Once there was a fat guy....

What I am talking about......Well, my post tonight must start with a big congratulations to Bryan Payne who set a PB at the 70.3 World's today.  If you have read his blog,  http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com  you will know why I have names todays' blog as I have.  It is awesome to see that someone makes a decision and has a dream.  And with outstanding determination goes all the way and makes it a reality. Awesome race today Bryan, an inspiration to the rest of the once fat guys out there!!!!

Today was a day of other inspirations as well!  I was at a function today to launch the 2009-10 ski season.  It is always a pleasure to be with other ski enthusiast and to share my passion with them as we head into the winter season.  Many athletes look at the winter as the cold snowy time to train.  No, not me...it is the time of year to train after an awesome day of skiing and being able to share my passion for the sport teaching and coaching.  It makes the tun afterwards a pleasure and no matter how cold a lot of fun.  At todays event, Chris Rudge, the chair of the Canadian Olympic Committee came out and spoke with us.  In his presentation he talked about the  commitment in Canada to be the best, the quest for the podium and not accepting anything but the top.  In the context of his presentation he talked about many athletes who have worked for years with the goal of the Olympics in mind.  With the games in Canada this winter, the dreams are set to be realized.  Canada and the athletes have worked together to reach for the dream and not allow anything to deter the road towards the ultimate that had been imagined.  As ac country at the elite level, a no holds barred nothing will set me back attitude had produced one of the best groups that Canada or the world has seen in years.  He showed a presentation that was given in the contecxt o the recent PANAM games bid in which Toronto was successful.  It presented a kid with a dream and followed his lifetime commitment to achieve it!  I look forward to watching the games this year and seeing Canada accomplish the best!  
I have been inspired in the past couple of weeks with repeated examples of individuals accomplishing the impossible, reaching the dream!  Brian Stemmle who would not accept anything but the top, our current winter Olympic team made up of athletes that have spent a lifetime getting to the start line, IM friends who trained and have realized the apparent impossible, and many other cyber space 'friends' who are about to reach the impossible goals they have set.  Some of you may be familiar with ROAD ID.  It is a safety organization that makes up safety wrist bands that you wear with emergency contact info.  On the tag is a space to put an inspirational statement that represents you .  On my band, before having the pleasure of seeing such inspirational speakers and world class performances, my statement on my band is "LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS".
Thank you to all of the people that I have heard and witnessed this week.  More that ever you have proven that nothing is impossible, if you believe in something, dream that you can do it......the only thing stopping you is yourself!
LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS!!!!!  (otherwise life will get a little boring!)
Cheers!

LIFE IS GOOD

Those who know me are familiar with the title of my blog today!  I likely have a dozen pieces of clothing and my outlook on life is exactly that way!  As the Life IS GOOD slogan says, 'Do what you love, Love what you do', living with this being a  motivating principle makes each day another one to enjoy.

This evening we were at a the grand opening party for POWER YOGA  CANADA.  Over the past week i have talked about how cool it has been to practice at the studio.  Tonight's opening celebration was a moment to appreciate the LIFE IS GOOD motto and seeing someone who is living their dream.  Kindli and Pauline are the girls who have studied Baptiste Power Yoga and made a choice to chase the dream of having their own studio.  Hearing them speak this evening was great as it served as a further inspiration that living for your dreams is the best way to start each day.  They have a great studio, a clientele that has followed their practice and now  as they wake up each morning, it is to continue the dream that they had of having a studio of their own.  I wish them the best of luck and I look forward to continuing to practice with them and seeing the studio grow.
Tonight's event was a great way to end what has been a very good week.  I had another great week of training with good workouts each day culminating this evening with a good brick workout.  I enjoyed each of my workouts and can feel the benefit of the time that I am committing to date.  With another 308 days I should continue to progress well.   One of the other benefits to all of this training is how well I am sleeping.  I go to bed and no sooner than my head hits the pillow I am out.  With the progress that I am enjoying to date, I now need to get take some energy from it and use it to motivate me to start some weight training.    I would like to get some base training in now as it will benefit me later.  When I start my full program in March, weight training is a big part of the program, a bit of head start would get me going!
Another part of the week that I have enjoyed is seeing Bryan from http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com being down at the World Championships.  It is cool to see another individual who had a dream reaching it because he believed in it and applied himself.  His week was exciting with the temporary loss of his bike by the airline.  With that problem solved and the clock ticking, in less than 12 hours he will be on his bike somewhere along the road, making his family, other Canadian and himself proud of his accomplishments!  Way to go Bryan, have an awesome race!
Tomorrow we are heading up to Collingwood to get our chalet set up for the ski season.  We are also going to go to the club and do an orientation session for the start of the season.  It will be great to catch up with everyone that we have not seen in all summer.  Going up north is always great as well as it is the beginning of the ski season which always excites me!
Well, like most nights around this time I must pack it in!  Need some sleep as one of the things that going up north does require, is me dragging my butt out of bed a little early tomorrow.  Have a great friday night and dont ever forget.....Live for your Dreams!

Another day another workout.....

This has been another inspirational week on the training schedule.....oops, I am not training I am 'exercising' as it is off season!  But, yeah it has been a great week!
This week I took time to A) workout  B) breath  C) reflect on the lucky life I lead  D) appreciate others E) respect the friends that I enjoy and the races they are about to start shortly......I think this gives a general idea of how great week it has been.  A lot is happening that makes me stop from time to time and appreciate how lucky we are!
Today was a day that helped me appreciate some of the race time tension that may happen.  Bryan who is in Clearwater at the 70.3 World Champion kinda lost his bike.  He got to FL yesterday and Southwest could not find his bike.  I know I would have likely flipped, but it is not me down there.  After 12'ish hours of stress his bike did show up and he was able to get out on a great relaxing ride.  I am thrilled for him as he is able to relax and focus on his huge accomplishment this weekend! Good luck Bryan and have fun!
Another exciting part of the day, my training partner and good friend Hugh got into a small accident on his way to the airport in SC. It seems that it wasnt to bad as he was able to make his flight.  Lucky for him the US marshall was very cool and helped him make his flight on time.  And, he did come out to the pool with me this afternoon for a good training swim.

My swim today was great.  Most of them are great. Each time I am at the pool and think it is tough I think back to the beginning of the summer when I could not swim 100m.  Now I am able to knock off 2000m without being in a desperate gasp for breath.  A litttle bit of work and a lot of mindset seems to be able to kncok off some major accomplishments.  I look forward to continuing the training and hope that it only gets easier as I continue to focus on where I am right now!
This morning, contrary to everything my brain tells me to do, I got up and went to YOGA.  Think about this for a minute, 6AM, get out of bed, put on clothes to workout and head off to a Yoga studio.  Anything wrong yet, then.....guess what, it is 630 AM dont forget, and I am asked to bend over and touch my toes.....hey, do you know I have not had coffee yet, now stretch and twist.....dont get me wrong, I am really enjoying it....just not accepting the fact that it is 630AM.  The net result is an awesome class and a truly spiritual start to the day!  In a very short while I have gained a discipline in going to yoga.  It have learned how to relax a bit, focus on the pose that I am completing and allowing myself to relax.  I have learnt to breath, hnmmmm, maybe I will try while i am running and swimming, it seems to work for me! I think overall it is a great discipline to continue as it will help me all round!
well, guess it is that time, I want to run in AM and I need to excessive sleep.  So, all my friends who are at races, kick some IRONMAN asss!  All those who are tapering, taper, you deserve and have trained for where you are and its race time!  You will have an awesome race and another notch on the bed post! Cheers

Dont forget who got me here....

As Remembrance Day(Memorial Day for US friends) is coming to a close, I spent some time reflecting about the world around me today and how privileged we are.  Many of our grand parents sacrificed their lives for our freedom.  Many of our friends are currently on the front lines doing the same thing, so that we can carry on and live our lives peacefully and chase our dreams.  I also took a little time today while I was not thinking about myself and my next workout or training frustration and thought about how lucky I am to have an awesome wife who supports me 100% through the ups and downs of the privileged dream I get to chase.  Thank you to all those who have allowed us to live in freedom today, and to my awesome wife and friends for putting up with this self absorbed world of IRONMAN!  The picture below is a Trish an I on our first anniversary.  She is a champ, as someone who had no aspirations of doing more than her daily 5k, this is a photo of her and I on our first anniversary after completing the Toronto 1/2 Marathon!  (still trying to convince her to do a marathon, don't think so)

I have been reading a few friends and others bloggers notes the past couple of days.  IM friends who are off to Clearwater and other late season races in the next short while.  I want to wish them all awesome races and hope that you enjoy the fruits of your long hard training.  Enjoy the road you will travel and remember to have fun!  As I read about everyone heading off to races, I am still not cluing in to the fact that my day will be here in less than a year.  Sounds  a little ridiculous to even be thinking about it, but, a lesson I learnt from all the others is that it will be hear in no time.  It interesting being in 'off season' but being concerned about getting miles in and workouts finished so that I am ready.  What I am doing now is seemingly bonus work, and I really should not be doing a whole lot of it.  So, today I decided as I am planning the training from now until the end of the year that I will include a couple of days that are 'dont forget to have an extra beer' training days!  Next summer is going to be to consuming, so what the hell, I have time and I am in decent shape now, relax!
On that note, I had an awesome run this afternoon.  Started the afternoon with a swim drill practice to blow off some post work stress.  Great practice time, pool was mostly empty and with no training partners it kept the pool time to focused technical training.  I put in about 1500-1600 m knowing that I was heading out for a run afterwards.  After the practice I had to scream home to get ready for my run.  I had an appointment for some ART to try and cure and recurring and nagging hamstring knot.  for the last month i cant seem to get the knot out of the very top of my hamstring.  So, I figured before it becomes something else I would get it addressed.  So, I put on my shoes and headed out to run to my appt.  I was late so it served as a great reason to have to pick up the pace today.  I am generally a 5:30/k runner, today I ran a 5:10 and felt great doing it,  my HR stayed at 162 which is great considering last night I did a tempo run at 5:23 with the same HR.  I did discover in analyzing the 2 runs one of the differences.  Last night I ran with an iPod.    NO MORE!  I find it a distraction and I lose focus.  It seems as the music changes so does my rhythm, so, problem solved, I will listen to music after my run! My ART session was a grueling pleasure and I believe it will provide results.  I now have a series of exercises to complete twice a day in order to get the knot loosened up and to strengthen the muscle I have not been using as a result.  I hope this all translates into continued improvements!!
My plan for the next few days is to plan out my race sched for next season.  As Race A is IM, I am going to consider all other races C.  That being said, I want to use the early races to get myself into the frame of mind mentally.  Work on getting my head to the start line without being a bundle of nerves so that I can get on the road focused on racing and not calming down.  With the swim being my weakness, starting calm will be important.  Most of all though it they will be a part of my training and not to work to set any PB.  Go out and have some fun and get into the race spirit.
After a great day I am heading off to get some rest. I have a decent workout day planned tomorrow, short run in AM, Yoga to keep stretching and then another swim practice tomorrow.
All you people about to race.....take a deep breath, enjoy the place that you have trained so hard to get to and run a proud race!  Cheers and Good luck~!

Why the heck do we want to chase the IM dream.....

I want to start my post today by wishing Bryan Payne a huge good luck and great fun on his accomplishment in reaching this weekends 70.3 World Championship! Bryan , you have served in motivating me(and likely many others) in watching your commitment and your drive.  Be proud and have an absolutely awesome race and great time!  I look forward to hearing all about your adventure via http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com  and getting together at your re-intro to beer and birthday night!  Good luck and have fun!!!
Well, meeting someone like Bryan as well as all of the other IM's and endurance athletes is why I chase the IM dream.  I wake up a lot of days feeling like a sack of hammers.  The odd day it is self induced because I did to good a job at rehydrating after a good workout, others, well.... because I dont want to get out of bed to do a workout.  Then, I take a minute and think about how good it feels when I am done that workout.  Hey...it is still a struggle to get my asz out of bed to get it done, but, I visualize what I will feel like in 2 hours and start my journey!  Three steps into the workout and the world seems to become a better place.  I find a new energy and motivation in the workout that I have the continued chase towards the IM finish line.  If it was an easy thing to always find this motivation, everyone would be an Ironman!  
Each day I spend a little time educating myself about the adventure I have chosen  I speak with other athletes, I study nutrition, talk to other coaches, spend time mental training and visualizing.  Each time I complete one of those steps I get more excited about crossing the finish line.  Having the privilege to be able to get up each morning and train for this insanity is a privilege.  The fact that my wife puts up with me going for another workout is beyond reason.  The fact that I can do those things pushes me to do it the best that I can!

Today was a great training day.  I get back from work today after sitting in the car almost all day in traffic.  I had to visit a couple of customers and as luck would have it they were in the direction of traffic.  After a couple of days off(sunday was an actual rest day, yesterday's workout was completed on ski simulator) I was ready for a good workout.  I headed out for a Zone 4 run.  Yes, short but hard.  I did just under 6k with my heart rate over 160.  Doesn't sound like a lot, but it did hurt.  Felt great to finish the run.  With my new training zones set, my tempo and speed workouts have kicked up a bit in intensity. It is great to know that busting my hump for a while now will give great results by spring time.  After a few short weeks of changing how I train I have already started to feel the changes.  The HR is proof, my overall performance had increased and the HR has dropped in the process.  Yay!  Hope it keeps going that way!
I finished my day today with another awesome POWERYOGACANADA workout.  I am telling you, if you have not done it yet, call me, drop by for dinner and we will go and do it(gym is around corner from my house)  This is my 3rd workout in a 1 1/2 and I am gaining strength as well as stronger focus and breathing control.   It is also a fun place to be, relaxing, Pauline and Kindli and great, and all the staff from  Lululemon Oakville were visiting, it was like a party!  Another great benefit is that I am actually almost at the point that I can touch my toes. Hmmm....there is a good thing.  Four months ago, 30 pounds, a bag of Doritos and a beer, yeah, I was living a healthy life.  It is amazing how quickly I have come to enjoy being healthy as a direction to follow rather than a bet of a fad.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about it.  Talk to a couple of my friends, I can talk you into starting and I am great at motivating you to continue!
I had a crazy day today and seem to be jumping all over in my blog! I will stop the confusion now and go and get some sleep!
Bryan have a great race!!
And everyone else, dont ever stop chasing your dreams!!!!

Living the dream.....

One of my more frequent responses when I am asked how I am doing in he course of a crazy day......I tell them 'living the dream"  Today was one of those days!!  From the moment the morning started with our first conference call I felt like I was running after myself trying to catch up.  The day gradually became even more chaotic.  THEN, instead of being able to go out for a swim or a run the relax, I sat in a board room for a board meeting that went was off course and lasted for 3.5 hours.  You know what.....in a past life that may have got the best of me......but, NO!  Life is too darn short and tomorrow will be another day. One where I am lucky enough to wake up, talk to my loving wife and head off to a fruitful job walking on my own feet! I consider myself lucky to have the ability to see that side of a bad day, otherwise life would be a tough thing to deal with each morning.
I did get to try out a very cool ski simulator this afternoon.  The machine replicates the forces of skiiing unlike anything I have been on in the past.  When you put your ski on edge and hold it there, just like on snow you build up pressure under the ski and get a great rebound.  It allows you to replicate the technical aspects of skiing in the same manner you would on a ski hill and to deal with the same forces that are generated as a result.  As a ski instructor and coach, this is a tremendous tool to  focus on areas of improvement and complete repetition in a controlled environment.  It was very cool to be skiing in November even though not on snow!   Another great discovery today was the physical condition and how it has paid off.  I was on the machine for 20 minutes, same as a couple of others.  Sure, i did work up a good sweat, however, no leg burn to talk of.  That hopefull will be the same on the ski hill this winter, will result in some great overall improvement.  Only 3 more weeks and we are hopefully off to Mt Trembalnt for a couple of days to get the real season started.  I am looking forward to being on snow!
Well, 530 is going to come along before I know it, so, short night and off to get some rest!
Happy training!

Inspired by an Olympian!!!

A day late getting my weekend fun up here on the blog, and for good reason.  Had a great day yesterday at the Canadian SKi INstructors Alliance Proffesional Development day.  Had the opportunity to spend the day with some of Canada's leading pro's in skiing, equipment, training and many other facets of the great sport of skiing!!  The icing on the cake came with the key note speaker for the day.  As Canada is hosting the Olympics this year, and the mens alpine ski team is peaking at what seems to be a perfect time, the keynote was an abundantly appropriate speaker for the day.  In teh 80-90's Canada enjoyed a dominance on the World Cuip ski circuit with the gang know as the Crazy Canucks.  They inspired, generations of future athletes to reach for the podium to put Canada on the map.  One of those athletes and our keynote speaker was Brian Stemmle.  For those of you who dont know him, here is the Coles notes version of his ski career.  He was on the Canadian Ski team for more than 10 years, finally retiring in 1999.  Over his career he was always in the top seed against world competition.  ALong with  his teamates was well respected and a tough competitor.  At a race in 1989 in Kitzbuel, Austria(the Kona of ski racing, the SuperBowl event) Brian was skiing a fearless and lightning fast race, unitl he started to lose control.  Now imagine this......150km per hour, -5 degree celcius, on a hill that you could barely stand on it is so steep and you start heading for the trees....holy cr^$%^!!!  Brian lost control and flew into the fence.  He finished what is still regarded as one of the most spectacular wipeouts about 400m down the hill.  He was lifted off the hill be helicopter and brought to Insbruck Austria to a leading hospital where he was put into an induced coma.  His pelvis was chattered with internal beelding out of control.  One night he receveid 26 blood transfusions, his family flew in from Canada to be by his side. His father asked the doctor if Brian might walk again, at which time the doctor answered that his chance of living would be 50%.  here is where the inspirational part of the story begins.....
Being a committed  pro athlete who has aspired to be at the top, Brian was not willing to let the world go by him.  From the moment he woke from his coma, he began his return.  His early victories were in being able to lift his head, over weeks and months he graduated to walking and the progress continued.  As Brian 'trained' and fought against the odds given to him he reflected on the uinfinished business that he had.  He had been to 3 Olympics, but no medals were in hand.  He was determined to go and finish what he had started.  One day he was reading a magazine which had a photo of the Gold medal for the Nagano Olympics.  On that day, he cut out the photo and put it in his pocket.  For the next six months that photo would always, always be with him.  In the gym, at the movies, eating dinner....no matter what hte photo made the trip into his pockets and would work with him towards the goal.  He spent countless hours completing the gruelling physical training required, time and time again visualizing himself on the race course skiing a perfect run, mentally preparing himself for a return as the dominant skier on the hill under the Olympic rings. 
IN February 1998 Brian was at the Nagano Olympics.  On the night before the race the coaches completed a draw for race numbers.  The lower the number the better off you are(usually the winner is always in a number of 15 or lower)  Brian got number 30, undeterred he headed off for his pre race prep.  His lucky day, race was cancelled due to weather.  At the rescheduled race there is another draw for numbers, number 30 again, oh well, he headed off confidently.  Winter has a special way of not cooperating, the race was cancelled again and reschduled for friday February 13.  This time he got number 20 as a start. 
On race day at the top, more than 50% of the first racers blew off the course.  Brian watches a helicopter carry one man off the hill in the same way that he had been carried off years earler.  His months of training, his mental preparation and his commitment to reach his goal gave him the strength and confidence to get in the gate unfazed by everything that was taking place.  The first guy down was still in the lead when Brian stepped up to the start.  The lead racer was almost celebrating at this time as it was against all odds he would be beaten.  3-2-1....Brian pushed out of the gate.....down the first steep pitch towards the corner that was eating all of the racers ahead of him....he blasts through the corner to the first intermedaite time....he is 8/100th of a second ahead....he flies through the course to the next time check....he is now 37/100th of  a second ahead(races are won and lost in 1/100 of a second)....he is flying down and poised to win his dream.  The commentators who are supposed to be objective are cheering for him....and then.....he hits a compresion bump and loses control off course.......
His months of determination and training and quest for his dream gone in an instant....or was it.....

As Brian talked about yesterday. he had a dream.  Life through obstacles at him which were seemingly insurmountable....his life almost taken from him in his quest.  It never let him lose site of the dreams he had set for himself. 
It is a great reminder for all of us.....we choose to do what we do for our own reasons.  As we head off on our individual journeys we are distracted by the world around us.  We allow those distraction to take over and make our dreams seem impossible to accomplish! 
Life is about reaching out, finding and  realizing the challenges that are in front of us.  It has its way of trying to deter us from reaching those challenges by throwing the unexpected in front of us.  Never, let the unexpected deter you from reaching your goal or dream.  We should accept it as a learning experience on the continued journey we are on and use the moment  to further enforce our desire to see our dreams to realization!
LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS!  it may be a tough journey with some challenging and unhappy moments, but, you will grow along the way, make some  awesome friends, provide strength in your family life and most of all, you will learn every step along the way you are living your dreams! 

Thank you Brian Stemmle for an awesome and inspirational story.  I hope as an aspiring IRONMAN I and all other Ironamn athletes can learn from your resolve and move with more commitment that ever in our quest for the finish line.