Uh?? Skiing, tri training, yoga.....LOVIN IT!!!!!!

2011 is underway and I am looking forward to the biggest badest year of my life!!  2010 scared me big with a commitment to IRONMAN, the seemingly unreachable goal that life allowed me to kick in the butt.  The gaol of IM Canada this year is another awesome journey and a way to make my tattoo partritoic and bigger!  IM will be the tip of the iceberg this year!  As I said in my 2010 blogs, 'LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS'.  This year I am going for it.
I poked around last year and started some parts and bits of a training business.  I have years of ski teaching and coaching, races and results and certifications to have in my knowledge base.  I love leading people past the impossible they have imagined and to the victory of personal accimplishment.  This year I am going to make that a reality for myself!!  I am a passionate person when it comes to my own goals, that is only a fraction of my fire for seeing others reach the goals they have for themselves!  So, watch me go.  One step at a time, one small  growth along the path I am going to make my dream a reaility.  I am going to become involved in sports and training in order to pay the bills!  This year might not be the one that allows me to step back from the 9-5 daily grind, but it is going to be the biggest one to my walking into the boss's office, honking his nose and telling him, thanks a lot for the opportunity, I have a dream to go live now'
HOw have I started the year??  As I did last year, Janaury 1 is my symbolic training start date.  So, like last year I organized a Resolution Run for our ski club and got out bright and early to start the year running!  It was a great day with a lot of new faces and a lot of new goals being set.  I took my time enjoying the company and sharing with people what they have going on this year.  it is a great way to start off the year and hear how others are chasing their dreams as well.  On Sunday I intended to go skiing but, Mother Nature deicded to turn up the heat and pour rain, so that was aborted in exchange for some rest and relax time.  On Monday did an awesome 90 minute yoga practice.  WOW!  Did I get lazy over the holidays and did I pay for it!  Never again!  I have learned to love the benefits of my yoga practice and I will now turn it up.  In another month I will be teaching on a regular basis and can not be a slacker coming into this amazing time to share.  I followed up this morning with a great swim to get my pool training under some strucuture.  It was awesome!  One year and now I consider myself decent in the pool.  The next few month should prove to be a great build period before I start in IM program for my race.
Over the holidays I was lucky to be up norht and chasing my true passion and hte method to all of my madnesses.!  I was skiing!!!  I was a course conductor between Chrsitmas and New Years completing a certification course for 24 new instructors.  It is a great opportunity to share my passion with others and to ideally provide them some insight and excitement into what the world of ski teaching can bring them.  I truly enjoy working with the candidates knowing that they are part of the future of the sport.  It is a gret process as many or them come into the course with an attitude the size of Texas.   Over the 4 days of the course, you need to get them off of hte pedastal that they believe they are on, teach them so ski fundamentals and then watch them evolve as they begin to learn what it takes to be an instructor.  It is the most rewarding and frustrating process all at once!
I said yesterday I would talk a little about what you can do to improve your skiiing??  The season is young and it is great time to set yourself up for some great improvement this season.  How can you do that??  Let me talk about what I do for the season(have repeated it for past 3-4 years)
In the first couple of weeks of the season I work to get my legs under me and determine where I can improve.  My approach is based on working towards getting to a point that I can ski anything, anyday, anywhere.  After a few days I am able to determine where in my skiing I need to improve.  You might want to get out with an instructor to help you in this process.
I isolate a skill that I need to refine or improve and at what part in the turn I need to make the changes.  It might be fore-aft balance at the end of the turn(getting in back seat).  Then I come up with a series of tactics/drills and exercises that I can use in order to make those changes.  Each day when I am out on my skis, I start my day with a strategically chosen tactic to set me in the right direction.  I then bring it back into my skiing to determine if the changes are beginning to take place.  If I find myself going back to my problem area(and usually you do, 30 years doing it one way wont change in 10 runs in one morning) I choose appropriate terrain to promote success and as I improve I continue to challenge myself on more difficlut terrain.
As I use a tactic I continually review the impact that it is having on my performance.  I might need to vary the tctic that I am using for greater success or I may need to take a step back on the terrain.  As I get results I continue to ski in order to gain the greatest opportunity to feel the improvement and its overall impact on my entire turn and performance.  I am continually reviewing what I am feeling as I ski to see that I get the results that I am looking for.  If I am getting results I reavaulate and determine what other changes I need to make to continually make it better. 
I will spend the entire season focused on the one skill and how I need to change it in a part of my turn.  I conitnue it until I know that I can go out and ski on any part of the mountain on any day and get it right.  Most of us might not spend as much time, probably wont get you that far in your skiing!!  But the same thiing applies to any improvement you are trying to make.  Figure out what you need to change, pick the appropriate terrain to make the changes on.  Choose a tactic and see if you get results with it.  If you dont, very the tactic or change the terain, and if you do beging to make the terrain more challenging as you bring it into your skiing.
Most of all, amke sure you are having fun.  Skiing is one of the greatest sports out there!  If you are home on the couch, winter does suck.  If you are on the side of a mountain with the wind blowing on your face and the trees whizzing by, it is an amazing season! 
And when you are done, a great stretch with a yoga class, then a glass of wine and a hot tub!  it doesnt get much better!