Running and Diet Strength built from Wrestling...

I have been thinking about what really made my quick weight loss a success and why my running a marathon maybe wasn't as Earth shattering as I have read others accounts.  Believe me it took a ton of hard work and mental toughness and I have a TON of respect for anyone that puts their body through that sort of torture.  I have never felt the soreness or inability to move how a human should in those 24 hours immediately after the race. I also put it amongst the greatest events in my life after my child's birth, wedding, graduation from Mines and on par with other things involving coaching the sport that is probably a big reason for that success, wrestling.  But as Dan Gable said, "Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”

Wrestling was not easy for me growing up.  I started as an overweight Heavyweight when I first started wrestling at 8 years old.  I didn't beat ANYONE that first year and spent many practice and match time on my back with fluorescent lighting burning my retinas.  Fast forward about 6 years and wrestling finally set in.  My 8th grade year of wrestling I was in shape, I could run 3 miles like it was simply part of practice (which it was often) and I spent more time looking at dust on the mat from pinning a kid than being stuck.  I wrestled for a dozen years, helped a little while in college while my brother finished up HS and then after a few years away from the sport coached at the HS level for five years.  During that time I learned a lot.

Wrestling taught me things that you won't get in any other sport besides maybe boxing/MMA which all have ties and similarities in their training.  The key things wrestling taught me that helped make my LIFE change and becoming a runner a success are as follows:

• Weight control/loss: This ranges from knowing the body isn't truly "starving" from eating hardly anything to nothing over a 24 hour period to changing your diet.  I would go from 15 lbs over my wrestling weight at the end of football season to wrestling weight within a month.  You learn to eat less and you learn to cut out things you don't need (empty calories of drinks and candy).  A reason for my rapid weight loss and sustained weight loss is I know when I eat poorly I need to do more than run more, I need to cut calories out the following day or days.  I need to give my body a boost with good foods. 
• Endurance and speed: Unfortunately we didn't do enough and I didn't take it upon myself to do more long distance running but when we did, the 2-4 mile runs we'd often do were not difficult because of hours put on the mat where there is little to no breaks and it's continuous movement and strain on the body.  There was also plenty of speed bursts in wrestling that are great for tempo training where you have to go from your slower pace to an increased pace.  These helped a ton on my Yassos, MTY runs and in realizing I could increase my pace. 
• Mental toughness and never give up attitude: One big thing I learned from years of being a crappy to average wrestler was how to fight off my back and not get pinned.  I got pinned once in my last two years in HS (a freak pin) and maybe only a couple times my sophomore year.  The reason is, I learned not to give up and keep fighting because you always had a chance in wrestling until the final whistle or buzzer sounded.  This was huge the last 4.2 miles when I was cramping increasingly in my calves.  I never walked the entire marathon.  I  had to stop and stretch my calves far too often but I kept pushing and running.  I knew I'd finish, which brings us to...
• Confidence: Once you train at something enough times and see success, you realize you can attain what you set out to do.  I knew I was going to finish the marathon, I knew unless a bus hit me, my body and mind were trained well enough that I would easily get under the 4:00 hour marathon I initially set my goal for and had a legitimate shot at 3:45.
• Striving for more: I didn't attain my 3:45 goal and like all competitors, you aren't satisfied with barely missing it or wanting more.  My goal is under 3:45 my next marathon with the mindset I am shooting for a 3:40 instead.  Next year (AND after I finally sit for my Professional Engineer license in April) I will be shooting for a 3:30.  That is a big step.  I want to EARN the right to run Boston within the next 8 years but will have to get faster and older to do so.

The biggest thing that correlates between the marathon runner and a wrestler is this quote from maybe the greatest wrestler of all-time:
“Most men stop when they begin to tire. Good men go until they think they are going to collapse. But the very best know that the mind tires before the body, and push themselves farther and farther, beyond all limits. Only when these limits are shattered can the unattainable be reached.” -Dan Gable

I have been dripping with sweat with every part of my body exhausted during some intense wrestling practices.  I have had the same feelings during running and especially those 20+ mile long runs and during my marathon.  I knew I could stave off hunger at dinner helping me cut some weight, power through that overtime after exhausting my body for the last 3 periods instead of just giving up that takedown, fight to win or kept running through that finish line with both calves cramping instead of walking through it and just being satisfied that I finished.  Be strong mentally, keep pushing and never be satisfied.