PR Fitness on Fox 59... again!

Dances With Dirt 2010

As the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words", so I'm going to let the images below tell most of the story regarding Saturday's race. The teams did great - with the factored in handicap, our PR Fitness "Kettle-Belles" came in 10th overall and the PR Fitness Dirt Nappers came in 49th. While I'm not 100% certain how they figured who finished where, as it was done on the honor system and when your last runner crossed the line, at the end of the day, where we finished mattered very little. Both teams did their best and they had a great time along the way. By far, the post race celebration was worth every moment spent on the trail - sharing stories, lots of food, a couple beers were passed around (thanks, Joe), and tons of laughter.

On a personal note, I had my worst performance ever in an ultra. The driving directions for my crew/support that was sent in my race packet were bogus, they were for last years aid stations - the route was different this year, so I only saw my crew (Jody, Becky, and Christian) three times during the race. I ran a great deal of the race with only a few drinks of water. At one point, I ran the equivalent of a half marathon with only water (I should have seen my crew 3 times during that stretch!). Unfortunately, I can't fuel up with they typical aid station fair as all the high sugar crap wrecks me - I'm better off with nothing than that stuff. Rather than carry everything with me, my strategy was to have my crew meet me, which worked out beautifully last year when the directions were accurate. Lesson learned, don't trust the race directors directions and always take fuel in a race like this.

I was right on pace until around mile 18 where with hardly any fuel or water, things quickly went downhill. Leg cramps set in, blurry vision, the whole 9 yards. I've never had this happen, I actually had to sit down a couple times or take a knee. Walkers started passing me, old people with walkers and oxygen tanks started passing me, and I think I even saw a turtle and a couple snails blow by. It was humiliating for the ego. A passing mountain biker gave me a hit off his water bottle which helped for a while. And, yes, it's true, if you read Jody's Facebook post - my survival instincts were on high alert for anything that might help, I found some trail mix scattered on the side of trail and ate a few M&M's and peanuts which also gave some temporary relief (I think a few bits of dirt and leaves made there way in as well - talk about "trail mix"!).

I made it to the mile 23 aid station, I had no choice but to throw down on as much food and hydration as I could stomach - down the hatch went a giant Snicker's bar (gift from a fellow runner), bag of potato chips, fistfuls of trail mix (sans leaves and dirt!), cup after cup of water, the rest was a blur. I stumbled out the the station. 20 minutes later I came back to life.

The last 8 miles went great and I was able to get back to consistent running. The finish was emotional, for sure, and while I didn't reach my time goal and my finishing time is an embarrassment, I did accomplish my primary goal which was to finish the race and raise money/awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project. What kept me going during the dark time was the support from you guys. And each time I stopped or wanted to quit, I thought of the Wounded Warriors we were running for - I thought of what these Hero's go through every day, their pain and suffering, and how they would think I was acting like such a baby - "suck it up, buttercup" - quitting was not an option.

At the end of the day, what matters most is that in conjunction with this race, we raised another $500 for the Wounded Warrior Project! "Thanks" to all those who ran, those who donated, those who supported, and to Fox 59 for letting us talk about our project.

If I get a race report from any of our team members, I'll be sure to pass them along as well.

Now, on to the pictures from the day. Photo credits go to Jody, Joe, and Bobbi - thanks guys! Warning, several of these are very "dirty" and may not be suitable for all viewers...

Vanessa, after a muddy section. Don't be fooled, it was actually much worse!

A rare moment, Chris in a really bad mood - realizing that the crew driving directions were bogus. Thanks for capturing the "moment" Jody : )

PR Fitness Coach, Richard, at the start line

Richard on a rare section of road, rather than trail...

Kelly is either doing some yoga between legs to recover, or showing off : ) Good job, Kelly. Not sure what the girl in the background is thinking...

Vanessa and Sherri - always such the downers, they NEVER know how to lighten up and have a good time... NOT!

Chris and Christian with the PR Fitness "Kettle-Belles" at the finish:
L-R Sherri, Sherry, Kelly, Vanessa, Cindy

Rob, at the finish - a very, very dirty man...

Joe and Vanessa in a horrible mood at the race. You can really see the misery in their face and how bad the day was...

Rob sandwich with Jen and Cindy. Are they sisters?

Jen and Lisa near tears...

Things got a little rough and the National Guard was called in for crowd control... or maybe that was one of the more enthusiastic teams going for the spirit/costume award...

4 of the 5 PR Fitness "Dirt Nappers" near death. I think the 5th member had already been taken to the morgue by this point...

No, I'm not pointing to my shirt, I'm pointing to my collapsed lung and ruptured spleen. The medal is for coming in last in the womens 90+ age group.

PR Fitness Tech Jersey

Here they are guys, get 'em while they are hot! Our first round of PR Fitness workout shirts. These jersey's are wicking fabric tech shirts, much like an "Under Armour", or "Dry Fit" style shirt.

If you are interested in purchasing a PR Fitness workout jersey, please email me your size and how many you want. The ESTIMATED cost is $30 per shirt. However, once I get all the requests in, I will know the exact amount. Shirts are "mens/unisex" so select your size accordingly.

Here is a "mock up" of what the shirts will look like. Trust me, they will look even better once the "professional" gets a hold of my design:

Getting Started

In the past couple weeks I’ve posted several videos at our main site (www.prfitness.net), if you haven’t already watched them, do so! It will be well worth your time and if nothing else, will get you thinking about how you eat, everything you’ve been taught about nutrition and everything you “thought” you knew about diet.

Over the upcoming weeks I will share what I have found to be the most basic and effective principles when it comes to diet. Please know that my goal as a coach is NEVER to help someone simply “lose weight”; that’s easy, yet it’s not always the healthiest approach, nor the most sustainable thing to do. What I coach is how to eat for optimal performance, health, fitness, and well-being. To me, these qualities and eating for longevity are far more important than what the number on the scales or body fat meter shows. And, in reality, if one is eating for performance, health, fitness, and well-being, the “aesthetic” component will take care of itself.

Principle #1 – The 90% rule:
When it comes to diet and sticking with the plan, I never expect perfection from myself, nor my athletes. Expecting perfection breeds frustration, negative self image/thought issues, deflated motivation, and a lack of results. What I do expect is working towards 100% compliance, yet allowing a 10% deviation from the nutrition plan. If we do the right thing and make the right choices 90% of the time, we will garner fantastic results and improvements in our performance as well as our overall wellness. Doing the right thing 90% of the time also allows you to live a little and enjoy an occasional treat or indulgence – guilt free!

Here’s the rub, the farther down the scale you slide, things change exponentially. For example, if you drop down to 85%, you will still see some positive results, yet improvements happen much slower and your performance will suffer. Once you drop to 80%, you are likely to be the “Mayor of Plateau City” and seeing the early signs of backwards progress, you are also setting yourself up for long term illness and dis-ease. Anything below 80% compliance and you are exposed to the many negative side effects of poor nutrition: weight gain, inflammation, fatigue, frequent illness/colds/allergies, stiff muscles and joints, declines in performance and more.

Putting the 90% Rule into practical terms:
You can do this a couple ways – Let’s say you eat 5 meals/snacks a day, 7 days a week. That equates to 35 meals/snacks in a week. 90% of 35 is 31.5, so let’s round up (to be safe) to 32. That means that 32 of your meals/snacks each week should be impeccable and on par with your plan, allowing you 3 meals/snacks for a treat, or other indulgence – just don’t get carried away and blow it with 3 trips through the drive through for a super-sized meal. That brings us to another way you can approach the 90% rule.

Grade yourself – this can be a little tricky as it’s more subjective than the above approach. In this case, you review each meal/snack and grade yourself from 0%-100% in terms of food choice, quality, timing, volume, and so forth. You have to be honest with yourself, yet you also have to know exactly what you are supposed to be eating, when you should be eating, how much you should eat, and that’s where I come in. In upcoming posts, I will share additional principles as well as what foods we should be eating and what foods we should minimize or avoid.

Coming next time – “What foods to chow down”. Thanks for reading, please post your thoughts and opinions to “comments”.

Chris

Dances With Dirt , Gnaw Bone - Team Relay

This post is especially for those who are on the PR Fitness team(s) for the upcoming "Dances with Dirt" team relay in Gnaw Bone. More to come...

Enjoy!

PR's From Last Week

• PR Fitness co-owner, Jeff Porter, improved his "Helen" (CrossFit WOD) time by 90 seconds last week. In addition, he did it with a heavier kettlebell. Last time around, he used a 35# kettlebell, this time around, the 50#. That is a huge improvement, especially considering the 15# increase on the KB. Good job, Jeff!
  
• Yours truly had 2 PR's last week. On Monday I improved my Deadlift 1 RM 5#, then on Saturday, had a PR for 10K run. I would like to claim a PR on my 15K time (which was my fastest 15K), however, I can't say it was legit as Joe and I (who I was running with), stopped at the 10K mark to regroup with the rest of our Indy Mini training team. While we were clipping along at a pretty good pace, I had no intentions of setting a PR, which is often how it happens - just putting in a good effort without concern for time. This allows you to relax and flow, rather than getting tense and stressed about going faster or claiming a PR. What I find interesting, from an Exercise Physiologist/Coach perspective, is that these improvements took place at two opposite ends of the physiological spectrum - 1RM and endurance (and at a body weight that is 5# less than last time I did 1RM deadlifts, which typically hurts your 1RM lifts). Generally, it is accepted that in order to gain strength, you sacrifice endurance and vice-versa. To a point, this is true, especially for specialist athletes. However, for the well rounded athlete, who consistently trains all metabolic pathways, you can continue to excel without such sacrifices. If I wanted to be a running specialist or power lifting specialist, then sure, I would have to forfeit certain components of fitness, however, this is the the very reason I've chosen to train in an integrated fashion over the last 13 years, rather than become another "fringe athlete".
  

Set a PR recently? Let me know!

Be Well,
Chris

New Wall Paper?

Train at PR Fitness...

Do a race...

Bring us your bib number and/or medal to display!

A few of Coach Chris' bib numbers on display at PR Fitness.
Let's get the walls plastered with these, shall we?