30 Back squats @ 185lbs
1mile run

Overall time is 7:09. 1 mile split is 5:34.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T66_lqtHgtI

Mind you this is all off of CrossFit training and swimming 2x/week for the past 6 months. I haven’t been able to run at all due to injury. I’ve had two formal running workouts in the last 2 weeks leading up to this workout. Not too shabby!

With the new year approaching and the old one winding down, I thought it would be fitting to discuss goal accomplishment. What are you goals for 2012? Nearly all of us, myself included, right down short and long-term goals only to throw in a notebook and never think about again. It’s fun to think about them, jot them down, all that stuff. In the busyness of day-to-day life however, it is way to easy to lose sight of where we want to go. Here’s some insight in this post on what it takes to start your goals and powerful measures to keep them in your cross-hairs, making you a goal grinding machine!

First off, every great accomplishment begins with a thought. Begin by visualizing the WIN in the end or the ending outcome you would like to receive. Start with the end goal in mind and then execute violently. Every great accomplishment is begun this way. Every small accomplishment is as well (grocery lists), whether you realize it or not. When we begin with the end, we subconsciously give our minds the GPS coordinates to find. Because our brains are all wired for success, it’s the most natural way for goal accomplishment.

Second, write it down with some emotion! Most people when they write goals put the ending outcome and that’s it. ie Win National Volleyball title. To be thoroughly effective, when you write it, make it as descriptive as possible. Write your emotions on the page. How you feel while you’re performing the task (race, game, match, etc). Remember, your emotions are the fuel that drive the goal. Without emotion, all you have is an empty race car with no motor. Depending on how you leverage them, they determine how quickly (or not) you’ll actually achieve your goal. The more emotion, the better. Pour it on.

Third, protect your thoughts! Abraham Lincoln said something like, “If you think you can’t, then you won’t.” Remember how our minds are wired for success?? If you approach a task, a business meeting or whatever with the thought of “This is going to suck” or “No f’ing way” then guess what, your body will deliver. No matter how hard you try, you subconscious mind will find every way to sabotage you…all b/c it wants to succeed! Get it? It’s all a part of how we’re wired. In our mind, success is what you tell it. If you say, “I’m going to crush the MCAT!” then by god your whole being will do everything it can to succeed. If you were to say, “I don’t know, the MCAT’s are going to be really hard.” Poof, guess what, the MCAT’s are going to be hard and you’ll get the score you “knew” you would get; a mediocre performance at best.

Fourth, wash, rinse and repeat. One of the best tools I learned from Coach Todd Herman was to continue my writings on a daily basis, preferably before I went to bed so I could soak up all the goodness. This step is the glue or the magnifier of all the other steps. Writing your goals down everyday with emotion has an amazing effect of bringing them to the forefront of your mind. This practice is so huge and its importance is something I can’t stress enough. Even just a quick five sentence goal achieving outline with a little emotion seeps it deep into your bones. Before long, you’re a goal grinding machine. On to the next!

Lastly, I highly recommend hiring a coach, one who can help with goal setting, achievement, mental toughness, etc. It’s a must for any high performer on the field or in the office. Over the years, I have received and continue to receive excellent coaching in the realm of sports performance and mental training. These coaches have made a huge impact on my life.

One last tid bit of information. Tonight is December 25th and the 235th anniversary of George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware to attack a sleeping Hessian Army. This victory turned out to be a watershed moment of the Revolutionary War, effectively rallying other rebel fighters to join the Continental Army to fight the British. Remember, the British Empire was a seemingly insurmountable foe, had the world’s greatest army, largest navy and a winning record. No one every thought it possible that a bunch of “rabble rousers” could oust the greatest Empire in the world at the time. How do you think our Founding Fathers approached their mental game? Did they give their minds an “out” clause if things didn’t work? Thoughts of freedom and living a life free of oppression filled their minds, thoughts, writings, words day in and day out. By any means necessary would they forge their own country, founded upon ideals that had never been done before.

I hope this post finds you warm and cozy yet pondering the greatness of your mind and the possibilities that await in your future.

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

“The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated. The mind is the athlete, the body is simply the means it uses to run faster or longer, jump higher, shoot straighter, kick better, swim harder, hit further, or box better.”
― Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One

2012 is going to be a good year

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

Recovery – Is the reason you get better (faster, stronger, etc).

The Sweet Potato – In your diet

My neck – Was what I was up to in mud…while attempting to train.

My relationship with the paleo diet has been tumultuous and considerably trial and error. Check out my post Paleo is Dead from last year. Didn’t sit well with many peeps in the CF community, rightfully so.

In the beginning, I saw immediate physical results. Not in body composition but in systemic inflammation. Tendonitis in my knee was something that had bothered me for so long that limping down the stairs in the morning was normal. Walking crooked up steps on the way to work was just how I walked. Doing a 15min knee prep warmup before any track work was par for the course. After being introduced to paleo by Brent Wenson, a good friend and fellow trainer at CF Atlanta, and implementing it for a solid 3 weeks with the addition of a good fish oil, tendonitis in my knee had disappeared. That was huge.

Fast forward a couple of years. I’m back competing on the track. In addition to training at a very high level, I’m coaching 4-6 classes a day, watching my daughter full time and trying to run a business at CrossFit San Mateo. Free time is a foreign phrase to me. The overall picture is that I’m not consuming enough calories and sleep is terrible. Thus, I’m not recovering properly, I have no energy and I’m getting injured. Big surprise.

I was eating a strict high fat/protein paleo diet. No post WOD supplements, lots of fat, lots of protein, only about 20% carbs. I was hitting the wall big time. Muscle glycogen stores were on a constant E. I would have a week of awesome workouts and 2 weeks of feeling like I was running in mud…up to my neck.

So, stupidly and in my fog induced glycogen depleted brain, I swore off paleo eating. In the month or two that I was “off” paleo, I noticed my aches and pains in my joints came back. My face broke out. My stomach hurt, all the damn time. Irritabal Bowel Syndrome?? I thought taking a deuce 3x-5x a day was normal…no?! Damn it! All of this and my energy still sucked.  The answer was two-fold. Day to-day nutrition and post WOD recovery.

Overall Nutrition

Let’s start first with overall nutrition. Enter my buddy Badier of The Lazy Caveman. His first response to all of this was, “Dude, everyone thinks paleo is a low carb diet. It doesn’t have to be. We just have to get your carbs from better sources.”

Because my training is so anaerobic (2-3x track wods, 3-4 CF WODs + strength) Badier put me on a 60-70% carb diet. 70% carbs, 15% fat 15% protein. I started eating banana’s paired with protein and fat. Rice has snuck in there from time to time to vary things up. In the end, sweet potatoes have become my Holy Grail. Since consuming at least 1 sweet potato nearly everyday, recovery, energy and overall mood (note: mood has nothing to do with being an asshole) is at an all time high. Most importantly, I can maintain a high level of performance throughout my program w/o any breakdown.

I could devote a whole post to sweet potatoes. My good friend is actually coming out with a book on its benefits. Real quick it:

• Is a ”slow” carb
• Is packed full of vitamins
• Helps stabilize insulin levels
• Has natural anti-inflammatory properties
• Tastes great
• Is easily transportable, stays well in storage
• Is a must for endurance athletes

Missing an extra gear in your workouts? A liberal peppering of sweet potatoes in your diet may be your answer.

Post WOD Recovery

Nothing comes close to Vitargo Genr8. I’ve blogged about it in previous posts and over 7 months of taking it as a supplement can attest that it works better than any other product I’ve tried or try (Hammer, Endurox, etc). All of them are usually made with crap maltodextrin or dextrose (corn) which has shown to reach muscle stores slower than eating a piece of white bread. After a hard track session, swim or WOD, in the past I would have NO ENERGY. Usually I’d be very tired. With Genr8, my energy levels stay up as does my insulin levels (no crash). You know what this means??? It means no muscle catabolism. It means my body absorbs more work. I’ve noticed I need less sleep while taking this as well, another sign of superior recovery. The icing on the cake? I’ve put on 12 lbs of lean muscle mass in 12 months. That’s huge! That is with everything else remaining the same ie. diet, protein intake, caloric consumption.

In the end, nutrition is the athlete. If what you’re doing isn’t working for you, keep plugging away. The combination of an overall proper diet AND post workout recovery is what makes the athlete a high performer. If you’re bonking before/after/during your workout, you need to fix your nutrition!!

Hope the above shed some light on your nutrition plan and what works or what doesn’t work for you.

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

With all this considered, I’ve always wanted to box or learn how to box. The idea of getting hit in the face doesn’t appeal to many people, so picking it up at 31 years of age is not something most people do. Maybe it has to do with my Irish background. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I was born, my parents friends would tell them I should be a boxer b/c I had big hands. That was 1980. I was probably one of the last white kids anyone ever said that to.

As a kid though, I grew up taking Taekwondo until the age of 16. I learned how to throw a punch, kick and defend myself. I valued the discipline that it brought and the “outlet” that it allowed. Sports is one thing. Taking out one’s aggression on a heavy bag or punching mitt is a totally different experience and response. Some parents may frown on the idea as violent or think of such actions as promoting violence. Actually, that line of thought couldn’t be further from the truth. The discipline instilled from martial arts was a tremendous value that taught me proper use of force was only to be used as a last resort. Because I now had the experience of hitting and being hit, I understood the ramifications. I learned never to hit anyone out of anger. I learned to protect those weaker than me. I learned my own true power as an individual and my capabilities. In the end, it instilled confidence, humility and graciousness.

In addition to my martial arts background, my father, the quintessential competitor who took Taekwondo classes right alongside us, also loved to spar and box. In the Irish tradition (it’s a tradition right?), boxing against your dad is a hallowed act and a coming of age rite, so to speak. Now, my father has always claimed to be a Golden Gloves boxer which I have never been able to verify. He has multiple trophy’s from his collegiate championship wrestling days but nothing for boxing which makes me a little suspect. My dad loves trophies, where the hell are they?! If he’s reading this, Dad, I believe you, whether I ever see those trophies or not.

Back to the sacred rite of “Father vs. Son” backyard brawls, my dad made sure as we grew up that we’d always be able to handle ourselves in a fight…which also includes handling him in a fight. For the record, my mum was VERY much against this. However, that didn’t have any sway in the matter whatsoever. For the untrained, when the gloves go on a rush of adrenaline will overtake the individual. When the “bell” rings, the first 30 seconds are usually a blur. It’s only when your arms are so tired from swinging (improperly) are when things start to slow down.

My first experience sparring with my dad was something that was very memorable. Actually, the most memorable part was the feeling of getting hit and looking up at the stars. It happened quickly too. Those are stars, right?? In the end, he knocked me down once (my father will say twice but I firmly attest I slipped) and I knocked him down three times. At the time, it was a feeling of mixed emotions. I just knocked my dad out! Shit! I apologized of course and felt bad while at the same time feeling very proud. I was a senior in high school and it was a coming of age moment for me. A moment that has always stayed with me.

Back to the present, I’m currently training under Tim Lajcik, a former MMA Champ, skull crusher who happens also to be the nicest guy in the world. Maybe it’s his strict diet of sweet potatoes and fish, but Tim “The Bear” Lajcik is as real it gets. What are my intentions with this training? Naturally, I’m inclined to take it as far as possible. With my background, what’s stopping from me from exploring an amateur boxing/kick boxing career? I have a long way to go but right now I’m having a lot of fun pushing myself in new and different ways, physically and mentally.

Learning how to throw a proper punch is no different from learning how to clean, run, jump, snatch, swim or do a kipping pull-up; it’s all in the hips. In all regards, CrossFit has prepared me to be a superior athlete, no matter what the sport. Couple this with the mental fortitude to take on a WOD and CrossFit is the all around best method of preparing any athlete, mentally or physically for the seen and unseen.

How are you challenging yourself?

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon Mahoney

“Invictus”

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

I remember learning about Wilma when I was in grade school and being totally amazed. As a child, a bout of Polio caused her left leg to be deformed and crooked. Born in the segregated south, she didn’t have access to the best healthcare.  Her family recruited doctors from all over the region and drove great distances to rehabilitate her leg. Despite all this, she went on to win 3 gold medals.

Seriously, we’re talking about a real life Forrest Gump. It wasn’t until she was 12 that she was actually able to walk properly without a brace. What’s really mind-blowing is that 4 years later, at the age of 16, Wilma earned a spot on the 1956 Olympic women’s 4x100m team where she earned a bronze medal. By the age of 20, Wilma was the fastest woman in the world, setting Olympic records and winning 3 gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

Take a step back and let that marinate for a minute….

Now consider the single most important factor that makes an athlete or determines his/her success. Is it more hours training? If we used Wilma as a barometer for success, the answer would prob be no. Is it raw talent? Maybe. But then again, we all know athletes that may not seem to have “amazing” talent but are very successful. Consider this one…could it be their outlook? Could it be their perspective? Could it be their attitude??

One thing I know for sure; the mind is the athlete. Wilma was the 20th of 21 children in her family. She was constantly surrounded by brothers and sisters who cheered her on everyday, telling her to be strong, encouraging and supporting her…just to walk. When she was finally able to walk w/o a brace at 12, it was a miracle. I bet Wilma thought to herself, “Well, if I can overcome a disability like Polio, what else can I do??!!” Just by asking that question, Wilma put herself in a place of infinite possiblity. She not only went on to be a super-star, she was a major player in the civil rights movement and most importantly earned a spot in every little boy or girl’s heart that was ever diagnosed with Polio.

Wilma’s past successes, built day by day and sometimes literally step by step, coupled with her bright attitude, faith and positive outlook on life, enabled her to become one of the best athletes the world has ever seen in a very short amount of time. The word that comes to mind is UNSTOPPABLE-NESS.

I know Wilma holds a special place in my heart. Her indomitable spirit is something that I will always admire. The next time those little words “I can’t” come in to your mind, just think of what Wilma Rudolph would say. Most likely, “If I can, you can!”

Be unstoppable-ness.

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

When you’re healthy, there’s no worrying about how you’ll get to the track next or if something will bother you during a workout. While it’s very important to stay positive through an injury, it does take exceptional focus to accomplish. However, in the end, this factor alone determines how quickly an athlete will bounce back and the overall quality of his/her life whether injured or not.

It’s taking years as a matured athlete to see injuries as they are; just injuries and not correlate them to mean something terrible ie. I’ll never make it, maybe this isn’t for me, etc. So when I read Todd Herman’s recent post “The Story of the Turtle and the Frog”, it resonated very loudly with me. In his post, Todd talks about focusing on other information outside of your own limited view (an injury in this case). By being so narrowly focused upon oneself throughout the injury, the athlete inevitably will miss out out on other opportunities that arise and ultimately miss out on “life”. Staying positive not only gives you the ability to heal faster, it also keeps you moving forward in all areas.

With the past week and 1/2 of cross-training, my personal experience on this matter has been very eye opening. It’s given me insight into what I need to do to clean up my dedication to my sport and most importantly, given me a chance to spend lots of time with my daughter free of worry and doubts and full of laughing, playing and relaxing. All three I don’t do nearly as much as I should.

The results have been very rewarding. Even though I’m injured, I’m in a great mood. Furthermore, my foot is feeling 60-70% better. If it keeps up, I should be back running next week.

One last thing before I go, something I haven’t spoken of at all, but that is my Faith in God in all of this. There are so many things that are out of my (our) control throughout life (and they all seem to have have happened to me! lol) I’m a firm believer that if you stay the course, work hard, continue to believe in yourself and practice unwavering Faith in the things you can/can’t control, in the end you will be delivered.

‘Nuff said.

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

Hip extension is the center of all athletic movements and it would be a crime to not utilize it with all the strength I’ve gained from CrossFit.( BTW, I highly recommend checking out Tim Ferris’ 4 Hour Body where he outlines Allison Felix’s deadlift program. It’s legit as me and my buddy/CFSM trainer Tuan have seen big gains (20+lbs) in one month).

Since adopting a pose method of running, I’ve noticed a general tendency to pull the foot off the ground too early, resulting in lack of hip extension. I think what tends to happen is the thought to pull asap as soon as the foot hits the ground. What ends up happening is:

1. No full push off from the big toe
2. Lack of extension through the grounded leg

Miche worked with me on a few hurdle drills; focusing on opening the chest, leaning into the wall, squeezing the glutes, hips fully extended. While one  leg is anchored on the ground fully extended, the athlete rotates the other over the imaginary hurdle about hip height. You should be on your toes for this exercise…

Which leads to my next problem. My inability to fully toe off on my left foot. I have a severe pain on the top of the foot where the shoe laces tie and after looking for some answers, stumbled across this blog post by gobarefooting.

The best part of it was the picture of the muscles and connective tissues which makes it easy to trace origins of the pain. I found hammering the tibialis, peroneus and soleus with the lacross ball helps tremendously.

I wish that would have led me to the end of my quest for being a fully functioning, well balanced healthy athlete that can run a 3:50  mile/1:44 in the 800m while deadlifting 400+ (I’m 1/3 of the way there, btw). With the recent help of Jessica Moore, a corrective exercise specialist and pilates instructor, I’ve been focusing on strengthening the smaller stablizer muscles that often go overlooked in training. These movements are awesome for finishers after the WOD or for recovery days in addition to mobility work. They have also been specifically tailored to me. As an athlete I have terrible thoracic spine/shoulder mobility which can also lead to hyperextension. The exercises below focus on this as well as hip/medial glute strength. A few include:

• Supine crossover leg swings (arms in a T, cross one leg over the body to try to touch the opposite hand)  1×10
• 3D Bridging: basic version, abduction (soccer ball between knees, squeezing down as you go), adduction (band looped above knees, pressing out as you go). Focus on keeping all ten toes in contact with the floor throughout. 1×5-10 each.
• Torso rotation: on side, knees bent to 90 with bottom arm supporting head, top arm is reaching out in front of you. Reach top arm to ceiling, then open chest so that arm reaches to the other side. Your eyes should follow your gesture arm (ie the arm that’s moving). 1×10
• Back Extension Series:
  Prone on floor, feet hip distance with toes turned out and the tip of your nose in contact with the ground. Place a thin pad (like a towel or yoga mat) across the top of your hips (like where the belt on a pair of pants would sit) to give you some leverage.
  W’s, 1×10  Arms will form a W, thumbs point up. Squeeze your glutes to activate them, then lift the arms and legs off the ground while gliding the shoulders together behind you. Finish set with child’s pose, hold for :10
  T’s, 1×10 Arms form a T shape, thumbs point up. Squeeze glutes to activate them, lift arms and legs off the ground while gliding the shoulder blades toward one another. Finish set with child’s pose, hold for :10
• Side Plank Series:
  Hip Drops (actually a controlled drop to ground), on elbow  1×5-10
  :10-:15 hold with straight arm support
  (this one can be done with a TRX when one is available, just set the cradles to about 18″-24″ off the floor)
• Pilates Side Lying Series:
  Lying on side, bottom arm is supporting head while top arm is long and hand rests on hip with palm flat. Hips and shoulders are stacked on top of one another and legs are straight.
  Staggered Legs, 1×10  Lift top leg (about 8″-10″), then bring bottom leg up to join it. Float both legs down to floor together. Be careful not to let the lower back extend when you lift and keep the torso steady- no forward/back shifting. All movement should take place at the hip joint.
• Leg Circles, 1×10 front, 1×10 back
  Lift top leg (8″-10″) and draw a circle about the size of a basketball. Toes of the gesture leg are pointed and knee is straight. Imagine trying to lengthen the leg and the top side of your body so there is no lateral flexion. Again, all the movement should happen at the hip joint- no bent knees.

These actually weren’t very easy at all. While doing these, think of firing order; glutes then hamstrings. You find yourself focusing very diligently on each movement.

In addition to all this, look out for a MWOD addressing the “toe off” malfunction

That said, I’m extremely grateful for all the wonderful coaches in my life that continue to help me become a better athlete. Our CrossFit community is truly amazing and I’m always learning something new! Thank you x 1,000,000.

Never Let It Rest,
Brendon

“No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere; I see Heaven’s glories shine, And, Faith shines equal, arming me from Fear”

I got a chance to open up at Stanford with some fun rabbit duty. Since January, I’ve been operating at 80% at best so walking out on the track, I literally had no idea what to expect. It was a great way to spin the wheels in prep for my first race at Occidental College this coming weekend.

Here’s a me rabbiting the 1500m through 1000m coming through in 1:58 after rabbiting the 800m through in 51.9. The best part was how relaxed I felt.

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238232-2011-Stanford-Payton-Jordan-Cardinal-Invitational/video/488105-M-1500-H02