Category Archives: Training

3 Words for Twenty-10

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I think new years resolutions set you up to fail.  Have you ever actually kept one past the third week of January?  On the other hand, I’m a big proponent of reflecting often on the details of life – where you’ve been, what you want to do, where you want to go, and how you’re going to do it.  The title of my blog, The Game Plan, should signal my readers that I believe in organizing strategies and executing the plan.  To my core I’m a teacher and coach.

In my last post I talked about articles by Michael Hyatt and Chris Brogan that are exercises in reflecting on the past and planning the future.  I highly recommend both articles.  It’s not too late to put together a plan for 2010.  In fact, I think without the pressure of the first few days of the year you can strategize with a more level head.

Chris Brogan has an exercise he does called 3 Words.  From his post:

Over the last few years, I’ve practiced something I call “my 3 words,” where I come up with three words that I use as guidance for how I should conduct my efforts in the year to come. I set goals around these three words. I build deadlines and projects around these words.

Here’s my 3 words for twenty-10:

catalyst:  A catalyst is someone or something that makes things happen.  I want to take more initiative with my family time (especially with a baby girl on the way).  Catalyst.  I want to add value to people’s lives.  Catalyst.  I want to take Katie out more often.  Catalyst.  I want to create excellent content on my blogs. 

athlete:  I understand the world of athletics; I think in terms of sports.  Athletes are into training, planning, practicing, performing, and then reviewing the whole process and doing it again.  Thinking of the word “athlete” makes me pursue my fitness.  Though I may not compete in a race this year, I want 2010 to be a solid year of training.  Athlete.  I want to prepare for each week (and month) as an athlete prepares for a game.  My life would be much more efficient and enjoyable if I spent a little more time preparing.  Athlete.  I also want to explore the idea of failure.  Athletes fail.  Failure is ok… if you learn from it.  I’m afraid of failure.  But if I fail I will know I’m trying hard and am fully invested.  “I’ve never failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

coffee:  This is my most abstract word.  Coffee this year reminds me of my morning routine.  Before my family is awake I’m up reading my Bible, journaling about life, reading a good book, and preparing for my day.  Coffee.  I’m also going to pursue a few more meaningful relationships for me and my family.  Coffee.  I want to host friends and family at our house.  Coffee.  I want to get into some strategic relationships with other Christian men who I can do life with.  Coffee.

Disclaimer:  These three words may mean nothing to you, and they can’t be fully understood from this post; it’s not meant to be all-inclusive.  But they have been pondered by me for over a week and I’ve internalized them and started to process them here.  Accountability is good.  Having goals is good.  Failure is ok.  Learning the process to growth is essential.

Goal Setting

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If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.  ~Author Unknown

How true is this?  Have you recently analyzed your goals in life?  Could you list your top three priorities on a sheet of paper?  How are you spending your time?

Goal setting is an exercise that requires our daily and weekly attention.  I am very easily distracted, and I’m not alone.  In today’s age of technology there are so many things that battle for our time, and they often win… unless we have a set of goals in place.  These goals need to address what’s important in our lives and no one can create them but ourselves.  We must internalize them and make them our own.
One of my biggest challenges in helping clients become more fit and lose weight is to help them understand the importance of goal setting.  “I want to lose weight”  This is a bad goal.  “I want to be healthier.”  This is also a bad goal.  Why are these bad goals?  Because they don’t give me enough information.  They’re not SMART goals:

Specific           (what do you want to happen; why; how)
Measurable     (how will you know when you’ve accomplished your goal?)
Attainable        (are you in over your head or is your goal within reach?)
Relevant          (is it your goal or someone else’s; how does it fit in your life?)
Timely             (to be completed next week, next month or next year?)

This is a criterion I learned while studying physical education in college.  While it first seemed a little over the top, I now realize how essential these five components are to proper goal setting.  So without a goal we will never accomplish what’s important to us.  The world distracts us so we need to focus.  And when we establish a goal, it needs to have the five SMART components.

Challenge:  

  1. write one short-term goal to be completed this week
  2. write one long-term goal to be completed within one month

Lakefront Marathon

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When I finished the Milwaukee Marathon yesterday, I felt two emotions:  first I was proud of my time, and second I was grateful for all my supporters.

Let me start with the latter.  I can say how thankful I was to have so many friends and family out on the course with me.  Yesterday was 48 degrees at the start of the race – and windy.  By the end it wasn’t much warmer.  The breeze sure didn’t go away.  Watching someone (like me) run 26 miles is quite and undertaking – it took me just under four hours, so there’s some committment there.  And still other family members showed up towards the end when I needed encouragement the most.  I wish you all knew the energy I get when I see supporters on the side of the road there cheering me on.  In the challenge of my race you were pushing me to the end – thank you so much.

My other emotion after the race was pride in my training.  This was my second marathon of the season, and it was the first time I had this volume of training under my belt.  While I had the miles to run well, I hadn’t worked on speed like I had hoped.  This time my training called for two 20-mile runs.  Mine went so well that they turned into 21 and 23 mile runs.  So I knew I had a chance at a good time.  Saturday night I wrote here about my goals:

Here’s how I’m looking at tomorrow:

  • 3:55 should be a lock
  • 3:50 is my goal
  • 3:45 is “things went perfect”

The start of the race was very cold – I couldn’t even get myself to take off my long-sleeve, but I ditched the hat at mile 8.  The first 13 miles felt very clunky and I was actually worried that things wouldn’t go well.  I knew from training that around 8-10 I would get into a rhythm, but when that came and went I started thinking this might not be my day.  At mile 13 I was three minutes behind where I wanted to be (1:50), but that just meant there was even less room for error.

And then I started thinking about the Madison Marathon five months earlier.  In that race I started off very strong and just barely held on to the finish.  Would today be the same or did I have more in the tank?

At mile 14-15 I started getting into a nice groove.  What a feeling!  I was blaming the weather and maybe my high ambitions started me too fast at the start.  But here I was feeling smooth and strong.  At mile 18 I was thinking back to my last few long training runs and glad that I had pushed to 21 and 23 miles.  I started to think of when I wanted to push the pace because I knew I had strong legs.

Mile 22 would be a little early to go for it.  Four miles doesn’t seem that far, but at the end of a marathon it’s too much for me.  I figured I had a little more than two good miles left so at mile 23.5 I left Ken who I was running with and increased my pace.

Those last 2.7 miles were very tough.  It’s really hard to push yourself when there’s not that much in the tank.  I knew I’d finish but I didn’t know how fast I could go.  In previous races I would alternate walking and running around mile 21.  That didn’t happen once yesterday!  I had picked up the pace but I was maxed out of muscle in my legs.  I don’t know how many people I passed but I know that no a single person passed me after mile 21.  I’m very proud of that.

I finished Milwaukee Marathon in 3:46, bettering my personal best by 13 minutes.  The training had paid off.  The cheers and support were greatly appreciated.  Who knows what’s next.  Right now I can be thankful and proud as I go into the winter and think of next season.  Katie and I have some thoughts about the future, but right now we’re very excited to focus on family and Katie’s health as she carries our second baby.  And I’m looking forward to cheering her on.

On the Record

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I think goals are very important. And while I don’t have time to get into success, failure, and accountability, let me say this: I have a desire to put myself out on the line and shoot for a lofty goal. I want to be the guy in the game, working hard, performing my best, and seeing if I have what it takes. Like I said, I can’t get into this right now b/c it’s 10 hours before I’m running my marathon and I need to rest.

I think it would be easy to say I want to run faster than my last marathon. That would be under 3:59, and I would honestly be proud of that. I haven’t trained “fast” but I have trained more. So barring major set-backs 3:59 should be a lock. But if I’m honest with myself (and now my readers) I would say that wouldn’t be enough. I’ve trained for back-to-back marathons now and I think that will be a significant increase in training and thus performance.

Here’s how I’m looking at tomorrow:

  • 3:55 should be a lock
  • 3:50 is my goal
  • 3:45 is “things went perfect”

So honesty if I don’t finish before 3:50 I will be disappointed. If it happens did I fail? Yes, I guess I did — but that would be ok. Because so often in life big things happen from failure. We come back stronger and never make that mistake again.

Too much for tonight. I’m really excited about running tomorrow. My strategy is 8:15 miles for the first half, and then 9:15 miles to the finish. You can see my updates on my Twitter Feed.

Race Week

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I am very excited to be at the final training week for the Milwaukee Marathon this Sunday. It is my third marathon, my second this year. I did Madison Marathon for the first time in 2007 and finished in 4:04. Last May I did Madison again and met my goal of going under 4 hours – I finished in 3:59. And now I’ve completed my training for this marathon on the heels of my Madison marathon, so the two consecutive training programs is making me very excited to see “how fast” I can go on Sunday.

Training is so motivational for me. I’ve made many updates on Facebook and Twitter this summer as I’ve processed my runs and the training program. It’s been great to see how much stronger my body has gotten from all the miles I’ve logged. Are you aware of the capabilities of the human body? I’m not saying everyone should run marathons. But what might it be for you? Your first 5K? A run/walk. A brisk bike ride around the lake? What could you train for that would require some time and effort, but you think is possible in 8 weeks of training?

So this week I’m resting and looking back on my first two marathons – how my splits were and what my heart rate was over the course of the run. My friend Tom Moore says that marathons start after mile 20 – and I agree. It’s the last six miles that are really what you train for, especially after your first marathon. In May I basically ran two different runs – my first 18 miles were great and my last 8 went downhill. So I’m starting to develop strategy for having more in the tank at the end.

If you’re interested in following me on Sunday, you can watch my Twitter feed which my sister will be updating.

Benefits of Training

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As I train for my third marathon, I’ve been able to focus less on the miles scheduled for the week and focus more on the structure of the program and it’s purpose.  For those that don’t know, when you’re training to run 26.2 miles, you never actually run that far before the race.  One common training program (Hal Higdon) has you peak at “only” 20 miles.  And that’s three weeks before the race! 

While I understood this concept in 2007 when I first did Madison Marathon, the years have allowed me to familiarize myself with the program, the design, and most importantly my body.  Having gone through the program three times now, I can confidently talk about training for a marathon with any novice runner.

Lately I’ve been reaping the benefits of training.  The human body is designed to be able to run 26.2 miles.  Not everyone can do this because too many of us let our bodies go.  But with proper training, I feel like I could get most people to complete a marathon.  And this is because of the power of training.  Think about training.  It’s not something you figure out over night, in a week, or a month.  People take years to be properly trained on a piece of equipment or proficient at a job.

And training for a run is no different.  My marathon training program for the Lakefront (Milwaukee) Marathon on October 4th included two 20-mile runs.  This is an advanced workout that I was trying for the first time since I’m looking to improve on my run from this spring.  I’m happy to report that the first 20-miler was going so well that I extended it to 21 miles.  Then the second 20-miler was going well (training!) that I extended it to 23.5 miles.  If you haven’t had the feeling of your body getting stronger, you’re missing out.  

So after 17+ weeks of training, I’m tapering.  The program is set up such that your body decreases its workout load for the last two weeks of the training so that you’re ready for maximal effort on race day.  I remember feeling this three days before my first marathon in 2007.  I came home from a short run and told Katie “I’m ready to go.”  I could just feel my body’s strength and even pent-up energy during my taper.  This was because I was used to so much higher mileage, my body was under-performing.  And that would change in three days when I would ask it to run 26.2.


When is the last time you trained for something?  It doesn’t have to be a marathon.  It doesn’t have to be athletic.  But when is the last time you felt yourself noticably get better or stronger in an area?

Exercise and Christianity

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Since I became a fitness professional (as a personal trainer) I’ve made an intentional effort to practice what I preach.  It’s not enough to have the knowledge to simply prescribe a workout routine for people and expect them to become healthier.  I firmly believe a good trainer needs to model a healthy lifestyle to be effective.

In addition to training, it has been my experience that I also need to have open discussions about health-related topics as a normal part of my days and relationships with people.  I want my fitness profession to be more than a job – I want it to be a significant component to my life.  So I approach relationship with the lens of “how can I be a resource and an encouragement to those with whom I interact?”

As these conversations have taken place, I’ve realized that my fitness profession and my Christianity have something in common.  It seems to me that these two aspects of my life can come across as over-zealous and even self-righteous.  Here’s what I mean.

I admit that I don’t talk about my faith as much as I should.  I’ve certainly had opportunities and relationships where I’ve been able to be more vocal, and I feel good when I can share my faith.  But the general consensus in this country and culture is that talking about Christianity comes off as ‘better-than-thou.’  I hate that.  But it seems true.  Any discussion of Jesus, the Bible, my morals, or my views on family and society are interpreted as though I don’t sin, I don’t accept anyone else’s lifestyles, I’m unforgiving, or no one lives up to my standards.  Have you ever felt unreasonably pegged and wanted to defend yourself?

Let’s look at the excercise profession.  Since learning about physical and health education at the University of Wisconsin, I’ve realized how important health and fitness is to our culture.  Over 66% of the population is overweight – and almost half of that group is obese!  This has created a passion in me to see more individuals gain their health back and begin to feel better about themselves.  As noted above, I figure I’ll be more effective if I practice what I preach, but to be honest I’d probably be doing this training even if my profession was unrelated.

But then comes my dilema.  I’m thin, I’m active, I eat very healthy (thanks to Katie) and I compete in marathons.  How does this look to those I’m trying to reach?  To some it’s exactly what they’d expect.  But to others (usually the very-overweight ones) it just seems like they want to say, “Easy for you to say, Hans.  You’re in great shape and I could never get to that point.”  Maybe I’m reading into this or maybe I’m not bringing them along with me in the conversation.  But it sure feels like people hear me talk about fitness and just don’t care or don’t think it’s attainable.

So my faith and my profession seem to have this in common:  when you’re part of “the group” you’re elite and so you must be looking down on those that aren’t.  I guess at this point it’s just an observation.  I don’t have evidence of this and I don’t have a solution.  But I believe God has called me to develop these aspects in my life and I also believe he’s given me a voice and is allowing me to develop and grow that voice to work for His good.  So I’ll keep pushing my agenda and practicing what I preach.

Marathon Training

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Well after Madison Marathon was completed at the end of May, Katie and I had a very busy few weeks. This is especially noteworthy because my training for the Lakefront Marathon was adversely affected. It was tough for me because I was really looking forward to seeing how the first marathon training would prep me for the second. I’m happy to report that I’m back on schedule with my training, and I don’t think the time off hurt me. That’s the thing with exercise: if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. But if you re-train, you’ll gain it back quicker than if you hadn’t trained in the first place. Does that make sense?

One necessity of my training was a new pair of shoes. Over the winter I bought a new pair of Brooks that were a little more resistant to the elements. I’m happy with them – they certainly allowed me to get out and run in some compromising elements this winter and sloppy spring. But they’re nothing like my Asics 2120s. Now they’ve been updated to the 2140s, which I just got in the mail last week:

(me smelling a new, fresh pair of shoes)
@hschiefelbein and his new kicks on Twitpic

Marathon training is so good for me. Admittedly I’m not great at it yet. I still have so many days when I just don’t want to get out and run. But when I get the weekly miles in, there’s nothing like the feeling of training and being fit.

Are you working out? Do you exercise 3-5 days per week? As an ACSM personal trainer, I’m doing CEUs and I’m also studying for another certification – Exercise Specialist. All the material says that EVERYONE should be exercising for 30 minutes 4-5 days per week! I guess that soapbox is for another post, maybe even another blog in and of itself.

Reunited with Blackberry; Marathon?

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On Friday I had a client at Harbor in the morning. I had my Blackberry in my training vest and left it there, so I was without it all day. Boy, is that a naked feeling. I don’t have email on there or anything, but I’m constantly setting alarms, tasks, and memos for myself. It was good to get it back Saturday morning. And in case you’re wondering – I didn’t miss any calls all day. So the Blackberry doesn’t have to be a Crackberry for me – no addiction here.

This weekend I got two runs in and would like to announce my plans for the 2009 Mad City Marathon on May 24th. I ran in 2007 and feel bad it’s taken this long to get back into a big race. The runs this weekend felt great. I really miss the workout for the lungs and legs on those longer runs. Katie and I got a new shuffle since mine got lost last summer. We got the red one which supports (RED) causes fighting AIDS.