Racing!

The racing schedule for the back half of my season has been finalized, and it will be posted on my site soon. Until it is uploaded here is the breakdown:

September 6th AXS Adventure Race Vail
September 14th Harvest Moon Half Ironman
September 21st Animas Mountain Mug Run 6.6 Mile Trail Run
October 5th Longhorn Ironman 70.3
October 26th Soma Half Ironman
November 23rd Ironman Arizona

I may add a local running race or two just to keep things sharp, and I will be participating in some of the Durango Wheel Club Championship events, but this should be just the right amount of race intensity stimulus I need to be ready for my Ironman in November. My training is right on target at the moment, and I'm feeling more fit and focused than ever before. The most important thing from here on out will be to really nail my key workouts each week and avoid injury. It's going to take a little creative training when the daylight really starts to fade this fall, but I'm confident that my legs will be ready for the test. I'll report on the Adventure race in Vail this weekend upon completion.

Website Update

Make sure to check the latest version of my website at www.benhoffmanracing.com
The newest updates include a gallery (more pics coming soon), and a completely redesigned layout with all-new sections. The most recent results, photos, and race schedule will be added shortly. Input is welcome.

Single-Minded Warrior

"Out on the accidental frontiers of human possibility, the best athletes are produced by a perfect storm of circumstance: rare natural talents; state-of-the-art training; and a deep wash in the murk of psychology, where, perhaps most mysterious of all, ferocious ambition, discipline and capacity for self-sacrifice reside."


From the New York Times article "Out There" by Mark Levine August 3rd, 2008

Becoming an elite endurance athlete is a bit like reverting to caveman status, being a believer, and hence, a warrior. To me this is what life is all about: to strip away the trivialities of day-to-day living and get right down to the essentials. Being successful is being competitive, and being competitive means that I put my training before most everything else. It's taken me some time to become comfortable with that idea, as I attempted to strike the socially defined "balance" in my life, seeking activities that stimulated my artistic creativity, mechanical aptitude, and other pursuits designed to make me a well-rounded, culturally aware, renaissance man. It's not to say that I have abandoned those pursuits entirely, but instead that I have decided that the real knowledge of one's self is in the deepest and rawest commitment to one thing. And that I believe the rewards of pushing myself and pursuing this goal to know what I am truly capable of far outweigh the fantasy of other possibilities if I were to abandon this quest. A friend, David Roy and I have spent countless hours on the running trails of Durango discussing the benefits of what he has coined being a "single-minded warrior." The common myth is that being so involved with only one thing leads to stagnation and inhibits growth, but I believe that intense specialization and devotion promotes the greatest advancements and evolution within the self. To let distracting elements fall away is the key to flourishing. One of the more inspiring quotes I have read from an athlete who demonstrated some of the fiercest commitment to these ideals comes from Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin, a.k.a. "The Experiment." He offered this insight when he was explaining why people don't understand how he could be so much more skilled at his sport than his rivals without being some kind of scientific experiment, juiced to the gills: "I train every day of my life as they have never trained a day in theirs." So, next time you are wondering whether somebody else is logging the training miles and getting up early enough to swim before work, do yourself a favor and assume they are.

Sunday 20

This past weekend was a serious motivator for the back half of the racing season. Even though I have just begun to ramp the training back to an acceptable level after my injury, I was feeling good on my long run and decided to make the workout a real test of my fitness and the strength of my knee. A group of runners have been organizing for long runs at high altitude recently, so I joined the Sunday morning effort and drove up Hermosa Park above the Purgatory ski resort for the run. The run begins at 9,900 ft. and immediately climbs to almost 10,500 ft., where it contours at the base of several big peaks in the San Juan range. I wasn't feeling 100% after racing a sprint triathlon in town Saturday (1st, 53:56) and following it up with almost 3 hrs. of solid riding with some friends, but after about 25 minutes I settled into a more comfortable rhythm and began to enjoy the scenery up high. I was expecting to suffer even more than usual at that altitude, but at mile 8 when the group decided to flip it and head back to the cars, training partner Jesse Vondracek and I opted for a bit more. Initially we planned on going out to 9 miles and turning back, but we talked each other into the full 10. Because the last 3 miles coming back were almost entirely downhill, we also decided that we would up the tempo at the end and try to lock in some speed at the critical time when the legs were the most fatigued. I started to suffer a little bit at mile 14, but stayed focused on my form and efficiency until we crested the rise before the long downhill. I was able to click off 6:15's for the last 3 miles and held an overall average of 7:41's for the 20 miles. Most importantly, my knee held up just fine and is ready for the rest of the requisite Ironman training. I'll be heading to Gateway, Colorado this weekend for some more racing with the Chocolate Factory cycling team, with a 40k time trial on Friday, 162k road race on Saturday, and a 142k road race on Sunday. Happy training.