John's Ironman Adventure

The Countdown Starts!!!

2011-02-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

ONly 4 more sleeps and I am going to my paradise! The mountains! I was taking to my wife about it on the weekend, and it has been a while since we have gone on a holiday that does not have a race schdule attached to it. So, 4 more sleeps and we are off to Jackon Hole for a week of dynamite skiing and chillin out! Surrouded my mountains, snow and the exhaustion of 25000 vertical feet of skiing at the end of each day! Can you tell that I am absolutely pumped about this trip! Take a look at some of the fun to be had at Jackson!
http://vimeo.com/18072664

As well as the countdown to this trip, is the countdown to training go time!!! On March 13, I will tie my shoes on for the first schedules workout of my 2011 season! Although I am currently blurred by the snow and downhill rush, the structure of my program for this year is exciting. I am truning it up from last year. Being my first IM ;last season I put in the miles and the time, but did not push the intensity to hard. With last summer of training and results in the memory, I have put together a training plan to ideally find improvements across the board with heavier focus where I believe I might make the biggest gains. So, after my week of smiles and steep and deep fun, it is time for a few months of pain for the pleasure of racing.
As my winter and ski teaching is coming towards an end, I must say that it has been the greatest teaching winter ever!! I have had the opportunity to work with 3 groups of great skiers who were enthusiastic and wanted to learn. I set a gold for the season for myself to make each lesson a memorable one for them and I believe I accomplished my goal. From the first day this year to a lesson I taught yesterday, I saw some great changes. They started the season skiing comfortably on moderate terrain and finished the season attacking steeps with comfort. Being a part of those successes is a blast as a teacher. Discussing the progress with them and hearing the understanding that they have developed is also great, it is a good sign that both myself and hte students enjoyed the process. The tough thing is to now begin to develop my program for next season to make certain that the growth they have experienced continues and they are stronger than ever.

Hmmmm!

2011-02-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

This not being able to do training can be a little taxing. Yes, there are the great parts that will come of it, but the 2 days that I have been told to chill are dizzying!! I guess even being relaxed is something we choose to do with a little intensity as triathletes. I am off to the clinic today for some more work and hopefull she gives me the clear to get into the pool.
If I can get into the pool and use that for the next couple of weeks it will give me a good chance to do some good technical focus as I will add some miles to my swim to build fitness. Having to slow down to not irritate my calf might be a blessing as I then need to keep focused on something to make the workout seem productive. The fun part will be when my leg is 100%, I get to see how some focused slow time pays off in the long run.
OK, I started this post 3 weeks ago when I injured myself. I guess posting aimlesly isnt my thing!
I went for my first run last night after following my Dr advise on hte injury. WOW! It was so cool to be out running again after a break. Getting back out makes you realize how you miss something. I guess it is true, absence makes the heart grow fonder! I did a short 7k, but felt really good the entire time. This morning I did have a couple of areas that I could have stretched a little more, but, nothing to be concerned about.
While I was not running, I did spend some great time in the pool. As I keep working on technique and putting in smaller milee, it seems to be paying off. I did a 1:24 x 100 the other day which was pleasing.
Well, now that I am uninjured again, it is almost time to get it going full steam. As soon as I am back from my ski trip I will start into full training mode. I am looking forward starting and being on a formal scedule. The floating arounf thing works, but I need to be pushed.
Hope you are doing great!

Another First!!

2011-01-31T09:04:00.000-08:00

Life is full of ups and downs, all of them teaching us something new and giving us opportunities to grow. We often treats the downs as a negative and allow the event to pull us into a funk and deter us from moving towards our goals and dreams. We lose our focus and allow ourselves to grow the negative into a big mountain out of the mole hill that it is. Well, STOP IT!!
If you put what we are doing each day in perspective, it is a small part of the greatest things that life has to offer. The experiences we enjoy allow us to grow and decide what path we should take to continue through the awesome journey that life allows us to enjoy. If we stop and fester on the small things that happen each tiny moment, we miss the bigger picture.
Rather than make the negative the point of focus as many people do, take advetnage of the fact that this has happened to you. Things happen to us for a reason, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, when something does happen, take a moment to accept that it is the way it is. Look at it closely and realzie what casued the event to take place. From that, you will learn how to avoid the mistake in the future and you can move forward with confidence. OR, you can bitch about it, focus on how terrible it is, bitch about it some more and hope that it miracilously goes away. Then you resume on path only to make the same mistake again.
What makes most sense, A) focus on negative, or B) learn from negative and spend the time re-focusing and seeing how you can move ahead in a safer and more productive manner as a result. Life is to short to focus on bad stuff, accept that it happened and move on!
How does my blog title relate to this mumbo jumbo??(some of my friends refer to my optimistic nature as mumbo jumbo) This weekend was my first injury related to skiing! Yeah, I have torn a calf muscle and am now hobbling around looking a little broken. Yeah, it is going to slow me down for a few weeks, but it is an opportunity to do a lot of other things that I have not been able to focus on for a while. Lesson from it, dont do what I was doing that day(silly way that I injured it) and learn what may have caused it in order to avoid it in the future. I am going on a ski holiday in 4 weeks so I should be well on my way to recovered by then so all ids good. MY training, well, last year I did not kick inot high gear until March, and I see no reason why I wont be able to do the same this year. I will do it very rested!! While I am working towards recovery, I will have a ton of times to build core and upper body strength that I will benefit from when training begins. So, a lot of good si coming from this incident.
Other than the hiccup, the weekend was amazing. The snow conditions this weekend were out of this world. The skiing was impecable and I was able to teach some lessons that kept all of my clients grwoing and getting stronger. The temperatue was a little cold, however, it only contributed to better teaching opportunties as a result of what it does to the snow. Last week I also bought a new video camera, the weekend was a great chance to use it to video my clients and discuss where they are getting stronger and what we are going to do to continue to make it even better.
On Saturday I started to teach yoga to the ski school at our club. It was a blast! People from 4 years old to 65 years lod out practicing and learning how good yoga can be for! The comments on Sunday folliwing the session were resoundingly positive.
Overall another weekend that was better than the last! Gotta love when that happens!
I am off to the sports med clinic later today to see how bad the injury is, luckily I am able to get in quickly therefore starting the road to being stronger today!
I hope your weekend rocked and you are off to a great start this week!

If you can't beat it, join it!!! and a little about skiing bumps!

2011-01-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

The past few days has been bone chilling cold! I think that it was actually at the point that almost all advice out there was to skip the run, do some other form of cross training! I guess being a skier is a good form of cross training so I got it done!
That being said, yesterday, I was feeling like being a bit of a sucker for punishment, so I put on my shoes and headed out the door. I find the only problem with cold weather running is how to dress for it. They suggest to dress for 10 degrees cooler than it is, when it is -20, that is a little brutal to be dressing for and going outside. But, suck it up and you will get comfortable!! Until..... The first 5 minutes was chilly, luckily the wind was behind me and was not blowing very hard so it was not an issue. It was snowing big flakes so the scene was quite nice. I went out to do a short run before going to watch the Raptors play so I was not stressed about pace or distance. Just a run to get out there and keep moving respecting the offseason that it is. As I started out on my run I was feeling quite good. My legs are not tied in knots, my HR was calm and my breating was effortless. I did choose a route that has a continuous uphill on it to get a bit more of a workout as I was out there. After about 10-15 minutes I realized how quickly I was running. I purposely slowed down a bit, only to end up at the same pace again! Hmmm! A year ago doing these runs I was 45 seconds per km slower than I was going yesterday. I was running 4:50-5:00 k pace and not choking a lung. Last year at a 5:45 at this time of year I was whinning like a kid. Now, it is a short distance, but it is the same short distance as a year ago. I guess the offseason strategy of not stressing and training like a fool has allowed what I am doing and have done to sink in and make me a little faster. As I start to ramp up I look forward to to seeing how much I can improve for the season when it is longer and important.
This week has started off very exciting from a coaching perspective for me. I have 3 athletes that I am now coaching towards long races. One 1/2 IM and two full distance. I have spent a great deal of time training, stydying and learning with results. Now I get to put it to work and help others achive new goals. For me, training others is as much exctiment and motivation as my own races and training effort. So, a new chapter is starting to unfold and this summer should prove to be amazing as not only do I get to push myself I get to test what others can do to get the resutls they desire. I look forward to the journey!

Ski tip of the week!!(or day if I am inspired later this week)

As the season is progressing, bumps are going to start to be showing up on your favorit areas of the resort. Thise dreaded moguls, the ones you avoid at all costs!! Dont stay away, get it there, they are the greatest fun and will improve all of your skiing!
Why dont most like bumps??? Let me try, first bump OK, second bump a little jump, this bump, Holy crap! Fourth bump yard sale, and repeat! Was that close?? Let's try some intro ideas to see if you can get a hang of it.
First lets talk about your body position in the bumps. Earlier I talked about the most important things in skiing, a centered and MOBILE stance! Turning with the lower body and being balanced over your edges. These are very important to remember!!!
As you need to be very mobile to stop yourself from launching off of bumps, the way you start your bump skiing is important. Start in a flexed positions, kinds like you are at the volleyball net waiting for the play to come your way. You must have your back and core engaged in order to give you stability and maitain control of what is going on below. You should think of keeping your back upright and your chin in the air in order to promote a stable and strong center of mass through the bumps. When you begin, you should choose the first 2-3 turns that you are going to do, that way you know ahead of time what is happening and where you will need to turn. As you approach the first bump, the ski tips will hit it first. As your ski tips come to the bump and begin to climb it, begin to flex to absorb the force created, you will arrive to the top of the bump in a flexed position. Then turn the ski tips down the back side of the bump and begin to extend and turn the skis as you go down the backside. So, at the top of the bump your tips and tails will be in the air, it makes it easy to turn the skis with the lower body, as you turn the skis going down the bump, extend your legs in order to keep contact with the snow. As you get to the bottom of the bumpo begin to flex again as you will be at the next bump quicker now as you are sliding along, bend and absorb as you start climbing the next one.
DO NOT ski straight into the steepest face of the bump, it is very difficult to manage the amount of force that is created. Continue to turn unitl you are Skiing towards the side of the bump and turn there. That way you can use the contour to help guide you to where you are going.
The key is to continue to bend and extend and continue to turn the skis. As soon as you stop moving you will being to gain speed and it will then become more difficult to manange the sequence. Keep your chin up!!
Watch someone skiing bumps next time you are on the chair. Observe who is having the yard sale!! The person not bending, or bending at the waist allowing the chin to drop and come over the skis, it will happen every time unless you are very very strong!!
Bumps are awesome once you have gained a little confidence, the only way to gain confidence is to ski them. If you have any questions or I have managed to confude you, please ask, would be happy to hear that the bumps have become your friend as a result of my ski tip!

Giddee up!

2011-01-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

That is the week that I have had! No particular single reason, just a whole bunch of great things in a row! All the things that made it great are somewhere in my little head, I wont bore you with all the small details! Leave it at, it was great!
One of the fun things that I have done for the past year is share my thoughts as a Facebook post. Those who know me are aware that I am a crazy positive person, I can find a silver lining out of the darkest cloud. I also like to share with others my thoughts and ideas so that I may make a small difference in the way they are thinking on a particular day or in their life in general. As I post on FB it is great when I get comments about a post changing a persons day, or asking where the happy pills are from. This week a couple of people posted and it added a smile to my face knowing that it added a smile to their face.
Another fun event this week was a discussion with my wife and her sister about a seminar they were discussing. The seminar was about how productivity is lost because people focus on the negative energy that surrounds them. People day dream about the bad according to this person who was presenting. I do agree that we do focus on the more difficult things in our life and it can be a distraction. However, a 2 hour presentation about how we focus on negative is the most unproductive way to try and engage an audience ever. Whenever a person begins to talk to me about 'bad stuff' I begin to shut down. So, I gave my 2 cents about the elements of focus and how we can become more productive and successful if we allow us to manage those distractions, It does not matter if it good or bad, loss of focus is loss of focus!! Learning to deal with those distractions and how to come back to where you are supposed to be is what a person should be teaching. I am going to!!! Before the end of this year I am going to do a presentation to a corporate group on focus and productivity, and it will be the most engaging and positive session they have participated in this year!!
This is a blog about training isnt it?? What training did I do this week?? Well, I did do an skicross officials course. The CANADA SKICROSS World Cup event is at Blue Mountain in 2 weeks and I am helping out. If you are in Ontario, come and check it out, it is an amazing ski race with 80 of the best athletes in the world in attendance. A bonus, CANADA is dominating the world cup! They are on the podium at almost every event they have been at this year! Come and check it out, I will be somewhere on the side of the hill, wave at me as you ski by!
Training in the pool and on the road also was a great time. My speeds are getting faster and my effort is getting more efficient. I am now starting to introduce drills back into my swim in order to continue to get stronger. I am still amazed with the progress that I have made in a year on a self coached approach to swimming.
The runs this week were also totally great!! Each run I seem to be getting stronger, able to push a little harder and dig a little deeper. I guess a season of good training has changed my thoughts and way of training and it seems to be starting to pay off a bit. Tonight I did a short run and was able to blast through it like a rabbit! I did another couple of runs this week and I was able to do the same kind of run. I am enjoying what it is like and I am looking forward to starting to log some miles and becoming a runner. It will be a big part of what it will take to make my IM this year a better race.
My other training sessions this week was the one for my head. I love my yoga practice for all of the benefits both physical and mental. This week I also taught a class which is great therapy as well. Sharing with others the benefits of yoga is a great reward for the benefits it has given me. This weekend I am starting to teach a class to the ski instructors at the club that I teach at, what a great time that will be. A chance to share with new people and have them gain the benefits of some quiet time spent.
I hope your week has been as incredible as mine! Stay positive, believe in your goals and dont lose focus. You will achieve them if you dont get stuck on the clutter you create to slow yourself from the success! Cheers!

Brrrr! It's cold out there!!

2011-01-23T17:24:00.000-08:00

This is one of the colder weekends that I can remember as an adult. Yesterday was -15C and today was a cool -19C. Most logical people would be bundled up inside avoiding the outdoors at all costs. Well, I guess skiers and triathletes must be a little short of a full deck!! I was loving it and outside for 13 hours over the past 2 days taking all that mother nature had to offer! How smart are skiers??? Put on a pair of plastic boots, that are 1/2 size small so that you can get better ski performance, and go outside until your feet are so cold you cant feel them. Then, you come in for 15 minutes to thaw them out so you can get out as quickly as possible to do it again. The pathetic thing is, I would do it every day if I could. I would chase snow around the planet to be able to enjoy the pain in my feet! The weekend was cold, but WOW it was amazing to ski on such good snow.
Yesterday was a great day because of the extreme cold. Over the week there was some new snow and hte cold helps the snow to set really well making it great for performance training. I spent Saturday training my clients how to carve a turn throughout the entire arc. It is great to see the changes from them. Three weeks ago when we started our winter training, many of them were skidding throughout the entire turn. It was enjoyable skiing for them, but very tentative with not a lot of performance and energy. In a short time they are now starting to ski in a manner that is dynamic, live and exciting. They are skiing and showing how they can build speed in every turn, building energy and managing it. It is great, for me it is a sign that the strategies that I have chosen are working. They are finishing each day with a smile and sharing with me that they are feeling more confident! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
I finished the day yesterday teaching a yoga class to a ski team of 8-9 year olds. What an adventure! Put 20+ kids in a room and suggest to them that they need to be quiet for 30 minutes!? Yeah right! It was a blast! I managed to capture 80% of them and had them stretching, smiling and laughing for the class time. A bonus is all the adults that were there were also excited. As a result next week I will be teaching the adults a class after skiing. It will be a class that will happen each week until the end of the ski season. It will be a great opportunity to continue to develop my teaching and to share with others the benefits of a great practice. Being able to do 2 things that I enjoy so much is a great way to spend a weekend!
Today was another crazy frigid day, but once again, the ski conditions were impeccable making the freezing a slight inconvenience and not a big issue. I spent the morning doing blazing fast turns on perfectly firm snow. It was so cold that standing and talking were not an option, moving as much as possible was the only way to keep warm. Every inch of my body and face was covered to protect from frostbite, and after my feet went numb it was a great great day!
Another day of freeze is ahead of us, so it is good that tomorrow is a day in the pool and not a run day. I can do my workout without freezing myself! Hooray! I can do my run the following day when the temperature is ore acceptable. I hope you had an amazing weekend!
Happy training this week!

My week in review....

2011-01-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

Who cares about my week??!! Well for those of you who may be new to my blog, I care about my week and that is why I write here. My musings may not be logical, the spelling may suck, but guess what I know what it is about and 2 months from now and 10 years from now it will make me smile, so there you have it! This blog might not make any sense and I love it!
This week was a combination of lazy and WOW! I skipped my pool workout on Wednesday in favour of leaving my carcass in bed for an extra hour of sleep. The beauty with my tiny little head is that I do not feel one little bit of goilt for doing that. It is off season and I am base training, I do not need to obsess about every workout and the performance at this point. I am not a pro, I am dong this for the health and for the fun of it. In 3 months when the training is important, it will be a really tough day for me to miss a workout, so while I can do it I relax!!
Then Thursday AM, I stayed in bed again.....Yeah, lazy dude! Skipped my morning yoga practice in favour of staying wrapped in my coccon. WOW it was nice!
Thursday evening was go time! No more being a slug!! I went out to LULULEMON to lead a community run and to work with one of the girls that I am helping to train for a 30k race in the spring. It was a great run. We ran the first 5k at a normal to slow pace, then came the fun part. We went from a 5:30'ish pace to a 4:30'ish pace for the last 3k. Consider it a good warm up and then an opportunity to test yourself under little bit of a load. I love those kind of runs. It was a tough one, a little snow on the ground amde the footing treacherous so I had to pay attention to every step. When we sped up at the end, the girls were screaming for me to slow down. But, human competitive nature is amazing. The faster they ran to keep up, the faster I ran to get away from them. For both of us it achieved a goal of a speed workout while keeping it real and fun. Over the coming months I will increase the warm up distance as well as the speed on the back end. It will ideally make all of us faster in the process.
Following the run was a great yoga session that I was able to lead. As some of you know, I am a big believer in the benefits of yoga for athletes. Last night I was able to deliver a workshop in yoga for runners and skiers. It was a wondferful 1.5 hour interactive session of discussion and practice to learn what muscles we use, how we use them and how yoga helps us in our athletic development. I was not certain how hte sessoin would go as most there were yogis and want to practice. It went great! It was an opportunity for me to share my passion for both the sports I play and hte practice I teach, as well as a time for athletes to learn how hte poses benefit them and how they can continue to use yoga as a training tool to enhance their performance all year around.
After an awesome week, come Friday. The best thing about Friday is that it is hte day before skiing! It is supposed to be crazy cold this weekend, but that means the snow will be fast and the ability to fly will be great! I hope you have had a great week and that you have plans for the weekend that will bring a smile to your face!!

This weeks ski tip:

If you watch a skier who looks out of control, notice where their skis are at teh end of the run?? they are 45 degress across the hill and they are skidding for dear life to try and slow themselves down at teh bottom of the arc. Think about this?! Try and skid a bit at the top of the arc before your skis are heading down the hills and picking up speed. As you flatten your ski at the end of the prior turn, and recenter your balance, you are now in a perfect position to control your speed. Rather than rushing to try and get your skis turned around in the new direction, take a moment and relax. Now, begin to slowly turn your skis so that you are skidding a bit at the top of the turn. Imagine that you are sideslipping diagonally, this will help you establish a platform on your new edges slowly and in a balanced manner. As well it is helping to control your speed before your skis are heding in a downhill direction half way through the turn.. As a result, this allows you to move into the bottom part of the turn in a controlled manner and not have to skid for dear life to slow yourself down. YOu may even find that you want to increase edge angle on the bottom part of the turn to build pressure and speed becaue you are in control of your skis instead of reacting to fear!
So, at the end of one turn you flatten the ski and rebalance yourself. Establish a platform on your new edges and begin to sideslip diagonally to come to a speed that you feel confident that you can manage the rest of the run under control, then continue to turn until your skis are facing across the hill again and you are moving at a speed that makes you smile. Skiing under control is what brings the adventure to a new high. Try this and see if it works for you. It is quite fun!
Happy skiing and dont forget a beer or two at the apres ski adventure!

Cheers!

Feelin Groovy!!

2011-01-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

Spent some time last night with an athlete putting together a training program for her for an upcoming race. She is super committed and I know she will put in the work for a great result, this is the second race that I am training her for and I am looking forward to it! She is great to train as well as she wont stop when being pushed so it makes my push harder when I do some of the workouts with her!
After the training session last night I thought I would enjoy the winter and go snowshoeing rather than a run. Nice cold night and great snow, why not. There is a great 10k trail that we run on in the summer that I headed out to play on. BOO! The entrance to the trail was blocked with no real other options to get access. Oh well, running was what I am meant to be doing so I did. I was an amazing run. Although it was short, it was damn fast. I did not have my watch on, but based on the clock at home, I ran 5k at a 4:30'ish pace and felt great the entire time. I started strong and finished it stronger, feelin groovy the entire run. As I was pushing along I felt myself using mental training that I have worked on coming into play. Taking the feeling and the pace and tucking into my head for future events, not letting myself get mentally tricked into thinking that it was getting tough. One foot in front of the other I kicked the entire run into a fun one. Last Thursday I had the same kind of night out, I am hoping that this is a precedent setting pace and feeling for the season!
I topped off a great run from last night with a wicked swim this morning! Kick, pull, swim!!! repeat! Although it was only a 2000m swim, it felt awesome the entire time. I am now starting to bring in some tougher drills in order to get faster. Over the coming weeks I will also make the practices longer so that I am leaving the pool spent. My goal is not to take a lot of time of my swim, however, I do want to get out of the water with more energy that last season! If 2-3 minutes come off my time as a result, it is all a bonus! That being said, I am doing a couple of sprints this summer that have a wager attached, so the fast swimming will come in handy. If you have any good drills that you believe were game changers for your swim speed, please share them with me, I would be happy to tie them into my practice.
This evening I spent developing a session that incorporates all those things that make me smile. I prepared a session that that I will deliver later this week, YOGA FOR RUNNERS AND SKIERS. Does it get better than that?! A chance to teach to a group a yoga practice that I love involving the 2 sports that I think ROCK! I am looking forward to a great session with an enthusiastic group, and ideally in the process some new clients and yoga followers to grow with!
So, as I said in the title of my blog today, it was a wicked day and I am 'Feeling Groovy!'

Cheers to you!

Another Awesome weekend!

2011-01-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

It seems that most people I know are sweating this time of year because they need to get their training done. 'Oh my god, I am so out of shape', they say. Complaining and feeling guilty because they are only doing 3-4 hours of workouts a week instead of 10-15 hours. I may have a different approach to many but I dont sweat it one bit. Most of the people I am surrounded by have late summer and fall races, but seem to fill all the time before with another 4 A races. They wonder why when June arrives they are exhausted and injured?? They bitch all winter long because they cant get outside to ride......BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! I am tired of listening to the overtraining ego trip that people need to feed themselves to feel good! Unless you are a pro and working with a trainer to get you to the big top, your body and mind needs a break from the intensity and a change of pace of some kind to make you stronger. That is why we are so lucky to have winter! Mother Nature's way of telling you to take it easy and try another game for a couple of days!

I have been moving ahead with my training in a light manner and feeling quite strong and healthy doing it. My swimming is 1-2 days a week and will not grow to 2-3. I have decided to do a spring 1/2 marathon and limit that as my races for running. And my trained will start rolling this week with one hard trainer ride. Do I need more than that? Seemingly I am supposed to be, but I am not going to. My A race is not until end of August. Why would I train like I am going to race in June? I have many short races I will do over the summer but I treat each of those as a training day. If I have a 5 hour ride planned, I do it after my race so I do not compromise my overall A race goal. I guess my mindset is good as it allows me to re focus on training when I ramp it up as well as allowing me to get my rocks off doing something different for a couple of months!
This weekend was another awesome weekend for that! Each weekend of the winter seems to get better than teh one before! I get stronger, my head gets more clear and I enjoy my sport better in the afternoon that I did when I started in the morning. I guess not pushing and doing it 12 months a year allows me to feel that way!
This weekend was one of the events that I coordinate for a professional training series for instructors. They are on Fridays which allows me a couple of hours of skiing on a work day. They are a great opportunity for me to get out on my own and do some focused training while not surrounded by other weekend staff and clients. I spend a couple of hours 100% focused on my goal and not teaching or working with others. It allows me to evaluate where I am and to decide on strategies on order to continue to move forward. It is no different than triathlon, just on snow and freezing cold.

As well as an opportunity for me to do some skiing for me, I had a weekend of perfect teaching. As I have been teaching over the years I have delivered a product that was somewhat technical and probably mind numbing to my clients. I have changed my delivery around little this year and I am getting wicked results. Over the course of the 2 hour sessions that I teach I have been able to observe marked differences in skiers of all levels. The changes I have made allow a message that I more clear and meets the learning methods of the different people that I am skiing with. I teach because I love it and it brings a smile to my face! When I finish a class and I get feedback in teh form of smiles and a desire to keep skiing it makes me excited that I have accomplished a memorable day for them and they are looking forward to the next time they can get out. As I continue to train towards my ski gaols, ideally it will allow me to deliver better lessons and earn more smiles and excitement as a results.

As the winter moves forward I am getting quite excited about my trip to Jackson Hole. I have been following Mother Nature and what she has decided for that part of the world, and apparently someone out there pissed her off. It is snowing almost every day with 270"+ of snow so far. I can only hope that it continues until we are on our way out as it will make for a dream trip. It should make the drop into Corbet's Couloir a little fluffier on the landing and the other skiing an absolute delight. It has been a couple of years since I have big mountain skied so I looking forward to the trip in a big way. I was able to get some good photos this weekend of myself skiing, it is not often that I can get shots like these. I hired a pro photographer for the event that I organized and he took the photos that are attached. I am excited as they make it look like I can ski quite well! LOL
The week is now here so time to put on the training shoes and fins again. It is all good as it will get me ready for another great weekend on the snow and my trip. As well it is a great base for when the real training started in March. It is all good and I am loving life right now! WAhoo!

Finding my Stride!~

2011-01-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

The off season is a great time to rejuvenate the mind and to get set for the new season! I am now getting into the new season and getting my leg under me. I was up at 450AM this morning to go out for a morning run, YEAH! One of the joys of the being a triathlete is getting up at that time of day, isn't it fun!!
I was on the road at 515AM for a short 5k run in -10C weather. As I was running I was wondering why the hell I was out at that time of morning, I could have been in bed wrapped up in my cocoon and still drooling on my pillow. It did not take long before I did find my stride and realized I was out because I love it! Freezing my face and losing the feeling in my fingers is actually a great way to wake up! It' much better than watching the news!!
I finished my run at the yoga studio to spend an hour feeding my mind. I talked yesterday about the mind being one of the most important things to be trained and yoga is one of the primary ways that I get my mind exercise. I am able to spend one hour of time totally focused on the physical elements that I use every day in the sports that I participate in, and adding strength, flexibility, balance and mental focus that I would not be able to find otherwise. It is my time to be with me and to have to focus on nothing else, I encourage everyone to try it and give it a chance to come into your sport.
I alo finished the day with another great run. Tonights run at LULU was the true start of the run season for me. As I was running I found myself moving along and finding my second wind, that is the wind for the season. I felt amazing, like I could have kept running all night long with no effort. It was a cold run with a lot of people joining us and it was the best I have felt in a long time. I have taken the feeling that I had this evening and bottled it so I can drink a little of it when I am on the track or ready to vomit at the top of a hill in a couple of weeks. One good day can get you through 10 bad ones if you keep it all in perspective and look back to the good events!
All together it was a great day! Two great runs, a wicked yoga class and some energy in a bottle for the start of the season. I am looking forward to some great training coming up as today was the perfect spring board into awesomeness! Hold on and watch me go! I am looking forward to seeing how this trip unfolds!

Power of the Mind!!

2011-01-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Ever wake up and want to skip a workout or call in sick? Start a long run and want to quit after 5k? Set a goal and wonder why you did it?
Why do you decide against what you mind is questioning?? Because you dont let the little man in your head convince you that you should! Your body can do anything you want it to do, your mind is what tells it to stop. Yes, that is the simple version of it, but is it really any more complicated than that? Think about it a little.....
When you ran your first 2km, did you ever imagine you would run an IRONMAN? Probably not, if you are like most you thought it was a crazy unreachable idea. One that only hte greatest could achieve, those people who trained months and years to get to that point. Your mind created an awesome story to tell others so that you could forget that the notion that you could do it. When you were out with friends who talked about IM, you had countless reasons why you could not do one right now. Work, need to train more, later in my life.....All great stories to stop you from making the commitment to train and get it done. You gave in to your mind. It is the most powerful muscle in our body and only our conscience can control it, and we allow the mind to control us 99.9% of the time.
From my personal experience I can recount many times when I let it beat me, and many times when I decided I would take control.
When I trained for my Level 3 ski instructors certification, I took control and did not let my mind tell me to stop. It took me 3 attempts to pass the certification in its entirety. In the process I had many friends after the second time I did not pass the skiing tell me to pack it in. 'Why continue, you are a good skier!! ', they told me. Their attitude was that I did not need the certificate and that I should move on. My mind never allowed me to go there. Sure, there was a feeling of defeat when I failed the second time, but it still never stopped me from wanting to achieve the goal. I knew I could get there if I continued to work at it. I did finally pass it when I took control and did not let my mind get the best of me on exam day. I would stand on the start line and freak out because my mind would throw in the you cant do it moments. I knew I was at the standard and did not let the little man in my head say the words and I was successful!! Because I let the doubt part of my head take over it took my 3 tries to get it done, had I followed what I knew I could do I would have been done the first time around.
Every time I run a race my head takes over. I get half way through the race and I let myself be convinced that I cant go any harder or longer. I slow down then speed up, slow down, speed up...... The net result is that I seem to have enough energy at a race to sprint the last KM after being convinced that I can not keep going. The mind is hte strongest muscle!!!!
I guess what I am saying in this post is that we must exercise our brain as much as we exercise our muscles while on our way to the start line. Some people are naturally athletically gifted and being succesful at a sport comes with relative ease. For the rest of us it comes with a lot of physical training. If we dont train the mind along with it then we will never get to the top of our game.
Imagine where you want to get to, set your goals for the journey. If you believe in yourself and dont let the little man in your haed tell you can't, you will get there!
Aim high, work hard and anything is possible!!! Just dont let your head convince you otherwise!!!

For those who may have just started reading my blog.....it is my head being put on paper, not always the most logical ramblings, but they are here for you to enjoy!! LOL

Cheers and happy physical and brain training Wednesday!!

Back to Reality....

2011-01-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

When ski season starts, Sunday afternoons makes me sad! It means that I am back in teh car and driving home to reality! After a weekend of tons of fresh air, amazing people, and teaching and learning skiing, it is a short moment to ay, BOO!
As most of you have realized by now, I am a ski freak! You think I can talk endlessly about triathlon training, put me on a ski pedestal for a few minutes and watch me go! Hehe! About the only negative with the ski season is that I do lose some of my overall conditioning as I use it as 'off-season' and consider it a great cross training and brain training time of year. However, after this weekend of skiing 12+ hours over 2 days, I will say my legs are a little sore. That is the first time since last season when I was generally out of shape that I have felt that. So, I guess I will have to ski a little more, as a little pain can only mean a great gain, and it is cross training after all.
One great thing that is beginning to develop out of skiing is a great yoga audience. There is a lot of benefit to yoga before, during or after a hard day on the hill. Through the groups that I teach I have been talking about how I have gained from it and peaked both aN interest and a desire to practice with me. o, I may being to develop a good client base as a result of this ski craziness!! Wahoo!
Friday, Satruday and Sunday seem to be cross training day, with the rest of the week being about the real thing! I am in the process of developing my own program for this season training. I will use what i learned from lat year using a written program and marry that with my race(s) experience and results to come up with my own training. I am not going to make it easy or fun, however, I will make it results driven! Over the next 1.5 month I will use the time to build base and to strength. When I return from my ski holiday I will begin my training with my races for the summer in mind. I am not doing a ton of races, as I want to focus heavily on good results at these events.
Earlier I promised to share ski tips on my blog from time to time. I will share one of the most important factors to consider when you are out on the snow. It is the baic core competency in skiing and without it you are not going to get any better. A CENTERED AND MOBILE STANCE. In other words you need to be balanced over your skis in order to make them go where you want to rather than letting the ski control where you are going. In order to do that you must be mobile over your skis in order to remain centered and balanced against the forces generated as you are turning the skis travelling down the hill.
TIP FOR THE DAY: For each turn in skiing there is 3 part, the start, the middle and the end. I will talk about the start and how important it is in being balanced throughout the middle and the end.
The start of the turn is the point when you recenter yourself to set up for the new turn, the point where your skis are finished a turn and you are recentering before turning again. How do I accomplish that you ask??
As you are finished turning the ski allow it to come off of an edge onto a totally flat ski. As you do that you should feel the ski beginning to slide away quicker than when it was on edge. At the same time you should be able to allow all your muscles to relax for a micro-moment as you are recentered and balanced. If you are centered you should be able to do this as you do not need muscle tension to support yourself.
When you have achieved the moment where you can relax, you are then ready to begin to get onto the new edge and begin to turn the skis in the new direction of travel. As you are starting from a balanced positions you should be able to do this with ease and control.
This happen at any speed that you are travelling at and in any turn that you are completing. If you are balanced you will be in control and will be able to decide where the ski will go.
So, the tip for the day is, before you begin a new turn, let the skis flatten so that you can rebalance and be prepared for the new turn.
If you dont understand, please send me a question and I would love to share with you with more detail.
Until then, happy training and happy skiing!
Cheers!

Yeah BABY!

2011-01-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, a lot of days a good workout will make me say those words! But, on any weekend from December until March they come out of my mouth at least 20 times a day on the weekend! You guessed it, the method to all my madenesses, a wicked day of skiing! A terrible day on a ski hill beats the best day in the world at work! Today was another one of those Yeah BABY days!
Although a little cold it was amazing! I love teaching and seeing people make changes and today as showtime for me. The start of a new season of for me represents so many awesome new challenges. New goals for myself, an opportunity to reset where I left off last season and set myself to reach new heights. This season is my first official year of training to reach my Level 4 CSIA certification. It is a huge commitment, one that is equal to KONA or the Superbowl in the ski world. Each year 100-150 people in Canada attempt it, each year about 5-10 may pass it. Only 2-3 will be successful on the entire exam, most are back after 3-4 attempts having passed some part of it in the past and get the second half. Many people train 100+ days over the season for 3-4 years to get to the level that is required. Others visit sports psychologist in order to get to a head space to even allow them to get to the exam. Needless to say it is like doing an IM but with 10 people watching you telling you that you are not doing right and you need to repeat it again. Imagine doing IM and Mike Ridley only calls your name after the 5th time because you have finally done it right. This winter is the start of that process for me, one that will ideally bring me as much pleasure and challenge as IM did and lead me to some new opportunities and possibilities.
As well as my own selfish intent on the ski hill is the joy of hearing and seeing people make changes on their own skis. As an instructor I feel a great responsibility and take great pride is knowing that I did my job well. This weekend is the first weekend of the next 9 that I am out with new students. They are all adults and all have high expectations as members of a private club. I must perform to make 100% that they meet the goals that they have set in a safe fun and entertaining manner. Today I skied with my first group which is 7 women of varying skill. Although they are very social as part of the program, they also expect to learn how to ski better. My first day proved to be a success!~ Skied for 2 hours and created a memorable and challenging experience for all of them. It actually created such a positive experience that there are new ladies coming to join the group next week. That can only be a good thing, word of mouth spreading in 2-3 hours to get new customers. I love knowing that the time I have spent with them was impactful and that they will incorporate the lesson into their skiing to improve themselves and come better athletes.
The day was nearly perfect, great snow, great people and great new beginnings. I had an awesome time and consider a great mental training day. As well as being a great day on snow, I skied like a madman. My legs are smoked if you can believe that, I can ride 200k but my legs are sore after a day of skiing. It was amazing., skied like the wind, fast, powerful and crazy. Loved every minute!
So, as I said, Yeah BABY! Another day of it after a few hours sleep.
See you on the hill! Cheers!

Gidee with excitment!!

2011-01-08T04:33:00.000-08:00

Ski season officially kicks off for most today with the first day of ski school programs underway! It is like the first day of school and I am excited! Hehe! Time to go play with my weekend friends!
Over the year I live a double life, one on the ski hill and another back home. I always look forward to this time of year as I get to see all my friends that I have not seen since March. I spend 6 hours a day 2 days a week for the winter, but they become good friends over that time. Today will be a great day of catch up and learning what everyone did over the summer. I cant wait to hear and share stories of peoples adventures and what they learned, conquered and enjoyed.
As well as sharing time with friends, the other great thing about today is teaching skiiing. I LOVE teaching and getting out to start a 9 week teaching session brings a smile to my face and a ton of excitement to the day for me. Today I get to ski my heart out and set new goals with a group. OVer the course of the next 9 weeks I will execute a strategic plan so that they have ideally reached the goals that tehy were looking to reach. And along the way, having a lot of laughs, probably a few rolls down the hill or through some gates and a great opportunity to teach and learn, share and enjoy being outside!
One of the great bonuses of skiing it is a great form of cross training. Most people question that it is, but I challenge you to come and follow me for a day!! It can hurt!! A full day non stop skiing aggressively can take a little out of you. I do generally follow the day up with a yoga practice to stretch and enjoy the culmination of a day fulfilling my all time favorite sport. The other cool thing about skiing is the apres!!! A couple of cold beers, a hottub and great laughs for the day!
So, if you dont like winter, get over it! Get a pair a couple of friends together and head out to the nearest hill. BOok a ski lesson and try it out! It will give you a new perspective on winter and you will have a ton of fun as you make your day down the hill!
I have to run, freezing cold out and I need to get out there and enjoy first tracks! Have a Happy Saturday and I look forward to hearing about your day! Cheers!

HHmmm! I seem to love training....

2011-01-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

A great start to the day!!
Was up at 5AM for a run today, although short it was great. Getting up at that time for anything but a vacation is insane. As I roll out of bed I question why I am doing it. 'Hey stupid, you are going to LULU for a run tonight, why are you up at this hour!' I moan and bitch a little as I make my way out the door. Not a word out of my mouth for the first 20 minutes, but then I wake up and realize how much I love being out there. Out training at such an insane hour even though I think it is ridiculous and then finding a groove and kicking some butt!! I discovered after last nights run that the offseason means I have to regain some running strength. I am not worried as it is so far ahead of the game, and I am also starting off far ahead of where I was last year. I am however committed to putting in a solid training regimen all winter so that I go into the summer far stronger a runner than ever!! Using my own advice I am going to put in a lot more tough run workouts than ever and go into IM Canada a run machine(as much of a machine as one can be at IM) While training for Hamilton I tried some new training ideas and they worked well, so I am going to build them into my build phase and see what results I can get. I still think running sucks, but I thought the same of swimming when I wasnt able to do it decently.
Following the morning run, a amazing yoga practice to light up the day! It never stops surprising me how physically and mentally strong I am after a great yoga practice. It is such a great balance to hold as training begins and throughout the season to build focus, flexibility and control. The hour seems to go by in 5 minutes, and the focus away from the real world distractions can not be replaced with anything else(I suppose to many drinks might do it, but the benefits are not there) Now that I am teaching as well, it has added another depth to being on my matt. Looking to reach new places in each pose, exploring where my mind stops me from pushing myself further and then allowing it to open up. As I continue to practice and be a triathlete I am looking forward to the full transferance and ability to take if off my matt onto the road. I have been able to take it to the pool and use it in practice and in racing. The ability to focus my breathing and to regain a centered mind when it gets tough has become randomly simple for me. It has made me a more efficient and quicker swimmer as a result. More miles and more matt and it will become a skill that I can use everyday as an athlete.
As the day is coming to a close I am gettin ready for a last inspirational workout. I will be heading out the LULULEMON for a community run with runners from all backgrounds and to ideally lead them towards new heights. I am also planning a YOGA for runners session with them in order to introduce the benefits of the sport and the practice to as many new people as possible. I am looking forward to another great run. Tonight will be particularly entertaining as it will be a run in the snow, just a little more to the challenge of winter!
Happy training! Cheers!

My advice to me!!

2011-01-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

2010 was a year of new learning! I learnt a ton about myself, training, coaching, swim, bike, run......I opened myself up to being present in what I was doing and gained so much from it. I actually listened to what I was being told and learned from what I was reading. I gained physical and mental insigth into training and defeat. Most of all I grew and gave myself a new platform to excel from as I continue on whatever quest it is I go on.
My IM Moo! experience was incredible! I trained hard, trained smart and managed to stay healthy all the way to the start line. The only injury I suffered in my training was in December 2009 when I thought I needed to start ramping up hard on my running for a IM in September. Go figure, within 2 weeks I was off the wicked plantar and did not run for 3-4 weeks. So, I have put together some small nuggets of advice for myslef based on what I gained last year.
1) Choose your A race and make it your A race!! I watched so many friends race and race and race only to be dissapointed when they did not get the result that they wanted when IM was complete. You have to focus on the task and build your training and other events around it. Each weekend can not be a race to set a PB. You need to recover and allow your body to rebuild after you go like a madman.
2) Choose your race schedule and stick to it. Make it strategic so that it fits into your plan and training periodization. If you do not, you will likely race to train.
3) Focus on all 3 discplines!! It is a race involving 3 events, focus on each of them correspondingly. I could not swim when I registered and came up with an awesome result by keeping focused on my training and doing the tough stuff even though I did not like it. Cycling is a strength for me, I still put in all the workouts and the grinding and it came out in the end as a great ride on a tough course. I learned from being a run slacker that it does not work!! I am not a strong runner and did not put in the miles required to run a great race.
4) Learn from your experience!! Log your training and your feelings and results and put them to work for you!

5) DONT OVERTRAIN!!! I am watching many friends who are in all out panic mode because they arent trying hard for a race that is in August. CALM DOWN! I started my quest to IM as a fat dude and did not truly start the hard work until end of ski season. I had a great result for my first IM and was healthy getting to it. No one is going to view you as a hero because you train like an idiot every day and push yourself in every workout even though the program tells you not to! It does not work! The programs are written based on years of scientific research, unless you are writing your thesis on the subject of IM training, don't be an ass and do what you are told!!!
6) NUTRITION IS KING!!! I spent the entire summer figuring out what I needed to eat, how and when I needed to do it! You can be the best at all 3 discplines but that gives you nothing in an IM race. Nutrition is the secret key to success. Dont think for a minute you will learn it on race day! WRONG!! I watched an accomplised athlete who should have kicked my pants finish 45 min behind me because he did not listen to my summer long training advice! Pay attention to what you are eating, when you are eating it and how it amkes you feel at the start middle and end. You have minimum 3 months of hard training, use every long workout to teach you the lessons you need for a succesful race day!
7) ENJOY the journey!! My ride to IM was the coolest time of my life. I am healthier than I have ever been! I was inspired by the wicked amazing people around me! I inspired and trained others to reach new heights! IT WAS COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER ENJOYED!!!!! Why?? I took time to enjoy what I was doing! Did it hurt? Yes! Did I wonder why I was doing some days? Yes! Did I ever consider quiting? NO! I chose to do it so I committed to myself to enjoy the journey and I did!

As I start this year am I going to do things differently? Sure, I have learned from my victories and mistakes! BUT, the principles and advice I hve noted above will be the exact same! I am going to take what I learnt and get better as a result! A better athlete, training myself smarter, training others stronger and enjoying the trip along the way!!!

Good training day today with a short 7k run at a 4:34 pace. Could not figure out why the run was tough as I was ealry on. When we finished I asked someone what pace we had run at and discovered why! I love it! Following my own advice I guess! Wanna run fast you have to put in some hurt to get there!

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

2011-01-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

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!

2011 and a New Year of races, goals and adventures!!!

2011-01-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

After a long break I think I am back here again to share in my adventures and dreams for 2011!! As always I tend to dream to the large side of life, otherwise, why share, there is enough mediocrity in the world in the news everyday!! And, why on this blogoshpere! Because all the people I have met and followed here are also big dreamers and inspire me to keep pushing the envelope and get bigger and better every day!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all the blog people out there! I hope 2010 was a year that rocked your world and made you wonder how you could top it in the future! A year of self discovery and going new places not imagined or felt before and a year that made you grow in every imaginable way! And, as we rolled to 2011, set you on a path of crazier. bigger and stronger goals that ever before! Let's sit down, shut up and hold on, 2011 is going to ROCK!!!!
As I look back on 2010 and what it was, to be honest it kind of makes my head spin a bit. WOW! The things I was able to do, the lessons I learned and the games I played were amazing. I grew more in 2010 than I can recall ever in the past. It has set a new path for me as I continue on this awesome journey! I would love to sit for hours and talk about the year and what I did, but I wont bore you with the details. You can reach the first 200+ posts and get a good view of what it was all about.
And I wont sit here and type all night telling you what 2011 is going to be about! Leave it at, BIG!!! I am not talking anymore, it is time to do! So, if you have been here reading my blog before, I hope it is as entertaining as you may have found it on the first year and first IM journey.
If you are new to my blog, here is an executive summary!
SKIING, RUNNING, SWIMMING, COACHING, SKIING, TRAINING, YOGA, TEACHING, FRIENDS, FUN, DREAMS, ENTREPRENEUR, RISK, RESULTS, FAST, SLOW, OH YEAH....DID I SAY FUN!
I am spending the next year living for my dreams and putting all the stories that have stopped me from realizing them away! I am excited and happy to be on my way!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Stay tuned tomorrow, I will post about one of my passions and how you can grow in the sport of skiing!!

And the Ski Season is around the corner.....

2010-11-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

Yep! I am so excited I could almost wet my pants! It is getting colder, the mountain regions are getting snow, prodeals are being sent out!! That means one thing!!! Ski season is here! OK, so I have to tell the truth, ski season beats tri season any time anywhere!! If you dont like winter, well, now is the time to take a short break and not read my blog, because the next few months wil talk a lot about this amazing sport!
I promised a while back that I would give some ski tips over the winter for those who might want to polish some skills or push the envelope a little. I love teaching skiing as much as I love coaching triatheltes and runners. I am qualified and have spent the last I dont know how many years training. I am a CSIA Level 3 certified instructor and a CSCF Level 2 coach. I coordinate a Proffesional Training series for the CSIA in Ontario. So, hopefully my insight into skiing will help provide you some fun this winter!
On a training note......By the way, any training I have ever done since I was a kid was about one thing....SKIING! I ran to be a better skier, went to the gym for the same reason....did wall sits for hours to be stronger....pounded hills for weeks for endurance....trained mentally for racing...all for the thrill of flying down a hill or off a cliff on a pair of skis! This week I spent a couple of days on that very effort. I had a couple of decent runs this week to keep me going. On Sunday was out after a great yoga practice that I was privildged to lead at Lululemon. A fast 8k run to round out a good morning. It was a great day all around, with 40+ for the morning session. After my run I also got out to the studio in the afternoon and shared some more yoga with 25+ people joining for my instruction. This morning I was also in the pool for a good 2000m workout. I must say the pool is amazing! I get in feeling strong and come out feeling the same way.
Here is my ski tip as we get set for our impending Ontario winter........
As we finish each season some of us take the time to put our gear away in an organzied and careful manner. Others, in a rush to get hte golf clubs out and the bikes on the road, throw them in the corner and forget about the gear. Now is the time to get that stuff out of the corner and give it a once over.
A few things to think about.....
- get your skis out and get the summer wax off of them. If you did not summer wax them, not is the time to get them to the shop for a tune u before winter kicks into gear. Most shops offer deals this time of year, another couple of weeks and you will be in line waiting for your gear and paying full price to get it done. Skis are like any other gear, over time they wear out and now is the time to discover that.
- gets your boots onto your feet. Over the summer and training who knows how those puppies feel on your feet now?? Before the snow flies learn if you need any adjustments made to them. You can get a boot fitter to talk to you now, another couple of weeks he is going to be booked up until after Christmas.
- check your clothing out. when you put your things away confirm that both gloves made it home and your goggles are not cracked. Take the time to give them a wash and check the overall condition. Some shops might still have some deals, but not for long.(winters coming and its time for them to make money)
- are you buying a season pass or paying for each visit? look online to see what deals might be available, great time to find some incentives to buy early.
- are you enrolling in a lesson program(highly recommend) DO IT NOW! If you want to be in the optimum group for your ability, this is the time to make your request.

OK, the boring part is now done......do some dryland to get you ready!! This will be quite simple and I wont elaborate in the nitty gritty, what to think about!!!!
1) CORE! CORE! CORE!......your legs might be tree trucks but your core is what you ski with!!!
2) Cardio! At 2000' or at 10000' feet your cardio will make day one a pleasure and make the end of the weekend a pleasure. You are an athlete if you are reading this, so not as big a concern
3) POWER! Think a little about developing some explosive power. DO burpees, jumping jacks, step onto a box, hop onto a box......It will make some of the technical elements of your skiiing a greater experience all around.
4) THINK SNOW!!! If we all wish it bad enough, it will DUMP!!

I am a skier at heart and am jumping for joy as I see ski resorts starting to open. Off season is a great time and it is here! Hope you are as excited about the prospect of snow! Yahoo! If you ever have any questions about skiing at any level, please feel free to reach out. I will share with you anytime. Better yest, if you want to go skiing, let me know! I do not need much of an excuse to get out there!

Another great week!

2010-11-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

Yeah, the off season is a tough time to keep things up to date! This work thing and training and the start of ski season is keeping me quite active!
This week I did a few short runs following Hamilton letting the runs and the training sink in a bit before starting to the gears back on track. I did a Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday run. Added a swim in there for training entertainment. Probably one of the more relaxing weeks this year. Oddly enough, not a bit of guilt about it. Chilling out feels damn good some times.
Running this week was not about any goal. I was out getting some miles in and getting the post race kinks out of my system. they were slower runs(still a lot faster than in the past) and I enjoyed them without a watch or HR monitor. I am feeling strong on my feet in comparison to last year,actually almost enjoying being out for runs! I am going to spend the next few weeks going slow and easy. I want to ramp up come Christmas time, until then I am going to run easy and keep the legs turning. Any off season strategies to share with me? I am going to consider November and December off season for run and then ramp it up from that point.
This week I only did one swim as well. Kinda of a slacker week if I look back at it! Oh well! Like the past couple of times out, it rocked. I feel myself gaining strength in the water and gaining form each time out. Quite similar to running, I am putting miles in right now with some light drill work. Without the intensity I hope to make some gains for when I turn it up. This week I did do a few kick drills, WOW! I have gained immensely on the kicking from where I was before IM. I felt like I was going twice the speed at hold the effort. Don't know what I have changed, but it seems to be working. I will keep it up for now and then see what happens when I get it going hard!
One of the areas that I was a slacker on for the past season was doing weights! Enough being a slouch, if I am going to speed it up and get to the end without needing a nap, I need to get it all done. So this week marks the start of some new pain tools. I am going to get into the gym after each swim practice whether I like it or not. I don't know what the black is for me. I don't really mind it, but just don't seem to get there when I should! So, now i have put it out there it is time to get it done! So, I am now going to get pumped up! LOL
I hope you are all kicking butt in the offseason and looking forward to what next year will bring for you. Remember, LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS! It rocks!

OK! Now it's off season,time to get some serious training done!!!

2010-11-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Another swim, bike, run season officially done! The greatest year of my life and experience as an athlete behind me with a world of memories and possibilities ahead. I can;t believe what I have accomplished in the past year and yestreday was a fitting way to put a bow on a great season. Usually I would have the Santa shuffle in December, but I am going skiing instead! If the apres is weak maybe I will go for an honorary 5k at the ski resort, NOT!!!
I finished off the season yesterday with the Hamilton Road to Hope Marathon. After IM I decided another race was in order to serve as a benchmark for my first attempt at a BQ next spring. I had to relax a bit and let IM sink in and not train to hurt myself. My training was not super intense and was about 1 month worth of some speed work. My longest run in the training was a 27k run that sucked. But, with a base built from IM it was a day to go out and see what I could do. I had a great day based on what I put into it and I did set a new bar and level to work from and towards. My previous PB was a 3:57:25 at my Boston bandit run this year. Yesterday I managed at 3:45:16!! I consider that a great run for myself with the lack of non run-specific training I have put in. A friend of mine paced me for the day and I owe her a great thank you for pushing me to that result. I though at one time I would puke, another time I my head spinning like I was going to pass out! She pushed me through it all and made it a good result!
Now, the training starts! I have the lessons from this year and a platform to build my training from. For all of the swim, bike and run and know where I can make changes to give me improvement in races. Mentally I gained insight into pain this year and I can not develop some management tools to push me harder next year. The next couple of months will be spent swim, bike and running with a little fluff built in and then I will start on a 2 cycle program leading up to IM. Knowing what I do now will make the next year of training a new adventure. I will now be adding some intensity to what I am doing. This past season was a little more about getting the miles in and learning about IM. Now I know, so it is a year to turn it up a notch and see if I can add a little 'race' element to the season and not just be out there to finish.
I cant not in a million words describe how 'cool' this season has been. I am a new person having done what I have this year. I look forward to continuing to charge down this road and seeing where it brings me. I hope along the way to inspire a couple of people, maybe turn a head or two. Mostly, continue to Live for my Dreams and love what I am doing!
A big shout out to Q on the Move! Yesterday he picked me out at the beginning of the race and came over and gave me the high five. It is so cool how the virutal world can become real and how it can serve to motivate and inspire! Thanks Q, served a great help along the road!

What's your excuse!

2010-11-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

The last race of the season is this weekend, I am looking forward to doing it. I will say I am also looking forward to it being done. I love training, but I am looking forward to train to train for a couple of monhts and putting away the train to race shoes. It looks like it is going to be a great weekend for a race. The temperature at about 5-6celcius and sun. Can't ask for better race weather than that. It is a big downhill race with about 6-7k down a fairly agressive down, so a little strategy is in order if finihsing it with my quads still able to move is in order.
This week has been an easy week. I was in the pool on Wednesday again and had another relaxing swim as I continue and start my build phase up. I love that I am swimming 1600m as an easy day without any effort when last year, 1600m was a new personal best and I was cooked after doing it. The only challenge I am faced with is having to get my core re-ignited for the swim training. I found my lower back gets sore as I have been swimming this week. Lucky for me a good yoga practice takes care of loosening that up and getting me back on track.
Running this week has been an easier effort. I did a 6k run with a new athlete on Wednesday and another great Lululemon run last night with a big group. The group is still growing with a keen interest in maintaining it over the winter. I am looking forward to winter training and keeping people inspired to be out there in the snow.
I want to put a question out to all of you. Quite easy and promises to be quite entertaining. We all are craxy type A's who arent big on stopping for much. But, once in a while we do come up with a great story as to why we should skip a workout. I want to hear them all!! PLease share with me your 1-2-3 best excuses for not going out for a run. Only looking for excuses, the real stuff isnt nearly as fun or entertaining. I will make up the list for all to share in laughter.
I want to send out a high five to all those racing this weekend! IM Florida, kick some serious ass! Love hte race, smell the roses and enjoy the experience, it is awesome beyond words! New York marathoners, run like you have never run before! Hamilton Marathon runners, see you on the hill! Dont run to close to me I dont want to hit yo with a snot rocket, the cold weather makes my nose run!
Happy weekend!

Yahoo! I love training!!!

2010-11-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of days into a new energy and it is awesome! It is so crazy how relaxing can be such a tiring process. A few weeks of only doing one discipline wore me out? Go figure?? My friends thought it was great that I was 'able to relax' after the pre IM training. If they only knew how it was wearing on me, heck, I did not even know how it was. Now, that all being said, I am not going to go bonkers and get back full swing. Getting back in the pool has been a great reminder of how much I love training and the whole sport of trialthon.
Over the past few weeks I have had some wicked cramps in my glute and quad from running. About 25-30k into a run it was nasty. Almost all the time I could feel some restriction in that side as I walked or practiced yoga. This week I have been out to yoga 3 times as well as the pool a couple of times and it seems to be getting better. Losing the agravation wont make me any faster today, but it will allow me a clearer mind that I am not about to snap as I start a mini build til the holiday season. I dont know if it is the yoga giving it a repeated good strtech or if it is the swim moving some focus away from only one area. Whatever it is I am happy about it and going to keep at it.
Last night I did an easy 6km run with the Lulu group as out regular night out. With the marathon this weekend, I laid back a bit working to keep it reasonable and not push. It felt good with a good HR and a decent pace. The weather is amaazing for running right now with it being nice and cool and without win the last few days. I hope it is like this for the race on the weekend, it would be almost perfect race weather.
After run last night I went to the Power Yoga Canada first birthday party. Much like them it has been a year sonce I got on my mat. What a great night! A good time to thank them for creating an amazing community, as well as a good time to reflect on the past year for myself as an athlete and a yogi!! It is exciting to be a part of the team there. I was also told that I will be on the class schedule starting January when the new studio opens up. Being able to share my practice with others is something that I look forward to, it is a great opportunity for my own practice development and obviously for me as a teacher of yoga and other sports. I hope you can join me some time for an hour of heat and power vinyasa to experience how good it is for you.
After a great swim to start the day, it is time to go out and start the grind! I love the challenge of work, I just beed a couple more years to have that challenge be my dream! Never stop reaching for that dream, it is in reach you just need to beleive in yourself and it will happen!
Have an awesome hump day!

Let the games begin!

2010-11-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

It appears for me that blogging may be synonymous with triathlon training?? Why do I say that? Well, I was at the pool today and put my bike on the trainer this weekend. As I got out of the pool today, right away I was thinking about how I needed to get back to blogging and reconnect with all the awesome people that I have virtually met and all the fun that being here each day can be. I have been remiss as a have been running and working in sharing adventures and being a part of what you are all up to! I miss it! So here I am and hopefully can get back to my routine as I get the ball rolling again.
For the past few weeks running has been the menu item of choice. I can stand to make the most improvement in this area so it not all that and an idea. I have made some improvement and ideally I can keep the momentum going on what I have started with. I have enjoyed it even though running is the least favourite of the disciplines for me.
Today after a bit of a break I was back in the pool! All I can say is WAHOO! I loved it, I had such a great swim practice it was over the top. After not being in the pool for 5+ weeks I rocked my swim. I did a short distance to start, doing a 1600m ladder swim with a 100m to finish up an set a benchmark for my training this season. The entire swim was relaxed and easy with no issues with any part of it. I feel like I am picking up where I left off. My stroke count is a little high, but it is the first day after a break. It gives me one point of focus as I start the training for the season. After a great swim I finished it with a 100m to see where I was at. I managed to get it done in a 1:29, it was a sprint swim, but it felt good. By the 4th x 25m my stroke count was a little higher, but I got to the wall in what is now my benchmark for the year. Overall a great day and a great start to being back in the water. I am aiming for a couple of times a week until Christmas to set a base and get ready for some more intense sessions in the New year. As I did not do any kind of speed work last year there will be a lot of that fun stuff this season. I look forward to the pain and the adventure and seeing where I might get to with a little different work than last season.
I also got the bike downstairs and ready to get on the trainer. I am going to wait until next week to light that up as I have a marathon this weekend. So getting on to burn the legs is not likely the smartest idea right now. Last year I did not get on my trainer until March, so this is super early. My goal is to do a couple of months of maintenance then build some power before starting into the program in early spring. Although IMCanada is my A race next season, I want to see what I can improve in a sprint race as well. This season I managed some good times, but I feel I can pick it up a couple more KMH. I want to see if I can manage some 40+kmh races in next couple of years.
So, all that being said!!!! I am back on. My passive active break is now over and it is go time once again. After all it is less than 300 days until my next IM so I better get busy!
Thank you to all that sent me notes for my current goal that I am working towards. They have all been sent to the right person and now I wait anxiously!
Cheers and Happy Monday!

Chasin' the dream! NEED YOUR HELP!!!

2010-10-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

So, the past few days have been up and down for training! This work thing seems to get in the way and I cant say that I am lovin that a bunch! Well, reality is bound to have to come into play from time to time!
I am doing something about addressing that reality! One of the great pleasures I get is in organizing events and situations which allow others to accomplish the goals that they have for themselves. I have had a great deal of fun over the year building that opportunity with LULULEMON. A great opportunity has come available for me to continue to build and develop this! They are looking for a community guru for eastern Canada. A person who helps to coordinate and organize events throughout to promote the LULULEMON culture and ambassadors throughout the region. An opportunity to work at creating, inspiring and motivating others to reach their dreams and goal! A position and place to train and motivate each and every day!
Hoping you can help contribute to this opportunity! If you believe that I can motivate and inspire others to reach for the best they can, please leave a post comment that I can add to my list! I am going to take all responses and forward them to the recruiter who is going to speak with me about the position. Any positives that you may share would be awesome! Thank you for being honest and contributing to the accomplishment of Livin the Dream!
This week saw me take one extra day off ! I missed one speed workout, wont kill me though. On the weekend I had a great tempo run and a good long run on Sunday. Although the SUnday run was good I did have some cramping in my legs again. I am quite certain that hydration is the key reason behind it! SInce IM I have not been as diligent with my hydration, and towards the end of my run can not seem to get enough water into me! So, I am now back on the counting my water to make sure that I can eliminate that possibility as to why I am cramping. Otherwise the run has been great, felt strong and smooth throughout, like I could keep going for a while!
Another great development this week has been teaching yoga! I had an opportunity to teach in a class setting. It was awesome! Although a short practice, being able to be in a studio with other instructors getting feedback is a great positive. The feedback was good and has given me some great direction to move ahead and continue to develop. Come the new year I hope to have my own class one to tow days a week. An opportunity to share with others my passion will be a great opportunity to continue to grow in both my yoga and overall training! Further allowing me to chase where I want to be! You will have to come out and join me for a class once I get started! Promise it will be a blast!
I hope you training and of season rest is a good time! Continue to visualize your gaols and remember not to let a small set back deter you from the big vision! If you believe in it you will conquer!
Thank you all for any comments that you share!

It's HUmp day!

2010-10-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

So what? Hump day comes every week! Yep, what are you gonna do on hump day this week? Like every other week I am going to throw myself as high as I can, out into the world and land somewhere new and strange and exciting. The great thing with throwing yourself out there is the possibilities that exist in that strange place that you land. Staying with the tried and true is comfortable, but it leaves no new opportunties for you to explore! I hope your hump day sees you finding something crazy and scary and new!
On the training front I have had a fun couple of days! Sunday was my long run, after a week of new trainng methods and intensity! My week before that run as at about 50k total with some of them being at a new level of intensity. I started my planned 34k run feeling great, running at my planned pace and with a reasonable HR. The 8k to 15k of the run was a long drawn uphill without much of a break. I started to feel a little tired as I was running up with my HR catching up with me a bit. I was still feeling OK and pushed along with the miles enjoying the sun and the weather. At the 15k I turned inot a stiff head wind and started having to push a little. I was going through water qiuckly not able to satisfy my thirtst, I guess the 3 pints and 1AM sleep on Saturday may have been catching up to me. I kept pushing along with the run getting harder each KM that rolled along. After a couple more small hills I started to cramp up. I stopped for a stretch to see if I could get it going again, seemed to work but for a short time.
I have done a lot of 'tough' workout over time. Pushing myself through mountain bike hill climbs, running track workouts til I felt I was going to be sick, lifting like my muscle was going to explode! I have never given in to a workout before this weekend. At 26k I pulled the plug! It took a lot ot do it, but it was the logical thing to do. Was it a failure, statiscally YES! I quit! Do I feel like it was a failure? NO!
I went from doing 30-40k run weeks to a 75k run week immediately! I have a lot of miles on my feet and I dont have anything to prove by pushing through. I was starting to cramp and could not get myseld mentally out of the zone that I was in, so it was the logical thing to do. From it I have taken a couple of good lessons!
Even though it is a non IM or event training run, dont drink 3 piints the night before, my body does not work like others, I need to be hydrated and fed to run well. Mentally, I have learned to review perspective on my run and not stress ,myself out about it! After all, I did ramp up quick and am in far better condition that I ever have been, why mess with that. Continue to build and it will come, it will not come in one afternoon!
Since Sunday I have been out a couple more times and felt amazing! My runs are getting faster and easier every time I am out. I am enjoying the build and progress and will continue to push ideally without injuring myself before Hamilton Marathon. After that race I will push along through some fun winter training and see what the possibilities are!
I hope your training is going well! And I hope that for hunmp day you are going to throw yourself way out there and see where it brings you! The possibilities seem to be endless when you end up wherever that place is!

Run, run, run!!! In min/k pace not miles!

2010-10-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who is saying that I am running fast! It feels great to be considered a fast runner, although you all have to know that my pace is in min/k not miles! If I was running that kinds pace in miles I would not be going to work each day I would be a pro!!
This single event training is for the birds! I enjoy doing all 3 disciplines for better than a single focus on running! But, in a short time I am starting to see changes and as I suggested earlier these will translate well into my IMCA training when I switch back to full IM training. For the rest of the fall and into the early part of the winter my training is going to remain here. The run will make a big difference in an overall IM time and this is the only way I am going to make some big improvements!
Over the course of the week I did manage to collect a cold to help me out with my training as well. I woke up on Thursday AM and my throat was the worst I can ever remember it being! I stayed in bed in a little longer in order to try and help it move along. Over the rest of the week it kinda stayed calm until last night when it came on a true cold. Nothing like nose dripping down your face as you run down the street. What it did not do was stop me from doing my workouts! I did allow the little man to tempt me though, thank you for the friend who told me to get my lazy ass running!
Wednesday this week my running/yoga group reconvened for the fall to keep running together. We are going to keep momentum going into the winter before we turn it up for spring event training. It is great to be able to keep running with them. We went out and did a fun 5k at an easy pace to get the training started again! They are all so keen, I love the fact that 5 people are now runners! I look forward to bringing many more people along for the run ride and slowly building my triathlete group as well. It is a blast to see people accomplish their goals from a start point of believing it can not be done!
Thursday was my first 'speed' training day! I had a 35m run to be done at a <4:50 pace. Most days my mind stops me from going continuous at that pace. I can get it going for 2-3k and then I let myself believe that I can not continue. So, getting ready for the run was a mind test more than a physical test. I let my cold play into it as well. Hmmmm! I have a cold maybe I should not do the hard workout! No, want going to happen, I knew I should be going out and a little nudge I was out the door! It was an awesome run! It was by no means easy! I was training at what is usually a race pace for me, each step watching my GARMIN and seeing myself keep it up. WOW! I finished 35m at a 4:47min/k pace feeling good. I was very happy with the effort and the accomplishment, and having done it with a cold was a bonus!
Friday was rest day! Wahoo! And what a great way to rest, I was at the ski show! THe season is coming quick and I the show is a great way to get pumped up. I want to do a couple of trips this winter. The first one being a boys trip that we do at the beginning of each season. We go to Mt Tremblant and ski and drink! It is a blast and a great way to get started. The second trip is the big one! Ideally be off to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a week for scary steep and deep skiing! It is the birth place of extreme skiing and a place that I have wanted to go for a long time! What could be better than skiing each day down hills that scare the crap out of you! A week long adrenaline trip. If anyone out there has an alternate better place to go, please speak! Or if you have been to Jackson Hole, SPILL! Tell me about your adventure and what I should be looking for! Promise to have some awesome photos and videos from that trip! I am going to make a goal to scare the shit out of myself at least once every day!
Today was another great run! Did a 15k at a 5:06min/k pace! Again, the run felt amazing, my nose running down my face as fast as I was running and I was up to the challenge of staying in front. I managed to keep steady the entire run and feeling like a runner the whole time. At no time did I feel like I had to stop because I was tired or could not keep it going.
I dont know if it is a short time of coming back to run only after IM, or all the fitness gained over the summer. But, something is getting better. I have been a 'lazy' runner in the past, not pushing myself like a race when out there. Being out there to finish. Now, I have shifted to working at it! Making each run count and having a race gaol mentality to drive me to go hard. I am liking the mental shift and I am very lucky to have early result to suggest that it can work! So, I am going to keep running, run til I feel I am going to be sick once in a while, run so it hurts and makes me stronger. And, run with my legs and body and not my head!
Thank you for the encouragement!
I hope your weekend is absolutely amazing!

Now this is more like it!

2010-10-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of 'slacking off' it is back to the program. I feel that I am now working in a direction rather than just poking around doing some kind of training! I guess I need to be working towards a goal to be truly entertained with my training. Mission accomplished, and it is great!
This week has been good! Rest day Monday; Tuesday was a great 10k run, the weather was awesome. I did it a lunch from work which is something I have not done in a while. It is a great way to break the day up, filled me with new energy to go into the afternoon. The run was at a 5:10-5:15 pace and felt great along most of the way. There were a couple of good hills to play on and I knocked them off with no problem and no explosion in my heart rate. Even though it was a good run, I cant say I really found my groove.
Today was a fun day on the run front. The group that I coached to the half marathon had a great run for race day and wanted to keep the club going through the rest of the off season. Tonight we headed out for a great short run as a group. It was a 5k easy run on a perfect evening. The temperature with just a little rain coming down. Tonight I did find my groove, felt like I could keep running for days! I love those days, wish I could bottle them to trade off for the bad ones. I have started keeping run notes and studying how I feel and what is going through my head when I have to wonder runs. If I learn where my head is at it will make it easier to go back to that place when a run is not going so great!
Tomorrow is a tough run day! A 35m run at a 450 pace, I am getting myself in the groove headspace now, because it is a new effort for me! The process of becoming a runner is a tough one but, it is a good thing that I want to be there, I cant imagine anyone wanting to go through the process for fun! For me as crazy as it sounds and as much as I might sound like I am complaining a bit, I truly enjoy the pain after the workout. It is a great process in finding new limits and seeing what one is capable of if they don't let the mind tell them differently. Try it, next time you want to slow down get out of your head space and think about why you want to slow down? Is it truly because you can not continue, or is it a story you are creating in your head because it is getting tough and is outside of your comfort zone?? I bet it is the story, please share you experiences in how you manage to push yourself when you get uncomfortable.
On another training note, I just finished reading an awesome book! If you have not read BORN TO RUN, you need to go out and buy it! It is a wonderful book about running, will inspire you and make you look differently at your training and practice. It was a great read and I think that any runner needs to put it in their library!
Time to get some rest. feeling a cold coming on and hoping I can stay one step ahead of it!! Let me know any secret medicines you know, rest seems to be almost keeping it at bay! Cheers!

Here we go! Training and mental ramblings....

2010-10-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

So, my BQ goal is now in motion! Holy smokes, I think I like the years of running like I was on a stroll better! The runs this week have been tough and are only going to get tougher. I suppose it is good that somewhere within my fabric I am a masochist, otherwise the effort would get packed in real quick!
As I start this speed training and effort to become a 'fast' runner, I can't help but questions what the result will be? I think about my abilities as an athlete and seem to talk myself into the fact that maybe I am a slow and steady kind of guy. Ask myself if I have what it takes to go from 3:57 to 3:20? The short runs that I am doing now seem to be tough and I have another 35km to go at that pace, the questions roll around my head more and more.
Well, that is enough of that crap!!!(pardon the expression) I have spent far too much time in my life challenging societies virtual impossibilities to be defeated by this small goal! The fact that it is tough and the little man is dancing like a teenager on prom night only ads more resolve to my desire to get this done. It means a few months of juggling a few balls, probalbly a few weeks of living on the borderline to over training and another change in what I once accepted as 'the way it is' taking place. I do like training that hurts, and this is the time to put my money where my mouth is.
A friend has run a 3:25 Boston and she followed a program that she swears by. She used it to qualify for New York as well. So, I have the first few weeks of training working on a similar methodology to get me there. based on the results she has pulled off I believe that with the work I should be able to get there as well.
One of the great things with wanting to BQ is all the run training it will take. It means that at the end regardless of the result I will have changed a bit as a runner. When I put that into my overall training and apply it towards an IM it should help me get to the finish a little faster. However, it makes training a little longer leading towards IMCA. This year I did a 24 week program that was all IM focused, next season it will be a hybrid leading up to May 15th race and then switch to IM gear. Not sure what it looks like today, but over the next few I will draw something that makes sense. I will be able to spend a little less intensity over the summer with running having built a strong base so My focus can shift to a stronger swim.
Speaking of swim, I am lucky to be training an athlete who is a spectacular swimmer. So, I am gaining a lot of new tricks and drills to get me going faster this season. I spent this year learning how to swim and not a lot of time on swimming fast. So now that I can swim a little, time to turn on the jets. This week I am back in the pool after my tattoo break. I have missed it which is entertaining seeing as a year ago I hated the pool. I would argue with myself before every practice about why I should not go. Not now, I want to ge in there and get it done!
So after a few short fast runs this week, today was the first from the program! I did a 20k fun run! The area that I was running was tons of hills! Holy crap, it was non stop hills. The circuit that I ran seemed to be non stop hills. But overall it was a great day out. I did the first 14k at a 5:25 pace then the last 6k I ramped it up to a 4:50-5:00 to finish. It was tough towards the end but happy to have done it. At this point I question if I have fully recovered from IM. The hills today were a reason for an elevated HR, but it was higher than I normally would be. Maybe the higher intensity is what is pushing it, hopefully not getting sick. Regardless it is in the books now and it was a blast. Day one of the new running John! Look out, I am on a mission!
I hope your weekend is full of fun and great times! Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!(in Canada)

Ughh! What a week!

2010-10-07T18:51:00.000-07:00

This work thing is proving to be busy in a big hurry! I have spent the entire week working on a huge proposal for an old customer. It will come down to the next couple of days. I really enjoy the challenge and it is a great way to learn what I am doing. In the course of this week I have learned more about the product and the specifications than I could in 2 weeks of manuals. The deal would be a great way to start at my new job. I am enjoying the learning curve and being able to push myself towards a new goal direction.
That being said the week has served to help me realize that I am not where I am going to end up in my career. I do enjoy the challenge, however the end result does not satisfy my ambitions! I need to see a growth in what I deliver, a product and an attitude change in what I am working towards! Confusing....yep! Let me just say that I am inspired to reach my ultimate goal sooner than later, so Monday to Friday right now serves to pay the mortgage and to continually remind me that I should be doing something else!
On a training note, I have started the training towards building my speed so that I can get to BQ qualify! Training for IM was long hours and slow and steady! This is going to hurt! I have been good at staying out of my head with long and steady training, I have to change mental gears for this stage of training. I am confident over time I will get there, I guess I am not quite in the head game of the work yet. I have done 3 runs this week that have all been at 4:40 min/k to get me started. This is a minute faster per km that I could run last year, so it is still pushing it. I do love the feeling when I am done, but the journey is tough! I am looking forward to seeing what this produces over the coming months. In January I will start the marathon training for a May race which will ultimately show how this all works!
Regardless of the result, it will lend itself very well to a stronger IM as well as short distance tri's next year.
As we are moving into winter, I will add a new twist to my blog! It seems that there are some skiers out there. So, as the snow starts to fly I will add some skit tips as part of my blog. It serves a couple of purposes; ideally some of you can use the tips and have a better ski experience, and I will develop my teaching skills as I work towards my ultimate goal! So far I have some questions on skiing bumps or moguls, keep them coming and I will talk about them! Cant wait to get my skis going!
Tonights blog was a tough one to write and I will not dare proof read it! The scattered nature of the post is about where I am tonight so it is all good!
I hope you are all having an amazing week! Cheers to all!

Question: What or who inspires you to do what you do? Why?? please share your thoughts and insight with me!

What a great weekend!

2010-10-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

The weather this weekend has been fantastic!! WHAT?? Most people are asking, is this guy nuts!! It has been cold and wet and just not super conducive to doing much outside. Well, all those signs point to fall, which in turn points to winter. And that rocks!
As people who have been on my blog for a while know, I LOVE skiing! It has been, is, and will continue to be my number one sport to participate in. Ultimately, all activities that I do, wether it is directly intended to be or not started to get into better shape for ski season! So, all you non winter people, to bad about your luck. It is only a month or two from that time when most Canadians forget that winter comes every year and it is going to snow! When you wake up in the morning and it is freezing cold and the tires on your car feel square as you drive away. When, for 3-4 months, almost each day you will bitch about the weather. IT ROCKS!~ Buy some skis, send me an email for a lesson and get over it, the winter is a beautiful time and isn't going away in our lifetime.

This winter I am going to also feed this crazy IRONMAN drug that I seem to be particularly fond of. I am going to take my love for snow and use it further to my advantage. I downhill ski every weekend from the time the snow is here until spring arrives, and then I will often chase the snow gods. While I am waiting for the weekends I swim and run and do bike trainer stuff to feed the addiction. This winter I have challenged a couple of friends to some alternate snow activities after skiing. The first is a 10k circuit at the ski hill that involved running uphill and around the resort through trails. I figure that is a good 'run' circuit to get the blood moving and build some new muscle and better endurance. I will use that as a short run/hill training alternative some weeks to keep the training exciting.

The second self imposed challenge is cross country skiing. I have read and heard that it is one of the best all round forms of cross training for triathletes. It gives a full body workout without the impact and constant pounding of running. Luckily my chalet is 12k from the mountain with a great ski trail along the entire way. So, for fun I will put on my woolies and ski home at the end of the day! It will be a great adventure!! Throw on a head lamp and push through the snow to get home rather than driving or running. The run is not a bad journey, however most days it is dark and I have to run along the highway. Running along the highway at 6pm in ski country is not advisable, as much as the drinking and driving laws are tough, quite a few pops are shared amongst friends before the drive home. It is also right along the bay and therefore the wind is usually screaming in my face. The ski home is on a sheltered forest trail perfect to be out of the wind. One thing that I kind of like doing as well is being out in nasty storms!

A beautiful thing about this winter as well! Due to the warm summer it appears that it is going to be a colder and snowier winter than normal! So, get your boots ready, put your mitts by the door and get used to it! Like the past 100000 years, its coming again!
FYI: if you want to get out for a ski at any time, let me know! regardless of your skill level i am up and qualified to teach! Love doing it and any excuse to get out is a good one!
See, how bad is winter! With a little imagination and a lift ticket it can be a pretty cool thing to do!

1-2-3- GO!

2010-10-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

OK! Rest time is over! Enough of the sitting around, time to be an athlete and get a hurt on again! Even though I am out of the pool for another week to let tattoo heal and 'resting' my ITB, its time to get moving!
I have been out for a few short runs, 5k at decent pace to start to ease back into things. I am going to try some longer stuff this week and then it is time for a fast ramp up for a marathon in early November. I am going to do it to see where I am at, NO, I am not racing it. Some people don't get what I mean when I am going to run it without racing.
As I have been building my run for IM I have made some big strides in speed. I ran a full(Boston, on someone else's bib) and had a good run without any training. This time I have been training but not specifically for the event so I want to determine where my fitness has brought me without crippling myself. Essentially I am going to treat it as a hard long run to see where I finish it, then I know what I need to do over the following months. I am hoping to finish it decently so that I can do a rounded program over the fall rather than have to d speed work the entire season. I do know whatever I am up to, my plan is to make it hurt!
I did all my IM training with very little hurt and gained some strength and made some changes. Now, I have to shirt gears a little and try to build more. My current plan barring having to spend all my time doing speed will be to combine run, swim and weights until Christmas. I want to build much more strength overall than where I currently am. I would ideally like to see if I can gain a few pounds of muscle mass heading into the winter. As spring comes around and I go into big training for an attempt at BQ I will need as much as I can have to start as it will be a punishing time of training. I am looking forward to seeing what this part of this adventure provides.
I hope that your weekend is amazing and that you are in the throws of a great off season cold beer! I think I might go enjoy myself!
Thank you for all your replies and comments over the year, I am putting each and every one of them in my Blurb book that I am preparing as a reminder of my IM Wisconsin adventure!

What is next....

2010-09-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying the rest time, it is giving me an opportunity to reflect and catch up with myself a little. A couple of days ago at dinner, I felt exhausted and could not figure out why?? After a little thought about the last few months I figured it out!
Since April I have been quite busy and I did not actually reflect to see how much I was doing during that time. Looking back I was training 6 days a week as well as coaching within that time, working a day job for part of it. I guess I never stopped a whole bunch to enjoy what was going on. This week has been a great time to do stop and smell the roses, it is quite fun!
As I spent time reflecting on my summer and the amazing fun that I had training and getting ready I realized a little more about the journey. Although a big part of the training was planned, the true spirit and fun in the adventure was not. It was a matter of 'what is next...'
As I spent my time sim, bike and running it took my mind out of the regular day to day that we can all get caught in. As I spent a lot of time in that space it created a new perspective for me. One that was more free of the worrying about the future and more about focusing on the now and what I could change in the moment. In setting my mind that way, the 'what is next....' allowed a lot of new things to happen. Rather than being caught up in the what am I going to do tomorrow, I was able to be where I was in the moment. Truly being there and not in tomorrow or next week. That allowed me to see and hear new opportunities that I have been missing all along.
Along the way I met new friends, did new things and had a lot of fun. So next time you are sitting at home wondering how to solve the worlds problems that will occur next week, STOP.
Walk outside, enjoy the colors, smell the roses and be thankful for how amazing right now is! If we all do that a little more, we may find that we are all bumping into new opportunities that we did not know existed yesterday because we were already caught in tomorrow!
If what I am saying doesn't make sense, you need to try it, It works!
Have an amazing night!

Where does the time go!?

2010-09-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

It seems since having finished training 2 times a day and getting ready for IM someone has turned to clock onto high speed! I suppose going back to work has cut into some free time, but, I seem to be looking around me for a few extra minutes the past few days.
The weekend was a great time! I spent Saturday at the race expo for the Toronto Marathon. I truly enjoy being in any type of race environment and this expo was no exception. It was one of the best they have had in a while, a lot of good exhibitors and not the typical travel show feel to it. A fun part of the day was observing the number of people who were out wearing IM finisher gear. I took every opportunity to stop them to talk about their experience. It is awesome hearing other perspectives, different race stories and what is up next. In the various discussions I also found people to join up with me and our group to train with us for IMCA. It is great to add new people to the training fold and to be inspired by.
Every minute of the day was a sheer pleasure! Talking to nervous first timers, the look of the ultra competitive people. The focus of those who were out to set PB's of to get Boston qualify. Like any race there is a different story in every pair of shoes that walks in the get a bib, it is a pleasure and a privilege to be amongst that energy!
Race day was a new perspective and wonderful day for me. I was not registered to run the race, but I was there with my shoes and ready to go. Since the start of summer I have been leading a clinic at the yoga studio that was for this race. I was out to run with the athletes that have been part of the clinic. It is a thrill to be with people who set a goal and made the commitment to do the race. Being part of the experience with them was as exciting as being part of the race myself. Two of the girls run a very similar pace so I decided to do the run with them as a pacer. It was an exciting day for them being the first time on the start line. It is a big race so a great opportunity for them to experience the full excitement of the event. It was a blast for me as well! As the gun went off we started to start line shuFfle towards the timing mat.
Like every race a big rush then the walk begins. We were a little over 5 minutes from gun time to crossing the start of the race. We started our run and danced around the slower people as we settled in for the race. As we ran along the girls were amazed at the sea of people, all the heads bopping up and down and the constant patter of feet over the ground. We ran along at a great pace for the start of the day, a pace which represented the training they had done and a desire to leave the efforts on the road and not with them across the finish. As we ran along it was great for me as I was relaxed and able to see all kinds of people that I knew. I number of Lulu runners were out running and reaching a goal, friends were volunteering at water stations, people I know from races out pushing limits. Having a chance to spectate while running is a neat way to run a race. As we ran along I reminded the girls it was their day and to pace themselves accordingly. I pushed the pace for them and asked them to be the judge, if we needed to slow they should let me know. They kept pushing along not wanting to relent. At the 15k mark I let them know I would begin to pick it up gradually to finish a negative split day. They were keen to do it so we started to push forward. At the 19k we pushed harder until we could see the finish, then it was go time. Up the final hill I ran ahead holding a hand back so they would reach for me. I pushed knowing they would want to finish with a strong effort. Together the r of us crossed the line with great smiles on our face and knowing that we left it all out on the course! An awesome first 1/2 marathon for the girls and an amazing day for me being able to share the summer of effort they put into it! Another runner from the group was a little behind us so I waited along for her to come through. After a short while she came dancing across the finish with a smile and a sense of victory! A great day for each person who put themselves out for a goal. And for me a true sense of inspiration and motivation having helped them reach this day. I look forward to running with them towards the next goal which they are all keen to set!
After a great day we all headed back to my car(we car pooled to the race) for the ride home. As we walked towards the car, my knee started to bug me. After a few more steps, it was a wicked ouch!!! Hmmm?? A familiar feeling from the past, my ITB decided it was time to pay a visit.
I cant say that it bothered me at all, actually the 'injury' kind of has a refreshing entertaining side to it. After the months of training injury free, a little temporary discomfort should be expected. I am so lucky that it happened after my race and not during my training. See, there is a pot of gold under every rainbow. On Monday I was able to get an appointment with the ART man who rip me apart. He leaned into it, tore away at it, pushed and pulled always making me feel like I was going to vomit. And then before you know it, SAHZAM!!! The knee tweak seems to be gone. I asked him what I should or should not do? He gave me some exercises and told me not to run for 3-4 days. Hmmm?? Maybe it is someones way of saying, 'DUDE, let yourself take a break and recover!' So the rest of this week I am doing nothing! Yep, zero, zilch nothing! OUch, I think that hurts more than the ITB! It will do wonders in the long run, allowing months to sink in a little before getting the intensity back up for a couple of months. This may be a great way to get my sorry butt into the gym to do weights as I should not be running. WHo knows, all that is certain is that I wont last long 'resting'.
I hope all of you are amazing and reflecting on a wonderful season! Other than a little rest, the best thing about this time is putting together next seasons plan! Wahoo!

Inspire to Inspire!

2010-09-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Patrick wrote a great post on inspiration today, yesterday I wrote a on my Facebook page, "Be inspired to be your best and you will inspire those around you! it is awesome!' Being inspired is part of the food of life!
I had one of the most wonderful experiences in my mind yesterday when I was visiting a store. Yep, I am going to tell you about it!

When I was at the store there was some issues with the billing being processed. While I was waiting 2-3 people reviewed it trying to solve the problem. After a while one of the staff came up to confirm that I was John, she then apologized and said that the invoice would be no charge. I was extremely grateful for the level of service that they provided and the nature in handling the problem. Then the girl asked, 'are you John Fortin the Lululemon ambassador?"
"Yes" I answered.
Her reply, " You are amazing, I have been following your blog and I am inspired by what you do and what the Lululemon ambassador community does. You just did an IRONMAN didn't you! that is amazing"
I sat listening to her very dumbfounded, never having been greeted in such a complimentary and grateful manner by someone.
She continued on to say how great she thinks the Lululemon community is and how they provide a great opportunity for people to get involved at a non competitive level in sports they may not otherwise try. She was totally complimentary of every person she has encountered in the stores and community for the inspiration and motivation that they provide.
It was the most incredible thing to be called out for a service that I do out of love for a sport. Hearing someone say that to me makes me even more driven to do my best in the sport and for myself every day. It is also an inspiration to continue to do what I do in hopes that I might inspire others to get out and do something new as well. I have never done any of the Lulu activities or any other activity in hopes of being recognized for it, it is because I love the sport and love to share my passion. Thank you to the girl in the store for inspiring me to push myself to new levels and to bring friends and family along with me for the ride. I am loving being able to get others involved and was paid the greatest compliment ever in this surprise thank you!
From a training front I have been coasting for the last couple of days. I have done some 5k runs at a relaxed pace, working to allow myself to recover fully. I am quite happy at relaxing a bit right now, a couple of days ago I was struggling but, NO! I have a lot of work ahead and I want to go into it rested, strong and excited. Training for the sake of training is not going to get me anywhere productive. Tomorrow I am running a 1/2 marathon with people I have trainined, however it is a 100% support run for them. I will be out carrying warmup clothes, pushing them forward and watching them be amazing reaching a goal they have set. I am quite excited about getting out to be with them. It is a true inspiration for me to see others smile when they cross a finish line and know that they have accomplished the, 'I cant do that moment'

On a fun note I went out last night and got my badge of IRONMAN honor! My tattoo! My pal Hugh who I trained with for the entire year came out with me as well. He bought me mine as a birthday gift and set the appointment to go and get it done. I was quite happy to be going. It means I cant swim for a couple of weeks but it is a good reason to rest! I spent a little time figuring out what I was going to do. I am registered for IMCA next year and want to recognize that after it is done. SO the tattoo had to allow for it. I also wanted to do the swim, bike run thingy as part of it. I looked around the internet and came up with a great one. I have another tattoo done a couple of years ago. In my memory it was an easy one, no hurt while I was getting it done. Not this one! It is on hte back of my leg and I guess the muscle must have more nerves, it hurt like hell at times while he was doing it. But, now not only am I an IRONMAN, I am one who carries my medal with me everyday! Wahoo!

An awesome week done, a exciting weekend of activities ahead and a lifetime of accomplishment to follow! WOW, this is a cool thing! Get on the ride, try something you think is crazy and the worst that can happen is it doesn't work. You learn something new and you move forward to the next! Cheers!

The life in the after race......

2010-09-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

So a week gone by and still on a great post race high! I am not sure if it as much post race as much as it is the transformation that I experienced over the year. Not only the physical part, I think that is one that anyone can put themselves through if they want to. It is the mental transformation that I think I am revelling in since the adrenaline high has come down. I am a more relaxed and focused person than I ever have been.

Committing to do IRONMAN for me was a huge leap. I was a non swimmer and a someone who could run a marathon with a boat load of anguish. I could bike a decenlty when it all started, but not 112 miles worth at full with a marathon on the back. I suppose I am not a lot different than any of you, but this is my story so you have to listen to me if you decide to keep reading! LOL!!

Over the course of the year, physical changes were apparent each time I went out for a new practice. I cold feel myself getting stronger and moving forward in overall abilities. Each time I stepped on the scale I could see a live note as the numbers went backwards. At the top of the scale numbers I was a svelt 223lbs, at the low end I was at 174lbs. That was a fun thing to be a part of.

The mental part was a little more sublte in the change. When I started the year, I was with the program but somewhat reluctant in the back of my mind. The thought of what the hell are you doing would enter quite often, I would put on a brave face and dismiss it. Ignorance is bliss, as I paddled through the pool wondering about this crazy swim thing i was trying to learn. I pushed through practices and tried to not pay attention to the lack of confidence that was looking at me each tome I finished a lenght or a run.

As I started my training I was introduced to Lululemon around the same time. I started to run with new and experienced runners at the store and found myself working with them to establish goals and motivate and train them towards the start. WOW! That was kind of cool, I was a chicken myself but was helping others to achieve what they thought was not possible. A little time with the staff at Lulu and I found myself in a world of motovation and respect for goals and achievement. I found myself in a bit of a different mental space as I was motivated and proud to be seen as a leader anongst the group, as someone who was getting others to achieve their impossible.

As I was ruinning with the group I also found myself seeming to be able to trach through the pool a little stronger. I was now in there able to squeeze out 1000m and not feel like I was going to be sick. My confidence started to get stronger which pushed me to work harder at what was happening.

As I gained my confidence I also wanted to share what i was finding and feeling with others. I enjoyed sharing my stories and just saying how it was and hearing how it sometimes impacted others.

Part way through the process I started to practice Yoga as I way of stopping myself from breaking from the training. That turned out to be a great move. I enjoyed the physical aspect of the training as it helped with flexibility and gain some strength as well. Kind of a weird thing happened as I kept practicing, I found myself using the mental part of the practice as I was out on the swim,bike and run. In a zone that would allow me to push forward a little harder than the time before.

As I was doing my training and experiencing gains, somehting was going on in my head that was kind of fun. I was gaining a confidence that I had not had in the past. The getting stronger part seemd to come as a result of not blocking myself from pushing harder. It was a passive training that was producing bigger results than I had anticipated. It was awesome feeling like I could conquer whatever I was going to do, training became fun instead of a thinking it was tough thing that was coming up.

I am totally pumped about both changes that I made over the year. A week of 'sitting around' has allowed me to absorb the great things and now take it with me moving forward. The new year is starting now and I could not be any more confident and excited to get it started.
MOst of us are now done our season and have a ton of lessons learned. A few are packing bags to go to the big one to make us all proud and continue to push us forward. Wherever we are, take what we have learned as you sit for a little off season rest. Setting your goals next season will be a blast! A little faster or a little farther, whichever it is we have grown physically and mentally to be able to get us there! We are now smarter triathletes and IRONMAN than we were last season and that is something to be damn proud of! Congrats on a great season to everyone one of you! And I look forward to sharing the new adventures we choose!
Happy hump day!

Reflections of a week gone by.....

2010-09-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

A week after the awesome words, ' JOhn you are an IRONMAN' I am still on an awesome high! I don't know if I represent the general first time IRONMAN population, but this is an amazing trip! I have spent the week sharing the adventure with friends and telling the story over and over again. Each time I seem to be more enthusiastic and more passionate about the total overwhelming awesomeness of the event! I cant believe that after a week that I am still moving forward with the momentum of a full year leading up to the race. When I described being at IM like being in a place and on a drug, WOW, it is so true, it is an amazing crazy high. I cant imagine only doing one IM, it would drive me bananas thinking about how a crazy wonderful cant be repeated. Like some of you have seen, a great thing about this week was updating my countdown and seeing the new goal starting to count away!
Over the course of this week I have spent some time reflecting over the past year, my race and the training that I did to get to where I finished. Overall I am totally pleased with the result that I achieved, I would not change a thing with what I did this past year. Moving into a new season I have awesome opportunity to make it a better experience, better from the perspective of a result not better from the experience. I could never compare what I experienced this year and would never compare it. Over the next weeks I will share with you what I believe I can do differently and what I think that can accomplish for me. PLease share with me your experiences and training history as part of what I am thinking about doing! you are all part of my chaos, and kicking some serious ass next year will be something I would love to be able to include your input and motivation in. In the exact way that you all pushed me to an excellent result this year!

Today was another off day on the training front. I did however get out and do a great workout. If you practice yoga you will know what a sun salutation A is. I was out today as part of a very worthwhile fund raiser and did 108 sun salutations. It was to raise money for the Africa Yoga Project. This is a tremendous project run by a friend. She has managed to build schools, create productive lives for people who were otherwise on the streets, create jobs for people. It was a workout with a great satisfaction, being able to contribute to a great cause while out there getting stronger.
After a good week off, tomorrow I start applying myself to a new training session. I am not 100% sure what I am aiming towards, however, I know I am going to get stronger in the process. I am starting tomorrow with a good recovery swim and over the next few days moving towards some resistance training that will make me hurt. My goal is to build power and strength before ski season and then graduate to some run training over the winter. Sounds like a good theory and makes sense based on what I want to accomplish over the next 12 months. Here goes!
I hope your weekend has been full of excitement and satisfaction. I hope those who raced kicked some butt!
Cheers and Happy beginning to a new week!

Back on the Earth and getting caught up!

2010-09-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

It has been an amazing week!

As can be imagined a week of enjoying the completion of IRONMAN and getting caught up with life in general. It is a different way of being without having to complete workouts on a schedule and being able to carry on at my leisure rather than a strict schedule. Kind of enjoyed the time, however I am starting to feel lazy not working out as much.

This week I looked back at my summer and how wonderful it has been. I reached a lot of new highs over the course of the months leading up to IRONMAN. It was a bonus not working over the summer as it allowed me the privilege of getting a lot of little things taken care of. Mostly it allowed me to realign priorities and realize what I truly want to be doing. The greatest thing is, in the process I discovered that I can do them. I have several things that I have always thought would be great to accomplish in life. As cool as I thought they were, in my heart and head did not believe that I would truly get them done. NOT NOW! The time allowed me the freedom to realize that anything that I want I can accomplish and that the obstacles along the way are merely a way of me learning more about where I am going to end up. It is a great feeling setting goals and knowing regardless of how lofty they are that the only thing stopping me is me. Instead of making up stories for myself to tell others about why I can't do something, I have learned to stop wasting time and getting it done!
This week was also a good return to reality. I started work on Wednesday of this week. I guess I was just like a school kid this summer, and the time to get back to the structure had to come. I am enjoying the challenge and the opportunity of this new job, it is going to push me into a new mental space as it is a super technical sales process. As well, the potential is there to build the financial platform I need to realize my future goals, to be a leader in my industry brings home some good bacon. And I tend not to want to be at the back of the pack, so this is a great time for me. A chance to do something that is both challenging and rewarding, heck it is like training for an event!

Although it was a 'lazy week' I did get a couple of short workouts in. I ran a couple of days and felt very strong doing it. As much as I wanted to get out more, I figured that a week of decent rest is only going to serve to make me stronger in the long run. I am going to do a couple of fall running races, but they are being done to support friends and clients that I have had the privilege of training to get to these races. So I am not feeling any big pressure to be out training like a mad man. I am putting together my training for the next year as I enjoy this rest. IRONMAN Canada is one of my goal races next summer, I am aslo very keen on getting my Boston qualify time. That is going to require some hard work early in the season. I want to make sure that I go in rested, but also a lot stronger than I started this years training. I am looking forward to the next year and seeing what potential is held inside of me and how far I can push the envelope to check that out. I also want to continue to bring others along on the ride with me. Challenging others to not allow themselves to think they cant! Training with them and for them to pass the finsh line!!
It is going to be an awesome year and I am looking forward to it! After this season and event, it is going to be huge!

John Fortin 'You are an IRONMAN' race report

2010-09-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry, its long, but the story is mine and my thoughts and memories of the culmination of one of the most awesome experiencees ever! Pictures are in no particular order!

John Fortin you are an IRONMAN!
Words that will likely ring through my head for a while! An experience I will never forget, a drug I won't soon stop doing! A race report for this event can not nearly do it the justice it deserves, you can appreciate it if you think back to your first, I am sure of that.
WOW! 5am wandering down the road in dowtown Madison with 2340'ish other tri geeks with their families and friends in tow. Ecery athlete with head hung low in a space of their own, I am sure that was the same space I was in(its that place where we do the drug that I talkd about in an ealier blog). We drop off our special needs bags on the way over for our treats and things for half way through the bike and run.
First order of business was to confirm the transition bags to add any extras and make sure all is well. With tons of athletes in the room you can still here a pin drop, with everyone else standing at the door to the room taking photos of the event. Bag check reconfirmed, ready to go to body marking.
The morning is awesome from a temperarture perpective with stars in the sky above us. As we wander over to body marking the crowd is getting thicker with people. The participants are still quiet and in their zone. As we head to the marking station the volunteers are calling out and directing us to the right area. They are doing as awesome jib at keeping athletes only in the right area so that it moves smoothly. The body mark volunteers are awesome, big and bright smiles and a great cheery attitiude to help break the mental ice from the racers. As I strip down for body marking the true reality of the start line is for real. I feel more than ever that I am bout to truly compete in this ridiculous event. I allow myself to get caught up in the vibe and gather all the energy that is flying around me from others. The air is thick with it, it is so easy to grab it and store it for the start line.
After body mark, off to do bike inspect. As I get to the bike rack, I don't see my bike where I racked it the day earlier. No panic, within a minute I locate it and check it out. With the Zipp wheels I want to make sure that all is good as they can be a pain to pump up, so if a flat is in order I don't want it to be today. All is in order. I load up my water and electrolytes for the day. Now it is time to head towards the start.
As we move in the direction of the water I spend some time geting myslef into my own space and zone. A bit of a meditation for the mind. I tune out the nervousness around me and build a mental and physical energy from the people around me, leaving out the negative energy they are holding onto. Before I even head down to the water I am doing fist pumps becuase of the energy that I have built.   I am so pumped to be in the water.   30 minutes before I get my suit on and begin the journy down. Most of the faces around me have blank stares filled with a million lbs of energy and excitmemnt. As I head towards the water there is still 25 minutes to go, it is a water start so I figure I would rather be in the water moving and building positive energy than on land with all the people who are afraid of the swim filled with negative energy. As I wander in it hits me that I am in, no way back, no where to go but forward for the next 12-17 hours. I go in to my waist in thw water and look around at those around me, most of the people out in the water are looking confident and seemingly forward to the race ahaed. Before moving into a swim position I figure one more pee is probably in order, why get out there and have to swim and do it when I can stand like I am wearing a Depends a do it in my wetsuit. Anyone who tells me they have never had a nervous pee in a wetsuit is either dehydrated or a masochist!
My water strategy is to get out in the front! Regardless of where I am I figure I am going to get hammered, so at thr front gets me in front a few hundred others in the washing machine pummelling! All around me people are gatrhing in, barely a spot for my elbows, as I floar I push around to work at a place of my own. As it it crowding in I figure there is no way that I will get out without a kick on the head, but nothing I can do about it. I focus on keeping calm and not allowing myself to spend any energy on soemthing I can't control. The countdown to start continues as the pro cannon goes off. 10 minutes and counting, the anthem, 3 minutes and counitng, the question, 'who here today is going to become an IRONMAN', massive cheers and the gun erupts!
Holy shit! I am really doing this! As soon as it goes off, I am moving forward without a bloody idea where I am headiing. I figure soemone amongst all the others knows the direction so I paddle like a mad man to find me space. Within the first 200 yards a kick to the face, people grabbing at my suit cord, my feet, holding my shoulder. Another 50 yards an elbow to the face and my googles fall off, a quick recovery and back at it.   I remain calm as I kick and swim and tussle in the chaos. I push and hustle my way for the forst 500 yeards trying to find my own spacen it aint happening so I decide to settle in for a good fight to the swim end. I work to find a groove and to preserve energy while moving forward.   I find myself in the chaos single side breathing to maintain a good breath and not start hffing for air, I try a couple of bilateral breaths in the chaos but it is not working during the mess so I keep moving with status quo. I am totally relaxed in my swim even though the pirahna pit is still as fun as ever.
At one point in thw swim the little man jumps onto my shoulder to have a chat. I ask him what the hell he wants? He says 'nothing, but did you remember that you are running a marathon today, after 112 mile bike ride?' For a minute I entertain him and think about it, then, NO CHAnCE is that little f€*¤ getting in my head, so I turn to do another stroke and let soemone else pull him off my shoulder and send him flying, I figure the element of surprise should keep him away!
I keep swiming past the half way mark for the second lap when I fiannly find a little open space, enough to settle in with bilateral and an even more relaxing stroke and rhythm. From time to time someone decided to draft which I don't have a problem with. Until you grab my feet more than 3 times. At that point y will get the extra little kick telling you to find your own space. I did spend some time in drafts, but found it took more energy that it gave back, so went back to focus on getting the swim done and racing my race.   I turn the last buoy and start the swim towards shore, my breath still very relaxed and no unnecessary energy spent. As I come to the shore I see my time on the board, I am excstatic, 1:10, holy smokes I think to myself, all the training paid off! In a washing machine I was still able to knock off an amazing swim. I come out of the water pumping my fist high with energy and excitement, I have started this in a great way! I drop to the ground where the awesome volunteers strip me and send me on my way!
The crowd is insane, they are screaming and feeding so much energy! I love energizing crowds so I run up the helix shouting that I want to hear them and getting them to be loudder. It feeds more energy into me with each person that joins is.
Transition one is a great epxerience! The volunteers are amazing, in a flash they have all your stuff laid out and ready for you. They ask you want you want to do, help you get your shirt over your head, stuff your pockets with whatever you need. It is crazy how efficient they are and how the focus is on keeping you focused on your race.   I get my bike gear on and I am on my way. Out the door and the sunscreen gang is waiting to grease you down, then along the bike racks. As you are running to your bike shouting your number it is being passed down the line, by the time I get to my bike he is ready to hand it to me. Another 200 yards and I am in the saddle and on the road. Down the helix and along a path by the lake settling in for the ride ahead. I start off keeping my senses about me, no point in blowing up as the course is considered amongst the 2 hardest of all races. I get my legs turning and get some water into me. There is a no pass zone early on to help get settled in. before long we are on open road and it is time to do what I am going to do. My bike strategy is to ride HR rather than speed. I know I can ride fast but know full well that it is a long day ahead. As I look down my HR is still a little high, obviously nerves have not come down from the swim. The bike is still very crowded and there are 2 draft officials keeping an eye. It isn't long before a guy ahead of me is carded a penalty, people immediately start to back off and allow order to form. After about 20 miles my HR finally starts to drop to an acceptable zone. The course is extrmely hilly with less than 5% flat over the ride, so paying attention is in order. There are 2 corners that are 90degree turns immediatrly into steep climbs.   The camp this summer helps me out and I nail them. On each corner rolling past 1/2 dozen riders and getting to the top relaxed. At the top of each hill I am able to get up to a good cadence and up to speed quite quickly, feeling good and ready to go for more! As I ride along I focus on keeping my wits about me knowing the day is young.
As I approach the first of the hills I am doing it knowing that I will have some mental support along the way. D'rog was volunteering for the race and was at the top of Mt. Horeb. A dragging kind of hill, one that seems like it is not big bu when you are on it, it never seems to stop. As I am riding up I take inventory on what I will need and plan to call Derek out at the top. As I roll up to the station I have a total mental fart and forget to call him, good thing he is sharp, he sees me coming along and shouts out and gives me high fives, it is an awesome recharge! Thank you Derek for being an awesome cheerleader out there it was a great boost on a good ride!

After Horeb comes the fun hills on the course. There are 4 hills that are of 'big' to pay attention to. As i ride along to get to the first hill I think about settling in to have a smooth ride. As I approach the first hill I start to gear down and ride smooth. Up the first hill I have an awesome ride and move past several riders on the way up. The fans are great cheering and pulling you up making you feel like a champ. At the top of the hill the batteries are fully charged and I roll off with no problem. The next 2 hills are the same experience. I did focus on hills over the summer and the results are awesome, I finish each of them comfortable and without my HR blowing up! After the last hill it is back into town for the second loop, again past tons of wonderful spectators charging me up with new energy. The start of the 2nd loop plays a little on the mind. A good ride to start, am I riding too hard? My HR is good, my legs feel OK, I guess all is in order so I start the loop with a confident attitude. Mt. Horeb the second time is another good experience, there are a ton of people there now and it is a wonderful scene. I charge through Horeb and onto the hills to come. The second go at the hills are another strong ride, I charge up them past riders and keep my HR in check for the ride back into town and back to the transition area. When I did my inspection on Friday, I missed the straight line back to town on the ride. Oops! It is a bitch with a ton more hills to get you home. Not knowing is the worst part of the experience, thank goodness I did not blow my brains out earlier because it would have been costly now! As I spot the transition area we also enter into a no pass zone, it is a great relief at this point. It provides a time to settle the legs get a good spin on and mentally prepare for the upcoming run. At this point my glutes are a little sore but the legs overall feel OK, in retrospect I had not started thinking about the run yet so it was all good! The ride finished on the coolest finish you can do, spinning up a parking helix overlooking where it all started 6 hours earlier. It is fun as you are riding up seeing it from so many angles as you spin in the helix circle. Into transition we go!
I spin into the dismount area to be greeted by outstanding volunteers again, I am amazed at how great a job they do! They tell me immediately to drop everything and get into the change area, they will move the bike pick up my shoe that I did not manage to get off my foot or pedal in an organized manner. As I jump into forward motion the realization that my legs are still on my bike sinks in! Holy smokes, I can manage a decent shuffle but not much more. Oh well, I figure out of transition things will loosen up and I will get moving. Into transition I go!

The volunteers have all my things ready for me. I made a choice to change for each segment to be comfortable for the race, after all I am not going to get any speed records so getting it done is first priority. As I get ready to go, I realize that I did not bring my watch strap for my GPS! OH!OH! I had planned on doing the run by HR and not having that key piece was a mental challenge. Oh well! I move on and decide it will be a perceived effort run. Before long I am on my way out the door to start on the journey. I burst out with an enthusiasm and a bounce in my step thinking I am ready to hammer! NOT! I get out past the sunscreen crew and feel my quads screaming at me. HOLY CRAP!! The little man is on my shoulder and he is dancing and screaming, having a full out party!! For a flash I questioned my ability to run the marathon. But to spite the little man, I gave him a slap and decided to go with what I knew, yes I did do the training and I could get it done. It would be a little different than I had somehow imagined it would be. I make a call that I will do a 10 minute run and 1 minute walk day, NO, an 8 minute run, 1 minute walk, NO, I am going to walk now and run sometime in a little while. I look around and it seems that I am not the only one in that mental and physical space. Everyone around me is walking, those who are running are not going anywhere quickly. If there are fast ones they are buries amongst all the turtles like me. As I continue I look at my watch and determine where I am and where I might get. I determine that I have 6 hours to complete a marathon to reach my C goal, the one that would be the ultimate, somewhere under 13 hours. Quickly I feel some excitement, however move back to the reality of the event. I came here to finish per the terms of my A gaol and that was what it was time to focus on. I moved forward shuffling and waddling along in my run/walk routine, enjoying water, ice, power aid(or whatever the heck they are serving) and living the energy from teh crowd. They are fantastic, cheering and sending great words of encouragement and pushing me forward along the route. I follow the exact same routine until I can hear the crowd at teh half way point. The noise sends shivers down my spine and fills me with new energy, it is so awesome to be a 1/2 marathon from being an IRONMAN! I run into the half way station and see my family and friends screaming, I am so excited and happy to be there!
I call out my number and they dump my bag out for me. I have a pair of compression tights which I decide will be a saviour for the second half of the marathon, so I grab them to put them on at the next stop. I then begin my end of the event shuffle. When I reach the aid station, I jump in to the washroom and throw them on. As soon as I come out, I grab a glass of ice and dump into the front of the compression tight, then push the ice down the legs onto my quads. It is a wonderful feeling! Immediate relief, I feel I am able to hobble a littel faster than I previously was. I continue the shuffle past each mile marker feeling like I am not getting anywhere quick. Then at the 20 mile mark the reality hits me. I am so damn close to becoming an IRONMAN, I could crawl and get to the end! I feel the excitement building and push myslef to run a little farther before I walk more. Walk/ shuffle/walk/ shuffle enjoying every minute of what I am experiencing and the awesome words I am going to hear in a while. Mile 22, mile 23, mile 24.....as I am running into mile 25 I have a girl run up behind me and we start talking. We both share how we are hurting and how awesome it is that we are almost there. We make it to the aid station and start walking as we drink, I start out and run a little more while she continues to walk. As I walk a little she comes up behind me and says 'let's go!' I tell her I will go for a bit and likely walk again, she says, 'no your not' you are 1 mile from the end and you are going to finish this running. So we run side by side towards the finish. The crowd noise is getting louder and louder, the energy is amazing. As we turned around the last corner I could now see the crowd ahead, adrenaline rushed and I felt myself actually running for the first time all day. I turned to tell the girl to join me and we were going to finish this thing together, she looked at me and said, GO, GO and finish! My family and friends were on the sideline screaming giving me a huge rush and making me run with an energy of 6 months of training. I could hear MIke Reilly calling out those amazing words, I started pumping my fists with happiness! I ran with my hands high through the finish line hearing him say 'JOHN FORTIN YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! '
Holy crap, 365 days of getting ready, 24 weeks for IRONMAN training program, thousands of dollars of gear, new friends, real and in the blog world!! 12:02:31, in that flash of a moment all of that rushing through my head, my veins and very bit of me! I was 20 feet in the air, the volunteers trying to hold me down, rushing with excitement and pride, happier than I can ever remember! THe volunteer has trouble holding me an I am so high with excitement, he directs me to the finish photo and lets me go on my own! I am so high on the triathlon drug that I talked about it is unbelievable!
The event in every way was a realization of something that I once thought I may never accomplish. Through the process I had the opportunity to learn new limits, conquer new fears, push myself and others to the edge. An experience that you could not recreate chemically with any drug. It has been AWESOME, crazy amazing and I am still flying high from it!
I miss training already, I have been out for a couple of short runs and it has felt great. I am going to the pool tomorrow morning to get my feet wet and play lightly to continue to recover! Seems like a waste to waste the fitness.
John's Ironman Adventure continues, I am starting the journey to IRONMAN Canada. One that is full of new opportunity, a new challenge to conquer. I learned a ton about myself in the training this year and now I will take the lessons forward. I am going to run harder and faster, until it hurts every workout(the ones that ned to) I will take my swim past a swim the miles and put in some swim til it hurts and see if I can get faster. I will do some short races and see who I can chase down until I collapse across the finish! I will share my thoughts rants and motivations with all of you and continue to follow and be inspired!
WHAT AN AWESOME ADVENTURE!!!

I am still here!

2010-09-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone in the tri and running world is awesome! Thank you all for awesome support!
I am working frantically on my race report and hope to have it done tomorrow. As I can only do my first IRONMAN one time I need to capture it properly so that I can have it on paper to look back on in 10 years!
Let me just say that 3 days later I am still surfing on the wave, way to hell up there and loving the energy and feeling of it! I am still totally full of the IM and tri drug and cant wait to get back at it.
Today my legs are feeling a little stiff, moving around has helped out a lot. I kept busy today as I start work tomorrow, I was out and about sharing the adventure with some close friends!
As a start here are my numbers from the day. Let me start by saying that I exceeded my expectations of my self in a wonderful way. I also learnt that I have a lot more in me.
Here is the little stuff before the race report novel coming up soon!

Again, thanks to all of you for awesome support!

Finish Time: 12:02:31

Swim 1:11:04
T1 10:05
Bike 5:46:32
19.76 mph
19.41 mph
18.89 mph
T2 6:03
Run 4:48:49
9:43 min/mile
10:42 min/mile
12:09 min/mile
11:30 min/mile

615 out of 2389 finishers
110 out 399 in age category

Totally proud to be an IRONMAN!

I am going to learn how to run and see what I can pull off next time!

Short and Sweet!

2010-09-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

I am not going to say much tonight as I am going out to eat and have a beer!

Let's leave it at one simple statement;

I AM AN IRONMAN!

Yes, I have earned my tattoo, did a whole bunch more of theb IM drug and had the most awesome experience of my life!

Thank you to all that have followed and supported me throughout this adventure!
More to come in race report tomorrow or Tuesday!
Wahoo!
Finish Tiime 12:02:21

Here goes!

2010-09-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

Another exciting day! WOW, this drug never wears off!
An early morning bike ride, a swim in the lake that was still rough as could be and then the preperation!
I spent 1-2 hours getting my bags ready before heading up to drop the bike off. Making sure that I was not bringing stuff for nothing but amking sure I was prepared for it properly!
The bike and bag drop is awesome! So much bike and tri porn live right in front of your very eyes! Hundreds or thousands of mg of adrenaline screaming through veins and through the air, the excitment is palpable. The emotion is also very amazing. Dropping the bike on the rack and taking a step back to realize what it means. It was a great moment! 364 days and it is go time!
Dropping off the the bags is an even greater feeling of being there! Each transition bag in its proper spot on the floor where it will be handed to me tomorrow. Next time I see any of those spots I will be running through sweating like an athlete.
The rest of teh day was spent unwinding! I went for a great nap, following my instincts. I felt tired and was out for 1.5 hours. I went for a walk out to an empty field. I spent 20-30 minutes out there on my back eyes closed towards the sky. An awesome time to reflect on the past year. The things I have acocompished in the process. It has been amazing, all the new friends, in person and in the blog world. The new healthy way that I have found, the new awesome habits that I have formed. The opportunity to learn a ton about myself and about those around me. Being able to bring a lot of people along this journey with me to the satart line of their own races. It has been an opportunity to realzie dreams that are about IM and dreams that are not!
I want to thank all of you for the inspiration, motivation and direction that you have provided, it has been a huge part of this journey and would not be the same without it!
Time for some sleep! Next time I am here I will have heard the awesome words! You know what they are, if you don't, find yourself a friend who does and you to can find this awesome drug called trialthlon and this crazy trip called IRONMAN!
Cheers!

The excitement builds....

2010-09-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

Another awesome day!
It is very entertaining around here! In the winter I spend most of my weekends at ski hills. At the hills there are all kinds of people showing off where they have been, what gear they have and how good they look at the event. Well, the ski world has nothing on the tri world! WOW! There are more people walking around here with 6 event pieces of clothing at one time pushing a crazy ass new bike with Zipp wheels and aero helmets. If it was my fisrt event ever, I would think that I have arrived at teh world championships. Hmmm! I guess there are a lot of posers, because theer are more than 1100 first time IM competitors here this weekend. It is an awesome scene, tons of people all jacked up on this athlete cocaine IM stuff, walking aorund proud as peacocks! It is stuff they could make movies of!
Today was a lot about getting some small things done and working on staying relaxed. I slept until 8AM and then had a casual breakfast to get started. After some good food, off to the water to get a little swim in. On the way down I decided to stop by the expo to get some toys for a couple of friends who have supported this game. It was nuts with people. Thank goodness I got here early to register. The line up was out the door around the corner down the bend! I dont know how long it was going to take but happy I was not in it. One common thing with it is the shit ass grin on every face in the line up. Everyone looks like they are on cloud nine! Great stuff!
Arriving at the water was a schock. Great scene with a bunch of addicts putting on rubber suits to get in for a swim. The waves were huge, Lake Ontario kind of waves, 2-3 feet and rough. Oh well! No problems, the swim was rough but my state of mind was great for swimming it. I had a great short swim enjoying getting trahsed around, all the people around me seemed to be enjoying it as well. A blast all aroud.
Then a bike course review tour waws in order. Apparenlty a lot of us decided to do that as there were a ton of vehicles around the route. I am totally pleased to have been here in June to be on the course, it was a great opporttunitiy to see the course is challenging but very doable. A great short tour but very well worth the drive.
Than the athlete dinner. Imagine, like I siad before they pump something in the bair around here, it is a bunch of addicts walking around. Imagine a room with 2000+ of them with the people who support them in the habit as well as the others who oare the pushers giving them more of the drug! It is an lectric experience. Getting to be amongst so many people sharing a common dream and vision. People like me who mushed, trainied, sacrificaed, ate and did their all for a year to be here this weekend! It is awesome to share with so many people without saying a word. It is once again proof that all dreams can be realized, we just need to get rid of the stories we make to stop of us from getting there!
Bed time was a relaxing time for teh day. Although I am not going nuts with tension, stopping for the day is great. I am reading Born to Run which is an awesome read at this stage in teh game, getting me into an even better zone and space.
Looking forward to tomorrow, 24 hours and counting, the excitement, the protocal and things to be done.
Yes, it is show time!!!! 364 days of absolute pleasure coming to one gigantic 12-17 hour climax! Look out Wisconsin I am coming! WAHOO!

And the vibe builds!

2010-09-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today has been yet another awesome trip down reality row! This is amazing!
I can see how people get sucked into this world. I swear, walking around town and the expo is like cocaine for athletes. Each time I feel like it Is time to relax I look around for another wicked adrenaline fix, just a little won't be bad for me! Crazy thing is, this drug seems totally acceptable, everyone else is snorting it up and breathing in with me. It is a huge crazy athlete orgy, with everyone walking around with big shit ass grins. I love it, I hope my wife and friends don't try an intervention, I don't think I am ready to admit I have a problem or that I want to quit. Good thing I have a stash to last me until next year!
Today was wicked! Going to get registered was crazy exciting for me. Each station I got was more exciting than the one before. I had a huge smile on my face and a gigle to my voice the entire time. Most of the volunteers probably thought I aws high on something, high fives coralline of them, thank you all to each and every one of them it is such a cool scene, a convention centr full of type A OCD fools like myself getting ready for the awesome circus ride in a couple of days.
Going into the expo was entertaining, people everywhere. They were either showingg some restraint, or had arms full of stuff. I am going to go back on Monday and limp around to get my finishers gear. I know I am being presumptuous, but if I need to I will crawl to the end. Assomeone has said to me, pain is temporary, pride is permanent!
Thank you to each and everyone of you for your awesome inspirational and entertaining comments. I am looking forward to them and they bring a smile to my face. Seriously, if you have not tried this stuff yet, it's good shit and you really should. You will like it, you can do it by yourself or today I did it with people in the water and on my bike. Just do it!
Cheers and I will be back soon!

Holy shit!

2010-09-09T05:30:00.001-07:00

It is 1:50 Madison, WI time and I am rolling into town. I don't tend to swear a lot, but my title is my turn to let it go. This is such an awesome feeling, 361 days of fun, stories and training and I am almost at the event site. Yesterday was surreal, today is a damn cool reality. I kind of feel a little like a kid getting to the fairgrounds and about to get on a great scary ass ride! The line up is 3 days long but I am not moving at all! This looks like the best damn ride on earth. As I write this I actually giddy with excitement! I am going to bottle this feeling and use it on Sunday to finish this adventure in a fitting fashion. A fun filled, awesome, ball busting, crazy, emotional go like there is no more going party! Wahoo! This is a post that I will be writing over the course of the day as I soak this up. I will add photos after the weekend and in a full summary post of some kind. Stay tuned!
Lunch time! We bellied up to the bar for some lunch. Still no beer for me, but good food! I think our choice of places to eat is a good sign of the weekend. Beside us at lunch is a Swedish man talking about his race. Talk about an early inspiration, he is looking to podium at this event. His IM PB at this point is 8:16, WOW! That is insane! I am a bit of a kid when it comes to discussions with guys like this. It is cool to hear the perspective on the course from a guy that is probably going to seriously kick the crap out of the course. He will be a having a cold beer before I get to the stadium during the marathon! I look forward to seeing how he does. Only 1 hour in town and the vibe is already awesome. You can tell the IM geeks form the rest damn quick.
After some lunch, spent some time going to race site where the set up action is frantic. There are tents going up in every direction, barricades being set up, the IRONMAN marketing monster is in full force. It is fun to see the before shot, the scene before the crime is committed :)
Over the afternoon, visited a couple of bike shops to further get in the groove. I find if I am surrounded by racers, bikes and excitement it builds it up great for me.
The evening was spent at a friends parents where we crashed for the first night. It was a benefit to be able too save a few $ and to visit a friend. Had a great dinner along Lake Wisconsin enjoying the quiet and conversation.
The day was excellent, getting the vibe sparked and being here to get going. It was a long one though, so off to bed early to prepare for the one day sooner adventure! This is so cool!
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We are Mobile!

2010-09-08T01:46:00.001-07:00

The journey has begun! On the strike of 4am we were rolling down the street to begin the final steps to this incredible adventure! What a journey it has been and what a journey this will be.
As anyone has likely experienced doing their first race, yesterday was mildly chaotic! I did get an early start out to visit a few experienced IM'ers for a coffee. It is great listening to them talk about the adventures they have been on, very inspirational and motivational at this point.
After a relaxing coffee a full day of excitement started. I walked around with a list in my hand all day long picking up pieces and putting them into the proper piles. Reviewing the possibilities of weather and making sure I was ready for any eventuality. Although I was relatively organized it still turned out being an entire day of running around.
As well as getting ready for the race, I had to prepare for the return to the real world next week. When I am back I have one day to get back on my feet and then it is work time. Wahoo! I am pumped to be getting back at it after the craziest best summer imaginable! This time of year is also the start of ski season. WHAT?! I know snow is still 3 months away. I organize a proffesional training series for the CAnadian Ski Instructors Alliance and I start to line my ducks up now. I spent a couple of hours setting the dates in place and getting a theme set for each date. The series works in parallel with the National training initiatives, I need to make sure that I am setting it up well now as it can't be changes once the ball starts to roll! I must say, I am looking forward to being on my skis. It should be a great season as I am going into it in fantastic physical condition.
After a busy day I was out to do some yoga teacher training! I spent the time in the studio assisting students and helping them get into the poses and deeper into the stretch than they may otherwise. It is a great way to further learn the practice and to become more familiar with anatomy and the physical elements required to get into a pose. I very much enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the class in this manner.
After a full exciting day - was finally able to get into bed at 11pm for my early rise.
Here I am 445 making my way down the road! All I can really say is WAHOO! I am on my way and feeling a great energy and excitement from the experience to date. Stay tuned, this is only going to get better!
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Enough with the pool!!

2010-09-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today was a good training day, fit for a long weekend! Being Labor day and a holiday it was only appropriate that it was an easy workout! The schedule for the day was for some pool time and an easy 2500-3000m swim. At this point I am enjoying the easy and not busting myself to try and go fast. The pool was awesome today, nobody was there, virtually empty. WAhoo!
I ended up with about 2500m of easy stroke and HR1 kind of swim. It was a super relaxing swim and felt quick and like I was sliding through the water. I will say it was a great way to finish up in the pool. The posted photos are where I am at today in the water. A long way from struggling to stay in the water without drowning. All you techie swimmer types, take a look and please provide some feedback as to what I might change based on what you see. I have less than 12 months to make the changes before my next IM, so I need to get started soon. :)
Today was also a great day to be on the spectator side of the world. Lululemon has a cheer station set up for a local half marathon. I joined them in the spirit crowd and went out to cheer the runners as they raced down the streets of Oakville. It is great being on the other side of the spectrum once in a while. I love watching a cheering as much as I like being part of the race so it was a good day overall!
Another great part of the day was being able to practice and teach one of my areas of passion. I started teaching a private client yoga today. They are my first one on one private teaching commitment since I finished training. It was a very entertaining session with them. They are athletes and are very eager to enjoy the benefits of the practice and learn and grow with me. It was a 1 hour session that stretched into 1.5 hours as we were all very relaxed and entertained as we worked our way through the session. Over the next 10 weeks they will gain a great insight into the practice, gain a lot of new strength and flexibility and have a lot of fun! If you are in teh Toronto area and are interested in yog in your home, let me know! I am keen to teach and my rates are really good(too cheap) right now.
I hope that you day off has been a blast and that you made the full use of it! Did you relax? Did you sweat? Did you psuh yourself to a new limit? If not get out there, the day is not over yet! Cheers!

I am a number now, not a name!

2010-09-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Yes! I it is true, I am happy to say that for once I am happy to be a number and not a name! 1350, that is me one week from now as I swim, bike and run through the city of Madison, Wisconsin and the beautiful countryside that surrounds it! I am thinking that is going to be my new lucky number! So if you want to get into my house, or use my bank card you know what the code will be now! LOL
As things get closer one of my only thoughts has been about water temperature at the race. I have done decent swimming this summer, however I am not so keen on doing an IM swim without a wetsuit at this point. A few weeks ago the water was getting quite warm and trending towards 80 degrees. That would mean that the wetsuit option would be a no go! That would suck, but, whatever it is, it is! as the race can deal anything any time. I did look at the water temperature today and it is going down quick, it is in the low 70 as of today. So, my problem seems to be solved, I will be wearing a wetsuit!
One thing that I have been very realistic about is being prepared for anything. This summer when I was doing my yoga training, the cardinal rule was to be prepared for anything. Being that way allowed you to get to an event and not feel like it is some kind of surprise that you are not ready for and subsequently get frustrated about it! Show up prepared for all eventualities and you are then prepared to do your best. Trying to be in control of something you can not control is an exercise in futility!!! The weather!! So amy people are losing sleep about what the weather is going to be in 6 days! get over it! the overpaid weather man does not know, your mom does not know, the baker does not know! Mother Nature does not know until she wakes up in the morning and decides, and she might still change her mind. I can control what I bring to the race to be prepared for the eventuality but I cant control the weather. So, all you people who are losing sleep about what the weather is going to be a week from now, STOP! Get ready for what it could be and you will have a lot more space in your head to deal with more important things at this point! Sorry, that is my pre IM rant and first time race advice! I'm over it now!
Today was a light day in the taper front. I did an hour run at a low HR, and it felt good. OK, towards the end I did run a little faster just to get some cobwebs out and see how it felt. Felt good, but I did not let myself get caught up in it at all! I did do the run very relaxed and let it flow. It was very cool today as I was running. I spent some time visualizing the race course and seeing myself running past landmarks that I recall from being there this summer. It brought a smile to my face knowing that I regardless of how I feel, I know I can conquer the course!
The rest of the week will be a lot about the same experiences, not pushing myself to hurt but pushing my mental limits to the finish. Spending time visualizing the course and being there, good and hard moments and moving forward past them regardless!
This journey is only getting better as it gets closer! I hope you have had an awesome weekend so far and are planning on having an even better time on our extra day tomorrow!
Cheers and thank you!

Getting organized!

2010-09-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the most awesome lazy'ish day I have had in a while! It is an interesting time as it gets closer. I have been spending time thinking about what the heck I will do with myself when I am not training to do an IM. That is a lot of extra time to get things done. On the same token having a day of only working out for 40 minutes seems a little refreshing. I do feel lazy though, but it is a good break!
I think one of the first things I will do with the extra time is thank my wife and friends for the patience of having listened to me and covering my ass for the last 6 months! I can't imagine going through this without an awesome support system like I have had the privilege of having. SO, I think first thing will be a date night with my wife, one where I dont have to get up early in the morning and I cant have another beer while we are out playing because it is not part of the plan! A night of fun! Then I think a night of debauchery with my friends will follow. It has been a while since I have put the bottle of Tequila on the bar at home and thrown away the cap. I think the time has come! That night will hopefully be the IM tattoo party night! Assuming all goes well, it would only be fitting to celebrate after getting the badge applied!
As much as I am looking forward to a few days of nothing, it wont last! Ski season is around the corner and it is time to get in shape for that. I have a couple of fall running races that I am going to do as well, so I wont be sitting around too long. As winter sets in, I am also starting to prepare my training and running program in hopes of being able to get a Boston qualify time next season. I have my work cut out for me on that one, so I wont waste a lot not training. I suppose I am at a point where I love to train and I am going to do it regardless. A few weeks of 'free' training will be a bonus!
GETTING ORGANIZED! that was the main theme of the day for me. I have been reviewing a prepping for the race as I am leaving early on Wednesday AM. For the most part I have put all the pieces together, now I just need to put them into the respective discipline and piles so they make some sense. As I have been getting things together I have been tossing them in a pile on the bed in the spare room. The pile is getting big and it currently does not make any sense at all. So the next couple of days is going to be to get it in a form that makes me comfortable and ready to go with no doubts that I have what I need!
After a short swim today, I did bail on a planned bike ride. The weather sucks, the wind is howling and it was pouring rain half the day. So, rather than go out in freezing weather and get a cold before the race, I pulled the plug. Best thing is I don't feel bad about it at all. The miles are done, today was about turning the feet a little, but some times things are not meant to be and today was that day! Tomorrow is a short run, which I am looking forward to. This week has been crazy hot and tomorrow is my first real run in cool fall like weather. It will be a nice change to be running in this weather and being out to enjoy the start of the change of seasons. It is so cool to experience the changes and new things that happen first hand out running. I think winter running is a great adventure as well, this weather is just a tease of things to come!
Time to get some recovery and taper sleep. I have been sleeping well and tonight will not be an exception! Cheers to all!

OK! it is time to taper!

2010-09-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

Here goes! the next 8 days seems like I am going to be lazy! what only 3-4 hours on the weekend? what will I do with myself? I am looking forward to it, but I know it will probably get old quick. It is crazy to think I have become accustomed to doing 15-20 per week of training and liking it!
Yesterday was a swim workout with a few 100-200m repeats. Rather than go and try and set a record, I took it easy and loosened up. I spent a good deal of the practice doing drafting drills to build confidence in doing that. I also focused on a relaxed long stroke, quite the same as I want to be focused on in IM. The entire practice was only about 2000m and very comfortable. I enjoyed the relaxed and confident feel of the swim. It was great heading to the pool. As I was walking in to the Y, I felt a relaxed confidence about my swim. I have not really felt that way lot, I have not been nervous but also not feeling like I did yesterday!
Last night I added in a LULU run and did a quick 5k. It was a fun run that I did with a girl that I have not seen in 25 years. We went to high school together and I coached her skiing many years ago. She was my younger sisters best friend throughout high school. She is an awesome runner! We did 5k at a 4:50 pace, she barely seemed to break a sweat. She is training for Boston this year which will be her 3rd time, aiming towards her PB of 3:27. The run was fun and relaxing although quick. It was a good confidence builder for me though, feeling strong throughout the run. It did set full taper in motion for me. The rest of this week and weekend training will be at a slow and relaxed pace, almost no effort!

I picked up my bike yesterday and was able to being it out for a short test spin with the new wheels. Hmmm! Not enough of a ride to go fast and truly see what they are like but enough to get a taste. I don't know about you, the placebo affect is in play here as well! The sound of the wheels alone makes me feel fast! and when you ride by pedestrians and they look at you like you are riding a space ship because you are in aero position and have these freaky wheel thingy's, you cant help but feel like you are flying!

After a great day training and playing we had a couple of friends over for dinner. I thought I should put on my best for the guest, so squeezed into my compression socks to get some relief. Apparently, even though the guests are runners and triahtlete they did not agree with the look. My buddy Hugh who is doing Wisconsin with me was one of them. So, I have told him that it will actually be what I will be wearing for the days leading up to the race while in Wisconsin, so he should get used to it. They do feel awesome though!
Today os an off day which I am looking forward to! A massage this afternoon and some time with wifey and doggie tonight! There is some kind of dog nights of summer event at city hall tonight, so Karma gets to go out on the town! Woof! She is napping right now in anticipation of a crazy time!
Happy training and happy weekend!

Single digits!

2010-09-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's go time! Down to single digits until race day. After a long awesome journey, tons of experiences and finally feeling tired, it is almost time to go to the line! WAHOO! Other than the day I got married, I can't remember a journey and a day that has been so much fun and that I am looking forward to like this one. As I look back at the day I registered it seems like yesterday, but at the same time a thousand years away. It has been one huge trip!
I brought my bike in to ENDURO SPORT today for a last drive train inspection and go over. Once again they have proven themselves to be an awesome bike shop! They went over and above with service and suggestions to make sure that my A race is an A race. I am considering wheels in the future and they spent an hour talking to me about the various options (which they have a ton of) and why one vs. the other. I also asked about a couple of different gear options and they were straight up and honest with me. Likely saving me $100 in the process and cost them a small sale. If you are in Toronto and into tri or bikes, go and see them. If you are visiting Toronto, it is worth the visit to the store, more bike and tri porn in one place than a person should enjoy! Thanks guys and girls at Enduro! I will be doing my race in Zipp 404's. I figured if I am doing the race I may as well go all out, I have had a good riding season and this can only add to it. I hope the win isnt screaming that day or it could be a bit of an adventure.
Training today was a short bike ride. I did 35k at a quick pace getting my HR into zone 3 for the ride. It felt good, even while riding into the wind. I purposely kept it short and low intensity as it is time to do that. I also am going to do a short ride tomorrow as I want to make sure that the bike is in perfect working order after its little tune up!
Tonight was a very short run, again to keep the legs turning and not to blow up in the heat! The start of the run was slower than usual but I have been going for a few days now. I know that getting off my feet after the brick on Saturday my legs are going to become the best damn running legs I have had in my entire life! I am confident that they will still hurt late in the race, but also confident that they will bring me to the finish line to a cold drink and my family and friends. I have a deal with them to rest for a few days after the race, so they have agreed with the terms set out above.
Another great part of my evening was yoga training. As I have finished the teacher training I am now working on becoming a better leader. I am part of a program that is dedicated to that process. Tonight was the first meeting with the group and the mentor that I am working with. It is going to be a great process and will allow me to share with others one of the parts of my training that I have found very helpful. It is great to be amongst some of the best at the practice to help me become the best at it as well.
Overall a great day on every front! Loving life, loving where I am and feeling damn lucky to be here! Hope your day kicked as as well! Cheers!

How smart am I?

2010-08-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yep, some times I wonder how smart I am? Yeah, I have done some smart things in my day. Yep, I have done some dumb things as well! I can't quite figure out if I am smart or dumb on this one. More on that later!
Today was a good day on the training front. yesterday, I discovered that the pool at the Y is closed until the 12th of September. I checked my program and it did not seem to know that the pool was closed and it suggested that I had a practice. SO today I went to another Y for a taper swim practice. The swim was an interesting practice for taper. It was 4000m in 5x800m intervals. It felt quite good, I was able to get into a rhythm and swim strong for the whole practice. I focused on taking it easy and not trying to go hard. Keeping form and continuing to improve on it was my focus. I think that was one of the smarter things that I did today. Overall I felt great after the practice.
Overall I actually felt better than I am feeling overall. As I am doing this last week of work, I am feeling a little tired. My calves actually feel like they are pregnant. Compression socks are my great friend right now, helping to keep the part tucked in and rebuilding. After swimming tonight I had a fast 5k run with the LULU group. Although tired legs were on my mind I did a great fast run. The distance was done entirely under 5min/k in the heat and humidity. I am pleased that it was not much longer as I was able to knock a good run out. Running smart, running that fast, hmmmmm?! verdict out still!

Smart or Dumb? Yep, usually in life when you make a decision to do something big you want to look at experiences and evaluate the potential pitfalls of making that decision. Even though you may not have a dirct prior experience, you reflect on other things that you have done that may be similar and base a decision on that. When I signed up for IMWI I looked back at things that I had done and made a call based on best logic. Completing the race is going to be one of the greatest things I have enjoyed. I will have learned a lot from it and will take it forward with me for a long time. A great lesson to be learned in a few days, I know some of it may be tough but all of it worth it. On Monday afternoon, I thought about my upcoming IM race a lot, what would it be like? will it hurt? what will be the hardest part? should I sign up for another IM before finishing my first one? YES! I signed up for IMCA 2011 on Monday before finishing the first one that I signed up for!!! How smart am I? Still don't know, but I do know that I am going to Penticton next summer for IM part deux!

A weekend of wonderdfulness!

2010-08-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know if wonderfulness is a word, but you know what I mean! It was a weekend of great friends, great fun and a lot of awesome things done!

I guess it started on Friday with an easy 110k ride to get some miles in. For the first time this season, I went in the other direction. I guess I may have created a bit of a pattern always heading out for rides in the same direction so I thought I would change it up. I went out towards the city following a route along the lake and beaches. One of the benefits is that it is flat. I suppose another benefit is the scenery change is always nice as well. It was a good ride, nothing too hard or crazy, just turn the legs drink and enjoy!

After the ride Friday we headed up to a friends farm for the weekend. A group of friends who swim, bike, run and play together were all invited to a friends farm for the weekend for some fun and relaxation. It was a 2.5 hour drive out of the city, which in itself was an awesome relief from the craziness. As we made our way closer I could see all kinds of lights in the distance, it looked more like a huge outdoor wedding than a gathering of a few friends. WOW! They had set the place up in the best and most awesome style for the visit. They had a marquis tent, huge fire pit, beer fridge that would make Training Payne jealous, food for 100 people! It was an unbelievable scene that they had put together! The games were only about to begin!

As the day started on Saturday, the weather was the first thing to be grateful for. It was incredible, not a cloud in the sky and deep blue as far as the eye could see! We started with a great breakfast outside under the tent enjoying stories from the night before. As breakfast was finished and we rested a bit, they had organized a run through the farm property.

The property is 500 acres of farm land and forest along the Saugeen River. They had spent the summer planning and cutting trails and completing a route that would give 2 course distances. The entire group at the event are type A runner/triathlete types, so options for distance was necessary. There was a 11k course and an additional 12k for the hardcore crowd. Along the route they had set up manned water and aid stations and had patrols riding along the route to make certain that everyone was good. The course was a definite trail run. MISSZIPPY talked about the challenges of trail running and she was not kidding. Every step you take you have to be aware, up hills around corners, down into creeks, up more hills! It was a tough as hell run! But the scenery was above amazing. I was very aware not to turn an ankle and blow a summer of training as I ran along. I didn't turn my ankle and I had a blast doing the 22k course.

After the run, they has arranged horse drawn wagon rides through the property for the kids and the adults alike. Another great way to make sure that the entire crowd has fun. While we were getting ready for the ride I held a yoga practice in the field for all the runners. It was a great class, beer for hydration, flexibility challenged to non existent in some cases. But, a desire to try and a great spirit to have fun(possible induced by the beer) was in full force!
The entire day continued to get better! We sat around and told race stories and enjoyed the sun. Drinks were flowing and jokes getting better by the hour. Mid afternoon as huge bbq came rolling in on hte back of a trailer with smoke billowing out. What was that all about? They had ordered a side of beef and a pork which was coming in on a smoker on the trailer. It was getting better still! Caterers were walking around with tasty treats feeding us awesome food and it was never ending. We ate drank and were merry into the night. As the sun set and the fire got roaring, in came the live entertainment for the night. He was great playing his guitar getting everyone to sign along with him. It was an awesome party in the making! The drinks kept flowing, in itself that was entertaining. I decided last weekend that I would not have any drinks until IMWI, many people thought that was a crazy thing. Time and time again they would ask, each time getting the same answer. It was great being on the sidelines watching the entertaining antics build. The evening was amazing!

Sunday morning was again a beautiful sunny day with blue sky forever! We started with another awesome breakfast. The stories were even better than they were on Saturday morning, i think I went to bed a little early and missed the creation of some great stories!
After breakfast they has planned a great ride for the group. Once again, they had 55k and a 110k ride. It was not a double loop, the entire route unique with great rolling hills and awesome scenery along the way. The sun was shining brightly as we rode along in the slight wind. Past the cows, Lake Huron, rivers, pasture and small rural towns. A great ride with an awesome change of scenery. I loved every minute of the ride.
The weekend was an overall huge bundle of activity and fun. Our hosts went to every means to plan a weekend that would please every person in attendance. The kids are and played awesome games, the adults had fun satisfying their athletic indulgences to the extreme they chose. Every turn presented something greater than what you has just enjoyed.
It was a great weekend of exercise and relaxation! Thank you a ton to our hosts for going through the effort to see that everyone had such a great time!
As I played a trained, many were out doing IM Canada and Louisville! Congratulations to all of you who were out there! I have always been inspired by people who go out and push themselves to that extreme, I have a different appreciation today than before, greater admiration than ever! Be proud of what you accomplished and the work you did! It is awesome! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

like I was saying yesterday!

2010-08-27T18:49:00.001-07:00

What comes around goes around! Yep, everything happens for a reason. The history of my summer 2010 speaks to those statements in a big bad way! It has been and will continue to be one of the most memorable and fun summers I can remember!
It goes without saying that this IM adventure has been a huge part of the excitement. The training, the new friends, the blog friends and stories, and that is only the start. It has opened up so many new possibilities for me moving forward, I look forward to other IM's (I guess I should finish this one first) and many other races along the new journeys as a result of this one!
One of this summers events was the loss of my job early on(begin of June). In most cases this would be stressful situation, but I took it in stride. after less than a year with the company they paid me until the week of the race. Thanks guys! I could not have asked for a better summer to be paid to not work! It was a relief for me as I was not passionate about what I was doing, in the end I was going through the motions to produce but not excited about it! They afforded me the greatest summer of training and an ability to review my goals and what I wanted to do moving forward. I look forward to the next few years after a great opportunity to take inventory.
I was also able to go and become a yoga instructor in the process. A year ago I would have never imagined doing that. But, training proved to show me that yoga is an amazing compliment to any athletes training program. It adds a great physical release that can be hard to find along the road. As you continue to practice it also adds a great depth of mental discipline and strength. I feel privileged to have been invited by the yoga community that I practice with the become a leader and share my passion. It will serve me well both as an athlete and a coach moving forward.
Being an unemployed bum was also a great way to share my passion for coaching and training with many others. I became a Luluilemon ambassador and was able to be a big part of the community. I also started my own run clinics and continue to play with and train athletes towards their first half marathons at the end of september. I have found a tremendous passion for teaching and seeing the success of others.
These are a couple of the awesome things that this year has given me. Things happen for a reason I said in the opening. Yes, they do! Me losing my job, it was supposed to happen, it afforded me the great summer I have had. Today, the icing on the cake was given to me. On September 15, when I return from IM and Madison I start a new job! Wahoo! I am very excited with the opportunity, it provides me a huge potential to exercise my strengths and it fits perfectly into my revised goals and perspective found over the summer.
Could I have scripted this summer any better? Not in a million years. It has been exceptional and is continuing in a manner that is even better! I named my dog Karma as I wanted to be surrounded by good Karma all the time. I guess it worked!
Today was also a great training day. Had an awesome easy 4.5 hour ride and a great t-run. The whole time I felt great, kept my HR in check at better zones than I have in the past. I got the job offer half way through the ride and enjoyed a great sunny day of training!
So, I have shared my own training stuff with you for my reasons. As I started my blog the purpose is for me and my family to be able to look back on this adventure. Not making these events part of my blog would be missing a huge part of what it has been. Thank you for reading it, your comments are awesome and inspirational and I feel like you have been a huge part of this awesome summer! Cheers!
Everyone racing this weekend, have the time of your life! For those doing their first IM, it is only your first IM once, love it! For those back for another one, may you set a PB and finish with a smile!
To those drinking and running tomorrow and the House of Payne 5k, make it hurt!
Cheers!

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

The redemption Run!

2010-08-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

So, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?! Kind of like what comes around goes around! One is some crazy scientist's theory, the other is what I live my life by. Tonight they both played true to the written word.
I don' quite understand taper in the context of IM training plans. So far this week it has been close to the same kind of workout as other weeks. The swim was 300m short, the bike was about the same, but the run??? It was speed work a la big time!! 15-20 warm up, 4min low zone 3, 1min recover, 3m low 3, 1 recover, 2m , 1 recover, then 3 min high zone 3, 1 recover, 2m high 3 recover, 1 min and recover. Then 2 minute mid to high 4 , 1 minute recover, then 1 minute and recover and cool down. Did you understand that? So, in the context of full training vs. recovery, ummm? It was a bitch workout!
After putting mu shoes up on my extra run yesterday I did not know what to expect as I walked out the door for this one. I sat around the house for the longest time procrastinating, putting off the inevitable. Procrastinating is such a crazy game we play with ourselves! Yep, I know I need to do it, yep, I am going to do it, yep, I am going to waste time getting myself up in arms about it for more time! Someone suggested we are a smart species, hmmmm? I have to argue that from time to time!
As I started out on my run it was like a new set of legs compared to yesterday! I felt light and ready to tackle it(when I finally got off my behind). I started out at a relaxed pace for warm up and caught myself repeatedly speeding up. SO finally I just kept going. The whole run was a blast, I was running at speeds that I have never run before. Earlier in the year I would have been at Zone 4 at the slower speeds I was running. I was sub 4min/k for intervals tonight and not breaking 170HR. I was blown away by the run.
I finished the evening with an additional 5k with the LULU run club that I lead on Thursday. That is when I discovered my efforts and that I had pushed! Although running very relaxed I got to 4k and started to feel light. No not like losing weight, like I was going to fall over. The only time I have felt that before is when I was out like Bryan would the night before and did not bring any water for a long run. It was crazy, I was bonking on a 5k run. As soon as I got back to the store I filled up on water and then got home and ate like a horse. Overall, not including the bonk the evening was an awesome run and a come back from yesterday's rest .

I did learn a good lesson today on the importance of nutrition. I am already quite aware, but it showed me how intensity increased the need for nutrition, even for short distances. Speaking of nutrition??? After all this training I am at around 177lbs, from my healthy start point of 223lbs a year ago(see plump guy in photo). However, I can not stop eating these days. No matter what I eat, I seem to be able to eat more. I am focusing on only good food, no alcohol until after my race, but it is not working. Seriously, I am probably packing back 4000 calories+ per day and not gaining weight. Let me know if this is par for the course at this point in the process or if I have a tapeworm!!
Gotta go have a snack now and get some sleep!

A quick note to Training Payne who lent me his trainer for a couple of months. Just riding on that thing made me faster! Spent some time with Bryan today, always an inspiration heading into a race!

The work is done!

2010-08-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

What a day!
I have been doing a lot of running lately, between my runs for training program and the extra runs with the people in my groups I have logged a few KM's. Today I figured I would get out and do an easy short run to keep the legs moving and to get a few more quality km's in. It was not a scheduled run as today was a swim day. So, I got my things together and headed out the door to run in the great lunch time weather. Well, it did not last long! I got about 750m from my house and my legs felt like I was dragging pipes! They were 400 lbs each and my HR started climbing quickly. Hmm! Guess what! Like I have been told by man, the work is done! It is time to get some rest, I have one more long run and I dont need to go out for the 'fun' of it because I can. So, like any wise person would do, I turned around and shuffled my heavy legs back home! My legs actually felt like they were bloated, so, into a pair of compression tights I went to allow what I have done to sink in and do me some good! IN the past I would have been kicking and screaming and bitching about not doing a workout, NOT! I know I am not going to change anything, and after all it was not even a schedules workout! So, a day of leg recovery it was!
But, it was not the end of the day! I did have a swim in the program today. So, I figured as it was in the program it is not an option to skip it. Off I went to the pool! I kicked the ass right out of that practice. It was 3200m of absolute pleasure swimming. The entire time I felt strong, good rhythm and no issues. I was able to keep form throughout and not fall apart in the last 1/3. Even though I was cooked to run, the swim always seems like a recovery type of training. No matter how tired I have been I have always been able to go to the pool and have a productive day! SO, the entire day was not a wash! I was able to be super productive where it counted!
Overall a great day in my world! A little rest for my legs and a lesson in IM training and where it goes after 22 weeks. A great swim to top off a newly acquired discipline this year! I am a happy guy watching the clock countdown!
Cheers to all and I hope our day rocked!

Visualization! Do you practice it?

2010-08-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

As the countdown continues I am taking each day with a positive attitude and moving ahead towards go time! As I am completing my workouts, I am spending my time focusing on the mental aspects of the event and not on my current physical state. My current physical state is one that is where it is at this point, if I feel like I am not ready, too late, not going to make any changes between now and race day!
One of the significant accomplishments I have completed was achieving my Level 3 CSIA certification. It is a big step in the world of skiing that eludes many in their skiing lives. A few years back I decided I wanted to get it done. I spent 2 seasons training for the physical aspects of the sport, repeating some tactics hundreds of times over and over again. Then it was on to the next part, literally starting from my feet inside my boots working my way up to my head over those 2 seasons. I spent time teaching and taking lessons to help me along the way. When I finally reached the exam for the first time, I failed the skiing part of it. I did pass my teaching with flying colors, but could not believe I had trained so hard and did not pass it. I spent time reflecting on why that had happened. What I realized was that my brain got in the way! I was so focused on trying to do it perfectly that I forgot to do it like I had practiced thousands of times! I basically let my head talk me out of what I knew how to do. That is when I started visualization.
For the next 6 months, summer and winter, I spent time skiing in my head. I put myself in every situation and possibility and skied every turn to perfection. In my mind I knew regardless of what was put in front of me, I had been there and I had conquered that scenario. I was then able to ski like I knew how to rather than focus on skiing like the picture book showed it. I went out to the exam again and nailed it! The ability to stop focusing on what is expected and instead focusing on what you know that you know is often the difference between success and failure!
As I am tapering I am spending time visualizing myself at the race. I can see myself climbing a couple of the big hills on the course keeping my HR in the zone and not getting caught up in having to race up to beat someone. Feeling myself starting to hurt on the run and acknowledging it and moving forward. Running around the state building for the last time and hearing the crowd. Seeing my family and friends who have put up with me for the past year and being with them after I cross the line! These are all awesome experiences that are making me more excited about my race day! I am looking forward to this like I looked forward to the day I got married!
Yesterday on the training front was a good day on the bike! It was a 'sprint' workout with a 45k ride. As I set out I felt OK, as I got warmed up I felt like a madman! I rode the 45k over 35kmh feeling strong the entire time. As I spun my legs and used some new technical ride tips I found myself effortlessly being able to pick up the pace without hammering my HR. I did keep it in a high HR2 low HR3 zone for the ride. As I rode along I wondered how it would feel to transition after having hammered the ride, but I did not let it slow me down, I kept pushing to get a burn going on! It was amazing! The transition proved to be great as well. I did go out quite fast, which is a lesson that I will learn from at IM. I will run at my planned pace and not be a hero at the start. I was able to maintain the faster pace for the 20 minute run, however, it was only 20 minutes! Overall the workout was great!

Last night was the highlight of my day! I was at LULULEMON for my community run that I lead. I had put the word out to friends that we would do a short 5k run and follow it up with a free yoga class in the park. I usually get 5-7 runners out for the weekly run. Last night there were 14 people who joined me . People who were at past run clubs I have hosted, people who I met in the park and invited, it was awesome to have that many out. The run was an easy run enjoying the group running back and forth between the different pace sections. When we were done we all headed into an awesome local park for a yoga practice. There were 20 people out to practice with me. A friend and I led the class together and had a serious badass yoga experience! The class was an hour long and everyone who participated had an crazy amazing time! It was so cool to be able to share with others what I have learned and have them smile and enjoy it with me!
Post IM race I am part of a North America wide yoga event, YOGA AID. We will be leading a session doing 108 sun salutations to raise money for the Africa Yoga Project(AYP). HUH? you ask, what the heck is this? AYP raises funds to be able to build schools and infrastructure in Africa. The project also trains yoga instructors to provide them employment and a better life than one out on the streets. I have been asked to raise $250 for this very worthy cause. Please click on the link below to make a donation. I have also attached links to AYP. Thank you for your support!

http://yogaaid.com/johnfortin

http://web.mac.com/paigeelenson/Africa_Yoga_Project/Home.html

It's time to taper, mostly!

2010-08-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

So, the program says taper and I learned a little tonight why it tells you to do that! It is time!
I started the evening with a short 6k run with my run group. It was an easy run to loosed up from a 16k last night and to keep the group running along as well. I felt no issue with the run at all.
Following the run, I went to the pool to get a swim in. It was a mad house. I did not make it to the Y today so I went to one of the city pools for a swim. It was nuts! Each lane had 10 people in it, one time swimming in one direction another time in the other. Doing kick turns and swimming underneath you! It sucked! Oh well! Still worked away on completing my workout! About half way through I realized why taper is part of the program. WOW, was I tired! May have been that most of my swim have been earlier in the day when my energy level is higher. My pace did not change a great deal but it was a lot more work to be at that place! It made me realize that it is time to let everything build and sink in and not to try and be a hero and push hard. I am not going to change a lot physically at this point! It's time to work on the head, stay healthy and enjoy the ride!
Tomorrow I am going to do a last long ride, nothing insane, just put in some more miles and one more long t-run. Then I will see what the program says, how I feel and go with that feeling!
I hope you are all healthy, happy and ready for your next adventure! Have fun, it is a great ride!

Hmmm! It does say 19 days doesn't it?

2010-08-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yep, it is for real, 356 - 19 days ago I signed up for an IRONMAN to fulfil a dream and it is now around the corner!
The past year has been one incredible journey! Watching the countdown has been a blast. Seeing it go from 300 to 299, that was a nothing kind of day. Gave it some thought, went for a run. Went for a swim still learning how to get through the water properly. Finishing each lengths still gasping for air. Waking up each day and thinking about the race with a smile on my face and an anxious anticipation.
Then from 200 to 199. Still a little anticlimactic, not feeling any pressure at that point. I looked at the calendar and counted the days until my 'official' training started but nothing more. Heck, I was in the middle of ski season and that is my priority that time of year! I kept swimming and running and started my bike trainer up to get my butt into shape. Still seeming like it was a long time off.
100 to 99!? Still no real anxiousness, it was still a ways off! However, now I was training by my program and being quite religious about the structure and time. I was going through the motions and getting stronger as I pushed ahead.
Somewhere between that time and now, the time has gone into a free fall. It is blasting by faster than I can keep track of it. I am now 6-7 days from going into full taper. One more big rider, one more long run and then it is time to cruise to the start. It is now a reality that I will be standing on the start line of IRONMAN. Pardon the language, but HOLY CRAP!
People ask me if I am ready? As far as I am concerned, an IRONMAN is ready on the day they give the money to register. After that there is a lot of swim, bike and running, but it is all a matter of being comfortable on race day! Making the decision to go there is getting ready! Mentally I feel like I am there, ready to get on the line and have one of the most incredible experience of my life. Physically am I ready? ONe never knows? I have done the training and put in the miles and that is what one is supposed to do. I know I am going to go to the start line. All the training I have done tells me it should be a good day. I am looking forward to the experience!
The best thing about going to IM is the past year. Friends ask me about it and I can not tell them how cool the process has been. I have lost 45 lbs from a year ago. I have learnt how to swim, become a tri coach, started a run clinic and training company. Met all sorts of crazy internet friends that share this same crazy obsession. Became a Yoga instructor, started riding and running faster than before. Inspired others to tri something new and challenging. Most of all I have proven to myself what I have always preached! Anything is possible if you believe in it. If you have a dream you can accomplish it! It takes hard work and ups and downs, but you can do anything you want! This experience will serve me and those around me the rest my life. It has been the coolest and most amazing thing I have ever done!
If you are not a triathlete and are reading this, I hope you are inspired into tri-ing something new. It may not be athletic, but still get out there and get it done! Anything is possible!

When to taper??

2010-08-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

A question to everyone out there? As my race day is coming up, I am still in turbo mode with my training. I have 3 weeks to go. My intention is to put in one more 'hardcore' week of training. I will start it Monday with a 5-6 hour ride, Tuesday a 30k'ish run and then add in some strong swims another good speed workout another good sprint bike day and a 2-3k speed OWS. Then the week after start to drop the miles. Am I being too agressive to close to the race? I feel that I get the most out of my training leading to a race keeping a decent intensity towards it. However, I have not done an IM and do not want to go into it tired. PLEASE share your thoughts, ideas and experiences! Look forward to your replies!
Yesterday was an awesome run day! Did an 18k run with one of the girls in my run Yoga clinic. The weather was easy for it, sunny and cool with a slight breeze to keep it fresh! Loved every minute of it! It was great a well as the girl I was running with set a new distance PB and di it with a smile. One of the greatest things I enjoyed about the run was the mental aspect of it. All the time that I have run, it has not been at all my favorite thing to do. As a matter of fact I thought running sucked! Every day going out for my run was a chore, I know it was all in my mond because it was no different that any other workout, I just let it get to me! I have come to the relaization that my lack of passion was driven by my own mental game. As I have been out following a logic to my run training and putting in teh miles the results have started to arrive. As I am getting results I am enjoying the runs, go figure! So, yesterdays run is one which I have done a ton of times. The difference was I did the entire thing with a smile on my face. I started strong and finished hte exact same way! The only thing I changed is some story in my head that running sucks!
So, as I continue along the training and racing my frame of mind is now going to be in a different bucket! Love it or don't bother doing it! It makes the whole day a lot easier to do and the results come along much better!
I hope you all have an awesome weekend! Good luck to those who are racing and, HAVE FUN!@

Looking ahead!

2010-08-20T05:27:00.000-07:00

A short but intense day on the training front today!
Started the day off today with my training medicine, a great morning yoga practice. I find it a great way to open up my mind and fix what ails me with my body. The nice thing is the practice is also very physical therefore my HR is up for the whole hour as well. It is a good workout that I never leave feeling like I have not worked hard. There are actually a few times when it is harder than a tough run or climbing a nasty hill! ON a fun note I have started to recruit new people to take do yoga classes. Many people are intimidated by studios and will not get out there to do it. As I am working to get practical experience, it is a great way for me to get started. I am offering friends the opportunity to do a class in the comfort of their own backyard or home. All they need to do is recruit some friends and I will take on teaching the class for them. It gives me great practice and exposes them to another great training tool! I am looking forward to getting started.
My speed work tonight felt awesome! It was a short workout and on a hill area of town, the run did not have more than 200m of flat before another 200m-300m gradual hill. I did a total of 8k with about half being focused speed work. I feel stronger than I ever have with that at this time. I struggled a lot in the past with running anything under 5min/k, it usually would feel like I was going to be sick of I kept any distance at all going. This run seemed to be a better one, able to maintain 4:15-4:20 for a great part of what I was running. Looking ahead, it gives me more confidence in a being able to get done what needs to be done next year to get my Boston qualify time. The fun part of running on Thursday evenings is the group that I am running with. There are a couple of people who join me who are super intense and it is a great way to push myself harder, wanting to be at the front keeps me honest!
So looking ahead I have 2 goals that I want to accomplish. ONe will be to qualify for Boston. That is a big one as I currently have a marathon PB of 3:56 and I need to 3:20 to get to the start line. I have the time tools that I need, now I need to put in the time. I will likely hire a coach for the beginning of the season in order to change my stride a bit to get more speed out of it. I have been playing around for the past while and have already seen a change, but I want to make certain that I am not doing something that will hurt me. Within the context of training to be a better runner is a sub goal of beating a good friend in a sprint tri.(I actually bet him $100 that I would). Currently I get him by about 2 minutes going into the run. But he runs a 4:10min/k and I run a 4:50 so he beats me. Not next summer! I am done with him passing me on the road running!
My second goal is to develop my company Sports Performance Adventures. I want to continue to train runners and triathletes. With my experiences and continuing development I want to bring the excitement of triathlon and running to new people. I will tie in my passion for yoga as a great part of the overall development with them. I will also continue my ski teaching/coaching and develop a winter and summer performance camp for those who want to go faster and go steeper and deeper!
I guess right now I should focus on the race in 3 weeks, but I need to look ahead. The thought of not training for IM seems like a lonely time, so I am getting ready for it!
Have a great day!

Uumm! It's getting closer now, for real!!

2010-08-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the route to IM the time seemed to take off like a rocket. Well, the past week it seems to have gone into some kind of hyperspace mode! WOW, in a little more than 3 weeks, this awesome exciting adventure will be in full bloom as I stand on the start line.
One of the great things at this point in the process is that I am feeling ready! I am going with my goals in mind and with what I believe is a good physical and mental platform to cross the finish line before the lights go off. All that being said, it is not taking away from the butterflies that I am feeling each time I think about the day!
At this point in the process I am working to stay healthy and put in the last week and a half of strong training. I am starting to feel tired, but the miles that I am putting in justify that feeling. I love doing the workouts, each one of them makes me feel stronger and more like a triathlete each day. As I am doing my workouts I am visualizing being on the course and feeling as strong as I am right now. I am capturing those moments in my mind so that I can pull them back when I am feeling like a sack of hammers on the course!
Today was another great day on the road to the start. I started the day with an amazing 90 minute yoga practice to stretch myself out and get rid of the kinks that are finding their way in. When I am practicing and sweating like a mad man I have to maintain focus to get through. As soon as the practice is done I am so relaxed and pleased with the result. My workouts feel so much better after I practice! I learned at yoga today that I have also been asked to participate in a mentor program to develop my teaching and practice! This is a cool opportunity, as I become a stronger teacher I can share my practice for the better of other athletes and friends! I am looking forward to doing that!
Tonight I was out for another great run through the trails. Any run is enjoyable, but spending it in the trails along the lake is a huge bonus! It is so relaxing to be so close to home but seem like I am miles away. Running through the forest removes you from the rest of the planet so quickly. My runs have been going great. I have been doing them at a pace that is where I believe that I will do IM. As I am running my HR is staying well below HR3 zone which is awesome. Knowing how I work as I get tired, this give me a lot of space to allow it to climb and keep moving. This all sounds good in theory, and should ideally translate onto the road.
As well as awesome training today I also had some great meetings in working towards putting my professional goals together. I am moving forward on a road of self employment and have the balls rolling in hte right direction. I will likely have to punch the clock for someone else for a while, but it is a stepping stone to where I ultimately should be! I am more confident in reaching my long term goals now than ever! Wahoo! is the only way to accurately describe it!
Time to head off to bed now! Another day of possibilities and opportunities is 8 hours away and I want to be ready to enjoy every minute of it! Cheers!

What was the best part of your day??

2010-08-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Seems like I did so much today, thinking about what part was best is a lot of thinking!

I started the day with some time to get a bike fit done. I have a friend who works at Enduro Sport in Toronto, so I visited him and spent an hour and a half with the shop owner getting a fit review. It was a great fit experience and the store is an awesome tri store! In the past they move some parts around, tighten some bolts loosen some others and change a couple of things. Because the have some fancy machines they must be doing something good. This was a total opposite. It was a thorough active bike fit. He asked me a ton of questions about my riding, my experiences, technical pedalling questions and a lot more. Each question was followed with a practical discussion on what adjustments he might make and what the affects would be. Overall the fit made 3 or 4 adjustments to how I was set. As well as current adjustments he left me with some homework on 'feelings' as I am riding over the next couple of weeks prior to making any other adjustments. Through the process, he also left me with some great tips on riding stronger. The experience was awesome. IF you are looking for an educational and positive fit, ask for Dan when you book. He does an awesome job and has a new customer.

Another awesome part of the day was an email I received from a girl who found my blog out in space somewhere. She is trying to get a spot as the Triathlete Magazine August triathlete. She sent me a note asking for support. OK, a fit girl asking me for a vote, probably don't have to ask me twice. :) But wait! As some may know I am a huge supporter of Cancer fund-raising and her story resonated with me. In 2007 she was diagnosed with cancer and was able to survive the ordeal. At that point she started doing triathlon as a way to move forward. Her passion for tri has grown and she is using it as a tool to communicate with others that you can persevere through anything you want to. She has completed 7 half IM's and is training for Arizona this year. Based on what she has done I sent her an email supporting her for what she is doing. I have added a link below if you are compelled to support her for either her awesome effort to communicate an important cause or if you think she is the best girl to vote for. Check it out!
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2010/08/news/triathlete-model-search%e2%80%94vote-for-miss-august_11362

After my bike fit today I had to go a give it a spin. Good thing I had a bike workout scheduled! I was able to go and ride on the new fit as well as tri out the new technical ideas that he provided me! It was a kick butt ride! My way out was super fast, I did 25k at an average speed of 41kmh, I was flying. I did have wind behind me, but everything was working right. The ride home was a bitch! The wind was howling at me and blowing me back. I still managed to hold my speed at 33 coming home and felt strong when I finished. A great ride, feeling comfortable with the fit adjustment and the new tips.
I followed it up with a fast t-run as soon as I got home. It worked well, not a fast one as I used it as a technical run. I focused on keeping my pace steady and what I imagine running the pace at for IM. It overall was great, having to make sure to hold my pace was a little tough. I kept speeding up, I did reel myself back quickly though.
After an hour rest I was out for another run with the LULU group. Another short run but strong and steady! Overall a strong day on the training front.
Another great part was being able to teach another Yoga class today. So, after my LULU run I invited the group out to join me in a practice. They all came out! It was a blast being able to teach the group in my first larger group lesson! I managed to teach an entire class with all the poses and flows that are part of it and improvised through a couple of stumbles without anyone knowing the difference! Thank you to the group for participating and for the compliments at the end of the class.

In case you haven't figured it out, my day was a 10! Yep, another one! It is all what you make of it and the perspective that you view it from. Yeah, there were some times where I wanted to say ' what the f%&&^' , but then I thought about it for 1/2 a second and decided it was easier not to!
Hope your day was awesome as well! Have a great night! Cheers

And the beat goes on!!

2010-08-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Another awesome day of living the tri life and being able to share it with those around me! In case you have not figured it out I am quite positive about the whole IM experience and life in general. It is so great waking up each day and being able to put my feet on the floor and and walk into a new adventure! Each corner I turn is a cool new experience. Today was another day of fun and training and experiencing how much fun things can be!
This week is quoted as being 'HARD' on the training scale. It is one of the last tough weeks in the program as it written. I may add a few more days at the end before I begin my taper, but this week looks like a fun one to tackle. Today was a short swim practice relatively speaking. Although short I could feel it as the repeats built up. I guess my Saturday swim being an 'extra' session provided a little more than I have been accustomed to doing. This week is also has one extra practice day than all of the other weeks, so I took it easy overall. Wednesday is an intense practice so my goal was to do quality today and maintain good form throughout. Mission accomplished! The practice was much shorter than what I have done in the recent past, but it felt good. I have to say the pain feels good, it is great to know that some new muscle is coming along!
I followed it up with a short run with the Run/Yoga group. It is great seeing the progress they are making and being a part of it with them. I am looking forward to running the 1/2 marathon with them at the end of September and enjoying the finish line with them. The run was a great one through some trails and along the lake. A great way to take care of the heat and enjoy some great scenery! Loved every minute of it!
Overall another great day on the training route. Feeling good and feeling like I want to push some more! I think I am going to go and work for IM and sell how awesome the sport is!

Another one down!

2010-08-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

A brief note and then to bed for me!
After a top notch day yesterday I went out this evening for a long'ish run. I was not sure how it was going to feel after yesterdays events.
I woke up this morning with very light stiffness in my legs, nothing that I have not felt after a speed workout. My shoulders were a little more sore than what I would normally feel after swim practice though. I think it is a combination of being in aero for a few hours and the swim yesterday. Although not sore I still wondered how the run would treat me.
I am fortunate in always being able to find people to join m for a run. It works well as it keeps me on pace(stops me fro speeding up) on these workouts. The run was an 15k. The entire run I felt great, legs were light, HR was down in low 2 zone and I did not feel like I was losing any steam as I moved along. I am no scientist but it seems like all this training works. I am feeling stronger each day and not losing steam at this point. I am looking forward to this week and pushing the envelope some more to bring it up another notch. Another couple of weeks of push and then I am told it is taper time. WOW! time flies when you are having fun.
I have started to think about post IM and what it will feel like not to train like this?? I am going to have to set a new goal to keep me pushing after a short break. I promised I would only do IM every 2 years, so I have to figure it out. I guess Boston qualify it will be!~ Only need to take 37 minutes of my current marathon time, so that should keep me busy! What is life without an insane goal and wonderful people to share it with!
Cheers and Happy sleep!

The best training day yet!

2010-08-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

My weekend started on Friday with some great backyard passive training. As you know I love to teach/coach almost any sport. After coming back from Yoga teacher training I was anxious to put some new skills to work. My wife Trish happily agreed to be my first Yoga practice in the backyard. It was a great time. Yes, I was a little rough on a couple of parts, however, did manage to teach the class without any significant hiccups! I am excited to teach again, I have actually offered to teach from friends in the backyard after a run on Tuesday! ANother great bonus to the practice was my achievement of my first unassisted head stand. I have been struggling for weeks to get it done on my own. Finally I was standing on my head on the backyard floating without thinking I was coming down every moment. It was great!

Saturday was the nest training day to date! I stared the morning with a 3.8k open water swim race in Lake Ontario. When I first got in the water I was thinking, 'Oh, Oh?!' what am I in for. The waves were 2-3 feet and the water was rolling well, it was not the local YMCA swimming pool. The line of site I was working on was to point about 300m away which seemed like 4km. There were 64 swimmers taking place in the swim. Before I knew it the horn had sounded and I was swimming away. Much like I had planned, I started my swim focusing on what I was doing and not concerned with others around me. I wanted to get into a rhythm and stay relaxed for the distance. Getting into a groove took a while with the rough water. After the start I hit a couple of big rollers and thought to myself I might be sea sick if the entire was was like that. Before long my body was accustomed to the rolling and I got into my groove. As I rounded the first sight line, a lighthouse in the distance was the the new marker to sight on. It seemed like the size of a thimble, holy crap I thought! I focused on settling into my groove knowing I would get there.
Thank you goodness I figured out bi-lateral breathing. The waved were crashing on my previously strong side, had I not been able to move to the other side I would have been full of water in no time.

At about 1.5km I found a great rhythm and found myself moving comfortable along without a lot of effort. As soon as I started to think about it I would get out of that groove and have to re-adjust to get smooth again. I actually found the swim somewhat effortless with the exception of the odd wave that would crash into my face or roll me high above the water before crashing me down again. BUt, the water is what it is and there was no point in getting excited about it!
After a relaxing swim the marker was no real, not a dot in the distance! I picked up my pace a little for the last 700m knowing that I could spend the tank on my way in as it was almost over. At 1:12:26 I touched the wall on my first open water 3.8k(IM distance swim) I was happy as could be having knocked off that time in those conditions. The times were significantly slower than last years race(9 minutes consistently) due to the conditions. My finish was 25 out of 64 with many of the swimmers being veterans in the water, so my day in the water was a total success!
The water was not the end of the day, only the start! Before long I was on my saddle for a long ride with some friends. We headed out north of the city to play on some hills and put some quality miles in. The day was near perfect as we headed out, very little wind slight cloud cover to shelter from the sun. It made for a nice ride overall. As we got into the hills, the group started to play apart a bit. Some newer riders got eaten by the first one. A nice switch back road that gets steeper each corner you turn. THe last section has to be 15% after 2 other steep sections, it is a real killer but an awesome feeling when you crest the top and roll away! We did a few other big ones as well, not as nasty but not easy. A great way to build some strength in the legs and to work on good recovery! Overall the day was a 140km ride at a good pace.
As in any big training day, it could not be left without a run. So, off the bike into the running shoes for a t-run. It felt great. I did a short one as I have a long one coming up, but my pace, my HR and my head were into the groove and I had a great finish to an awesome training day!
As I am now 27 days from GO time, yesterday served as an awesome confidence builder leading up. I have 2 more weeks of hard training to make it better and I am looking forward to them. WOW! This trip has been so much fun!
Thank you to all of you who leave comments , write blogs and inspire me to love this like I do! Cheers!

Seeing it all get better!

2010-08-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

The journey to IRONMAN has been a fun and exciting transformation for me mentally and physically. I have become far smaller around the waste and believe that I have grown a lot in my little head. I have learned a ton about myself in the process, and learned a ton more from the virtual blog world that feeds my curiosity each day!
The cool thing about all of this is being able to share it with others. Yes, IM is about the most selfish training process that a person can undertake. But, I have managed through the chaos to share my passion with others and see them get better and work towards a goal.

Over the course of the week(and each week this summer) I have led running groups 4 evenings. Some of them are athletes that are paying others are through a community event at Lululemon stores to promote health and community participation. In any case, many and most of the people that participate have not been runners before the summer started. Sharing what I enjoy doing with them is an awesome opportunity to enjoy the sport from a different perspective. Hearing them ask questions so that they can continue to improve, listening to the stories of the long runs they did on the weekend, seeing the look on their faces as they push hard through another speed or hill workout. I get as much pleasure being a part of that as I do in my own progress. This week has been especially great! It seems that they have all taken some type of huge leap forward in performance and commitment, and it is great to see that in 'new' runners. In the spring I was lucky to be with a few athletes who completed their first races and it was an awesome thing to see the smiles when they crossed the finish line, I loo forward to the end of September when I get to see another entire group do it for themselves! Seeing them make themselves better, pushes me to continue to get better. Watching athletes who thought they were going to keel over on the first 4k at a 7min pace run now doing 15k at a 5:45min with smiles! Hey we can all do whatever we want, we just need to want to do it!

This week as also been a great training week for me. Although listed as a build week, it has not seemed overly exhausting. The workouts have been tough but I feel my fitness level is strong and I have been there and also recovered well. This weekend may be another story. I am starting tomorrow with a 3.8k swim, followed by a 4hr ride and then a 1:15 t-run. This will be a good test of what is in me. I a looking forward to the day and seeing how much fun it can be! Last night I did a short run at a 5min pace. It was an interesting run for me to feel progress. Not so long ago a 5 min pace would have put my HR at about a 170 and I may not have been able to sustain. Yesterday I was at a 152 and felt like I could have picked it up another few notches and stayed with it. It is a good feeling as running has been a mental achilles and I am starting to feel like I am improving. Over the winter I will continue to work on it and see if I can get to the point where I can truly call myself a runner next season!
This afternoon I will start another new experience! I attended yoga teacher training last week and was able to gain a ton of new insight and knowledge. This afternoon, my dear wife is going to be my first victim of yoga teaching. I am going to teach my first full yoga practice in the sun in my backyard! It should be a great time and if nothing else truly entertaining to her as I continue to learn ow to be the best teacher that I can be!
I hope your day is awesome and your weekend is even better!

Feelin' good!

2010-08-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

No journey is without it's up s and downs, mine seems to have defied the reality a little. Since the day I hit send to sign up for IM I have been on a mental and physical high. I have allowed myself the freedom to go where I want to from both a physical and mental perspective, BUT not allowed it to suck me into an energy vortex when it came along. The process has allowed me to learn a ton about myself and others around me and to enjoy a wickedly cool experience. I will never get to do my first IRONMAN twice, regardless of what the near future brings, this has and will continue to be an awesome trip!
THis week has been strong a fun for training. With my 'receovery' last week I seem to have come back feeling damn great. I have not taken the time to figure out if it is in my head nor will I waste that energy. There is a strength to what I have done and I am accepting it with a smile!
Monday was a great swim, like I mentioned I felt strong from start to finish and felt an energy to what I was doing.
Tuesday, was a day on the bike with some running. I did a 2 part interval workout on the bike, my goal was to make it hurt. The front part of the ride was a 20k uphill ride, no downhills the entire way with a good push up for 34 minutes. I was able to push hard through the hills and not allow myself to drop out of my big ring. A few weeks back I was spinning like mad at the top in order to get it done. Now my HR stays in a lower zone, the leg burn is self induced as I seem to be able to push harder than before. I followed the uphill with a great t-run at a 5:15m/k pace. Again it was not an excruciating effort, a smooth relaxed run with some work built in. On the way home I was going more or less down hill, I changed my route in order to get a little more pushing. It was a 27 minute ride home, a little heavier in the legs but still feeling relaxed. I did discover that there was a bit of dehydration setting in. While practicing last week, the sweat factor was at the top of the scale, I have never sweat so much for so long before. When I was on the trip back, I slowed water consumption so I would not have to stop at the washroom 120 times over the drive. Then I was at the cottage where beer seemed to be the drink of choice. Early in the week I should have hit the water cooler hard but did not. As I got towards the end of the run I could feel the dizzies coming on and a bit of a loss in strength. Lesson learned!
Wednesday was another great swim day! It consisted of longer length repeats in Zone 3. Doing 300m repeats in HR3 is tough, by the time you get to the 6th one, it actually hurts a bit. But overall I was able to mostly maintain form and knock them out strongly. A huge energy burst came to me as I was in the presence of IM greatness for the later part of the practice. KONA qualifier TrainingPayne was at the pool! In my first 2-3 swim practices a year ago I met Bryan at the pool, have followed and watched his progress and ultimate success. He has pushed me to push and to the excitement of the IM world! It was awesome to see him at the pool again after he has reached his goal, it makes me look forward to getting to mine even more! His arrival pushed me to finish my practice strong and with a smile. The hydration came back to get me again, I had to take my 30s rest intervals to get a drink of water each time. WOW, I never thought that a collective dehydration would take as much out as it did. That swim was an overalll great setup for a race this coming weekend. If you live in the Toronto area, you should come and check out the LOST swim race. It is an IM distance swim in Lake ONtario, promises to be both a great training and strength building event.
I did another t-run after swiming. This one was a little more relaxed as it was with the Running/Toga group that I train. We went out for an 80% x 7k run. The group kicked the run in the butt! They were tough a pushed the pace beyond anything they could have done a few weeks back when they started the clinic. I am so proud of the effort they have put into the run as well as the strength that it as given them. They will all kick butt at the 1/2 marathon!
Overall, it has been an awesome week, feeling strong both physically and mentally. I am starting to get into the mental zone as the date moves forward. Mostly, I am loving the experience more than the day I signed up! We make our choices and this is a great one! HOpe you have an awesome training day!

32 days....Ahhh!

2010-08-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Now that I am back home and staring at the calendar, reality is HERE! Holy crap, 32 days away I will be standing on the start line! It is going to go by quickly and the day that I have spent the last year working towards will be in front of me to tackle. Am I nervous? of course! Am I ready? Yes, I believe I am! The next month is going to be an awesome adventure in mental and physical yoyoing ever! Bring it on!
As I suggested yesterday, there was a concern about fitness with the week at 'camp'. I thought maybe I may lose some fitness. Well I testes it today! I am rocking and rolling!!
Tonights practice was 3500m at the pool. It was a ton of repeats with very short rest periods. From start to finish I felt strong, was able to hold pace and able to hold form as well. My perceived level of exertion was not at all a concern throughout the swim. A couple of times I bumped in my rhythm and was able to get back on track with no issue and no loss of time at all. Half way through I actually pulled off a 1:35 x 100m without busting my lungs to get there. I realize that there is a taper effect that is at play in how I felt, however, mentally I was in a better space than i have been since the adventure started. My open water swim yesterday was the same way, feeling light with myself physically and mentally as I am doing the same thing I did 2 weeks ago!
I got out for a short run tonight with the run club I lead and felt the same ease as in the water. Although only a 7k run, it was like I was walking. My HR was in the 120's and I felt no issues at all as I moved along. I am digging the feeling and will likely hold my training more intense until closer to race day in order to work at recreating this.
I know that the work I did last week is at play in where my training was at today. Off of a great experience that has affected how I am thinking! I have always believed that at this point in training it is a mental game. If I am not ready now, 4 more weeks is not going to get me there! If I am ready, 4 more weeks will make me stronger and allow me to work on the little mental man that hangs out on my shoulder convincing me that something hurts to much. Well little man, I just drank a whole shit load of Kool aid so you are in for a bad month.
I am in a great space and I am ready to continue the road to becoming an IRONMAN! Wahoo!

The awesome journey of Life!

2010-08-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

I'm back! The last week has been the most enlightening, empowering experience I have ever had the privilege to participate in. I week of intense learning, training and facing the world in a new way! I am not becoming a soap box preacher as a result, but the experience has allowed me to view each day in a new light without the coloured glasses that design the world that we live in.
As I am now in the home stretch to the Wisconsin start line my decision to 'miss' a week of training was not an easy one to arrive at. I weighed my current physical level, the 'cost' of not being in my 'program' for the week, the opportunity cost mentally following the week and feeling confident that I have not lost fitness. A million reasons why I should not have participated in the past week. Then I looked at the other side of the balance? Why not, I am at a point that allows me the time to participate, I have experienced yoga in a manner that has been a huge part of my physical development along the way, I have found a mental edge in practicing, I have a level of training that was not going to disappear because of the level of practice that I would participate in each day. Weighing one against the other, I reached a decision that I should follow everyday of my life! If not now, when?
The past week I attended a Baron Baptiste Level 1 teacher training bootcamp. It was held at a Buddhist Mountain retreat in the Catskills Mountains of New York. It was an opportunity to develop my skills in my own personal yoga practice, as well as apply my skills towards sharing my passion with others through teaching. I had heard from many that it was a great experience in many ways, however, I allowed myself to go to the event with a totally open mind to what I could learn of gain from the time there.
The past week has turned out to be a physical, mental and spiritual enlightenment beyond any level that I could have expected.
I arrived at the retreat last Saturday to begin the journey that the week would bring. It is high in the Catskills with no phone reception, no red meat, limited internet and no hidden agendas. I registered for the event with an anxious wonder of what the week would bring. Others around me smiled as we walked by each other with a nervous acknowledgement of 2 people who are about to meet. We enjoyed the serenity of the peaceful surroundings of nature and sounds as we imagined what we were in for. Then we made our way to out hotel to check in to our home for the nest week. I registered quite late for the event, so I was housed at Emerald Resort and Spa a short drive from the bootcamp facility. My room was over the top beautiful, it was almost the size of my house. But, I was not there for a spa I was there to learn!
Saturday evening the activities started with a review of the materials for the week and a short 1.5 hour yoga practice. It was done without direction or intention, just a way to start the weeks activities. I did not think much of the material reviewed as it sounded like some other training that I have done in the past. I focused on being there and beginning the learning process. It was a good start point with some introductions of ourselves and a break the ice kind of time.
The next day was a little more intense! We started each day with a meditation and then evolved the meditation into a yoga practice. OUr first practice was nearly 3 hours long! My yoga mat and towels were soaked, I was practising on more sweat that I have ever experienced in my life. The physical event was tough, like the end of a marathon with your legs cramping and you singing the song to yourself that you should stop and walk! However, we made it through with big smiles and looking forward to the next event. The afternoon was spent beginning the process of learning! I wont get into the finer points of what we did, I will leave it at a week long lesson of learning to be present with yourself so that you can be the best teacher and student of yoga, people and life!
Each day was made up of 4-6 hours of yoga practice and 8-12 hours of 'mental' learning. If I was to summarize the of the entire week it might be made up of the following points;
- we do all that we do to satisfy the deep need to look good to others
- most of the world is not present in themselves or the environment that they are in, we are 3 steps ahead of looking back to figure our why?
- we all have a deep need to 'know' that pre-occupies our being
- our failures are not based on our abilities, they are based on the stories that we make up to justify to others why we quit so that we can continue to look good!
It was a week that started with 130 total strangers from around the globe, scared of each other, scared of themselves and somewhere other than the room we were standing in. We finished the week as best of friends having shared our true individual selves, learnt from those we were with, opening up to the possibilities of what we can do if we don't limit ourselves to satisfy others. I feel that I have made 130 soulmates from around the world! I may never see most of them again, however, I will see each of them every day in our actions, our words, our presence and our lack of fear to be the best that we can be!
Although I have not specifically 'trained' in the disciplines of IRONMAN for 7 days, I am back! I am stronger than ever with the fitness that I maintained through the intense physicality of the daily practice. But, more important I am back with a mental presence and strength that will allow me to move beyond my self perceived physical and mental limits over the next 5 weeks. I am present in the adventure that I started over 300 days ago and ready to kick this IRONMAN adventure in the ass with a smile on my face, a pride in my step and the knowledge that I am in control of this step of my life! BRING IT ON!!!
Thank you to all my friends who have motivated me on this journey and been there to share it with me! I hope that you all know how awesome I think you are!

Over and out......for a few days!

2010-07-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

Training has been awesome this week! I have been pushing the envelope and clocking miles and minutes to build up towards d-day! D-day is coming along damn quick! Wahoo! As always I am enthusiastic and pumped for the day!
Thursday this week was the longest swim practice I have had to date. It was a 4600m swim and felt really strong. It was made up of long distance repeats allowing me to get into a rhythm. I find myself now breathing 100% bilateral with a great deal of comfort. I now have started to pattern it and am finding it far more efficient overall. Although it was a long swim, it felt like one of the easiest days in teh pool yet. With the 'new' way of swimming I find it totally relaxing while maintaining a similar speed to before. I actually did swim a 1:38 x 100m for the first time. It was one and I am a long way off from having that as my regular pace!
Today was an awesome ride day! I rode 130k in the AM at an average of 31kmh and a HR of 124. I was actually not having to push to hard to maintain the speed and cadence. I am definitely feeling a difference on the ride as compared to the beginning of summer. Power to weight is moving in my favour big time.
The next 7 days is going to be a recovery/modified training session. I am heading to a Teacher training intense 1 week boot camp of Baptiste Power Yoga. It is 6-7 hours a day of hard practice as well as mental and teacher training. A few friends think I am nuts for going to this. No way! I have built up a good training plan, I am actually ahead of where I was to be. One week of a few less miles will actually be an awesome recovery as well as a huge strength and mental training session. Yoga has been an integral part of my training and has helped in pushing me through some obstacles, this is a bonus training week for me. I anticiapte when I return a lot of the work that I have done will have settled in a I can turn in up a few notches for a couple more weeks before a light taper begins. I think I may be like the Kona bound Bryan, I won't turn it off a 100% before otherwise I will become lazy and lose what I have built!
So, the place I am going has no reception, cell or internet. I may find it along the week, but otherwise it is over and out for until next week! Cheers! Have a great week!

It's starting to hurt a bit!

2010-07-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Since the weekend I have been pushing my training , kind of like cramming a bit! I have a week of active recovery coming up and I want to get the most of this week possible. I am maxing my workouts and pushing it so that the 'recovery' is a good build week. I will share more on my active recovery in the next couple of days!
I continued my training yesterday with a great 2 hour run in the heat! Once again I used the run as a time to tune up nutrition and make certain that I am not going to run out of fuel. I have learnt that I will need to supplement salt as I run otherwise I will end up in a bundled up cramped dude on the side of the road. At 15k on my run I filed up with water and took in some salt, it was like a big adrenaline rush and it energized the last bit of the run. As time moves forward I am learning how big a part of this game is the nutrition. It doesn't matter how good a runner, cyclist or swimmer you are, without a proper balance you are done! Over the next few weeks I will surely continue to learn more, however, I think that I am on a good path to having a strategy in place and an ability to get me from start to finish.
Todays workout was a short swim with a new triathlete as well as some stroke improvement time for me. It was an awesome experience to coach an athlete on something I could not do a year ago. Over the course of one hour I could see a change in what she was doing and she could feel a greater efficiency in her swim. My training today, I slowed everything down to have a chance to focus on the entire pull. Although not a high energy swim(that is tomorrow) it was a great chance to help gel the stroke and breathing that has been coming together.
I followed up the 'soft' swim with some speed work tonight. I hate speed work, however I need to suck it up as it is the worst part of the 3 disciplines and I need it to get whatever time i am going to race in to a better time. It is also something that I will stare in the face a ton next year as I want to qualify for Boston and that will be a hard road! Overall the workout was satisfying! It is one of those workouts where the little man sits on my shoulder the entire time I am out there. He seems to feel that at any time in the workout it would be cool if I packed it in. No DICE! It is not going to happen. The little man actually motivates me to push harder and make the hurt bigger! If it doesn't kill me it is going to make me stronger! I still don't like the workouts, but they work!
I hope everyone out there is having awesome training days and feeling on the top of your game! Go hard or go home!~

Back to training and getting the big ones under me!

2010-07-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

After a great weekend with a good race result, it is time to get back to the work that produces the results! So back at it!
I started yesterday AM with a 120-130k ride to get my legs moving. I felt great after pushing hard on Saturday and the ride went off well. I was using the day to get nutrition under control and to make sure that I learning what I need to do on race day! So the ride yesterday was a success! It was an awesome day with perfect weather which made it even better. The rider was also nice as it was a relaxed ride with the average being 29.8kmh and not a lot of super hard push. It was a little windy so it added a bit of work to the ride.
As soon as the ride was done, I had coordinated a run with the run/yoga clinic that I am leading. The distance worked well into my training and it was a good run to lead the group as they are now learning what it is like to do 10+km runs. We met at a local private school that has an awesome trail system for a 14.5k run. I talked about nutrition a little as we set out as they are all new to nutrition and longer runs. It was a great time to talk about it as I had just finished 4 hours living on gels! The run was perfect as it was at a relaxed pace and allowed me to do a little longer run than scheduled to test to see if my nutrition on the ride was effective and would sustain me for a run. 2k good -5k good - 10k good -14.5k good! It worked awesome! I could have been better with water as i did not have a water belt with me, otherwise it was a great run. I added some distance running between a couple of groups over the run time. It was a good opportunity to do some faster running to see how I would feel. Overall it was a great run. I was super happy at the result of the group that I am training, the best way to find statisfaction! They all had smiles on their faces and were happy as could be at having accomplished what they did. They were happy as they had all reached a new personal best! It was great to be a part of that workout with them!
Overall the day was a great success, I am pleased with how it went and how I feel. My recovery has been decent, today was only a little stiff.
I did manage my longest swim ever today to add to the full day. Did a 4200M swim and felt like a champ. I now feel that I am gaining comfort with the new swim technique. I can feel new muscles working as I move forward and I am able to add a couple of new tips that were given to me. I am going to focus on making it work and getting smooth at it rather than trying to speed anything up at this time. If I can get comfortable with this I can get out of the water feeling strong! That would be good!
A great few days with some good workouts behind me, and a few more big ones this week!

Congrats to all those in Lake Placid this week! A big one goes out to Bryan at Training Payne who got his Kona spot! Way to go! I hope that the beer today is good before you get back at training for the big one! Awesome job!

An unexpected event result!

2010-07-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend I did another sprint tri up in Muskoka as part of my training effort. I had planned to do a couple of races to get into the crowd and learn to manage both nerves and adrenaline. This race was a good one for me!

As we were driving up to it, the skies looked like they are going to open wide and soak us. As a postive to that was the lack of humidity as a result of that happening. On the obvious side, it is never fun to race in pouring rain. Well, Mother nature seemed to be in a good mood and held off for the entire day in our race world.

The event itself was not the most organized that I have participated in over time. Registration was kind of scattered, volunteers not very aware of what was suppose to take place, parking was a bitch! Oh well!

The swim was a one way swim rather than out/back. We were down a river to our exit with a water start. The water start was good as it is an opportunity to be doing the same is IMWI. The route allowed you to swim on either side of the buoy, so I placed myseld in the ideal best shortest line for the swim. I decided that I should be using the tools that I have been working on to practice in a competitive environment what the coach had told me. It worked out well. Although my time was the same as my last event swim with a 2:00 per 100m, I came out of the water far more relaxed than last race and was able to do a faster transition. I was able to pass quite a few from the heat ahead of me which is also a good mental charge in the event.

The bike course was a typical Muskoka course with hills and hills! Right out of the mount area was a small hill to start from. I got out fairly strong and was able to ramp it up from that point. I kind of dropped my training attitude a bit once I started rolling on the bike. As I picked up I started flying by people, they set the heats from slow to fast so there were a lot of people on the road. I felt great on the bike with the exception of one hill. A long drawn out one that was a bit of a false looking uphill, within 750m of 'climbing' I was in the small ring making my way up, I was happy to see everyone struggling on it! I quickly got back in my comfort zone and started to push again. I had noticed a guy playing cat and mouse with me for a good part of the ride. After the turn he rode past me and thanked me for pacing him. WRONG for him! That pissed me off so I hit the throttle and sped off. In retrospect I want to thank him as it sped me up a tone. It was the last time I saw him! When I rolled into transition, there were very few bikes around.

My transition 2 was fairly strong although I fiddled around! I got off my bike quick and got my shoes on in a hurry with my new speed laces! But fiddled with my wet feet getting socks on, BOO! I then messed around with my Garmin to get it set up for the run. I have been to dumb to read the directions to get the multisport set up so I understand it! My time on T2 was fast but I could have been 20-30s faster had I not been messing around! The run course was a 2 loop hilly out and back course, not the best one I have run to date! Oh well! Right out of the chute was an uphill to get the heart pumping. I need to learn to roll out gradually and build up my speed rather than blowing it all right away! The run is where I need to make my biggest strategic and logistical changes if I am going to continue to improve, this race helped out on that learning curve. Once I got over the first hill, I was able to decently manage the course for the run. You saw a lot of people along the way as you were continually turning and coming back along the route. I was moderately satisfied with my run, great lessons for future races!

As I crossed the line I did it with a great satisfaction! I was happy as could be about my effort, I pushed harder than I have before and managed most of the race like a triathlete. I had nothing to be disspointed about.

As they started posting results I went over to look at the board. Hmmm, it looks like I am so far leading my age group, kind of cool I though and it stopped there. Then, my pal looked at me and said 'WOW, you placed'. I told him that the race was not over and that it would change. He looked at me like I was a dizzy blonde and told me it could not as we all went out in the same heat!

How cool is that! I went to a race to train and ended up getting a 2nd place finish in my age group in a triathlon! Last time I one a sporting event was skiing 25 years ago! It was a great mental push and a confidence builder for me moving forward! Wahoo! I loved this sport before, now I have a piece of hardware to show that the training I have put myself through has some logic!

Congrats to the IMLP racers I know who kicked butt this weekend! Awesome race by all of you!

Getting caught up!

2010-07-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

It has been a whirlwind last few days and I have to say, not posting to my blog has added to my stress! I look forward to the opportunity to dump my thoughts, successes and challenges here each day. Not getting to it seems like a part of the day missed! Since last week I have been running around sharing some awesome training with friends as well as looking at getting back to work reality at some point.
On the work front I have had a couple of opportunities come by me and I am studying them to determine the best long term fit for me. I also have some irons in the fire to make sure that I am going to get the mortgage paid i the short term. I am moving along and will hopefully have some concrete direction before too long. I must admit, this interim time has been great allowing me to get a lot of things done and a lot of training in without cramming to do it!
On the training front, don't know where to start it seems like it has been weeks not days since my last post.
Last week was one of the longer non race runs I have done through training. A 2.5 hour run in the crazy heat of the day! I will say that it was an awesome training run with things falling in place well. As I am doing the longer runs and rides I am gaining great insight into nutrition and hydration. For 2 hours of my run on Friday I felt like a champ, moving along at a reasonable pace(likely within IM pace). I was drinking and making sure to fuel along the way. As I got towards the end of the run, I forgot to fuel for the last 45 minutes. As I approached home, I started to feel heavy and my HR started to climb without reason. After looking for answers I remembered the lack of nutrition. It was a great thing to experience as it reaffirmed to me the importance of ongoing nutrition during longer events. I am generally quite good about it, forgetting about it reminded once again why I always keep it in mind.
Saturday was a great ride day. As I was visiting a friend in cottage country, I took advantage of the famous Muskoka 70.3 bike course. Everyone talks about the course being a challenging one, so I took the time to check it out. The temperature was about perfect for it, about 27-28C, I guess the wind was a little much with a 30-40k wind at our face for a large part of the ride. Oh well, mother nature is always going to be there, so I enjoyed the challenge! The course is an awesome riding course, super wide shoulders, smooth pavement for nearly the whole ride. Over the course we never had one irate driver beep at us. I was well fuelled and ready for the ride! I had my gels, water and magic mix for to be prepared to mimic as feeding during IM. Can't say the same for the guy I was riding with!! As we got to about 95k in the ride he started to fade! WHY? he asked? well, when you have only had 1.5L of water for a 3+ hour ride time it is not rocket science! He was dehydrated big time. Another 25k up the road we stopped at a local feeding hole to see if we could get him back to speed. He could not eat thing, for the 30 minuted we were stopped he was going to be sick the entire time. He did manage to get some water in and I also ed him some salt tabs to help the game. As we were another 2 hours from our start spot I took the liberty of calling for a pick up knowing he would not make it to the end. As we headed out on your bikes to meet our pick up, it turned out to be a good thing that the call was made. As I was rolling down a hill at 60k + per hour my pedals started to free wheel, I figured I had dropped my chain. I collected my balance and looked down and had not dropped it?? So, I figured I better pull over to see what was going on?? My cassette had totally blown up, all of the rings were spinning and it was totally loose with very little ability for it to catch so that I could pedal productively. Damn! My ride had kicked butt on the first 125k with an average speed of 31.5kmh into the wind and up and down the hills. I truly enjoyed the course and the got an awesome training session out of it. With that many hills you better learn to be efficient otherwise you will get eaten by the end. My average HR was 142 for the ride which was great as well. So although I had to bail on the bike I did get a good T-run done. My focus on the T-runs is slowly shifting to pacing rather than speed. Although I left my HR monitor off, I felt a decent pace relative to my perceived effort. Overall a satisfying day and some good lessons learned by both me and my pal Hugh that i was training with! Drinking and eating is not a choice!!!!!!! It is a necessity!
Sunday was a day of recovery and one of the last that I plan to take before now and go time! I had a wine therapy session with great friends on the end of the dock at the cottage to finish the day, a late night and a restful morning was in order!
Monday was pool time again! Yes, time to refine the advice given to me to see if I can make it mine! YES, we have success! after 3000m it finally seemed to be doable with a degree of comfort and no feeling like I was going to die at the end of each length! Wahoo! Now another few 1000 lengths and ideally I can make it better! I will say that it feels great to make the change and it does feel more efficient as it is starting to pattern.
Tuesday was a short run day with little else going on. Although only a 7.5k run it was fast and HR was in a good zone. Felt like a comfortable run and enjoyed the progress shown by the group that was out with me.
And that brings us back around to today! I started my morning bright and early and enjoyed time with Lululemon staff leading a morning run with them. They are awesome, so eager to participate and so easy to be around. A great way to start the day, with a lot of smiles and happy people! The day then progressed to a great swim! ONe of those days where it was working! What I felt on Monday got even smoother. I have been doing 1:40 x 100m for a short while, but when I was done I would not be up for a chat to quick. Today I was able to do them and felt great when I was finished!
So, after a great week of training, having fun and getting closer to the start line I am caught up on blogging! Tomorrow I will post photo's from the weekend, the scenery is awesome!

Swim, bike, run....yep, that is what we do!

2010-07-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind! Tons of things getting done, from both a work and training perspective. Work is boring and that is not what this blog is about, so I will stick with the training today!

Yesterday was a tri kind of day, I managed all three disciplines over the course of the day, actually running twice for more fun!
The morning started with some more swimming and working on the technique and drills from the coach. The start of the practice was a tough few meters, struggling to get into a rhythm and questioning the logic of rebuilding at this stage in the process. Then I would do a timed 100m and see that it is faster than what I was doing. I know over time it will work, I have another 150000 strokes and I should have it patterned. :) As I was swimming along I did notice something new. As soon as I focused on a stroke count, I would arrive at the end far more relaxed and less out of breath than earlier. I would maintain my form, bi lateral breath the entire time and find it far less effort. So, lesson learned, don't work so hard on focusing on every move, just relax and it not so difficult. Bu th end of the practice it was beginning to pattern a bit, I was far less out of breath and able to build a little rhythm. So overall it was a good practice with progress! Wahoo!
Part 2 was a solid speed bike workout. I started the day thinking it would be on the trainer, mother nature was a darling and held off the rain. It was a short workout, only 32km, but it was meant to be done in Zone 3. So far the training has been done in Zone 2 for the most part, so notching it up was fun. I did a decent warm up and then put the pressure on the pedals. Much like doing hill training running, I made it hurt. The entire time I was on the pedal pushing and pulling to see how hard a workout i could manage. I did manage to hold ZOne 3 the whole time and an average speed of 38kmh. It was a tough one but felt awesome to be working that hard for a bike workout. When I do rides that hard, I tend to look back to when I started and it makes me smile. I remember doing the same route and barely being able to maintain a 29kmh pace. I guess a few months of training pays off!
Following the ride was a T-run. While riding I was wondering what it would be like, with the kind of burn that I was feeling it was bound to be a hard one. So, off with the bike shoes and on with the running shoes. The run felt great! I had to make a note to slow down 2-3 times during the run. If I was doing a short distance it would be a good run, but a 5k pace is no use for me for IM. I worked on keeping my HR in a comfortable zone that I have found. My goal is to now to my T-runs in that zone so that I can build up the distance without having to 'take a break'. Overall the brick was great coming off a tough ride and being able to transition nicely. Good progress from my perspective.
The evening was followed by another run with the LULU gang! Another great run with a couple of new faces out to join. After the bike-run afternoon I did not know how it would feel to get out for another workout. I wasn't bad. I had to start slowly to get the legs moving freely, but then it was free and easy, Another great run with great friends at the store.

Tonight was the best workout of them all! HILLS! With the group that I run with at ROGA we went to some big hills for a few repeats. They rocked! After a few weeks of the smaller hills they came out tonight and knocked these on their butts. When they were all done a true sign of how good they were was summarized in one word, I asked how it was, the response, 'fuucckkk' That can only be a good thing after a hill workout. If it doesnt hurt you did not do it hard enough! I am so happy with the progress and the workout they did tonight! I did my share as well. There is something about me and hills, I don't have anything but 100% when I do them. As I run I was under 4min/k and feeling like each breath was going to be the end of my lunch. When I reached hte top my arms were carrying me as my legs were like lead! I love the workout! Next few weeks, back to the speed work! Yeah, they are fun to, but the skier in me must make me like hills better!

Oops, I miscalculated a bit!

2010-07-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

On the weekend I was putting my schedule together for the rest of the summer to make sure that I get it right. I want to make certain that I have the times laid out and workouts scheduled so that I don't miss any when I have other events on the calendar. It was a great exercise to go through and I learned something new while doing it.
I have followed a program that is 24 weeks, and I am presumably in week 17, or is it 16, or is it 17?? Yep, I have an extra week along the way to get ready for IMWI. At first I was puzzled as to how I got these, but it is a good thing. I reviewed where I am what I have done and the schedule until race time. I decided that I will do one of the weeks twice and add in a 1/2 iron distance race along the way. It is a race that I wanted to do all along, but I was stressed as it fell in the middle of big training days and they can't be skipped. So, I have another week to get myself into IM shape and a chance to do an event longer than a sprint before I go to the start.
Today was a light training day with only a short run with the ROGA running group. It was a great run with them, they kicked butt! I used a route that I have repeated periodically since the group started 5 weeks ago. Tonight's run was awesome, they took 45s per km off the time that they ran the same course on the first time around. It is very exciting to see them progress and more than ever committed to the goal they have set.
Tomorrow is a heady day, with a swim, sprint bike and a run tomorrow night. So, that being said it is time to call it a day! Cheers to all!

A whirlwind and wonderful weekend!

2010-07-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a super active one but it was awesome!
It started at 5:30AM on Saturday with a 3 hour drive to my brother-in-laws new home outside of Kingston. We were heading out to celebrate a 25th anniversary and visit the house for the first time. It was worth the drive out there! The new house is the perfect cottage/home. It is located on a gorgeous lake that is about 2k long, you can not see a neighbour at all. It is located about 40 minuted from the nearest major town/city so the traffic is very quiet.
Once we arrived for our visit, I put on my shoes to head out for my long run. The weather was a little cooler that the rest of the week, but it was still awesome sunny out. I put on my Dermatone face and lip sun block(which works awesome). Even with sweat pouring off my face and head it does not get into my eyes and it is still super effective. With the amount of forehead(lack of hair) that I have i must be careful on sunny days, I am not a big hat fan so I need to use sunscreen. The run was great! It was on a country road with very little traffic. Anyone who did drive by waved at me like I was a brother or neighbour and pulled far to the other side of the road as they drove by. The route was a good one as well, it was very rolly with a few longer hills along the way. As it was very hot it was a great day to work on HR and hills. My entire run I managed to stay in low HR2, even on the longer hills I did not explode as I have often tended to do. It was a great learning run as I managed to figure out pacing adjustments to keep my HR from climbing and biting me a later on. I did a 21k run in 1:55 managing my HR with the hills. It is not lightning fast, but it is not meant to be. It is a great deal faster than what I would have done a year ago and progress is what I want to accomplish!

With the run out of the way, I had to take advantage of the awesome open water that they live on. I
up and headed down to the water for my open water swim. After spending some time with the coach last week, I have some areas to focus on for 2 weeks to begin to pattern some new things. So, with those ideas in mind I started along the water. Ouch! It is a big change to make after doing something one way for so long and acutally getting OK at it. But, I know the pain today will pay for the long run. The concept of bi lateral breathing and making it yours is tough. The first KM I struggled, stopping to have to catch my breath along the way. When I did the turn it started to fall into place a little better, but still a lot of work to do. As you can see from the video, it is an awesome lake to be swimming on, very calm vary quiet, I wish I had that in my backyard! It was a great day out for training and then to spend time with family and enjoy the new pad!

Sunday AM started at 4:45AM with another drive. Back towards the city for an event being held by LULULEMON that I was helping out with. For their customers they host an event called Tri-LULU. It is spinning, a run and a yoga class. It is a great event as it it gets their community out and playing together and enjoying a great weekend! I had the easy job for the day, I was greeting the runners as they got back from a 4 or 6k run and giving out medals and water! It was great to see them all coming on with smiles on their faces! The the yoga class was my turn to play! It was awesome, there were 225 people in a park by the lake sharing a morning yoga practice. The attached photo only shows the people, it doesn't come close to showing how much fun it was! I had a great time at the event both helping out and being able to play for a while as well.
With that much fun on a weekend, work had to come into play at some time. After my morning enjoyment and relaxation I spent the rest of the day in a strategic planning meeting for this coming winters ski programs. It is tough sitting inside talking about skiing with the beautiful sun outside!
I hope your weekends were awesome and you are off to a great start!

Tired.....it's a state of mind!

2010-07-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was beginning to feel physically tired, I felt like doing my workouts today I was going to be dragging my butt! NO! It is a mind over matter proposition. I believe that the barrier to success at anything we want to do is our mind. Our brain unconsciously puts up obstacles to prevent us from accomplishing what we would like to do. OK, there may be financial or family obstacles, but those can be overcome. If you really believe in achieving something your mind will figure out how to get it done! Enough of the psycho babble!
I started off my morning with an awesome run! I joined a group who has been doing an AM run on Tuesday and Friday for years. For a while I joined them and then the timing got tough so I started doing my runs on my own. As this week has me cramming some workouts, this morning was a great time to get out and join them. They are all stellar runners, almost all of them sub 3:30 marathon. Running with them is like a race for me and then some. I can not keep up with them, but it is an awesome push. This morning the weather was perfect. It started off with the same heat that we have had with a couple of drops of rain dropping as we started out. By the end of the run, it was pouring cats and dogs. The skies opened up the temperature cooled off and it was totally refreshing. Amongst the fast people there were also a couple of people who are not part of the lightning crowd, so I was able to run along with them and enjoy a great run in the pouring rain! The run starts at a cafe owned by one of the guys who comes out, so the end is always complete with a great coffee and stories of the last few days. As you might imagine, it is a great way to start the day!
The morning run was not the end of oh pour me I am tired workouts! Without a thought this afternoon I was out for a short 50k ride! It was awesome, one of my favourite rides of the summer. Why? It jsut was. I was out with a friend who just started riding and is a strong rider right out of the gate. We rode at an average of close to 34kmh with the last 10k between 39 & 41kmh. It was fantastic, we were flying! The best thing was that my heart rate was in low zone 2 the entire time. As hard as I was pushing I did not blow up as I rode along. I focused a lot of riding technically sound with a full pedal stroke for 360 degrees. It helped pick up the cadence and I found myself going up a gear or two in order to stop from freewheeling.

As we rode along the lake, the scenery was awesome. With the weather breaking for a couple of days there was a great fog coming off the lake. As we buzzed along there was a great photo of a ship starting to be covered with the fog. I only had my blackberry so it does not do the photo a ton of justice, but it was a great sight to see.
Overall the day was awesome for training. The whole idea of being exhausted can be a gret deterrent to getting a workout done. But, it is only a mental obstacle that you choose to accept if you succumb to the physical burn! As I am certain some people would say, suck it up! I loved every minute of my workout and I look forward to a few more weeks of times like today and far tougher ones ahead!
Have an awesome training weekend! CHeers

Day one, new drills, lots of water swallowed!

2010-07-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

This morning I was at the shore of the lake bright and early to get a food open water swim. Damn! Even though it was 40C for the past week the water temp has not changed one bit. It was way too damn cold to go out and have any valuable training. So, off to Starbucks to talk about the new ideas to use in practice. This is the 3rd time that i have been to the water to get in for a swim and had to turn back. Boo!
All was not lost, no way! Had to get into the water today to get this into my swimming. So this afternoon hit the pool. WOW! Summer time has everyone in town at the pool, the good thing is they are all part of summer camps and not doing a lane swim so the training is great although it sounds like a night club in the place.
One of the 'issues' that I have had in my swim is not effectively rolling to both sides. I tend to breath to one side and therefore found myself rolling well on that side and poorly on the other. I related it to breathing, I thought that if I breathed on both sides I would improve the roll. HUH! I guess I don't know a lot about swimming! The book I read did not talk about some of the more important aspects. It is so cool that in one session with the coach she picked out a tactic to help me correct both my inability to bilateral breath as well as improve my efficiency. I would generally swim a 25m in 20-21 strokes and feel like I was stretchin it. I know that i am suppose to reach at the end of the stroke, but it was described in a book and once at a clinic and it did not seem to work. The coach showed us what she meant by giving a dynamic visual and it worked. I guess I am a visual learner. Today in the pool I was able to do 18-19 and not feel like I was stretching abnormally. It was a relaxed stroke with 'ease' breathing on both sides. I say ease, but it is not that simple. THe guy I train with was getting frustrated as he was out of breath trying to bilateral. He could not understand how something more efficient was making him out of breath. Like anything new, there is a time to allow it to become pattern before you can relax and so it with ease. I figure since I started learning how to swim last September I have done 150000 strokes the same way. Guess it makes sense that a new way is going to introduce a little stress and make me breath harder. It is not totally new I suppose, just refining the way that I reach in the water to make it a true glide instead of a mechanical unnatural reach. It works! My best 100 time to date has been around 1:40, today without a sprint effort I was able to do a 1:25. That in itself is huge motivation to do 150000 more strokes to pattern what the coach has talked about. I am going to bust my hump so that in 2 weeks at our next session I get some positive feedback on improvement. Next thing I need to work on are drills to make certain that I am finishing my stroke. With a good reach, it is a far simpler thing to accomplish. I am excited about the quick progress in such a short session. It was a great idea to hire this coach, I look forward to continued progress.
Tonight was LULULEMON run night. Another darn hot one. It is a great run to be out as many people who join us are there for no reason other than to do a run. No pressure, no race just for fun! That is the way it is suppose to be. As hot as it was, a girl joined us who now lives in Texas in the home of the newest IRONMAN! She comes home to for July each year with her children as she says it is to hot to hand out in Texas. She found the run tonight to be very cool and manageable while the rest of us were sweating a storm. Another great short run for all of us, enjoyed great scenery, new people and the progress of new miles!
Starting to feel a little tired but that is a good thing. It has to mean that I am working a little and building some new muscle. Only 2 more days, 30k more running, 100k+ riding and an open water swim(in a different lake) then a rest day!
Hope your training is rocking!

Can I swim faster??

2010-07-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today was the first time that I have taken to spend with a true swim coach. I did do a clinic earlier in the year and got 20 minutes of OK feedback but nothing that I could follow up on later with the guidance given. So today was great, an hour with a girl who is an awesome swimmer and outstanding triathlete. (4ht in the Worlds) I am excited about the potential in working with this coach as it could be a breakthrough for me. I know it wont happen overnight, but with some ongoing guidance and strong direction I will likely become more efficient in the water and may even get a little quicker.
Swimming today was a great relief to the crazy heat, being in the water was refreshing. We spent the first 15 minutes at the Y doing lengths where she was able to evaluate what we were doing. Then the big nasty life guard girl came and kicked her out! She could not be on the deck coaching in any way at all, so we packed it up and went to our pal's backyard pool. It did not work out bad at all. As she had done the evaluation, it was time to come up with some solutions to work with. So we spent on hour building and reviewing drills to get us to be more slippery in the water. Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to modify swim practice a bit in order to be able to build some muscle memory and pattern what we reviewed today. Then it will be time for a review and recap to see if I have picked up on anything. This is an exciting time for me as I think I will benefit a lot from the sessions. Not being part of a master group has its disadvantages, so ideally this helps out and will provide what I am not getting.

Today was also hill day with the running/yoga group. The photo is of the group(less a few) who came out to enjoy hill repeats and oppressive heat. They kicked butt! Ran at a faster pace that they have ever and that included the time on the hills! It is great to see them progress over the course of 4 weeks and to see the results that the program and training is providing them so far. They are enjoying th training and seem to keep coming back for more! I have to say they must like it, anyone who comes out to train in this heat is either nuts or wants to get to a goal. Way to go! As you can see, I managed to work up a bit of a swat as well. By the time we were done, I looked as though I had been in the shower! Hey, if it doesnt kill me it is going to make me stronger. Loving the hills repeats and going back for more!
Happy training!

Ho, Ho, Holy Hot batman!

2010-07-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the best holy hot training days I have had. I am not talking medium hot, I am taking sweating before the workout even started. I tuned my bike in the garage with no AC, by the time I was done I was soaked! But, that was only the beginning of enjoying the heat.
I am adjusting my training this week as I have a crazy weekend that i can only get one workout in. Over the course of this week it is my intention to get the other workout done and them some! As I get into the heavy build time, the extra training won't hurt me a bit. I am meant to be building so I will likely end up with a few extra miles along the way. As long as I use my recovery days wisely I can only think that it will help.
Today I went out for a long'ish ride in the heat. I spent a little over 3 hours on the bike with a target of staying in ZOne 1-2 even thought the heat was trying to ramp that up all along. The heat did slow me down a bit, however speed was not the strategy of this one. I did just over 90k including a couple of monster hills for fun. The hills were the only time that I got out of my zone, but I did not feel bad as I was able to kick the hills in the butt. The same hills last year, I was taking a break half way up so that I would not bust a lung.
I followed the ride with a 25 minute run, once again focusing on keeping my HR in ZOne 1-2. That was a little more difficult. I did slow my pace to make sure that I managed to stay in the zone. It was a tough run as I my nutrition was off and I started to cramp a bit towards the end. However, a great lesson learned.
As the training get longer, the nutrition plan that I have started is truly going to be tested. When I have a 'bad' session, I treat it as a lesson rather than a negative. It is my own fault that I did not take on enough electrolytes on my ride. Kinda stupid seeing as I had it with me and that I was sweating like a mad man most of the ride. I now know a little more than I did yesterday and had an overall great workout to lead me to it.
That was not the end of workouts though. Tonight is a LULULEMON run club event, so after some water some food and a brief rest, I put my shoes back on and hit the road. With the crazy heat I did shorten the run tonight. The purpose is to promote and build a run community, not to scare off the people who come out by trying to race them in the heat. The group were troupers, they ran at a great pace and managed a strong negative split although it was so hot. Although short another great training session.
As the heat is here I am making the best of it. Why not take advantage of it? Race day will be what race day is. I can control when I get there and what training i have done. I can not control what the weather will be. Wisconsin 3-4 years ago was one of the highest drop out IM rates because of the heat, ideally this can only help me avoid that eventuality should it be a hot day! And, if it isn't, this is only going to make me smarter about my nutrition and stronger with tough training days~!
Hope you are managing to stay cool and enjoying the summer!

That is damn hot!

2010-07-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today is the hottest weather that I have trained in. I have done a few days in heat, but this wins the HOT prize! With the humidity it seemed like 40+C. If I was not training for an event I likely would have done the run first thing in the morning or late at night, but that was not an option today. It was one of the clinics that I lead so the group was coming out and I had to lead my great example. Because of the heat I made a decision to shorten the distance a little so that the group would keep motivated and not burn out. ALthough it was damn hot the group had an awesome run, keeping the same pace that they do on cooler outings. It is a good sign that the training they have done to date is beneficial for them. In exchange for the shorter run today, I introduced some drills for them to try out. Doing ABC's are a tough workout on the best of days, let alone in 40 degree weather. The group that I am training is awesome, they cowboyed up and were 100% committed to kicking the repeats hard. As an intro to drills they rocked, they did them and did them strong from the first to the end! It was great to see them progressing and pushing that hard towards the gaol. It will be awesome to see them all crossing the line in September. I am truly enjoying the challenge of working with them and the extra training that I am getting out of the adventure.
As well as a good run and drills today, I also enjoyed a great swim practice as well. The repeats today were getting longer, they were 500m repeats with 45s rest. Each one of them was effortless and I felt like I was improving as I had a chance to get into a rhythm. That is likely why I enjoy open water swims, it allows me to get into a rhythm and work on technical issues as I don't have to turn around every 25m. Overall the practice was 3500 and it was a strong one, I felt smooth and rested as I made my way through. As I count the days closer the swim is becoming more rewarding as I am feeling the months of training up to this point. Now, I need to take the swim mojo and bring it onto the run course.
I hope your training day rocked, you stayed cool and you found the fun in this crazy sport we chase!

The Redemption Run!

2010-07-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the most perfect days that I can imagine for training. Warm temperature, humidity not out of control, a light breeze and the sun was as bright as it has ever been. The entire day there was not a cloud in the sky to be found! It was amazing!
I started my day today with a pal who is new to cycling. It is great to have someone who sees the passion that so many people share and goes out and jumps on board. What a way to start! Perfect weather, little wind and smiles all along the road as people are so enjoying the summer! As today was a recovery ride it was a great day to get out and get someone started in the awesome sport of cycling. He has made the investment and bought a new bike so I wanted to make certain that he got a good drink of the Kool aid while out on a great first morning ride.
We headed out on a route that was quite flat with very gentle rollers and great scenery along the way. For a new rider I always think about having an environment that shows both the physical fun of a ride as well as the awesome scenery that you can enjoy along the way. The great thing is that the guy is physically fit so we rolled along at about 30km/h for most of the ride. As we rode along I made sure that he was enjoying rolling along and all the things that are great about being on a bike. it seems that he got the bug, he was asking me about tri's and races and when they are so that he could start to consider riding and working towards his first event. I consider that an awesome day and another person into the fold of the awesome sport of tri!
After a great ride I had a run scheduled with the Running/Yoga clinic that I lead. I offer the run as an extra to the sessions that I lead as I know that I am going to go out and do a run at some point. Although this weekend I did my run yesterday, I figure the extra few miles would not hurt me in any way. As I was on my way out I got an email from one of the participants saying they were not coming out as they were at a pool party. Can not blame them as it was such an awesome day! I figured with the great hot weather it might be a thin crowd. Oh yeah it was! It was me! So, I figured I had a couple of choices. Not run and go home and enjoy the day, or run and then go home and enjoy the day! Option 2 was the best one! I did my run so that I could make up for the struggle I had yesterday. I am happy that I made that call. Although it was crazy hot, the run was very productive for me. It help me to determine a little about my HR as I was out in hotter weather, I chose a route with some hills which compounded the benefits of what I was looking to learn. With the heat, I am learning to adjust my pace so that I can keep it at a level that will ideally allow me to continue to move along without hitting the scary wall because of the heat! It was a great run! Stopped along the way and visited LULULEMON to say hi(and get some water), saw all kinds of smiling people enjoying the sun and best of all, redeemed the tough run that I had yesterday with a good result this afternoon!
Overall a great weekend, as the clock continues to tick I must say I loved it. Good training, good mental space and a good feeling of the event that I am working towards!
I hope that all my American friends had a great Independence Day and are looking forward to the day off tomorrow. TO everyone else, I hope your training rocked, your race was a blast and you had time to smile!

an IM nightmare!

2010-07-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

I am a very detailed planner when it comes to tackling new adventures. I study them, plan for potential outcomes, evaluate risks, prepare the required equipment to get it done. Then I prepare in an organized and logical manner to arrive at the most suitable outcome.
The main person I train with tends to do things a little on the other side of the spectrum. He accepts an invitation as he doesn't really want to miss out on what is being done. He moves through the preparation according to the direction of the most educated(maybe not smartest) person taking place in the adventure. He makes his way through not missing any other event that he is invited to. And when the event arrives he tends to want to get there about 3 minutes before it starts as he is to busy getting to all of the other things he has planned.
My plan generally has me relatively well prepared both physically and mentally for the challenges that I choose to attack, his plan generally has him looking forward to the event being done as it means he can move on to the next challenge. It is quite an entertaining existence as we do our training together, most races together and spend a lot of free time with one another s family and friends.
This is the background to my IM nightmare!
I have planned in going down to Wisconsin for my IM on Wednesday of the week of the event. It will give me plenty of time to get my head into the proper space, get registered, do some swim, bike and run. I have friends in the area and I will be able to chill out before what I have to assume will be chaos begins! He thinks that is totally ridiculous to be going down that early. He is suggesting Friday, that way we have Saturday to get organized and race Sunday. It is a 11-12 hour drive from Toronto so getting out of the car and stretching will take some time.
This morning I woke up to the following dream/nightmare in my mind:

Race morning - 30 minutes before the race begins running like a mad man going to find someone who can number me
20 minutes before the race - running back to the hotel to get my bike and put the wheel on then running back to convince someone to allow me to put it in transition
10 minutes before the race - running towards the start without a wetsuit realizing that I am bike shorts and a cotton T-shirt with rain starting to fall
5 minutes before - trying to convince a vendor to sell me a bike jersey although I had no money with me

Then I woke up! Thank god! That is my worst nightmare! Getting to an event that I have planned for an entire year and being late and totally disorganized to the point of failure. It reaffirmed the reasons that I plan and prepare for events the way that I do. Ideally the only challenges that I encounter are the ones out of my control. The others I can deal with if I allow myself time to properly set up.
I was out for a run later in the morning and told my buddy about the dream I woke to, and told him I didn't care what day he went to Wisconsin, I am going on Wednesday! He did get a great laugh about my sleeping adventure.
Training today was a tough one - the weather was as hot as it has been all summer. I had a run to get done. From 10 minutes in I felt like I was dragging lead pipes. So far this season I will say it is the toughest run I have had. The good part of it, because there always is a positive! I completed the run at a decent pace and was able to use it as a good tool to manage HR under adverse conditions. I chose a hillier route in order to challenge myself and I got a ton of benefit out of the run. I finished the run with a freezing cold bath for my legs! OUCH! But what a great feeling, an instant relief from the lead that I was carrying. I am going to use that over the summer, it was recommended by a coach as a tremendous recovery assist.
\Tomorrow is another hot one, suppose to feel like 40 with the humidity, it will be a great character training day! Bring it on! A great ride planned(not to long) as well as another run to keep building!
Happy training to all and for those racing tomorrow, have an awesome day and have fun!

And the fun begins!!

2010-07-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an awesome day for training! The weather was great, I was well rested and had the attitude to go along with it!
I started the day with my traditional Baptiste Power Yoga! It is both a mental training session as well as an awesome hour of stretching and opening up my muscles and body for recovery. I honestly think that I would have likely injured myself along the training journey without this practice. It is one hour of total awesome training to start the day. If time allowed I would likely more often as I truly see the benefits of the practice as part of my training.
Part 2 of the training was turning up the intensity on my running training a bit. I have been doing the intervals and speed work as laid out in my program. However, it is void of any hills. When I have been running and had hills, they have gotten the best of me. So, I have decided to add hill training to my sessions as I know the overall benefits are huge. So, in the greatest day of this summer to date, I got my running shoes on and my HR monitor in hand to go out for a great session. For my first hill session I did 4 repeats of an awesome hill area. Each repeat is likely is more than 500m on a fairly steep incline. It was an awesome session, my HR goes anaerobic and it stays. Mu recovery is great, within 1-2 minutes from the top I am back into Zone1-2 and ready to tackle another. It was a great session, when I got to the 4th repeat I was still able to push the hill at a sub 4:45 pace and not collapse at the top. Overall I am 100% pleased with the hill training as I know that it is a great way to kick up my cardio and my overall run performance. I am looking forward to having this as part of my training for the next few weeks, I know it will contribute to an overall improvement!

Today was another fun day on the training session. As I talked about earlier, yoga is a big part of my training. The yoga that I practice is Baron Baptiste Power Yoga, it has a very loyal and strong following throughout North America. It has taken the traditional yoga and transformed it into an energetic and challenging practice that appeals to our generation of both yogies and athletes. This morning I was invited to a session that was being taught by Baron Baptiste, it was an awesome experience. THe session was attended by 75 people and every person in the room was 100% spent by the end of the session. I likely sweated out about 10lbs in the course of twisting, holding and shaking through a great 90 minute practice. I was grateful to have been invited as one of the few to experience this session. Baron no longer does studio teaching as he spends his time leading training camps and leading new instructors into the practice, so being there was great. The photo shows the room as people were arriving. Imagine a 25' x 25' room with 75 people. Each time you did a pose it was a body contact session with others around you. If you have a Baptiste Yoga studio near your home, try it, give it a chance you will see a great opportunity to add it to your training.
I did also attempt an open water swim today, but 48F, NO WAY! I froze my ankles helping the spotter put the boat in the water. Try gain tomorrow.
To all the American blog world, have a wicked Independence Weekend! Enjoy your friends, family and training.