Pigg Power

Today I am doing a brick workout. It is a workout that I used to do back when I was actually serious about may training. Last night as I was eating dinner with Dirty and J, I told Dirty of my plans.

The plan is to set up the bike in the middle of the football field. Close by, my running gear will be setup. Hop on the bike and spin the small chain ring for 3:00 at a solid effort. Get off the bike, and transition into the running gear. Then run a sub 3:00 800 meters on the track. Repeat 13 times and call it a spank.

Immediately Mike Pigg's name came up. This is a workout that Mike used to do a lot. It is also a workout that Jeff C. and Toby E. used to recommend to me, and it is a structure of the likes and philosophy of a Joe D. workout.

Anyway, this workout is a spank and is more sport/race specific than anything you will find. As we were talking about this last night, we also were talking about "training plans". Not the type of plan that I adhere to, but the ones that you find in Triathlete Magazine, or one you find online somewhere. None of those plans will have the above workout in them.

Today's programs are filled with allowable upper and lower HR levels, restrictions on time spend above certain percentages of max power, and other thresholds deemed nessesary by the authors of these programs. While all of those parameters have a place in everyone's workouts for individuals purposes, they never tell you to go out and spank yourself until totally spent. Sometimes you need to forget all the measurements/readings and go for broke for no other reason than you want to or just feel the need to do it.

There was a day that Mike had a horrible race. Later that day, he embarked on a 200+ mile ride. Most of it in the dark, all of it in the mountains where there were no places to get water, no company, and no map.

The old crew back in Cedar Falls would remember a time when Dirty ran from the Cedar Falls YMCA, back to Shell Rock. Aside from being a nearly 30 mile run, he did it with a back back on. He did it without any places to stop along the way for water or food. AND he did it in Teva sandals.

An old friend back in Cedar Rapids once ran 25 miles to an adventure run that I was participating in. After the run, he ran back 25 miles home. And then went for a 150 mile ride the same day.

All three of them, for what ever the motivation, wanted to go out and push themselves past the normal thresholds. They learned to ignore the pain and limitations many would say exist, and from that point on always remembered those epic days. Come shitty race day when the conditions are bad and motivation levels are falling, I am sure they have all said, "This is nothing, remember that run back from the Y?"

I aI am not saying everyone needs to go out and be crazy like the examples I have given, but there is a need to have those days when you step up and perform above your typical thresholds. For me, that used to mean going out on the Tuesday night suffer fest road ride with the best road riders in the area. I remember vividly the Toby's Big Ring Challenge workouts, and the super long gravel road runs filled with constant never ending rolling hills and overly aggressive chasing farm dogs.

Every once in a while, drop the program and go out and have your own super human workout. Go after that day that is so epic, you will never forget it.