Training and Getting Ready for Tough Mudder

I completed the Florida Tough Mudder event on December 3rd. Going into the event I was more than a little nervous. My biggest concern was not being fit enough to complete the obstacles. Second to that was worry over what to wear. Picking the wrong gear would mean three hours of pain and suffering on top of three hours of pain and suffering. I hope my experience can help others getting ready for Tough Mudder and hopefully answer some of the questions I had before the starting gun went off.

On Fitness
The promoters bill Tough Mudder as "probably the most difficult event on the planet." Maybe. It really depends on how hard you push yourself. TM definitely isn't a walk in the park or a scenic jog with a few obstacles thrown in. But I also don't think it's the toughest event on the planet. Most people who start will finish. But how you complete TM is another issue.

I didn't train for the obstacles. I spent no time in the gym, made no trips around the block with an old truck tire tied to my waste, and never threw up from one too many burpies. And the obstacles weren't that big of a deal. They were tough, but I never had any issues as far as lacking the necessary body strength to complete them. The only thing that gave me problems was Everest, but more on that later.

What's tough is the running. You miss this in all the youtube videos because they fast forward to get to the obstacles. But get this. It's a twelve. mile. run. That's a long way for most people. The running is also what makes the TM experience so variable. You can run it, you can jog it, you can walk it. And a lot of people walk it after 4 or 5 miles. My goal was to jog between every obstacle, and I almost succeeded. With a mile and a half left I bonked hard, and it took a good 100 yards or so to talk myself into starting again.

So it's not the obstacles you need to worry about. The most difficult obstacles REQUIRE teamwork to complete. Physics and the human anatomy of everyone executive Tebow mean you will need someone to help you out. But the obstacles are exactly what makes the running so difficult, and that's where you need to focus your training.

On Training
I started running seriously about four months before the event. Three months before the event I got a stress fracture in my right foot and switched to swimming. A month before the event I started running again. Two weeks before TM my longest run was five miles. One week before TM my longest run was about seven and a half miles.

But I don't think long runs are the best training tool, nor do I think you do yourself much good completing ten sets of ten reps with that truck tire. You need both. What happens in TM is you run about half a mile to a mile and then you hit an obstacle. Many of the obstacles will make you go anaerobic. Then you have to settle back into your running pace. The obstacles are all fun. It's like an adult playground. But if you aren't practiced in going anaerobic, aerobic, anaerobic, aerobic you will be walking by mile 4.

A lot of my friends want to do TM with me next year and the training runs we will be doing will involve easy jogging interspersed with lots of anaerobic activity. With some creativity you can design training runs that are just as fun as the event, equally as effective at helping you prep and a lot less maniacal than the stuff you'll find on YouTube. And I would suggest you get wet in your training, like fully clothed wet, lie, running in soaked jogging shoes wet, and even butt freezing cold wet if you can manage it.

On Gear
I wore the oldest pair of running shoes I had, the ones that should have been thrown away years ago. This was a big mistake. Running shoes are big and bulky and they act like giant mud magnets all the way through the race. Mine had no tread left which proved disastrous on Everest. I couldn't make it half way up the wall because my shoes were so slick. A lot of people wear Vibrams , but I didn't wear mine because I had read reports about how the mud gets in between your toes. Let me tell you something. I don't care what you wear. Mud will get between your toes. I had more sand inside my socks than outside. The Vibrams minimal profile means it doesn't hold as much mud and that weight savings over twelve miles is HUGE! Everyone I talked to on the course wearing them swore by them. The other alternative is a racing flat. Several of the "serious" competitors wore these and it makes sense. Our whole course was on grass or dirt and you'd much rather have a light racing flat that's better at lateral movement than a heavy jogging shoe that goes forward and backward with max cushioning. You also want to invest in a good pair of dry fit socks.

I wore a speedo jammers style swimsuit under a pair of Nike dry fit tennis shorts with no liner. Up top I had a Nike compression shirt underneath a Nike Pro Combat fitted dry fit top. A lot of guys go shirtless, and I think it is a huge advantage (until you get to the last obstacle). You'll never dry out on the course so that means anything you wear will be wet and wet things weigh more. Compression shirts don't do that much to protect your elbows and forearms and they really don't need to. It's mud, not shards of glass. If my gut were smaller I'd ditch the shirt.

Same for the shorts. In the perfect world of my imagination I look good in a speedo but reality hasn't quite caught up with that image. They guys in speedos get a lot of looks and laughs at the start line but this is the way to go if you can pull it off.

For the rest of us less is best. Temps at start were about 65 and it got up in the high 70's by finish. It could have been ten degrees colder and nothing would change. Twenty degrees cold and your gear probably has to change considerably. Assuming I don't have my six pack perfectly toned by next year I will wear a pair of compression shorts and a short sleeve compression shirt with Vibrams or racing flats.

TM is unlike anything I have ever done. The atmosphere is awesome, the adrenaline at the start line is electric, the camaraderie during the race is really cool. And it's the hardest thing I have ever done. I ran cross country in high school, have cycled, road raced and done triathlons, and I ran a marathon so I could check it off my bucket list. But TM is in a league of its own. If you are looking for something that will test you, something that you can pour yourself into and not have a drop left at the finish line TM is the event of choice. Enjoy the experience.

What I learned 90 days later.

A little over 90 days ago I set out to change some personal habits. My thinking was that rather than set traditional goals I should focus on the habits that would lead to better results. What I learned is that some habits have direct outcomes while others are slower to indicate progress. The other thing that I learned is that it's hard to change a lot of things at one time. My plan was pretty ambitious. I identified 12 areas where I wanted to make improvements. It was a rare day that I pulled off all 12. There were some days when it felt like all I did was work on my habits. There were other days when I got bogged down in my task list and felt like I made no progress all.

Perhaps the biggest take away was the power of accountability. The outpouring of encouragement when I announced my plan to the public was incredibly motivating, and helped me get off to a great start. But after a couple of weeks no one really seemed to notice or keep up with my progress. Almost no one that is. There were a few people who continued to dog me when I would not check in or update my tracking sheet. A couple of these friends decided to do something similar and together we encouraged and pushed one another. Accountability really is the secret sauce to achieving your goals.

So how did I do? The first thing I set out to do was wake up early every morning. I was much more successful during the week than I was on the weekends. However, I do feel that I made significant progress. Every morning I set my alarm between 4:45 AM and 5:15 AM. On days when I did not get up early I could feel a difference and I'm glad getting up early has become a habit for me. 

Exercising every day proved to be too much. About 4 weeks into my program I developed a stress fracture in my right foot. That meant I had to switch activities and starts swimming rather than running. The good part is that I found a sport I really love and for which I had little interest prior to starting this program. The bad part is that swimming is much more time-consuming than a quick three-mile run.

I also wanted to have a quiet time each morning. I did great in this area while I was able to do my workouts at home, but once I started having to go to the gym my quiet time was often cut short. I need to be more disciplined about this and make it a higher priority.

One of the areas that was most eye-opening to me had to do with improving my appearance and the way I dress every day. Before starting the program I perceived that I had let myself go and was dressing more casually than I should in work situations. I stuck with the program very consistently up until the last few weeks. What surprised me though was that dressing up every day just didn't feel like me. In business I have always tried to dress appropriately, but that could mean a suit and tie one day and jeans the next. I'm glad the experiments over because this is not something that I want to continue doing every day. I learned something about myself and got comfortable with an area where I think I was letting other people's perceptions have too much influence.

Getting to work first in the morning proved difficult on days when "dad duty" made it tough to beat other employees into the office. Still, I feel like I made a lot of improvement in this area and was more disciplined about starting my days as early as possible in the office.

The areas of inreach, outreach and prospecting were meant to create more discipline around building relationships with existing clients, referral partners, and prospective clients. I had limited success in this area because I did not do a good enough job defining what qualified for success in each category. I think a marketing plan would be a better way to go about improving my results in this area. 

Planning each day the night before is the biggest leading indicator of my success and productivity the following day. This really has become nonnegotiable with me and on the days when I do not plan I can predict a level of frustration and aimlessness that has become intolerable. I would encourage anyone to do this as a daily habit.

In the same way evaluating my performance at the end of the day proved to be an incredible productivity booster. Unfortunately I often failed to close out my day in reflection. This habit and was probably the most surprising difference maker in the whole program. I knew that planing my days would make them more productive, but I did not foresee the impact that reflecting on the day would have. The lessons we can learn from ourselves through reflection and meditation are powerful. 

Reading every day was not difficult for me since I always have 2 or 3 books that I'm interested in. Looking back I don't really think this was a habit that needed much improvement, and I wasn't pushing myself very hard by adding it to the list.

Dieting was something I had never really tried before. I added it to my list out of frustration with my weight and my general fitness level. Logging everything that I ate and counting calories proved very educational. I was in the dark on food nutrition and proper portion sizes. It's amazing how much you can learn when you just start paying attention to things that you do every day. I lost about 15 pounds over the course of the 3 months and I feel like most of it was due to eating habit changes rather than increased exercise levels. This is another area where I feel like I made a permanent habit change for the good.

The biggest take away in the whole exercise was the fact that planning in discrete blocks of time withdefinite end date is a powerful motivator. We can often do things temporarily that we would view as impossible if undertaken permanently. Having a fixed end date allowed me to push through areas that I wasn't very excited about just so I could see the result at the end. While not every change I hoped to make was successful the overall effect was that I got excited about goal setting again. For the next 90 days I'm looking forward to setting just a handful of goals with measurable results and progress indicators. I know that in 3 months I'll be able to look back and see the progress. It's addicting to realize how much control you have over your life and how quickly you can make a difference by looking yourself in the mirror one day at a time and saying “I can do better!”

90 day personal makeover update

Over the last 3+ weeks I have been steadily trying to improve some personal and professional habits. You can check up on my progress here. It is often said that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Some of the things I have been trying to change have definitely evolved to the point where my "new normal" requires that they get done or I feel off and out of sorts. Certainly my morning routine fits that description. There are other areas where I am still struggling to gain some consistent traction.

I remember reading in Darren Hardy's book  The Compound Effect that bookending your day with good habits is vitally important. After the last three weeks I can attest to that 1000%. What I do when I first wake up and what I do before I go to sleep have more impact on my quality of life, effectiveness and general wellbeing than anything else I do during the day. As a further measure of accountability (I need you guys checking up on me) here are my routines for morning and evening.

Morning

• Wake up between 5 and 5:30 am, preferably before the alarm clock goes off
• Change into workout clothes and spend 30-60 minutes in scripture reading and prayer.
• Leave for a 2-5 mile run around 6:30
• Cool off and eat a good breakfast, hang out with the munchkins, make them breakfast
• By 8:00 showered and ready to go out the door, pray with Josie before I leave and get to the office a little before 8:30.

Evening

• Plan the next day, go through the commitments I made to myself during Sunday evening planning and decide where I will spend time to meet those commitments. Email that agenda to Josie and the staff at the office.
• Evaluate how things went during the day. What were my big wins and my "fails." I keep track of these daily entries in Evernote.
• Make sure all my meals are logged in MyNetDiary
• Read in bed, usually on my iPad or Kindle

The last two days have driven home just how important this routine has become to me. Sunday night I started getting sick and by Monday afternoon I was really feeling terrible. More than the unproductive time in the office (I can always make that up) missing my regular routine Monday night, Tuesday morning, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning was really, really difficult. That made me realize that even though I was still functional while I was sick (I didn't miss work, I didn't cancel any appointments, things still went out the door) I wasn't truly effective. And what was it that I didn't do that made me ineffective? I didn't start and end my days properly.

Here's a wake up call. If you don't have an established routine of positive habits to bookend your days you may be as ineffective as I was EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE. I'm a convert. I'm sure I'll fall of the wagon now and again, but when I do I will have a very real sense of just how much that lack of discipline is costing me and those I love.

I wish I could recount every positive thing that has happened over the last three weeks, but it would take a long time. Here are some highlights.

• I've received spiritual direction and inspiration to solve some issues I've been seeking answers to for a while now.
• I've lost 12 pounds while logging 65 miles in morning runs and have radically changed my eating habits.
• I've completed 4 books that have directly resulted in positive personal or business changes.
• A new source of revenue and potentially a whole new business opportunity has opened up.
• I've received countless encouraging emails, twitter messages and facebook posts deepening my relationships with friends and colleagues.

The most encouraging part for me is that I feel like I'm just getting started. I know that many of the habits I have set out to change won't pay dividends for months and years to come, and I'm excited about that. Thanks to all of you who have sent me an encouraging word. I really appreciate your love and support.

Nobody Cares About Your Underwear

Every day in our interactions with others we have a choice. It is a profound choice that affects the quality of our relationships, the peace in our hearts, and the ultimate route our life will take. The choice is this:

To be transparent or to pretend.

I struggle with this choice as most people do. My personal insecurities abound. I worry about my reputation. I fret over insignificant matters. I convince myself that it is better to hold back than to risk full disclosure. But a recent experience has encouraged me to be more bold and forthright in my transparency.

On my business blog I outlined some personal changes that I need to make. I disclosed that I was unhappy with my current state of affairs and that things had not turned out exactly as I had envisioned them six years ago when I started my own business. I didn't air any really dirty stuff, but I made it clear that far from having it all together there are areas of my life that need a major tune up.

In the span of 36 hours I have received more support and encouragement than I anticipated. It is a joyous feeling to have people in your corner cheering you on. It is liberating to hear people say "I'm with you. I'm there for you."

Transparency is a choice, but so is deception. If I want to deepen my relationships I'm going to have to admit what everyone else already knows: I'm not perfect. To me that is a far more appealing option than pretending to be someone I am not. What I am discovering through the support and encouragement of the people around me is that no one is all that interested in pointing out my self described flaws and saying "I told you so." This is the great lie that we tell ourselves. It goes something like "If I admit how screwed up I am everyone is going to point fingers and laugh and criticize me." I'm not saying there won't be a jerk or two that takes advantage of your honesty, but ask yourself this question:

"Would I rather live in a prison pretending to be someone I am not for the benefit of a couple of people who don't care about me or would I like to experience the freedom of being myself while those who DO care about me encourage the positive changes that can make me a better person?"

I'm discovering it's a pretty easy question to answer.  

My Personal 90 Day Makeover

This morning on my business blog I wrote about my desire to make some personal and professional changes. You can read more about that commitment at <a href="http://www.axiomcpa.com">AxiomCPA.com.</a> I am going to use this site, dormant for quite some time, to keep track of my progress and memorialize what I hope will be a pivotal 90 days in my life.

Since I'm a tech nut, I will naturally enlist the help of a few apps to hit my goals. I'll share a couple of these in this post.

The first I' have been using for quite some time. MapMyRun is a self explanatory website for logging workouts. The coolest feature is an iPhone app that you can use to map your route in real time. It keeps track of time, distance, elevation changes, pace, etc. The web site could use a major UI overhaul, but the functionality is there. I typically just use the iPhone app and skip the site's with all its clutter and confusing features.

The second tool I've just discovered. MyNetDiary is a calorie counter on steroids. It also has an iPhone app with a great UI and a robust database of foods. The app also allows you input target weight numbers and will build a plan for you to lose the weight gradually. You can track progress, upload exercise workouts to calculate additional calories burned and get a detailed report of the calories you have left to consume for the day. The basic app is free but you can upgrade to a professional version with more features.

Part of my plan involves public accountability. I wanted a place where people could track my progress. Google Apps provided an easy way to do just that with a publicly available spreadsheet.

38 things the I am grateful for...

1. my relationship with God

2. Josie, my best friend and biggest fan

3. my parents, Joe and Wanda and incredible sis, Cristy

4. Andrew, six years of fatherhood and counting

5. Lance, three years of that grin and counting...priceless

6. my marriage, Marriage Works and the discovery of "us"

7. the freedom to wakeup every day and go to work

8. the people I get to go to work with every day and their families

9. my church

10. the Beane life group

11. the short list

12. my brothers Calvin, Hector and Robert

13. Mamita Lucia

14. the Houston gang

15. customers and clients who've been with me from before the beginning

16. All my cousins and all those days on the farm

17. Uncle Jimmy, Uncle Junior, Aunt Amanda and all those projects at Granny B's

18. Living close to the water

19. Big Sun Youth Soccer League Coaches

20. Mike Gordon, there's nobody like him

21. memories of summer fishing with Grandma Hardy

22. My C12 brothers

23. T ball and playgrounds

24. Defuniak Thanksgivings with Kearces, Hardy's and Brannons

25. walks in the woods

26. books

27. a healthy family

28. friends I can lean on in tough times

29. a faith that never leaves me

30. Covenant College and Reg McLelland

31. the difference my wife makes in kids lives

32. the school of hard knocks

33. my shaved head

34. endorphins

35. my country and the people who serve and protect its freedoms

36. my Aunt Marilyn's example

37. my wonderful grandmothers

38. the fact that I could keep going and going...

Shift happens

Starting today I'm going to expand the focus of this blog beyond financial education topics. It started out that way and the feedback via email was really encouraging. But financial ed isn't all I'm interested in and the frequency of my posts showed it.

Business processes, technology, creativity, marketing, business development, new ideas....these are the things I lay awake at night thinking about. So instead of losing sleep that no one knows about I've decided to start letting you all share in my insomnia. If you are a business owner, entrepreneur or fellow insomniac please reach out through twitter to @Joey_B. What's keeping you up at night?

1031 Exchanges Explained

Section 1031 or "Like Kind" Exchanges are used to defer tax on property transactions. This video explains the mechanics of a 1031 and highlights the role of the qualified intermediary. What I didn't mention, but should have, is that 1031 applies to personal property as well as real property.

Debt Repayments Create Nasty Tax Surprises

Most business owners pay down debt every chance they get because it feels good, it give them competitive advantage and it increases the health of their business. However, debt payments are not tax deductible and business owners can get a nasty tax bill even though they have no cash on hand because the money was used to pay down debt.

Obsolete Inventory

Not all inventory sells or makes it to the production line. Plans and markets change and that means some inventory items become obsolete. Dealing with obsolete items properly improves the accuracy of accounting related metrics and ratios. But more important to CEO's and business owners handling obsolete inventory effectively can actually improve efficiency and production while increasing the health of the balance sheet.

Section 179

Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code allows businesses to take current year tax deductions for capital asset purchases. It can be good for reducing current year tax expense but it can also hinder the comparability of after tax income. Business owners who understand this have less risk of underestimating their "gut level" tax position for the year.

Capitalization Policies

Capitalization policies drive the decision within companies to either expense or capitalize new purchases. CEO's and owners that understand their companies cap policy understand more about their fixed asset base, the efficiencies or inefficiencies in their fixed asset accounting function and the extent to which large purchases are or are not being tracked on the balance sheet.

The Connection (between balance sheet and income statement)

The balance sheet measures the financial condition of a business at a distinct point in time where the income statement reports financial performance over a period of time. The short video explains the difference between the two and how they are tied together.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

Many business execs have a difficult time understanding why their COGS number differs, often time significantly, from their purchases for the month. What is missing many times is a knowledge of how COGS is calculated when beginning and ending inventory are taken into account.

Bad Debt

There are two methods for accounting for bad debt. One is based on when accounts receivable balances are written off and the other is based on an estimate of historically bad balances. Knowing which one your company is using and how the pool of bad debts is being carried on the balance sheet is important if you want accurate information on sales and receivables.

Inventory Turnover

Increasing inventory turnover holds the promise of doing more with less. There are two levers businesses can pull to increase inventory turnover, increasing sales or decreasing inventory carry cost. Both yield significant benefits to gross profit. If you've heard of inventory turnover but didn't quite understand what it meant this short video breaks it down.

LIFO

Accounting for inventory has been getting some attention in the press lately. The LIFO method is often not understood and CEO's would do well to know why their particular inventory method was chosen and what effect it has on the income statement and the tax return.

Cash Reconciliation

It isn't so important that CEO's and owners understand HOW to do a cash reconciliation as it is WHY. Inside a cash reconciliation there are items that highlight record keeping inefficiencies and cash that is unaccounted for. With a general understanding CEO's can bring a greater degree of accountability to the organization and get closer to real time information they can use in their business.

Depreciation

Most business owners and execs will ignore depreciation expense because it is not a CASH charge. However, if understood correctly depreciation and its counterpart, accumulated depreciation, give business owners and execs insight into the timing of necessary capital expenditures.

EBITDA

EBITDA is an often misunderstood term and those who know what the acronym means often don't know why certain items are added back to net income. This short tutorial explains EBITDA and why the various components are important when it comes to measuring operating performance.