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It’s pretty early in the season, so opportunities like this one don’t come along too often. However, I recently was able to race a 10-mile race in one of my favorite locations; the North Park Boathouse loop in Allison Park, PA. I’ve raced out here a few different times, but it’s been a full year since the last time! In the past, I’ve used the race series at North Park as a building prep for the Pittsburgh Marathon. Unfortunately this year, I’m unable to run the marathon, but the races are still nice little “testers” as the season approaches. In fact, the season might already be HERE!

I love racing for a few reasons…first and foremost, it’s always a great opportunity to test your fitness. Regardless of whether you’re in phenomenal shape or if you need to start dialing things in a bit more…races will expose you for exactly where you are at that part of your training. Whenever you race, you should ALWAYS have an intelligent plan, and go after it. Racing brings out significantly more adrenaline than any training session can. So going hard during a race truly is your best expression of where your fitness currently lies. I also like racing for the comraderie. I’ve been coaching with VictoryMultisport for awhile now, and the community is just second to none. We had a handful of athletes racing, and even more there to support and cheer each other on. It was awesome. Race day energy is like no other energy, and it’s even better with teammates to support one another. Very thankful for the VMS crew!

So my plan for the race was really just to go hard. 10 miles is short enough that I can push pretty hard the entire time, but long enough that if I make a mistake, it will count. Well, I made a small mistake, but it really wasn’t a huge deal. I came out a little hard for the first 2-3 miles, averaging about 7:45-7:50 per mile. That’s nothing too fast, but it was a little fast for me where I’m at RIGHT NOW. So I was forced to calibrate a little bit and I pulled back. I ended up average about 8:12/mile and I’m completely happy with that! It was a very cold day, I chose to wear only short sleeves, and at first I was concerned with that decision, but it ended up being a good choice. I heat up fairly quickly, and short sleeves helped me stay cool and controlled.

I love opportunities to truly test fitness. When mistakes are made, however big or small, they’re really just learning opportunities. So for me, coming out too hot taught me a small lesson in terms of where my fitness is right now. It’s not quite where I thought it was at the start of the race, and that’s okay. I have over 4 months until my first race of the season, and tons of time to prepare. In my eyes, the real race season begins when I’m about 4 months away from my first “A” race. My first “A” race is HappyValley70.3 in early July. So in about a week and a half, I’ll begin a 4-month specific prep. That’s what I consider to be the “in-season” and I can’t wait.

For now, I’m just happy I got the opportunity to race and test my fitness! Congratulations to all other racers who got out there and braved the 25-degree starting line!

Onto the next one.

#HillPursuit

Back pain articles are not rare. They simply can be found by searching “back pain” in your Google search engine. This article is not a medical journal. The below article is just from a man that trains for performance and battles with back pain.

The below information should not be taken as a prescription for your back pain.

The following information is not a recipe or prescription to heal anybody else’s problems. Let me put in this disclaimer, I am not a doctor. If you need medical attention go see a doctor.

I have been training consistently since I was in sixth grade. From then until this point in my life, I would say six of those years, my training mimicked a dog chasing its tail when it’s owner comes home from work. With that being said, I was always under the assumption that I had a strong and mobile back but over time, I have come to a realization it is a weak point of mine. I am also beginning to wonder if I have other areas that need addressed that are also causing this issue.

Since I was a middle school athlete, I experienced back pain. The pain was never chronic, but I have experienced spasms that would set in without any warning. The spasms would take my breath away and they would decrease my ability to move without saying a prayer before I did so.  This led me to having to work around the current spasm I was experiencing. Being young and dumb, I usually never said anything to my coaches and just grimaced through the pain.

Looking back, it is safe to say I would experience these spasms about one time per year. I made trips to the chiropractors, but the spasm never seemed to heal any quicker and I never thought the problem was ever addressed. I eventually visited a message therapist when I was experiencing a spasm, and this was the quickest relief I had experienced. After a few days, the pain normally decreased and I was able to perform movements without the pain sweeping away my breath.

Fast forward to now and I have been having pain that is more isolated to my lumbar area. About one month ago, my lumbar area flared up and I was experiencing pain that traveled to my hip flexors. Again, it made moving difficult and it happened to be whitetail season at the time. This made climbing and sitting a tree stand not so fun. I had to call an audible in order to sit a stand that allowed me to sit without my back screaming. Whitetail season comes once a year and I was not letting a banged up back keep me out of the fight. I was going to be in the woods one way or another. With all that being said, this pain was different then my normal spasms. It radiated more towards my hips which I usually did not feel with the spasms I previously experienced which normally were in my thoracic area.  I performed mini mobility movements, heated the area, took Motrin and over time the pain began subside and I was able to reenter the weight room and feel decent.

Fast forward about a month and I found myself deadlifting after coming off working a night rotation. I was not at my normal gym so I figured I would use a trap bar and work up to a moderate to heavy triple. Very early in the session, I could feel by back was not up to par. I also could tell my bracing did not feel right. It was just one of those days.

As I was working up, I made the decision to work up to 315 (three plates on a side because that is 315 for me regardless of the bar I am using) and then I will drop down for some lighter working sets. Not listening to my inner voice saying this this a stupid idea, I loaded the bar and began pulling. The first rep was fine, second rep I could feel things becoming a bit unstable, then on the third rep I felt what nobody wants to feel. I was at the top of my lockout when I felt a slide in my lumbar area. I immediately dropped the weight and thought to myself how I dumb I was for not listening to my body. I always preach to others to listen to their body and to live to train another day. I did the exact opposite. I began to pace around the garage.

I was not experiencing much pain at this point but for anybody that has had similar experiences the fear is in what lies ahead. I had in my head that my back was going to spasm, and I would be locked up for a while which meant limited training while also making any hunting I did more difficult. I did what has given me any relief in the past. I continued to move. I walked and performed a variation of the reverse hyper using a glute ham developer.

I realized I need to make a change that provides a permanent solution. I began to heavily research why low back pain exists and ways to fix it. My search led me to Kelly Starrett. Since the garage, I have been implementing many of his movements into my daily routine. My back did not go into spasm as I anticipated, and I am back performing movements that would have previously taken me weeks to perform. I have been focusing on taking the sheer stress off my low back through stretches. I have also been focusing on movements that I can do on my own to reset my pelvis.  I recently purchased a reverse and will be implementing it into my program as both a strengthening and restoration tool.

The modalities that I am implementing recently helped me work through a tweaked low back. The point of this article is not to provide a program to fix your back. If that was what you were looking for I am sorry. The point is that problems are not going to fix themselves and I was naive to think otherwise. I realized I am the one responsible to find ways to fix the problem and make myself strong and mobile. Not just get hurt and push on without any change. My body is telling me that it needs change. I am in this for the long haul so I realize it is my responsibility to make the adjustment so I can stay in the fight.

Please comment if you have experienced back pain and what modalities you have implemented to drive in hunting, sport, work, or life.

-Coach Mitch

– NEW WEBSITE!! https://hillpursuit.com/

– Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

– Dive right in…How’d it go for Ken’s World Record Attempt??

– 3 days leading into the event

– Carb Load

– How to get in the right head space for a 24-hour attempt

– Important milestones Ken hit along the way

– Feeling good at 5,000

– Nervous System issues 

– Did he do it?? Will he do it AGAIN??

– Ken successfully raised over $3,000 for Hope for the Warriors

– “People need to experience this type of pain. Get in a dark place and LEARN about yourself. Go do something hard.”

– Contact us on Facebook and Instagram @hillpursuit, and email at hillpursuit@gmail.com

– Check out our STORE, COACHING, WEBSITE, and YOUTUBE here!! https://linktr.ee/hillpursuit

I’m about 1 week post-race and have been reflecting quite a bit on the experience.

Looking back at the last 9+ months, I’ve worked extremely hard and I’m thrilled with my race performances.

One year ago I became an Ironman. What an incredible accomplishment, one of my proudest! Then I transitioned into an off-season, and prepped for a race I had done before, that I was familiar with; Eagleman 70.3.

All of a sudden, Ironman announces Ohio70.3 is changing locations essentially to my backyard, and I feel excited and decide to race it! That may have been a bit much, but I still enjoyed myself. Immediately following that race, I dove into an 8-week marathon prep and found a ton of success.

I pr’d my marathon by 16 minutes, and pr’d the Akron Marathon course by over 90 minutes! Wow…

I’m thrilled with the work I put into this season. My goal was to race under 5:30 minutes for a 70.3 and I accomplished that in 5:27. My next goal was to race a marathon in under 4 hours and I accomplished that in 3:52.

So what’s next?

Well, I still have plans to race Ohio 70.3 next season. But just yesterday, Ironman announced Pennsylvania Happy Valley 70.3 and I simply can’t miss it!

So I will be racing TWO 70.3 races in July. PA in early July and OH in late July.

I’d also like to sprinkle in a marathon in April, if possible, so we will see if that happens.

As of now the race season schedule isn’t necessarily SET, but it’s close…

Off-season for now, but I’m already stoked for next year!

#HillPursuit

Tomorrow I’m running my 6th marathon, and 2nd Akron marathon. To say I have unfinished business with this race is a wild understatement.

The last time I ran this race was 3 years ago. It was about 90 degrees and incredibly humid. The heat advisory threw a lot of athletes off their games. I was one of them. Not to mention I had about a 2-month old daughter, lacking sleep, lacking recovery, lacking sanity, lacking training time…it was a bad experience. I think I crossed the line in 5hours20minutes. Or something like that…

Looking ahead at tomorrow’s race is much different. I’m a much more intelligent athlete. I trained pretty hard for this race. I put in a ton of miles. I didn’t have the BEST or most IDEAL taper in the world due to a minor injury, but I still feel pretty ready. Not to mention, the weather looks incredible tomorrow in Akron. At the start of the race it will be about 45 degrees, only reaching 55-60 by the end of the race. That’s great for me, because as a larger athlete, I produce more heat, and quicker than others. So if I can keep my core temperature relatively down, that will help me over the course of the race.

I’m really looking forward to this one. I trained incredibly hard and what I believe to be incredibly smart.

Triathlon is still my number 1 sport, and the sport I want to see the most improvement in as I progress and grow as an athlete. But open marathon running is an important part of that growth. I would say that despite the experience I have with running, it is probably my weakest leg of triathlon. So I really want to improve as much as I can.

My first ever marathon was May of 2018, when I ran a 4:21 in Pittsburgh. My most recent marathon was October of 2020 when I raced virtually (not fun) and set a PR of 4:08. Tomorrow my main goal is for my finishing time to begin with a new number…3. If I can do that, I would consider that a massive victory and big step in the right direction.

Wish me luck!

I haven’t blogged in a little while. So I have some updates…

First of all, I decided to begin my taper 1 week early! Instead of a 1-week taper, I decided to listen to my body and go with a 2-week taper. I made that decision because I started getting really tired, lothargic, and lacking some energy in workouts. These are signs of overtraining, and that is the LAST thing I want to have happen right now. So I ran my 20-mile run last weekend, and began my taper!

A couple days after that, I ended up re-aggravating an old injury in my lower back. It’s an injury I’m quite familiar with, so I knew I just needed to rest. Well unfortunately, I haven’t run in about 6 days due to this injury!

I decided to complete a missed track workout from last week this morning. It was a great session and my back felt great!

I was ecstatic once I began running this morning. Not only did I miss it, but I felt incredible.

2-mile warmup
7x1200m @ 7:25/mile pace
2-mile cooldown

I executed perfectly and all that’s left to do now is maintain my fitness, stay hydrated and fueled properly, and rest as much as I can this upcoming week!

26.2 in 7 days…here we go.

Today was challenging.

To be honest, the entire marathon prep has been challenging. Filled with highs and lows. Mainly highs!

Some workouts have gone perfectly, even better than expected, and some have gone terribly. Today’s fell somewhere in the middle, and it has me wondering if I’m slightly overtrained…

I was planning on 4 intervals of 3miles, relatively faster than TEMPO pace. As I started the 3-mile warmup, I realized I didn’t have my best effort. So when I began my working intervals, I started slower than planned. I made it through two intervals fairly well. However, these intervals were on rolling hills and it took a lot out of me. So instead of hitting my pace goals on the track, I worked harder than I anticipated and ran slower than I expected. I got onto the track for my 3rd working interval, and immediately turned it into my cooldown. I only got 2 of the 4 intervals that I had planned today.

Not great. But as I was running, I realized something. I realized that today was a hard day. In fact, training often brings good days and bad days, but the truth is that you can’t recognize either of them unless you consistently show up EVERY day. So I found a victory in that.

It’s possible I’m overtrained! What does that mean?

I need to begin tapering sooner than later.

I will still hit my last long, slow-distance (LSD) run this weekend, but after that I am planning my taper. This is one full week earlier than I had originally planned.

I hope it pays off.

#HillPursuit