"Don't Stop Believing" Journey to Ironman

2009 Theme Song--Roll If You Fall by Barefoot Truth

The past few years Ironman training years, I've enjoyed having a theme song to return to for motivation--and for a happy beat while running! In 2006 it was Journey's Don't Stop Believing In
2008 it was Jimmy Cliff's You Can Get It If You Really Want. Both songs came from suggestions from my kids, which added a nice dimension to the choice, and kept the songs close to my heart.

Well, even though this is not an Ironman year, I wanted to have an anthem for 2009. But what???? Then it came to me. The song is Roll If You Fall by Barefoot Truth.

 Here's what I relate to in the song:

The title:
Roll if You Fall reminds me to never, ever give up. Always keep it going in a positive way.

From the lyrics:
"Stand tall behind your commitments"
"Don't live somebody's else's dream"
And the best line of all--"When they add the score at the end of this life, I want to say I won the game."

Triathlon and Ironman is a big part of that score for me.

You can hear the song, and this great young band here. Take a few minutes and let it brighten your day.

A special part of selecting this song does, in fact, involve my oldest son. Some of you may remember that my son rode his bike across the US last summer with his friend Pete in their Pedal for Peace endeavor. Barefoot Truth is Pete's brother Jay's band. My son introduced me to their music and that song in particular. The band is doing really well, and I'm told put on quite a show. So "Roll if you Fall" comes with a nice personal connection too.

Here's the Barefoot Truth website.

"It's a simple inspiration, that always blows my mind...."--that's me singing! :)

Compression Tights and the Eight Day Run Challenge

  I wanted to follow up with additional impressions about compression tights. I posted this a few weeks ago, and since then I put the claims of compression wear (and myself) through another test in a fun, but tough holiday run challenge.

I signed up for and completed the Endurance Nation 8-day run challenge--December 25 through January 1. My running needed a spark, and I figured it's what I needed to get out of the running doldrums. I also continued to the full off-season bike workouts I had on my schedule too. It was a big week.

After 8 days of running in a row, with way more threshold miles than usual, my legs felt incredibly fresh. I went from about 18 miles/wk in November to almost 40 miles this week. (Not smart, but it was fun!) My legs felt like night and day from what I expected--and what I have experienced in the past. They recovered from one day to the next, and felt  better and better as the week went on. I was amazed. The only time I had tired legs was a run off the bike after 2 x 15' at threshold. Nothing can make that run not hurt. But the next day, my legs were good to go again.

I worked out a system for the tights that worked well. For longer runs with hard, threshold miles I ran in my compression tights. Shorter runs off the bike in regular tights (you can feel the difference), but then wore the compression tights for the rest of the day. This made a big difference. My legs have never felt this good over this kind of challenging week.

In particular, my glute med, piriformis, and quads are in excellent shape. Triggerpoint rolling isn't finding the usual kinds of knots and painful areas. Sure, there are some, but amazingly very little.

From now on I am wearing the compression shorts/tights to run in, period. They are pricey, but I've paid the other kind of price of being injured far too much.

Some people have contacted me to ask if I have any affiliation with the Kmeleon brand of compression garments I've been wearing. The answer is no. I'm paying the sticker price just like everyone else!