Blog Break

I decided to post daily when I wanted my blog's traffic to increase.  I wanted more people to know about what I was doing, be inspired and live their dreams.  Well lately it's been hard to post daily.  Not that I can't force myself to think of things to write about but sometimes it gets tedious.  Because of the way my training has been going there haven't really been very many races.  For me at least, racing and times are one of the most exciting things about running.  Beating yourself, PRing etc. is the best. 

I've been doing a lot of long, slow (and by slow I mean 7:34 per mile, about 40 miles per week) running so it hasn't really been that exciting, to me at least.  If it's not exciting to me, it's probably not exciting to you, and not that you wouldn't be interested in my mundane life, but for now I'm going to give the blog a rest. I am going to postpone posting for 5 weeks.  So 5 weeks from now I promise an update on how things are going.  I'm going to put reminders in my calendar and I will let you know how things are going.  If something exciting, or even kind-of exciting happens before then, which is December 1st, then I promise I will write about it.  If I end up doing a race or time-trial and it's noteworthy for example or if some shoe company wants to sponsor me, you know--I'll let you know.  For right now I don't have any races really planned for this year.  I have some tentative plans for some races in December, but until then I have nothing planned, but I'll keep you updated for sure.  You're awesome and never forget it!

My Race, My Life, My Blog

Alright, sorry it's been so long since my last post, but it's been crazy.  I'm a little sick right now, but not too bad so I've been taking care of my body, but life is grand and I wanted to tell you about it.

On Saturday I ran a 5K.  I finished in like 17:44, second place overall.  Frankly it wasn't as fast as I was hoping for.  I was a little disappointed to say the least, so I ate some sugar cereal, watched some cool races on YouTube and then went to work.  My manager at work took me home that evening after we closed.  We talked about the race and I again expressed my disappointment.  My manager by the way took third right behind me in a banana suit/costume promoting for Jamba Juice. He brought up a really good point that I have been doing a lot of slow runs.  My mileage has been good, but my intensity really has been non-existent, so taking into consideration those factors I should be happy with that time.  He was/is right and I'm glad for friends that help bring things into perspective.

I had been wanting a GPS watch for a while.  Mainly for keeping track of mileage.  But recently as I've been using Jack Daniels' book and training plans realizing I need a GPS watch, or rather a GPS watch would be really beneficial to my training, to keep me on pace for the runs that require a certain, steady pace.  Anyways, I got a message from a lady in my ward that does Ironmans/Ironmen :) (Ironpeople is more politically correct;) and she said she had an extra GPS watch I could borrow.  I don't even know how she knew I was looking for one, maybe my mom told her, I doubt it, but I used it for the first time today without really knowing how to use it and it worked pretty good.

I'm not going to lie.  The original purpose of my blog back in 2010 was to make money eventually and be able to do the thing I love: running, for a living while I blogged about it and made it big.  Well, in the past few days I've realized I'm too attached to my outcomes of running and I believe that in order to succeed I need to relinquish my attachment to those outcomes.  I need to let Heavenly Father know what I desire, work hard and learn along the way.  I still want to achieve my goals, but if they don't happen I won't be so heartbroken I won't be able to move on.  So with my blog, I'm going to back off, post when I want.  It'll be like my journal in that I used to write a lot daily, but now I write when I feel like it and I like that for now.  Stay tuned.

Awesome No-Bakes and Incredible Crepes

Just thought I'd pass along some Fearless Recipes I thought you'd all enjoy:

I made both of the following recipes recently and really enjoyed them.  A friend at work asked for the recipes and while I was sending them to him on Facebook I realized it would make a really good blog post so here you go, just sharing the love:


Caleb's Semi-Healthy, Almost-Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free No-Bake Cookies

(Before you make them look at my "what I wish I would have done differently" after the recipe)

1/2 C. Olive Oil
2/3 C. Honey
1/2 C. Almond Milk
3 T. Cocoa
Sprinkle Salt (Real Salt if you have it)

Put all these ingredients in a pot, heat up until it's a liquid mixture, then add:

3 C. Old Fashioned Oats
1/3 C. Natural Peanut Butter (like Adams)
1/3 C. Flax Meal (not necessary, but I liked it, but I'm sure it would taste just the same without it)
Sprinkle Vanilla

Stir until all the oats are coated and have soaked up everything, then drop by the spoonful on wax paper or whatever you have.  I usually make mine like double or triple spoonful.

What I wish I would have done differently:
I think you could do less Olive Oil, like a 1/4 cup instead of a 1/2, you could probably do a 1/2 cup honey because even 2/3 cup was a tad too sweet.  You could probably increase the amount of peanut butter if you really like peanut butter, or substitute with almond or cashew butter and I'm sure that would taste really good.  Let me know how they turn out if and when you make them.

Caleb's Vegan Wheat-Free Crepes

(Okay, so I'm not a vegan, but I think that eating less meat and more healthy stuff like plants and whole grains is REALLY good for everyone, so here you go)

1 C. Spelt flour (reg. wheat flour works, but then they're not wheat-free, I'm a little sensitive to wheat, so I try to avoid it)
1 C. Almond Milk
2 T. Flax Meal
1 T. Olive Oil

Alright, so maybe you've made flax meal before, but if you haven't you can grind flax seed as you would any other grain (like in a wheat grinder, or hand grinder, or in a blender like a vitamix or blendtec), and then before you do anything else take 2 tablespoons of the flax, put it into a little bowl or cup, then add like 4 or so tablespoons of water so that the flax meal is soaking in water, stir it around like a few times so it makes a simple paste--that will be your egg substitute.

I put everything into a 2 Cup measuring cup thing so I can then just pour it straight into the pan.  Put the flour in the cup, then the milk, then add the flax meal paste, mix it all up real good, then add the oil, then make crepes.  I usually put oil in the pan too, and heat it up on medium-low heat as I'm preparing the mix.  If you've never done crepes I can teach you some time, but you probably have because you're pro like that.  Enjoy!

Wish Walk Run

I forgot to tell everyone that I'm doing a 5K this Saturday.  When I've thought of it I haven't been in a place to post, but when I'm posting I forget.  Anyways, that's the plan.  I hope to 1. Break my previous best of 17:38, 2. My realistic goal is a low 17, precisely 17:03 I think I can do if things go well, 3. My ambitious goal is 16:34, we'll see and 4. My "super-human" goal is 15:54 which I kind-of think is possible, but at the same time for me, at this point in my training etc. is "super-human".

If you are in the Idaho Falls area come out and run the Wish Walk Run 5K. Good night!

Plugging Along

Just wanted to let everyone out there know that I haven't given up, I don't plan on it.  Training is going well and I feel very good.  Not giving up, not looking back.

45 Miles Later

This week was week 4 of phase 1.  I increased my mileage by 9 miles.  Each morning I did a 4 miles run and in the afternoon I did 3.  Thursday I did the group run for Teton Running and the lady I ran with wanted to do 4 miles so I did 4 in the evening. The following day I did 6 miles instead of 7 to even things out.  This morning I ran 10 miles in 1:13.30.  It felt really good.  I ran a little faster than 7:34 per mile, but didn't feel like I was pushing my body too hard.

I increased my supplemental exercises like push-ups, sit-ups etc. (if you want to know more, maybe you do, maybe you don't read Of Maxes, Circuits, Plyos, Planks and Push-ups.) and it was dang hard.  Because of my work schedule working a full day on Friday and Saturday I decided to do my circuit on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Monday was hard because it was the first day of the new increases, Wednesday was tough but okay, and then Thursday was really hard because I was still recovering from Wednesday.  Anyways, the point is that I'm becoming really strong and my six-pack is getting RIPPED! Already, enough of that, but thought there would be someone out there that would want to know.

Tomorrow/starting tonight is fast Sunday.  Always tough but always awesome and worth it.

The Cold has Come

Yesterday morning I went for run #1.  Before I left my dad walked in the door having gone for a run himself.  I could tell it was sprinkling a little, not thinking much of it because come on, I grew up in Vancouver, Washington.  Rain doesn't faze this!  My dad said that it was raining lightly and "wanting" to snow.  I was like, how can you tell it wants to snow?  but I didn't ask that question out loud, I just left on my run.

Well, it was a light rain, and the wind had picked up a little.  I could tell the temperature was dropping, but I did NOT think it was going to snow.  By about 10:00 a.m. I was going to the temple and it was snowing. By the time I got out of the temple, about 30 minutes later, it was sticking and then about 3 hours later there was a snowman on the front lawn.

That night, last night, I led the group run for Teton Running, the store I work at, and it was very, very cold.  Not too bad, but compared to the summer, and compared to 5 days ago for goodness sakes, it was freezing.  This morning I went running.  I ran about 6 miles.  I thought my toes would stand a better chance if I wore two pairs of socks.  Well, I wore two pairs of cotton socks, soaked through both within 15 minutes of the 45 minutes run.  My toes were incredibly cold, but my fingers did well as I wore some good gloves.

We had a lady come to work and she did a training on Icebreaker which is apparel made of Merino wool.  We each got some socks as part of the training.  I plan on wearing them tomorrow during my long run.  I'll let you know how they hold up.  Apparently they are supposed to be some of the best clothing out there, and by the way that lady was explaining things it's pretty much bomb.  Anyways, let you know.

Why Success Principles

I thought I would do a short post on why I use The Success Principles by Jack Canfield.  There are tons of self-help/motivation/achieve-your-dreams books out there, but there's a reason a have selected The Success Principles to form a part of my success.

It was around June/July 2010 and I went up to the base of the "Y" mountain.  I went off on a little trail, found a large rock to sit on and began to pray.  My prayer ended with me yelling out to the city of Provo, "Why can't I do what I love and get paid to do it?!" and then I ran home.  Well that same day I get a phone call from my mother-in-law who had become part of a book club/mastermind group reading the book The Success Principles.  They gave me a copy of that book, and instantly I was hooked on reading it.

A few months later I was struggling with a mold allergy caused by where we were living and with school and work and an internship it just got to be more than I could handle.  I had to drop out of the group, but I did continue to read the book.

Fast forward to a year later, when the timing was right, I could pick up the book again and begin to apply the principles.  That's my story.  Thought you'd be interested.

Of Maxes, Circuits, Plyos, Planks and Push-ups

Yesterday was the start of an increase in a lot of things.  My white-board states a goal of increasing stress by increasing mileage and work done during my circuit training.  3 weeks ago I maxed out on push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups.  3 days a week I would perform the circuit and yesterday I maxed out again to measure improvement.  Here are my gains, needless to say I am very happy:

Area                                              3 weeks ago             Yesterday
Push-ups                                             32                             44
Sit-ups                                                 40                             70
Pull-ups (front "harder" way)              8                              14
Pull-ups (back, "easier" way)        didn't do it                     12

I was also doing a combination of plyometrics/callistenics, about 10 of them, 30 seconds for each one, 2 sets.  I have increased that to 40 seconds for each one and 3 full sets.  I do that 3 times per week as part of my circuit.

In addition to that I do trunks (as we called them in high school), I think others call them planks.  I was doing each position (7 of them) for 23 seconds each and 2 sets per circuit.  Starting yesterday I did each position for 30 seconds and I did 3 sets.  I will be doing 3 sets per circuit.  Man, they are difficult.  By the end my whole body is shaking.  I didn't know if I was going to be able to do 3 full sets, but I kept telling myself that even if I didn't complete the set, I was going to at least start it, and I did, and I completed it.  It was a small victory for me.  The video below shows what trunks are, and also how I do my push-ups and sit-ups:

So I take my maxes, divide them in half, and then each time I do a circuit I do that half-max 3 times like this:

On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, before I run I would do a set of plyos, a set of trunks, another set of plyos and another set of trunks, then the final set of plyos and the final set of trunks.  Run.  Then come back and do 7 pull-ups (front-"hard"), 22 push-ups, 6 pull-ups (back-"easy"), 35 sit-ups and do that 3 times in a row.

Bloody Soldier

Saturday morning was one of the most traumatizing experiences I have had in a long time.  It wasn't even that bad, but lots of blood for me equals trauma.

I'm just not a blood guy.  I have O-negative, which means I can donate to anyone including infants which the red cross always so nicely reminds me of every time they call and ask me to donate.  So I have felt an obligation to donate blood and have overcome my fear of getting poked periodically.  I have not overcome the fear though of watching the needle enter my body.  I've never looked at any needle enter my body and I could probably count on 2 fingers how many times I've seen it done on other people.  ANYWAYS that's just to give some background on my aversion to blood in person.  Movies sometimes is fine, but live, no thanks.

I had a really, really good run Saturday morning.  I felt like I was giving my normal 7:34 per mile effort, but I was hitting close to 7:00 each time.  I tried to slow down, but I just couldn't.  So I had to work at 10:00 that morning and Amy wanted to shower before I left.  Kimball, my son who's 20 months old, had a rough night so he was super tired.  We decided that he would be fine while Amy showered and then after she was done, she could put him down for a late morning nap.  Well, lately we have been letting him stand on a chair while we do things like when my mom makes cookies, or when my dad makes granola, or when I make green smoothies.  Kimball LOVES, he absolutely loves to help.  I'll wash a leaf of kale, and then give him half to put in one of the Magic Bullet cups.  He really likes to use knives too, so we let him sometimes, or maybe it's just me that let's him... But not all by himself, I help him.  Anyways, this story does not include a knife, so don't worry, sorry if I scared you.

I got the oatmeal out, was heating up some water etc. and Kimball was reapeating "Cereal" over and over again, which when he says it it sounds like "Seeweeuhl" which is super cute, except he was whining it loudly and due for a nap anyways.  Well I started to take the oatmeal back the pantry and he followed me with his body, turning towards me bit by bit, well I couldn't tell until I passed the counter top that he was close to the edge of the chair he was standing on and as he was turning and doing his mad mini-stomp he fell backwards off the chair, I think hitting bum first and then hitting his head on the ground.

We learned later that he had bit both sides of his lower lip.  He started screaming, grabbing his lower lip as blood just poured out of his mouth and onto to my wrist and sports watch.  Amy was in the shower and I was in blood-trauma-I-don't-know-what-to-do mode, so I ran down, the bathroom was locked so I hit the door hard, went to another door and found a little key--you know the ones that look like a straight piece of round metal and go into a little hole lock in the door-knob.  When I got back to the bathroom door Amy had opened it and she freaked out a little, but then got a washcloth to start treating it...

Okay, enough details, but needless to say we're all traumatized, but glad that Kimball's okay.  When he fell he was holding an army guy.  I did a little video that you can see it below.  He got blood on the army guy which makes it look like the real deal.

At first I had a lot of emotions rushing through my brain.  I wanted to say, "See, that's shouldn't let you stand on chairs." or something, but I realized that really it was a combo of problems and when it really boiled down to it, stuff like that happens no matter how careful we are, at least it does in my my family.  Accidents happen and I'm very grateful that Kimball was okay.  I think the whole thing helped me develop more love for my family, a greater appreciation for my wife and a stronger testimony of God.  It's a shame that traumatizing experiences have to be the things to do that for me, but nevertheless I am grateful.