Question of the Week - What reasons or inspirations drove you to do your first marathon?

This Week's Question - What reasons or inspirations drove you do to your first marathon?

Or first Ironman, or first Ultramarathon?

In this part of the year, where those from the Northern Hemisphere are contemplating their athletic goals for 2010, I am very interested in why you have started doing marathons in the first place.

I am also interested in all those who are set to do their first this year; what is currently driving you to do your race?

I will post your answers this Friday, along with my own reasons why I first did my first marathon, then why I did my first Ironman, then why I did my first ultramarathon.

I will also post on Friday some well known inspirations to ultra-endurance sports (for example, Team Hoyt) which is downright admirable to all of us.

So get your posts in either here or Tweet me your posts (coachjoegold) and I'll place them on this blog. If you wish to list yours but want to remain anonymous, I'll help you out there as well.

Happy Trails!

A Melodious Topic Part 2 - Your Motivational Running Songs

Thanks to all those on Twitter that responded to this week's question. What songs Motivate your Ultramarathon, marathon, and endurance training?

Here is a good list of answers from everyone. Great picks!!!

Foo Fighters - My Hero
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd
Dragonforce - Heroes of Our Time (take a listen to this piece, this is metal on steroids! :-)
Judas Priest - Heading Out To The Highway
Blur - Song Number 2 (a quirky song from a friend)
Propellerheads - Spybreak (From The Matrix, one of the greatest movies of all time, thanks FR)
Alice in Chains - Check My Brain (recent song, the guitar rifts are very unique)
Slipknot - Psychosocial (real heavy stuff, rattles my brain a bit after hearing it. :-)
Muse - Uprising (another new song, very catchy beat)
Ozzy Osbourne - I Don't Wanna Stop
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train (My mention, after the above song by Ozzy was mentioned.

Again, thanks to all those who stepped forward.

The Melodious Topic of Ultra Running Songs - What are yours?

Humans are very musical creatures. If done right, the right song at the right time in any race, especially ultras can move mountains, or at least run over them easier.

For example, my first ultra, the 50 Mile Mountain Masochist in Virginia, I was having a real tough time climbing the toughest mountain in the course, Buck Mountain at Mile 27 of the race. I was really tanking and actually thinking about quitting the race when I overheard a series of Rocky Theme songs wafting through the trees from the aid station at the top of the mountain. I couldn't believe the transformation from a feeling of desperation to one of determination!. When I finally arrived at the summit at Buck Mountain, I was almost giddy and ready to tackle the rest of the course. From them on, I did not experience another low point and finished the race strong.

On the topic of motivational songs, I am opening the blog for what your favorite songs are. I will post yours on this blog. And, of course, if it motivates me, I'll see if I can add them to my list (yep, there is an ulterior motive here :-).

I have posted some of mine below. I am very responsive to metal and rock music, especially if it has a good beat.

Theme from Rocky (of course).
Van Halen - Right Now
The Specials - Pressure Drop
Yngwie Malmstein - On The Run Again
Testament - Return to Serenity (lyrics unrelated to running, but great beat)
Joe Satriani - If I Could Fly (I got a lot of other of his instrumentals too, he's a damn good guitarist)
Face To Face - Disconnected (nice fast beat)
Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be 500 Miles (very quirky, but a BIG song when I tackled the Appalachian Trail - I carried this thing over to ultra running)

This is only part of my music list. You can post yours here or on Twitter. I'll compile the list and put them on this blog.

Officially Registered for the VT 100 Mile Ultra!

Now, I'm committed to my New Year's Resolution...I am officially registered.

"Dear (Joe Gold),

Congratulations! You are now registered for Vermont 100. Please check the event's official website for updates: http://www.vermont100.com.

On behalf of the Vermont 100 Race Committee and Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports we welcome you to the 22st annual Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run! We look forward to seeing you in July! If you are interested in communicating with our pacer coordinator about signing up for a volunteer pacer please go to our website www.vermont100.com for the sheet which can be e-mailed or printed and sent in."

2010 here I come. Lets roll!

Christmas Tidings and New Year's Resolutions - Soda and Water Musings

I'm not a big traditional guy. I usually don't give presents, instead of to the children in my extended family (and there is only 1) and I'm not very big on resolutions either. But this year, circumstances have changed a little bit.

Since I'm 40 years old I'm starting to feel the effects of a not so stellar diet when building for my 100 Mile Ultra this summer and I feel it's high time to change this a bit. This is a part of the transformation that I need to do to transcend into one of the better ultra-endurance athletes out there. If I am to go very long it is mandatory to have a better diet.

The first 2 resolutions are going to be a tall order, but worthwhile. The first is the swearing off of drinking soda. Soda is by far the greatest tasting and most addicting thing for me, but after reading some not-so healthy facts on the stuff and after some bad experiences after drinking it, I'm going to minimize or even forego drinking soda for the foreseeable future. That should help in dropping my weight substantially.

Secondly, I've just ordered a water distillation system from H2O labs. There is something going on with the tap water here that I don't like which is leaving a metallic, tingling feeling on my tongue. Water is NOT supposed to do that. I am not already a fan of fluoride in drinking water. About a year go I heard about the hundreds of prescription medications that are showing in the water supply. And yesterday I just heard that our "trusting" government is even thinking of putting a psychotropic drug like lithium in the water supply to lower suicide rates. Is this country insane? No, there is nothing psychologically wrong with me that warrants lithium intake. No, I do NOT want lithium affecting my brain, and other organs. I have a choice to be healthy and this distillation system will allow me that choice.

I also buy the distiller to hopefully help my mother with her arthritis. There are stories out there that drinking purer water might help alleve the condition, so maybe this might help. It definitely won't hurt.

These are things that make you go "hmm." Folks, don't take things for granted. Ask questions whenever possible and be critical when people make political points. If the water stories are false, then the distiller still won't hurt me. But if there IS truth to the story and I don't take action, then where does that leave me? I consider buying the distiller a win-win situation and a good investment.

I leave you with a Very Merry Christmas folks. Don't eat too much, and keep up your training. :-)

I now have 2 blogs! Description below.

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I am undergoing a metamorphosis, for lack of a better term. Due to convenience, I will be splitting my blog into two. This blog will be for official articles while my other blog, http://joegoldschedule.blogspot.com/, will concentrate on the actual training and coaching aspect of ultra-endurance events. These two blogs will be tied to each other very closely in the coming months to enlighten all those interested in endurance events.

And if you just happen to be in the New York City/New Jersey area, come on down to our group runs and seminars. I promise you it'll be fun. The group runs will start in March and will be posted on my other blog listed above.

Until then, good luck training for your 2010 season. THINK BIG!!!

11 mile run to NYC Marathon Expo

I figured running to the NYC Marathon Expo would be the most appropriate mode of transportation, right?


So instead of traveling "The American Way", I traveled "The Kenyan Way". It's not going to make me run like a Kenyan, but hey, sometimes it's good to know that I'm one of few Americans who can get around long distances with his feet.

The route was almost all running, except for the Ferry part. And yes this is a legitimate excuse. If I was Jesus Christ and have the ability to walk on water, then you can fire away. ;-)

Some running at Staten Island plus some running in Manhattan turned into about an 11 mile run total. It was not easy, especially after doing a 10 mile run yesterday, and my legs felt torched after the run. So I'm resting easy tomorrow as I watch the NYC Marathon.

The expo was very interesting. People from all nations are there, either registering for the race or hawking their marathons in other countries. Some of these marathons sound intriguing:

Among others:

The Dublin Marathon.
The Miami Marathon
The Rock and Roll Marathon Series
The Rio De Janiero Marathon
The 13.1 Marathon Series

Not bad. If I had a lot of money, I'd go to some of these places, just to say I've been there.

The products were expensive as hell, so except for some Gu shots I didn't have the desire to plunk down money on running clothing, knowing that I can pobably get the clothing at half-price at some mail-order place on the internet.

But overall, I'm glad I came. I wish all the runners in the NYC marathon the best of luck tomorrow.