Success and Failure ... and Repeat

I've been running for enough years to know that nutrition is a huge deal for performance, endurance, etc. And yet, the constant battle of daily life can get in the way. After a summer of success that included running R2R2R and shooting a point of view documentary, Ouray 100, Mid Mountain Marathon, and numerous adventure runs in Rocky Mountain National Park, my body decided to simply shut down. First I thought I was sick. Then I thought I was stressed (probably part of the equation). After more reflection I've realized that I didn't want to let go of what I call 100 mile fitness (another post). So part of my genius thinking and overall error was that I would simply cut calories out of my diet since I wouldn't be training as much. But it didn't take long for the stress, full time job, start up company, kids, etc to overload my underfed systems.
Have you ever run out of gas in your car? The car starts to choke, stutter, so you hit the accelerator a bit harder thinking by opening up the throttle the extra gas will rev the starving engine to life. That's a bit what I felt like. Stuttering, struggling, open the throttle up a bit, train more.
No dice.
I've since been doing a lot of research and talking to the "pros" about nutrition. An interesting article on TNation about metabolic damage has a great explanation why the "eat less, train more" mentality isn't the best.
So i'm swinging the pendulum the other way. Despite wanting to cut a few unwanted pounds that resulted from the crash, i'm upping my calories. My adviser/nutritional coaches are basically adding nearly 1000 calories on top of what I thought was my high end for a normal day.
Here's the problem though. What's normal for us? People who run, crossfit, lift, train, ride every day? We have a skewed perception that what we do really isn't a big deal. When you are used to huge training days, scaling back feels easy, but the reality is you are still stressing your body pretty heavily. Without the right amount/kind of calories, it won't work, or allow you to get into the type of fitness you would want, even scaled back.

Anyone struggle with this? Interested in the result.

Custom PI / FYC Jersey Sizing

Here is a sizing chart for the new PI/FYC jerseys.

Help someone feed their crazy

What is Feed Your Crazy? We've used several tag lines to try and define it. "Redefining Crazy", "Feed Your Crazy and stay sane", "It's good to be a little crazy" ...
The point is, we all have something deep inside us that wants to be moving, doing, acting, and pushing. What that means to you is up to you. We all have different crazies. Some of us run, some of us lift, ride, cross fit, hike, tri ... you get the picture. The focus from training, and doing can help our out of control lives feel a little more in control.

The Back Story
When I was 21 I was the victim of a violent assault. The result was me in the ICU with head and neck trauma as well as a few busted up ribs. Afterwards all sort of doctors tried to help me out, including one well intentioned family practitioner who prescribed me one medication after another to deal with my anxiety, depression, and overall stress from the injury. None of it helped. I remember breaking down, sitting in the middle of my bedroom floor and simply crying. It's a pretty low place to be at a young age with the world in front of you. Then my mom called me, challenged me to train for a half marathon. So I started running. She paid for my shoes, my entry fee, and it didn't take long until I was hooked. As I ran more, I felt less depressed. Less anxious. I started sleeping better, and actually felt human again.

I've been running ever since. People call me crazy. Crazy for running. Crazy for racing. Crazy for training in the dark. Crazy for training in the mountains. Yeah, well. If feeling good, feeling healthy, and happier than ever is crazy ... I'm gonna feed my crazy.

But Why?
But sometimes you can't do it yourself. Sometimes you need someone, like my Mom to step in and help you get there. We'll be taking 10% of the profits from each of the custom Pearl Izumi / Feed Your Crazy tech shirts we sell and putting it into a sponsorship fund. These shirts are preorder only. One time print, and that's it. Access the store above, or just click here (www.feedyourcrazy.com) Then I'm going to ask people for their stories. I want to hear what they are struggling with, what they could accomplish if they had a race, a competition, an event to train for. Because sometimes that's all it takes. A springboard of focus to get life back into the livable range. We'll select one of the stories and pay for that person's event. Send them out to feed their crazy.

 Mens Tank

 Mens T

 Women's Tank

Women's T

Details
Will there be rules? Yes. I'll come up with them as we get closer. Can you nominate someone you know that may need a lift? Yes. How many events will we pay for? As many as we can fund with the money we raise from the shirts. We will be taking orders through December 8th. The shirts should be ready to ship the first week of Feb. They are custom printed, cut, and manufactured by Pearl Izumi (the best gear out there) for us. So good things are worth waiting for right? It'll give your spring training a kick in the pants.

And if it goes well, we'll come up with a new sweet design and do it again next year. So if you can, buy a shirt. Teach people how to feed their crazy. Share our story. Share our Facebook or Instagram posts. Tell us your stories, and most importantly, Feed Your Crazy.

Discover Crazy - Storm Pass

Do you need a break from that stack of emails, list of tasks, or lengthy project? Take a few minutes out of the busy day and enjoy some of the beautiful Colorado trails on us. Take a trip around Storm Pass, up Boulder Brook trail, near the shoulder of Longs Peak at Granite Pass, and back down into the tree line. This 21 mile loop has over 6000' of vertical climbing and peaks out at about 12,000'.

What is Feed Your Crazy?

People ask this all the time. What is Feed Your Crazy? What does it mean? I was out on some amazing trails this weekend, and was inspired by the beauty, and perhaps in part by the general lack of oxygen. So I started to answer the question.

Discover Crazy R2R2R Logo

We have several different logos below. Please glance at all of them and vote by commenting below or email us at feedyourcrazy@gmail.com to let us know your favorite. The winning logo will go on the shirts and other schwag for everyone who supported this incredible first Discover Crazy event. We will most likely be using white shirts, so keep that in mind as you look at the logos.

Thanks again for all of your support.

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Discover Crazy - R2R2R Preview

Late last year a few of us decided to hit a bucket list run, pit ourselves against the Rim to Rim to Rim (R2R2R) in the Grand Canyon. The project quickly evolved. We successfully raised money through Kickstarter to create a documentary about the R2R2R. But we weren't going to stop there. Rather than simply capture our experience we wanted to provide information about the trail, how to run it safely, how we preserve the trails, answer the question "why run the R2R2R", and discuss it with the experts. Two days ago we released the preview.

The full version, due out in June will include a number of interviews about the run and the trails from ultra runners, hikers, trail guides, and local experts. Plus, you'll see a lot more of the trail. We hope you share the preview with everyone who is interested in R2R2R, or even a section of the Grand Canyon.

If you have any questions about the Discover Crazy - R2R2R project, or Discover Crazy in general you can email us at feedyourcrazy@gmail.com.