism a much needed break.

A few other quick answers to some questions:

• No, you are not starving! Unless you have gone for more than two days without any calories, you are not starving. It's OK to feel hungry and you are not going to pass out - yes you may have low body fat and you may be a hard core endurance athlete, but don't flatter yourself. You aren't going to pass out. The pockets where you feel light headed and starving are purely psychological. We are a society that doesn't know what it feels like to be a tiny bit hungry.
• No, a modified Cleanse Plan does not work! Most of the really weak minded (here's where I tease since sarcasm isn't displayed well in writing) people will say to me "I'm doing it but modifying it slightly."
• if you are exercising for less than 90 minutes, you only need water. If you are exercising for up to 2.5 hrs, you can add in an electrolyte drink, and if you are going longer than 3 hrs, you can add in some calories during your training session.
• Bananas aren't allowed as a breakfast fruit.

Lisa and I just finished off day two. Dinner was a large chopped salad (the big salad) with romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, chick peas (yes, allowed), black olives (yes, allowed), chicken done on a grill pan with seasoning, and oil, vinegar and black pepper.

Cheers,

EH

Plunge is done

The Plunge was great yesterday. The weather was sunny and in the upper 30's or even low 40's. the water didn't feel that bad this year! I'll post pictures and some video soon, but we had a great turnout and I am very appreciative of the support that my friends continually show towards these charitable efforts. I know that Christine Grief, the woman who was hit by a drunk driver while riding her bike and who we did The Plunge for, is extremely grateful.

Last night a bunch of us attended Farbers place, Prime 16, which was of course great. Kind of a pre-Cleanse last meal.

Speaking of The Cleanse, day 1 is in the books and it feels good to be back on a structured plan I have to say.

Cheers,

EH

Toughguy Rant

Day two of the new year and I'm feeling great, yet a bit ornery.

We started out the year with some cold weather here in CT and I amazed by the amount of athletes who told me they couldn't get in a run because their gym was closed so they had no treadmill to use!? Unless you live way up in Canada somewhere or you live where Straz does where it dips below -20 degrees, there's no excuse for not getting outside. Snow shouldn't stop you - in fact, snow makes a run more fun. It's bad enough that most wont ride outdoors once the weather dips below 50 degrees, but come on! We even have all this high tech training clothing now that keeps you dry, blocks wind, prevents chafing, adds compression, wipes your ass, ... People can't exercise in cotton any more, god forbid.

And don't get me started on Coffee which should be consumed often and black and not black and sweet. And light beer - no guy should drink this donkey piss. It reminds me of an early scene in Old School where Mitch gets into a cab and says to the cab driver; "excuse me but the seat belt is broken back here. what do you recommend I do?" to which the cab driver responds; "I recommend you stop being such a pussy. You're in the back seat!"

OK, toughguy rant is over.

At the beginning of each New Year, I have my athletes do my top secret Cleanse program for two weeks. We all start Sunday so I should really see some complaining soon!

Tomorrow is The Plunge at 2:30pm at Southport Beach!

Cheers,

EH

New Year Reflections

I usually post this time of year reflecting on the year that just passed. I've logged the majority of my highlights in this space of the internet already so it seems a bit redundant. Also a bit self absorbed, especially considering everything else going on in the world right now. The one focus I strive for is to make each year stand out - so I sit here at this time each December and think, man, that was quite a year! If this was the case for anyone else that may be reading, congratulations! Take the same approach and set some high standards for 2009. If the year passed and all's that you are focused on is the negatives, than it's time to rethink your approach and get on a new path. That's the cool thing about a new year - you are starting with a clean slate.

Here are some of my tips to make this coming year a special one:

1. Stop watching the news. Stay up to date with current events through periodicals instead of the screen. What's portrayed on the news is usually a sensationalized view of the reality. Funny, I talk with many different business people daily. Very educated people who have interesting and powerful career positions. Each one I talk to gives me a totally different view of the current economic crisis, and what they foresee in the future. What I've come to conclude is that each persons view is based solely on their personal situation instead of looking at the global situation, even if they think they are looking globally. This is regardless of whether they are optimistic or pessimistic. My point is that A. I don't think anyone really knows what the hell is going on, and B. we need to be more proactive instead of following the news and advice of people we think are in the know.


2. Start each day by asking yourself what you are going to do that day that puts you ahead - that separates you from the ordinary. OK, I know this is hokey, but get in the habit of looking in the mirror each morning, telling yourself it's going to be a great day (even if it is a grey Monday in February and -2 degrees outside), and asking yourself this question. Instead of rolling your eyes, just try it for two weeks. What have you got to lose?


3. Don't accept routine, normalcy, or complacency. Easier said than done. Many have fallen into the habit of doing the same things each day, week, year. Those racing endurance events feel they are putting themselves out there, but the truth is that many of them are doing the same exact things they have done for the last five years. Switch it up. Stretch your goals a bit. Decide that this year, you are going to throw in one off the wall or bizarre or out of routine training session each week. The Tue night MTB ride reintroduced to me the fact that as much as I love swimming, biking, and running, I had become to routine. When was the last time you finished a day feeling re-invigorated and full of new energy that you couldn't sleep? This happened to me after the first few night rides. Something new and exciting to switch up the schedule a bit.


4. Get out and train with others at least once a month. For some, that's a not a common thing. If you typically train with the same people, aim to train with some other athletes as well at least once per month. I have this Sunday morning run and it's been mostly just Ken and I. We do different courses, throw in hill repeats, trails, ... Most don't want to drive to run, and do the same long run each week. I've watched Ken go from a 7 min/mi racer to a 6 min/mi racer. Good stuff.
5. Don't accept what others say. Being told that you are not capable of doing something that you truly believe in should just fuel you. People in life, for some reason, are constantly offering their unasked for advice to others in the form of negativity. If you believe what they tell you, then it will come true. If you have your sights set high and people tell you that maybe you should lower them, you can believe them and not even try, or you can defy them and prove to them and more importantly, yourself, that you are capable.
6. Smile more. Ok, once again, a bit hokey. But studies prove that those who smile more have more energy and carry through on things.
7. Surround yourself with influential, positive people, and dismiss those who drag you down. As we age, time becomes more and more precious and why waste it with those who don't contribute anything positive at all?

That's enough for now. Sure, we've all heard these things but how many of us are following all of them? If you are one of the few who is, then you are way ahead of the game and will have a brilliant 2009, congrats. If you are one of the many who is stuck in a rut, the choice is yours right now. You don't want to reflect back on a year, or worse, twenty years, thinking I coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Cheers,

EH

Is age getting the best of me?

December 28th and I ran in shorts and short sleeves this morning! The trails were a mess so I ran a very hilly road course and my legs felt great, unexpectedly. I keep overthinking this whole age thing. There are some days that remind me that I'm supposedly on the downward slope. This isn't a depressing thing, just the factuality that I started racing in my 20's and I'm now in my 40's. These are the days when I feel a bit more stiff than usual. When my gait seems three inches shorter than it used to and when I don't have that spring up the hills that I remember. I'm not looking for sympathy, trust me. I'm just jotting down my thoughts. I know that this is a bit self consuming and that's the one battle I continuously have with keeping a blog anyways, but maybe there is something of value in here. If not, then you just wasted a minute of your time reading this. (Straz, that's five minutes of your time - I know your reading level.)

I perform a lot of self analysis tests - tests that I have been using for years to compare and evaluate where my present fitness is. I recommend often that my athletes come up with a solid run course and bike course where they themselves can perform such tests. As much as these tests give me an idea of my present fitness AND health (you can have one and not the other), I also know that lab results and tests aren't always accurate in depicting certain information. Trust me, I've been doing this for over twenty years and have studied the analytical as well as the actual.


The main obstacle when evaluating ones form and fitness and health is in not lying to oneself. Lying in general is something that really bothers the hell out of me. I know it bothers most, but I really get overly irritated with it for some reason. It's the main thing I stress constantly to my kids. "we never lie", "be humble" and "always think about yourself in someone elses shoes" are the lessons that I hope become ingrained in them from my constant reminding(nagging). We all have some ability to lie to ourselves. Justifying is a form of this. This is a self-defense mechanism set up so that we don't get ourselves in to much trouble physically. Now I'm not talking about justifying or lying with non-physical things. There is a difference and it has to do with ethics. Convincing lots of people to invest their life savings with you and screwing them out of that money is a bit different than convincing yourself that you gave it your all and did the best race you could, don't you think? OK, I'm getting off topic.

I don't want to lie to myself, telling myself that I'm as fit as I was maybe two or ten years ago and convincing myself that I'm not on that downward slope. If I feel I can't run as fast as I once was able to, I'll deal with it. That brings me to today.

As I was out on my run, feeling good and thinking about the upcoming year and goals (I recently sent all my athletes a specific goal sheet asking them about their realistic goals and their dream or reach goals), I thought about whether I was setting the bar to high or to low. And with all the HR, wattage and time tests that I performed this past year, the one test that puts a smile on my face and proves to me that I can still put out my best times (this is if I had the amount of time I would need to put into training) is the Vermont Ride I did with Baker and Molson in August. After doing this ride since 97 every year, sometimes twice per year, I averaged my fastest time to date and felt strong the whole way there AND back. Reflecting on this gives me a lot of confidence knowing that this coming year is going to be an exciting one and one where I definitely reach!

Cheers,

EH

Boxing Day

I'm sitting here procrastinating. I want to get a run in, but I guess not that bad, as I'm wasting time instead of getting dressed to go. That's what a foodfest, sugar-filled, too-much-wine couple of days will do to ya. Up until Wednesday, I have been quite disciplined in regards to my nutrition the last month - something not so easy in December. I have a good routine that works for me that I'll share, out of boredom and the fact that strangely, I have been getting a bunch of inquiries about what I eat. Just keep in mind that this works for me.

4:45 am: Yoplait Vanilla Yogurt
8 oz of H2O w/ 2 teaspoons of organic apple cider vinegar
2 salmon oil supplements
2 packets of emergen-c
2 probiotic capsules

6am: coffee (black)

9 am: shake (frozen bananas, soy milk, peanut butter, whey protein, flax seed)

sometime during the day: apple w/ almond butter

Some other time during the day: hand full of honey oat pretzels

Dinner: something protein related w/ veggies and a glass of wine
2 more salmon oil supplements

Yesterday, I had none of the stuff on my routine menu really. I'm not going to search for the nutrition in what I ate and make any justifications. I did have a piece of coconut cream pie, a piece of chocolate cream pie, a bunch of cookies and chocolate chip biscotti. OK, now I feel gross again. I guess I just needed this reminder - time to go run. Maybe I'll even tack on a few extra miles. Tonight, I'm making home made pizza.

Cheers,

EH

Run Playlist Today

Ran 9 miles with some pick-ups thrown in at the 20 min and 40 min mark. I had a cool playlist rolling - at least I dig it. Here it is in order:

Malibu - Hole (great warm up song)
99 Problems - Jay-Z (but a bitch aint one)
Timebomb - Beck (good tempo to this song - helps you find the right pace)
Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon (These guys are good, check em out if you havent yet)
When The World Is Running Down - Police (old school - great beat to run to)
Hello/Goodbye - Lupe Fiasco (just a cool song, period)
Something Is Not Right With Me - Cold War Kids (Lisa thinks the title is fitting for me)
Control - Puddle Of Mudd (try running easy to this one)
Times Like These - Foo Fighters (classic song, makes me feel good for some reason)
I’m Not Over - Carolina Liar (another good beat to run to. Duh, this is a run playlist)
Can’t Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers (Again, the title is fitting. The end of this song is just to cool)
Daft Punk Is Playing In My House - LCD Soundsystem (stupid song, but great to run to)
L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold (tempo of this song starts to ease my effort)
Lucky Man - The Verve (just a great, fitting song. A good one to get stuck in your head)

Cheers,

EH

Snow Running

Who needs snowshoes? Ken and I met at 7am this morning for our Sunday long run as usual. There were a lot less cars in the trail parking lot this morning. That's a shame - it was a beautiful morning to run. Connecticut got hammered with snow yesterday - a fluffy, yet thick snow. This is great to run in and makes for a different workout. It's definitely a strength run. The first thing most ask when they find I'm running in the trails in the snow is "don't your feet get wet and cold?" Once your feet are wet, they're wet. And they rarely get cold as long as your moving.

I hope others got a chance to get outside and run in this. it's amazingly peaceful in the woods and the white snow is unbelievably picturesque. It'd be a shame to be stuck indoors on a treadmill and miss out on these days that are few and far between.

Cheers,

EH

December Blues?

One year ago, I wrote about the lack of motivation many athletes experience during December. You can read it here: http://http//hodska.blogspot.com/2007/12/off-season-blues.html (I am not great on the computer and don't know how to make just the word "here" the link, so bare with me.)

I feel it's worth revisiting. In this post, I want to discuss mental attitude a bit more.


I always try to be dead honest with myself. I get nervous going into big events and experience self doubt sometimes. I remind myself of all the hard work I put in towards the upcoming event, and ask myself these questions: A) why am I doing this and B) what are my expectations? I then break B down a bit further asking myself what result will I truly be content with? Sometimes this can add to the nerves, but the main thing I try to avoid is making any pre-race excuses in case something goes wrong. Once we start doing this, we begin to set ourselves up for a disappointing race before we even get to the starting line. It's easy to feel outside expectations besides the ones that we place on ourselves. I feel them. The key thing is not try to justify anything before or after races. I remember posting a race journal and a friend and athlete I coached commented that I was awfully hard on myself. I went back and re-read my journal and found that I was being honest, given my expectations. When I was younger and first began racing, I had some good results in local races quickly and started placing race pressure on myself. If I had any set backs in training, something we all encounter throughout the season, I'd begin to make excuses in my head in case I didn't finish where I wanted to. My ego was getting the best of me which happens easily when you are young and naive - or stupid. I caught this quickly and thought that this negativism and focus on petting my ego was not only silly, but that it was going to sap the enjoyment and learning process out of racing. Another young friend of mine couldn't let this go and dropped out of triathlons back in the mid 90's. I saw him a few years ago, fat and bloated and regretting that he ever fell out of the sport.


After spilling all that out, the only thing that truly matters when I break it down is that I'm enjoying the process, testing myself, learning, and making friends. It's great to have high expectations. I certainly do and I think that setting high expectations, one's that we really need to reach for, is the way we'll learn the most about who we are. Remember that the higher the expectations, the higher the pressure will be that you place upon yourself and the more you will feel pre-race nerves and question yourself as to why you are doing this in the first place. But this is where, if we follow through, we take big chances and maybe reap big rewards in self discovery and fulfilment.

I recently asked the athletes I coach to complete some written homework in the form of listing their top ten limiters (a nice term for weaknesses). I have a few who listed mental toughness as their strength, where as I had listed mental toughness as one of their limiters in my personal notes/files on them. After thinking more about this, I realize that many of them are mentally tough in the fact that they won't give up or quit when the going gets tough in a race. When you are testing yourself by racing and being tested in that race by that little devil on your shoulder convincing you to quit or ease up or walk or lie down, not giving in exudes mental toughness. So after re-evaluating their mental toughness, I changed my notes to "lack of belief" for these individuals. They are very talented physically, yet train and race at a level that is within their safety zone. They are capable of racing at a higher level and yet don't believe they belong at that higher level. Guess what? The body follows the mind. You gotta believe!

I know it's only mid December and motivation may be a bit low right now. Re-evaluate your 2009 goals, or begin evaluating them. Write them down, set high standards and begin to believe that these standards are where you belong. Then get your ass out of the couch and out the door.

Cheers,

EH

The Plunge 2009

December 15, 2008

Hi All,

It’s, once again, that time of year. No, it’s not the holiday season I’m talking about. It’s that time of year when I attempt to recruit a number of you to join me in January in jumping into Long Island Sound. “Why would you do something that stupid?” you may ask if you have never done this. If you have, you are probably thinking right now “I was dreading this letter!” Let’s start with a brief history of the event. In 2005 when the Tsunami hit the south pacific, I thought that we could use the Plunge as a way to raise charitable funds for the American Red Cross, which we did quite well. In fact, that year, we organized simultaneous Plunges in Cleveland, New Mexico, and California. In 2006, we continued this terrific annual event, but decided to make it beneficial to someone closer to home. I wanted those that donated to see directly where their generous funds were going. We raised money for a young boy battling cystic fibrosis. The funds we raised helped offset some of his extensive hospital bills and paid for a well needed vacation to Disney. How cool is that! In 2006, we continued the trend of helping children directly in need by donating funds to a family with overwhelming hospital bills due to testing and procedures with their two autistic kids. The money this time paid for the kids to attend a leading autism medical specialist in Boston, one that their insurance wouldn’t pick up. Last year, we raised funds for a Stratford single mother and her child who is battling a very rare illness called Kawasaki’s Disease. So that leads to this year.

Pam Morrow contacted me about having the Plunge for her neighbors Bob and Christine Greif. On May 11, 1997, Christine was hit by a drunk driver while on her bicycle preparing for a local triathlon. Christine sustained a traumatic brain injury that has left her with limited ability to walk, eat, speak or otherwise engage in normal daily activities.

Christine was a scholar athlete at Avon High School and then at Dickinson College where she majored in English. Christine was the recipient of the Trinity Club Book Award in her junior year for her scholastic achievement and service to the community.

More than ten years since her injury, Christine continues to suffer the severe effects of the brain injury which have made daily functioning incredibly difficult. Christine has persevered with the help and generosity of family, friends, church and community. Insurance companies have given up on Christine making funding of her care extremely challenging.

Our goal is to raise awareness and to generate some charitable funds to help offset some of the expenses that Christine has incurred. The thought of asking people to donate money is difficult enough without considering this financial crisis we are all undergoing. This is also a time of year where it’s important for us all to realize just how fortunate we are in the big picture.

In the four years that we have done the Plunge, we have raised quite a bit of cash, thanks to all of you who have contributed and/or participated. One of my favorite things about the Plunge is the way that it makes those attending smile – even those of us that are stupid enough to Plunge.

Here is the official information on the upcoming Plunge for Christine Grief’s fight against her severe debilitating injuries:

When: January 3, 2009

Time: 2:30 pm!!! High tide is predicted at 3:44pm so we are plunging in the afternoon this year. I will provide coffee and hot chocolate.

Where: Southport Beach on Pequot/Beachside Avenue (Exit 18 or 19 off i95)

Even if you are not plunging, please come down, support the event and watch us plunge, even if it’s only me.

Please e-mail me at ehods@earthlink.net if you are planning on being there so I have an idea of a head count.

Each plunger should make an effort to raise $100 to be donated to “Team Christine Greif Fund”. You can send checks to me, bring them with you to the plunge, or donate through paypal at http://www.hodska.com/ . If you donate through paypal, please send me an email informing me of this so I can then keep track of each individual donation for Christine.

Please forward this on to family, friends or any one you think you can sucker into plunging.

***The beach could be rocky and/or have sharp shells. I advise you to wear an old pair of sneakers during the plunge.

***Those plunging are doing so at their own risk. If you have any physical ailments such as an existing cardiac condition, asthma, weak immune system, or anything else that may be effected by this event, please come to watch, but its best that you do not plunge.

Thanks everyone! What better way to start the New Year than doing something good for others, and waking up the system!

Happy Holidays and here’s to an exciting and adventurous New Year! See you at the Beach January 3rd.

Cheers,

EH
www.Hodska.com

Hawaii on TV

The Hawaii Ironman is on NBC today from 2:30pm et to 4pm. Go out and run first before plopping yourself down on the couch.

Doom and Gloom

Today is a tough day. Yes, in this current global economic situation, when there are soldiers still fighting that will not be home with their families for the holidays, it gets worse... Oprah has regained her weight and is back up to 200 lbs. I can't believe this has happened. I mean, what is this world coming to? I'm devastated and at a loss for words.

Getting Hungry

We had 12 show up for the Tuesday night ride this past week, including a 12 year old on a cross bike! The ride went close to two hours and stayed mainly on the rail trail, however, we did do some single track - nothing too technical. I rode the new 29'er - what a great ride! One ride and I'm already sold on this tech. My light battery died about 90 minutes in, making things very interesting. When I was with the group, it was no problem. When alone, I couldn't see the trail under me, making the ride dangerous and bizarre. I came out unscathed though. This ride has been a blast and a nice change of pace.

Wednesday night, I attended the kick off meeting for the Bethel Cycle Club for next season. Greg has really done a great job with this club. He has the right people heading things up and they have done nothing but grown. Megan S. heads up the tri-club and they currently have more members than the cyclists! Greg introduced me at one point and asked me to say a few words, so I spontaneously discussed motivation during this time of year. One of the things I mentioned was the African runners and how they are studied and observed to see why they are so good. Many books and magazines have covered their theories as to why the Africans excel in distance running - the common theories are; they all train together at altitude and that they have been running long distances since they were young kids. I think it's more simple than that. The pure reason they are so good is because they are hungry - both literally and mentally! In a country where their annual individual salary is less than $100/year, this is their ticket out. We have it very nice over here in the US, even during this recession, and this makes us soft, plain and simple. The point was that now is a great time of year to "get hungry", instead of being a lethargic, excuse making, over partied, over hor douerved, typical December American.

Prime 16

Man, I had a great run today! It's been awhile since I felt "springy", so this was unexpected. I always remind athletes that when you have one of those great training runs where you are just flying, that's an indication of your potential - not a fluke thing. Today was one of those runs where you know it's going to be a good one after taking your first ten strides. Bonus was that the weather was perfect here in CT for running - I wore shorts and a long sleeve jersey and was comfortable. As I ran, I had a desire to get back on the track and do some interval work. I know many of the closet coaches would feel this is stupid to do in the wintertime, but if you do the "right" session (in regards to length and effort) this is not only not stupid but it can take you to a new level.

Nostalgia entered my mind, as I thought about the early 90's when I used to drive up to Yale in the winter and do indoor track sessions at Cox Cage with Margit McDougall, Ron Meneo, Scott Roth and Emmitt Hibson. We were preparing for the first race of the Connecticut Series. Man, I wish someone (hint - Mandy) would bring back this cool series. The series consisted of sprint races like the Milford Tri, The Orange Biathlon, The Derby Biathlon, The Hartford Tri, and Griskus. They even had an awards banquet at the end of the year. The competition was fierce and I'd run these sessions at Cox Cage thinking about going up against L.J. Briggs, Chuck Sperraza, and Dick Korby to name a few. One of these winter days this year, I'm going to have Margit (here that?) help me round up Ron, Scott and Emmitt and do a track session then go drink some beers and catch up.

Speaking of drinking some beers, I was up in New Haven last week with some friends at Farbers (The Mexican) new bar and restaurant Prime 16. He opened up right near the corner of Temple Street and the green and the place is great, but I expected nothing less from Farber. It's a microbrew bar with something like 30 microbrews on tap from all over the place and another 60 in bottles. His menu consists of some really cool appetizers and some amazing burgers - there's even a few vegetarian ones. As much as i like The Bar, Prime 16 will replace it as our destination the night of The Plunge, January 3rd. Hopefully, a bunch of you can make it. My athletes will be beginning my Cleanse Plan on January 4th, so you may as well join us for some fun the night before.

Tonight is the night Rail Trail ride. I'm anxious to try out my new Cannondale 29'er. If people are feeling adventurous, I may take them on some single track.

Cheers,

EH