A little tired training!

So, it appears that although I am not hobbling from my race on Sunday, I might have a little residual hurt hanging on!  What? Well, today I swam, ran and yoga'd and some of it was a little thougher than usual!
Over the course of each week I am adding a couple of short runs for the run clubs that I am leading.  They are casual quality miles from my perspective, usually running in low HR Zone1 for nothing more that 6k.  I consider that good base miles, heck I could put on more miles walking around the block if I was going to the store.  But, on top of training and the race, it made for a strenuous workout today.
My swim today was a 3500m technique day.  It was made up of a lot of 50 and 100m repeats with almost no rest.  Each repeat had a length and a drill aspect to it.  As I started out it wasn't to bad, the warm up was a straight 400 which was a breeze.  Then the repeats kicked in the main set. It isn't bad doing them, but as they piled on today I started to tucker out a bit. It is a crazy feeling though, as I got tired I became even more focused o the technique and improved my times.  I guess I am a sucker for punishment, so it was a hard practice but a fun one.  Overall if was god, 3500m in about 1h11m After the practice today, I was talking with a friend of mine about the progress since last September.  Doing a swim today that is less than 1500m seems like a bit of a waste of time. Back a few months ago, a swim of 1500m was a reason to go and celebrate, finishing that kind of swim was a PB for me every time.  It is a great victory for me as figuring out how to swim was the catalyst to signing up for IRONMAN.
I did have the swim idiot story today. As every pool does there is the assigned lanes according to your speed.  Usually we end up in the faster lane as most of the people swimming are floating along doing the lanes they probable have done every day for 20 years since they retired.  It is fairly apparent where you should swim, slow in slow fast in faster.  NO, not this lady.  As I came to the end of the pool, she was standing there, I figured she was waiting to wait until I pushed off.  NO, next time I came down the lane, she was doing the dog paddle down the centre of the lane!  What the heck.  I was patient and kept going around her, for a while. Then when she almost kicked me in the teeth, I had to say something!  I dont like pushing her of, but have some common sense, there are 3 people motoring down a lane, figure it out!
My run clinic tonight was a blast!  the weather was awesome, the sun as shining and everyone was in a great mood!  As we started out 3rd week, the group has all shown good progress and is moving forward.  Almost all of them finshed the miles that were set out to complete on their own time, and they are looking forward to the race in the spring.   Two if them have committed to the 1/2marathon and are putting in the miles and drills.  It will be an awesome feeling to support them across the line!
Following the run today, was the Yoga practice, it was a killer!
Usually they are tough and a good workout, today was exceptionally challenging!  I guess it was ht past few days piled on.  Although it was a tough day it is still such a therapeutic part of my week.  I leave hte class feeling stretched and truly refreshed!  A great deal of my stretching is now made up of yoga poses. They are far more dynamic and stretch my full body along with the specific area that I am focused on.
Tomorrow is another crazy day for both work and training, so bed time it is!  Happy training and enjoy hte evening!  Cheers

Bring it on.....

This morning was a second day of post race hobbling!  Not near as bad as yesterday, but some pain to be noted!  I love that feeling as I know that it means good things are happening.  All I know is I am happy that I worked out yesterday as it helped to get the blood flowing and help out in the recovery.  Today was another day to push some limits and get this machine into fighting shape.
Although I was ready, willing and able to get ready for the bike, I felt it was going to be a push as it is my quads that are shouting at me.  But, I have never been a person to let a little obstacle stop me.  Todays workout was 1 hour on the trainer, this week a little more push in the HR zones than last week.  here is what it looked like:
Warm up:  15 minutes w/ single leg drills
Main: 2 x 20s each leg 40 second both legs
2 x 30 seconds each leg, 30 seconds both legs
2 x 40 seconds, 40 seconds both legs
2 x 50 seconds each leg, 50 seconds both legs
ALL IN SMALL RING >80RPM
4 x 5 min as:
2 min big gear seated <80RPM
1 min fast spin>100RPM
2 min big gear standing
ALL AT High HR2 with 2 minute easy spin after each set
Cool: 10-15 easy spin
The single leg drills are new for me, I learnt that I need to put a good focus on that training.  Although my cycling doesnt suck, I am certain that this will push it further forward with some focus.  Here are my stats for the ride:
Avg SP: 34kmh
Avg Watt: 215
Avg HR: 148
CAD: 79
Time: 1 hr
Distance: 34k
Overall I felt it was a good workout.  On a 1-10 perceived effort, I would rate it at about a 7.  I am not giving it 100% as yet as, 1) still recovering from weekend 2) I have 23 weeks of this and do not need to be a hero today to prove anything, or get hurt trying to push it for no particular reason.  There will be a lot of time to push hard in the coming weeks.  Over all the workout was very satisfying, I did leave a good puddle under the bike.  The TACX trainer I got over the winter is awesome for this training.  It gives me all the data that I could want to use as I do the rides.  It will serve as a great benchmark for me as I work through the training. I have no regrets with the investment.
Following my good ride today, I headed out to Lululemon for one the weekly run clubs that I host.  The store is awesome and has a very enthusiastic following.  The miles that I am doing are extra miles and are good quality build miles at a slow pace.  We generally run a 6 min/k and I spend my time getting the people in the group to push themselves a little.  Tonight I also let them all know that I have an expectation of them.  Next week they are to all show up with a goal race to share with others.  I feel that this is the best way to get them all to be on board and to invest in the run that they come out to each week.  It was received with enthusiasm.  So next week we will all spend part of our run sharing our goals with others and making each other accountable to those goals.  It is a great community and they will all reach towards the goal together.  The runs that they set will be a blast, as they will all be together to push other forward!  The evening was a lot of fun running and working with the group.  Some of them are now going to come out and join us on the weekend runs and other events that we do.  Slowly I am building my own run community to help to move towards goals, after a short while the groups are already joining together and building momentum.  As I work towards my IM goal, this is a great satisfaction and motivation for me as well. I would love nothing more than to see 20 people get to  start line and finish their first race.  It would be a successful season for many!
Looking forward to another good workout day!  time for some rest to get read for it!  Cheers

Where to start?!

It has been a few busy days since I have been able to blog, but a few awesome days it has been! I have done so much stuff, I can't figure out where to begin.  Let me begin by reiterating the purpose of this blog is to capture this experience in as much detail for future reference and entertaining reflection.  If I tend to babble on about stuff, too bad, some day I will enjoy what I wrote and there is a purpose behind it!  I guess I will try and recap the last few days in a chronological time frame so that I ideally get it all in.
Thursday has been my usual day of exercise excess with my usual 5am run followed by Yoga and then the rest of the day's events.  Last Thursday our run was off as everyone had other lat night commitments thte night before.  When the alarm went off for Yoga, I decided to hit snooze.  WHAT?  not do Yoga?  Well I am one to listen to my body and to respect what I have in front of me.  I knew that Thursday was a run(sprints) and run club, a 3500m swim, weigths as well as an evening Yoga class that I was hosting as part of my run club.  So rather than be a hero, I figured I would grab an extra hour of sleep to get me set for the day.
My swim on Thursday was great!  I had not done a long swim in quite a while, putting in some lengths felt great to do.  It was an awesome balance of drills and speed with a gradual and aggressive throughout the whole practice.  It was quite satisfying as I finished with steam in the engine and not burned out from the gradual build of the week.  I suppose it was a good thing as I had a couple more workouts to go.  So from the pool I headed into the gym(the new Y membership is great) for my 'first' official IM weights!  It was a good workout.  Following the structure they have given is positive and has a good full body.  I do think I will modify a bit to hit some more specific areas while keeping the intensity that is set out.  I have several books on run, bike , swim anatomy that provide a ton of good exercises for areas that should have focus.  I am going to use a couple of them in order to do some preventative stuff to protect from a couple of old injuries.  I have a lot of weeks doing weights so it should work well!  My goal is to build both a balanced and appropriate strength balance over this period.  A little weights combined with the push up challenge should add a little strength to the overall equation.  My weights for my 'first' resistance workout called for only 1 set with lighter weight.  even though it was only 1 set the workout is still 30+ minutes.  Overall it is a good effort and I could feel the whole body having been out to work.  I did my push up challenge during this workout, hhhmmmm.....maybe not so smart, it killed me!  But workout one was done and I was feeling an accomplishment.
After the Y part of the day, it was time to head out to Lululemon to lead the weekly run club.  I thought that I would combine my run club with my required workout for the evening.  As soon as I arrived, I left while others were gathering in order to get my warmup done.  It was a sub 5min/k run of 3km to get the blood flowing.  The run for the evening was 6k with 45 second sprints every 2-3 minutes.  I thought I could go out with the group, do the run and add my sprints.  It worked out well.  I did them as planned and after each sprint circles back to run with the group again.  The sprints were great.  It was my first intro back into and intensity in my training.  It has been a productive winter, but for the most part 'lazy' as far as any intensity goes.  The run was a great success!  After the run club I invited a Yoga instructor to join us to complete a short run focused practice that lent itself well to runners.  WOW, what a relief.  After a failrly intense day, it was a treat to be able to do a good focused 45 minute session loosening up and spending some time collecting the days efforts.  I have to say I felt like a million $$ following the class.  Thursday was one of the best workout days that I have spent in a long time.  The time spent the intensity and the quality were awesome.
My pln for Friday, which was a scheduled rest day was to get in my long ride that was supposed to be on Saturday.  The weekend was busy as I was MC'ing a season end ski event and doing my run clinic in the morning.  WIth Friday as on an off day I figured I could knock it off and have more time on Saturday.  Well, Friday morning proved to show me why I had a scheduled off day.  I woke up and I was sore!!  Yep, first time in a long time since I felt that way!  LOved it, a great reminder of what it feels like to be getting into 'fighting' shape!  So, like the training plan says, I took the day off!  So I ran around like a fool getting all my work done for the day.  As I have been invited to be on TEAM RUNNING FREE I spent the afternoon as a race expo with other team mates.  Around the Bay(Americas oldest running race) was held on Sunday and I was there to help out.  It worked out well as I needed to pick up my race packet for the event.  Over all the day was awesome.  I did get some needed rest for a day and enjoyed the excitement of a race event.  I spent Friday evening at the Raptors basketball game, it was a great game(even though they blew it in the last quarter).
Saturday turned out to be an action packed day!  I started the morning hosting my run clinic. It was dame cold after a few days of warm weather, but after 5 minutes it is all warm again!  After my run I had to drive 2 hours north to my event. I still needed to get my ride in, so I packed all my gear and my bike and started the trek!  I figured out if I got there fast enough, I could do some intro's, and while the first couple of events were taking place I could get a ride in for 1:15 minutes.  It was a little less than the 2 in the program, but excusable as I was going to to a 3 hour run on Sunday instead of the 1 hour on the program.  So off I went into the sunny day for my ride.  Someone told me there was no wind, yeah right!  I headed south into a straight head wind for the first 20k of my ride(all uphill as well).  It was a grind but, a good bike ride will always have a grind so I loved every minute of it!  It was also better than having to sit indoors for the ride on my trainer.  The day worked out well!  I finished my ride, finished my event and managed to get home for 7pm to get ready for the race the next day.  I am particular when it comes to pre-race prep.  I like to have my stuff out and organized and enjoy my routine breakfast!  So being home by 7 allowed me to be set for the day!
I had a good rest and was up and ready to go for the race bright and early.  I had never done the race before so was not familiar with the scene.  It was a great race to be at.  The finish line of the race is in a hockey arena which is a cool finish to a race. I had planned on doing the race at a 2:45 pace.  This is a new pace for me. My last distance race was at a 6min/k pace and it was 4 years ago.  I have done one long run, 21k this winter  Otherwise my runs have all been 8-10k and twice a week. I have done quite a bit of short distance but not proper training for this event.  So off I went with teh 2:45 pace bunny!  A few minutes into the event I thought it was a little much, as this was supposed to be a slow run and a training day of 1 hour, I should have been taking it easy.  I thought I might drop back a take it easy!  After  few more minutes, I figured out that I was feeling OK and that I would run it out.  SO I trotted along and enjoyed the day.  The course is great, but the second half is all hills.  The last hill was especially fun, someone told me it is nicknamed suicide hill!  The race was a great one for me.  Although I did cramp up in the last 4k, I managed to get enough Gatorade in me to get it done.  I stopped my watch at 2:41.  That was an awesome result for me, although I have never done the race, it is a 30+ second per KM improvement for a distance race for me.  I felt great knowing that all the cross training and work from the winter have been of benefit at an early point in the season. Although I had completed a great result, it was a little against what I was supposed to do.  And I have to say, I was already getting stiff from the run.   Oh well, a little pain will only be future gain.
Monday AM proved to be quite an adventure.  The little sore I was feeling on Sunday was now a good old hurt!  OUch!  I guess that is what running a little faster than I am used to will get me!  So I hobbled out to the office.  It was a productive day at the office, but all I could think about was the fast that I had a swim in hte afternoon.  OUch, I was sure it was going to hurt like hell!  Too bad, I would have it suck it up!  As soon as I got into the water, I was relieved.  Although I felt a little better than the morning, I did still hobble to the pool deck.  As soon as I started to to swim the 'pain' left me.  I had a great swim!  It was short, 2000m but I did not feel like the practice was held back at all because of my run!  So, I did my 2000m with a smile on my face and a relief that I did not have slow down or cut back!
So, the last 5 days have been awesome.  I have knocked down my first week of IM training!  I felt some pain, covered some miles, did all my workouts and a little bit more.  I have finished my fisrt week with a smile on my face and the knowledge that I am going to get stronger.  I did learn that at some point this is going to hurt!  But, that is only a good thing!  As always, this is one fun adventure and I look forward to the next 23 weeks!  Wahoo!  Cheers!

What a busy day!

Mother Nature is in a great mood today and has given us another beautiful sunny day. It sure makes the day go by wonderfully. As I sit in my car waiting for an event, the temp is 14c(don't know what that is in American) let's just say it is great! Kind of wish I had a ride scheduled today so that I could enjoy it. I am staying loyal to my program, if every time I had an urge to workout I would be smoked in no time.
Workouts today consisted of a 3500 m swim practice. Today I actually was able to use my arms. As a couple of people indicated, my kicking workout would be beneficial, and it was. Hard to believe one focused kick workout and there is a different feel. Most of the practice today focused on stroke technique and lengths. Although it was listed as 'stroke' I took the liberty of using drills to get further improvement. Overall I found the session to be great. My adjusted time for my 10s breaks was just under 1:13, a total time of 1:20. I was quite happy with that. I figured out that this week will see me complete a total of 8+km of pool time. As it is an area that I can use the practice, I love it. I finally broke down today and bought a membership at the Y. I figured out that paying per visit was eventually going to break me. At 3 swims per week, plus weights at least twice it would add up to over $100 per month. So as much as I am not big on belonging to a gym, the choice made sense. The staff chuckled as I did it. They have seen me pay my $5 for so long I think they probably had wagers on when I would break down.
Since Monday I have been tracking my nutrition, what a great process to complete. You learn very quickly how under nourished you truly become as you workout. I always thought a ate quite a bit, but apparently I need to eat a little more. Next week I am sending my log into Fuel your Passion for an analysis, it will be interesting to see what she comes back with. In the meantime, I am going to keep doing what I am doing and top it off to try and stay at an even weight. It is far to early in the process to lose any more weight. My goal is to get my BMI down to 16-17 as the summer progresses, as I start doing more resistance and more workouts, it should be doable!
This evening I am off to a Team Running Free season launch event. I mentioned a while back I was selected to be part of the team for this season. It is great to be a part of this group. It is an opportunity to feed of the energy of a lot of like minded individuals as we head into the summer. As well it provides me some great opportunities to feed the requirements for gear for this crazy sport. Tonight is a cool night, all the gear manufacturers are here presenting their latest and greatest for this year. It is a good chance to learn some new tech stuff to share with others in the run club and clinics. As a gear nerd I am looking forward to this. A bonus is many chances to be the person who tests this gear for them this season, never a thing wrong with a little free gear!
Off to my little party to schmooze with other athletes and reps! Hope your day was awesome!
Cheers and happy training!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

I have to bottle this high!

Somehow I know at some point a few weeks down the road, I am going to want to read these posts as they are so full of energy and positive spirit. I wish I could put some of how I am feeling into a jar to drink it later!
My day was awesome once again.  I guess I could find fault in it, I had an early morning workout schedule, but chose to stay in bed!  No, I did not blow it off, just readjusted the timing a bit!
At the end of a decently productive day at work, I came home for my first formal bike trainer workout.  My program ramps me up in a logical manner so it wasn't stupid hard or insanely long, but it is one that keeps you honest.  Thank goodness it is full of sprints and rest and starts and stops, because it made the time fly by.  I have noted to stats for my workout below.  I am not a technician or statistician so I invite comments on the ratios that are there.  I am happy with my speed for the ride, and I kept my HR decent as well.  I felt that if I could maintain and build from here I should become a decent cyclist.  As I look at it , the power output is the one that I wonder about??  What is a good output?  On my high cadence sprints I managed to get into high 300's for most of the sprint, but is that good?  Comments please?

Av Speed:  35kmh
Av watt:  219
CAD:  88
HR: 137
Dist: 26k
Time:  45min

One of my barometers of how I did is the T-run of the bike.  I felt great when I pulled out of the pedals, I certainly had all sorts of juice left and could have kept going for a long while.    When my feet hit the road is where I knew it was an efficient ride.  I went out on my T-run at a 5min/k pace without my HR blowing up.  I did put on the wrong HR chest strap, however, perceived effort for me is as accurate as an HR as I have geeked out on that damn watch for so long, I know when I am feeling good or when I am going to explode.  My run was very short, the purpose of it is not to build my run, it is to get my legs going off the bike.  As I ran down the road, i thought back to my performance from last year as I rolled my fat asz down the road off the bike.  I kind of felt like I was going to be sick when I ran last summer, I look forward to some short races this year to see where I have improved.  It is good to feel strong, and I am moving in that direction right now!
After my improvised brick, I had to get my 100push up challenge done.  All I can say is thank goodness I suck at push ups.  Doing what few I had to do was a killer, the first 12 were OK, the next 17 alright,  the next 17.........the next 13..hmmmm, the last 17, holy crap!  I can only imagine the gruelling effort of some of the folks who have the bar set at the top!  Best of luck to all!
After my home workouts, it was time to head out to Lululemon!  Tonight was the start of the run club that I host at another store close to home.  WOW, the first night in bad weather and there were 7 of us!  This store has the potential to have a crazy huge run club!  I hope to get it to 30-40 people and build a great run community.  It would be great to create another bunch of obsessed people who chase races and live to fit in workouts amongst the busy lives they lead!  It was a great run, again  a short 5k but a great night for many who likely have not run since last fall.
So, overall my day was awesome.  I worked, I ate, I biked, I ran, I ate, I ran, I ate.....have to think about what else!  Hope your training is going awesome!
Cheers!

One down 171 to go!

As I imagined today was another day like any other!  But, it was even better!  I am on my way, with my first workout done and feeling good!
My weekend efforts seem to have paid off well.  I had all of my tools set out for me today.  My blackberry now has all my workouts at my fingertips(numb from typing them in) but I know at a moment what I am doing!  As well as being able to know what I need to do, I can log the results as well.  I have been somewhat lazy at doing it most of the winter, my goal was to start properly with my program.  As well as training, I am tracking my nutrition.  I am a number and analytical kind of guy, so I have the tools that I need to be able to geek out look at what I am doing and make any changes to my program as I think will help me out!  Wahoo!  More geek toys to obsess over!
Workout #1 turned out to be a great swim today.  Although it was short, it was full of fun drills!  I think I drank my fill of pool urine for the next few weeks!  I did a 2200 m workout with about 400m using my hands.  The rest of the day was all kicking.  I did a lot of kicking over the course of the last few months but not like todays workout!  I kicked on my side, my stomach, my other side, side 2 side, hands in front, hands on side, let's just say I kicked a lot.  The workout was super productive for finding my balance in my stroke and finding the deficiencies in balance as well.  Overall I would rank today as an 9 out of 10 kind of workout.  It was very sow workout, but great for improvement!
WIth workout #1 underway the games have begun!  Time to go and stretch a little and get some beauty sleep.  That is a bad term when it comes to me, beauty and sleep should not go togther when you see me in the AM.  I am a bitch getting out of bed, but, once I start lookout!  Early day tomorrow, here I go!  Cheers

WAW! no not WOW! WAW!

WHAT A WEEKEND!  yep, that is my most accurate description of this weekend!  It has been a few days since my last post, but a great few days it has been!
As I have said many times before, the key to a great life is to 'Live for your Dreams'!  Yes, believe that you can accomplish what may seem unreachable, trust your passion and chase it!  The only true obstacle to accomplishing something is you!  Patience, perseverance and  a passion for your beliefs will get you to your goal!
From time to time, a few days are spent with a true momentum towards the things that you want to achieve.  You feel a productive contribution towards the things that are striving towards and a growing energy to push a little harder.  It is a great feeling and one that you need to tuck into your little tool box for those times you feel like it is all falling apart!
This weekend was a weekend of those moments for me!  From beginning to end a sense of accomplishment and moving ahead!
On Saturday morning, mother nature came back to her normal mood for this time of year!  She chilled it down a little for a 1-2c run for the ROGA clinic.  Still a great event, another new participant joined us with a goal in mind that she is working towards.  So although it was cold the run clinic and me worked towards our goal.  It is great how after a little time there is a sense of community developing.  The runners are helping each other out and pushing and pulling each other through runs, it is great progress after a short while.  I hope when I get to 12 weeks of training that I feel as good as they did!
After my Saturday run, I spent the rest of my weekend at my triathlon coach certification course. It was a great productive weekend, learning a lot of new tools and gaining the insight from many other athletes and coaches. I could not have read as many books and magazines in 2 years to gain the knowledge and insight I did this weekend.  As I work towards my IM dream, this is a huge bonus for me to have gained!
As well as spending time thinking about practical tri strategies this weekend, I also was able to get myself into a great mind space to start  my training.  Since I first thought about IM I said that when I started my training I would put all my focus and energy towards it.  Well, this weekend was my opportunity to get myself into that space.
From the posts I have read, from the successful athletes I have met and followed, I know that doing well is about the commitment you follow.  As my 'official' training starts on Monday I had a weekend of enjoying of relaxation.  I had a few beers, I watched a good movie, I spent time getting my tools set up and my program reviewed and entered into my computer and crackberry.  The time I spent was great to get my head further into a great space to be training.  So that again was another great part of my WAW weekend!  Wahoo!
SO, I hope that all of you had a wonderful weekend!  My next post will be the first in my official journey to Wisconsin!  Wahoo!  I am truly on the road to becoming an IRONMAN!  Stay tuned!

A succesful night!!

Not a lot to report, last night was light workout, only a 6-7k run.  It was a good one though as I led my Lululemon run club out for another evening.
The best part of this run is being out seeing others reach towards a goal tnat they never thought they could get to.  Last night their were 2 new participants with us.  As well as the new participants it was a great news evening.  It appears that amongst the people in the run club, 3 new people have set race goals for themselves this season.  I consider that a success as a coach/mentor as it is moving people past a comfort towards a new accomplishemnt.  Wahoo!
Other than a short run, my only other training is towards planning.  As I start out next week, I am working to get all my planning and tracking tools into place.  My goal is to have 1 month of my workouts ito my calendar.  Having them prepared and not need in to go look them up will make my daily planning a little easier.  As well as having my things laid out, I am putting together some training plans and tracking tools for teh runners in my clinic.  I want to have the process as organized as posssible so that I can focus on my training and make the review and cahnges to others at a 'glance'. 
As I am riding my bike these days, one of the goals that I am moving towards is a double century in the month of June.  This is not a regular century ride, it is one that can alter lives.  Yes, alther the lives of others and maybe your one day!  I am riding in the 'RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER'.  This ride raises funds that go directly to the Princess Margarte Hospital.  This is one of the leading cancer research centers in North America.  I  am competing some public events  towards the date to help raise funds, and I hope that some of you may support me as well.  Thank you to tjhose who already have.  You can click the noted link, which will bring you directly to my page to make a donation, John's Ride to Conquer Cancer .  My ride this year is in honor of a very close friend's mom who recently passed away from Cancer.  She was one of the most resilient women I have ever met, she spent 7 years fighting this terrbie disease and never let anyone else be inconvenienced.  Her husband has credited Princess Margarte Hospital as one of the main reasons she enjoyed those years.  Lease contirbute however you can so that others can have that same priviledge!
I hope eveyone has a great Friday and an even better weekend!  cHEERS

And another awesome one goes by.....

I seem to be a day behind on my postings these days.  I will blame it on daylight savings?  Hope that excuse works!
Yesterday proved to be another excellent day for traning and progress.  The sun was once again shining bright and the temperature was great!  I am beginning to see why so many of the pros traun in warmer climates, it has such a hughe mental affect on people!  All that being saud, I was mentally with it yesterday, lovin life and moving forward.
My first workout yesterday was a good swim. I did 2500m in just under 50 minutes.  It wsa a combination of drills and lenghts.  ALthough it was supposed to be times lengths. I took my swim watch out of my bag so I decided to just go with it.  I find it amazing how fast you can get inot a groove with the obesession of a watch on your wrist.  I found that as I got into my 5-6 x 200 I got inot a flow and was able to get inot a great breathing rhythm as I pulled through the water.  I did discover that I have a lot of strength training that I can benfit from with my swim.  If I can get my entire stroke to increase in power, even 10% I am sure it will translate postively.  As I am still learning this swim game, once I hit open water I can play aorund and see if I would use power gain to go faster or to come out of the water less spent with a better fuel tank for the bike.  I guess time will tell as I push through my workouts.
I did not mention the other day that I have also decided to seek some nutriotional advice for my trianing.  As I have lost 35lbs since last July and still seem to be dropping, I am concerned about my nutrition and fuel being proper as I ramp up.  I am very lucky to have found http://www.fuelyourpassiononline.com/  .  Kimberly Schwabenbauer is an outstanding triathlete as well as a licended nutrionist and dietician.  I am looking forward of going through the process of re-discoverin my nutriiton and putting together the ultmite path to good food along the way.  Getting advice from a Tri-Champion could not be a better way to take care of the 4th element, and most important one for triathletes.
Yesterday was also the 3rd day of my run clinic.  I love it!  Being St. Patty's day yesterday, I had a total of 8 runners come to join us, all of them wearing St Ptty's Day green.  It was a great run with all the participants showing progress after only 3 times out.  From a 'caoch' perspective it is great to be working with people who are open minded and very committed to the goal tye have set.  Already I am getting positive feedback from them on the enjoyment of the journey and the informaitn that I am providing them.  As we were running aloing yesterday It was also great to be recognized ny the cars driving along.  As they zoomed by us, they beeped their horns, waving at us and giving us the thumbs up.  As I sad to the group afterwards, it was eaither they admore us being out there being healthy, or, I was running with 8 girls??  Either way it is great energy when people are waving at you as you run along!
Folowing a good run, was the reward.  A great Yoga practice with all of the participants.  The clinic is a ROGA clinic.  We combine running with a Yoga practice twice weekly, the benefits are all around great!  Yesterday, Trish was aour practice leader, it was my first time practicing with Trish.  Holy Smokes!  I should have weighed myself before and after.  I am certian that I would have weighed 5 lbs less based on the sweat that was pouring off of me.  About half way through the practice I was about ready to keel over, it was tough.  But, as always, by the end of it I had a smile on my face and a renewed energy!  If you have a chance to practice Baptiste Power Yoga, do yourself a favour and try it out.  If you are wondering if there is a studio in your area, let me know, the owner of the studio that I practice at seems to know every studio in North America!  TRY IT!  It is awesome.
So that was another chapeter in John's Ironman Adventure!  As I move along this raod, the journey becomes more exciting, more energetic and a great learning experience!  Thanks to all you bloggers for amking the journey a very exciting one!  I am sending all of you good  energy as you move into the next workout in your journey!  Cheers and Happy training!

I will say it again, spring is awesome!

Yestreday evening while I was eating dinner I came to a realization.  Although daylight savings time should provide a mental thought of more time, I have already adapted and am using it and then some.  I guess I am a person who needs a ton of natural viatmain D, the gool old sunshine!  The weather sonce daylight savings has been the best and I have taken full advantage of every moment.  Most nights I am in bed by 10:00-10:30, so far this week I am after 11 with a ton of energy to brun.  I am getting all sort so stuff done, toms of reading that I have wanted to do.
On a better note is the extra time for training outside! As I am getting into a mental zone to start my program, I am enjoying my workouts more than ever.  Yestreday was no exception.  I am quite good about using heart zones to do my training to get me to my gaols.  The results are easy and outstanding.  Last night I wetn out with a goal HR of 150.  A year ago 150 would have been running a 6-6:15 pace for me.  Last night I averaged 5:15 with about 2k of it being a huge kick butt hill!  Realtive to many it is not fast, but for me, I am over the moon with that result.  The winter has been somewaht relaxing for me from a run perspective, so results lik that without a ton of iles is very encouraging. 
My run club and clinic are moving along well!  I have spent some time putting together runing and training tips for the people who are participting and they are being received with enthusiasm.  As I continue to develop them people seem to be getting more involved and already more driven to reach the goals they have set.  With the ski season now done it is great to be able to continue to focus on growth wth others and to fuel my caoching passion.  I am looking forward to this evening's clinic.  With the great weather it it going to bring out a few more people and should have everyone running with a smile.  It should be entertaining as well.  I havew asked everyone to wear green for St Patty's day, we shold be a fun site strolling down the road.
I hope your day is awesome.  SMile, go to your Happy place for a couple of minutes and remember, Live for your Dreams!

And I ponder.....

WHAT?  Ponder what?  Good question?!
As I sat eating dinner tonight and reviewing my training which starts next week, I asked Trish a good question?  WHAT THE HELL DID I GET MYSELF INTO?!  Yep, you heard it?  I questioned where I was and for a moment wondered how the hell I got here?  It wasn't a question of self doubt more of rhetorical question as I get to the point of no return.  In my mind the point of no return was when I hit send last September, but now it is real!  Time to pull on my shorts, tie up my shoes, put on my goggles and put some air in the tires!  7 more days and it is GO TIME!  A half a year ago it seemed like it was a pong way off, now its here!  I can't way to start this process and enjoy the next 6 months of the pain, the  miles, the sweat and the frustration!  Yeah!  You heard right I am looking forward to this!
When I made the decision to do IM, it was one I had considered for a long time.  AT that point I had my crutch, I could not swim so I stayed away.  Well, I got that monkey off my back and did the deed.  The past few months has been spent, running, swimming, riding and as you know skiing.  The winter has been one of the best that I have had.  I was saying to a friend this weekend, that it is the first time in a long time that 'I feel strong'.  No, not He-Man strong, physically fit and healthy as I ever have.  It is a great way to start into a training program, feeling healthy and ready to tackle a monumental task.  The next week will be a little rest and some short workouts before Monday's first official training day!  Wahoo!  Here goes!
Isn't spring and day light savings a great thing!  Today was about 10 degrees and a great day to be outside, with an extra hour of sun to boot!  So, I took advantage of it and did a short brick.   It was a good 34km ride in 56 minutes followed by a short T-run to get the legs into the groove.  It was awesome!  A year ago, I would have likely been 1:05 on the bike and ran out at a 6 min/k.  NO, not today after a good ride which seemed fairly low effort, I averaged 5:05 on my run!  I felt awesome the whole time, heart rate did not explode and no burn to talk about.  It was an awesome feeling to start off my training with that kind of brick.  I have to note this one in the book as I know there will be a whole lot of them that will seem to be terrible once I get into this process!  
Today was a great day and I look forward to starting this game!  I hope I am not delusional in my excitement for this process!  If you are, I look forward to the opportunity of saying you were right to think I am crazy, but showing you a finishers medal with a smile on my face and the best memories I can  imagine!
I hop your day was awesome and that your week is even better!  CHEERS!

Alas....victory was his!

Yes, after going through the anguish I did on Thursday and thinking I was going to fail the guy another time, I got through to him!  Wahoo!
It is the first time ever that I have felt totally ineffective with a student and getting past the attitude and facade that they hide behind.  I tries everything, ridicule, comparison to his peers, direct discussion, passive feedback.....all for not, nothing would get through to this kid.  AAhhhh!  Let's try this!
At lunch time yesterday I read him the riot act!  I could see in him an ability to do what it was I needed him to do.  The exam is based on 13 points that needed to be demonstrated to a standard.  I saw at various points all 13 come out, but never more a moment.  He could show them and make them go away, then bring them back again!  I knew he had it in him if he could drop the idiot attitude!  So, after lunch I got on the chair with him and laid it out.  I told him that as of that moment he was failing!  I suggested that I knew he could do it, but his attitude suggested he did not want to be there, so drop it for the afternoon or leave now.  I asked to pretend if needed to, anything to show me that he cared.  In summary, I told him he would fail if he did not!  WOW!  He came out for the afternoon and pretended he cared!  It was great to see because I do not like to fail people, but......it needs to make sense.  Ultimately junior showed me the standards all afternoon so he was successful. All that being said, if there was a box that I checked off on the exam page that was the idiot box, he would have received those points as well.  I guess it was a learning experience for me as it pushed my limits in both patience and understanding of human mind.  But, as I was once told, some people are like wheel barrows they need to be pushed.  He was just one of those people!
Other than that adventure, this is one of the greatest courses I have taught!  The kids are awesome.  They are enthusiastic, want to learn and are putting all their heart and effort into it.  I can only wish that I was half as enthusiastic as these kids are!   It has been a blast!
The past couple of days has been great!  Mother nature had promised rain which would have sucked!  So far she has delivered, but not until the end of each day!  SO YAY for me and the class!  We have been dry so far and, lets see what tomorrow brings!  It will be what it will be, I have proper gear, I can only hope the students who will be teaching have it as well!
I also spent a few minutes with all of my clients from this season this afternoon.  It was great as all of them want me to return next year to teach/coach them again.  There is no better feeling or endorsment than that of a return customer!
I am off to the hottub to relax a few minutes and fix what ails me!  I hope your weekend has been a blast@!  Cheers!

Do you want to be here......or not!

Sometimes in life we do certain things because we think it will bring us great joy and fulfillment, other times we do it because an expectation has been placed on us and we dont really have a great deal of choice in the matter.  If you are doing an event you can certainly tell one person from the other based on the attitude that they have a they are participating.
I am currently conducting a course/exam for Level 1 Canadian Ski INstructors Alliance.  As most of you know, skiing is my huge passion and teaching it is a great opportunity to share it with others.  Conducting a course/examination is even better as it is a chance to influence those who are the future of the sport.  The course that I am doing i relatively small with only 7 candidates doing it.  Of the 7 people, 2 of them are there for retests from a previously failed portion.  Working with a small group is challenging as the awards at the end become quite obvious as I present the people who have completed it and those who have not.
Well, out of the 2 people, one came in with his A game.  He started the day showing a real enthusiasm and desire to learn where he could improve and putting forward a great effort to work with his peers to show them he was worthy of being awarded his instructor pin.  He was a pleasure to work with and the group related to him very well.  Now, the other guy???  Quite obviously does not care about passing it or not.  Showed up with a parent and was all jovial and enthusiastic, until mom left, then he became $%^&!   Come on kid, pretend you give a sh&t!  you only have to be hear 2 days and show me 5 things, you can do a bloody flip in a terrain park, you can turn your skis!  NO!  Just seems to refuse to drop the 'I am to cool for school' attitude. It is so bad that his peers commented that it seemed he does not want to be there.  this is a group of 15-16 year olds making this observation.  I am all for a little music while I am skiing, but, you are on a course and the conductor is talking and you have the balls to wear an iPod?!?  Dont you  get it??  I aksed him to take it off and put it away, the next chair up he has it in again!!  We go into the classroom at the end of the day, what does he do, puts it on again.  He actually had the nerve to ask that he not participate in the classroom as he had already done it once before.  YOU FAILED IT the first time and you want to miss it this time!  I am a fair evaluator and will work with you individually to see that you succeed, I will give you many changes to prove that you are trying and want to get there, this is the first time that I can remember that someone has tried me.  It is to bad when his parents show up tomorrow afternoon to get him that they learn he likely has not passed!  It sucks for me as a coach as well, I dont like coaching athletes who dont make a true honest commitment to themselves!
enough complaining, other than that, THE DAY WAS AWESOME! The sun was shining, everyone had that sunshine smile on their faces behind there shaded!  It was a perfect spring ski day.  Double bonus as it was supposed to rain all day! Gotta love those days!
After a great day of skiiing, I put on my shoes and headed out for a beautiful run, again perfect weather makes it easy to do.  I love running when I am up here as it is a very healthy minded area.  As I am running everyone is smiling and waving adding the the pleasure of the run!  It made the run a very happy and productive one.
My run clinic last night was also a great success.  I received an email today from one of the participants, it was an awesome review.  She was very positive about the format that I am using and is now pumped about the gaol she has set based on what we did last night.  She admitted she showed up a little reluctant, but her first session has her moving in the right way.  I am a pretty upbeat person to begin with, but endorsements like she sent me fuel my passion even greater!
Hope your day was a great one!  happy training and hey, its Friday!  Cheers

Hosted my First Run Clinic

What a cool day it was for me!  As I have said before, LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS.  Tonight was great as it was one little step along that journey for me.  I hosted the first night of an 8 week learn to run to 5k-10k program.  I am co-hosting this program with POWER YOGA CANADA to help new runners get to the start line of a race in May.  

The night was an absolute blast. Although there were only 5 runners this evening, many more will join us over the coming days. What I enjoyed most about the evening is the variety of running experiences and the the goals that each wants to achieve.  The variety is great and is enjoyable to coach as I can not take a canned approach to the plan or it will fail for most.  As it was a learn to run, we did short runs of 2.5 k and another of 6k.  The 6k was with a man who has done many marathons and is out to maintain fitness for an upcing trip to France to cycle.  It was a great tempo run.  As he said to me half way through, what do you call 2 guys running together, A RACE.  We were running 4:45-4:30 km pace. I loved it.  It is great to run with others to push you along your limits.  As we circled along we joined back up with the rest of the group and had a chance to run with them for a while as well.  It was a great night, for some it was the first time ever running which they totally enjoyed, for others it was a re-intro and the start towards a new goal.  Being a part of someone setting out to me is a privilege so tonight was a blast!

A very short post tonight as I have some organizing to do for the course that I am running tomorrow.  I am out to examine a group of ski instructors who are coming out to try the exam for the first time.  Over the next four days ideally I can help new young instructors develop a passion for the sport of skiing and share with the future!

Hope your day was awesome!  See you later! Cheers!

I want to ride my bicycle....I want to ride my bike.....

Getting back on my bike rolling down the road has made me feel like it has been an eternity since I got to ride like this!
Today was another great outdoor ride with the wind blowing through my hair(oh yeah, I dont have any) but is sounds good!  I had a 4:30pm meeting with a Lululemon store where I will be helping to host a run club later this month.  I figured I would take advantage of the weather and meeting time and rid to the meeting!  What a great choice, it was beautiful.  My ride was good, my legs did not take as long to get moving today, they started turning fairly quick and I managed an average speed of 32km/h with most of the ride being uphill.  It feels so good to be riding outside.  My meeting at Lululemon was great as well.  The store is awesome at creating a community for people to get out and be healthy.  It is fun to be able to work with them to help promote a healthy lifestyle and to help them reach a goal along the way!  The run club starts at the end of the month once spring breaks are over and everyone gets into the groove for spring!
On another great note, just as I thought the ski season was done, I was asked to conduct a course this weekend!  Wahoo!  I enjoy leading these courses and helping students work towards their goal of becoming a ski instructor.  Ideally by Sunday afternoon I will have examined and passed a new group of instructors.  In any case it will be a great way to bring the ski season to an end!  The weather is not looking so good, oh well!  A bad day on snow is better than a good day behind a desk!
As I have been outside the last few days enjoying the weather and doing workouts it has added to my passion for training and for the start of my 6 months to the start line.  I guess I figured out that although I was training over the winter, winter is for skiing and spring and summer are for training.  I cant wait tog et started and see what I have in me!  I am doing my tri coaching certification course next weekend and I start my official training program.  It is great to be taking one great course and then starting my practice right afterwards!
Tomorrow is day one of my Running and Yoga clinic, ROGA!  It is great, so far 12+ people registered and growing.  It is exciting to be leading this session for people who want to learn to run and to get them to the start line of a May run race.  Helping other people get to a goal is a great feeling!  I am looking forward to it!
Have a great evening!  Hope your training is going well!
Cheers

it's a Dermatone week!

Yep, a Dermatone week!  What the heck is that?  Well, if you saw my red(purple) cheeks from Saturday skiing you would know.  I forget to put on my Dermatone to protect my face from frying!  The weather the last 5 days has been over the top awesome!  Bright sunshine, warm temps, great snow conditions and dry roads!  I have to say it is an outdoor obsessed persons dream kind of days!
As I explained on the weekend, I skipped a workout to enjoy the patio at my ski club!  the sun was shining brightly, every face had a smile on it, and hte beer was cold!  I skied all day on outstanding conditions, and days like that are few and far between. I figured 6 months of busting my hump, enjoy the afternoon!
Sunday was a carbon copy day, great sun, great snow and a whole bunch more smiling faces!  This time I did put some Dermatone lip's and face protection on.  Try it out, skied all day did not feel like I was lathered up like a turkey about to go in the oven and my face did not feel like a lobster coming out of a pot at the end of the day.  I have used other things in the past, this stuff works!  After an awesome day, I had to drive back to the city so no workout(winter Sundays are no workout days)

Today was a different story no excuses for not working out!  Another awesome day, 13-14 celcius, great sun!  So, time to get on teh bike!  It is such a great feeling to have wheels rolling on the road after being inside for a few months.  It was a treat knowing that it is only hear for a few days and then some more bad weather on the way!  But I took full advantage of it!  It was such a fin ride!  The wind was a little hard, but who cares, it makes for a proper training ride.  I went out for a 42k ride to get my legs rolling outside.  It felt awesome.  I commented to a friend who was along for the ride how good I felt relative to last spring.  It did take me 1-15k to get my legs awake, but once they did I sunk into a great groove and it got easier every time my feet turned over a pedal stroke.  I made me notice how much my overall fitness has improved since the fall!  I can only assume and work at it to keep that feeling as I get to a race at some point.
Going out today fuelled my fire some more.  As I road I envisioned spring days doing rides for hours and then heading out on a run.  It made me smile and look forward to  my training starting in a few days!  I hope you enjoyed the day as it was another not to be missed!
Happy training and see you soon!  Cheers!

Short and Sweet!

So, here is the deal, it was an over the top awesome day!  Great sunshine, great snow, everyone with the biggest grin on their face!  It was so good I had skip my bike ride.  the pictures below show you how beautiful it was!
Tonight is our staff yearly banquet which is a country theme so I have to hurry out and get my cowboy hat and chaps on.  More photos to follow!
I wanted to ride today but my students invited me for beer.  I pondered, it was one of the most beautiful ski patio days of the year so patio it was!
Hope your Saturday was awesome!  See you tomorrow!

10 random thing about me and TGIF!

Yesterday evening I was challenged by KC , who is a kick ass training first time IRONMAN athlete(who will kick butt) to complete my blog that tells 10 random things about me.  I have seen many of these and have never spent the time to do this, so here goes!  I think it is a great thing to do, I might even learn something about myself as I write these out.  Here I go in no random order and put down as they come to my head!

1. I idolize my wife.  She is the greatest most patient girl that I know.  She  stands by my side and watch me chase my dreams with a support that is unbelievable.  I would walk on glass if she asked me to because in my world she could never be found again!

2.  I truly believe that nothing is impossible!  As you may have seen in my posts I believe in LIVING FOR MY DREAMS.  If you believe in something and you are honest with yourself it is truly achievable!  If you want to be a Millionaire you can do it, if you want to be the president of a company you can do it, if you want to do an IRONMAN go do it.  The only person stopping you is you!

3.  I live by the rule 'what comes around goes around'.  I actually believe in this thought to an extreme.  If I stub my toe it is because I did something that hurt another individual.  I try and live my life accordingly as it hopefully means that good things will happen to me.

4. I am goal driven person!  If I do not set a goal to accomplish something I tend to float around and move towards whatever it is I am trying to do.  If I do set a goal, i am not deterred until i accomplish it.

5.  A realization that I have come to in the past few years is my passion for helping others accomplish goals.  That can be via a sport related goal, a charitable organization, helping the neighbor, if it means that they achieve something then  it pleases me.

6.  I live by extreme, considered by some of my friends as being obsessed.  Whenever i decide to do something I tend to want to do it as well as can be imagined and then add another few percent.  I dont do things to be OK at them, I want  to be good!

7.  I believe in having the proper equipment to complete a task.  If you are going running buy running shoes not tennis shoes, if you are going powder skiing use powder skis, if you live in Canada buy a winter jacket.  I get frustrated when 'experienced' or 'logical' people say they cant do something only to discover that they are using the wrong equipment.(by the way I also love shopping)

8. I am  a realist.  I tend to set goals that challenge me, but not to an unrealizable degree.  I also am proud in an ability to help friends discover the reality of situations in order to make them able to achieve what it is they are looking to achieve.

9.  I am passionate and driven.  I do not choose to do things that I do not have a passion for, to me this is waste of time!

10.  I don't start a new task after 9PM.  I am a person who is most productive early in the day so that is when I start my tasks!  I believe that 9PM is a time to unwind so that you can have some quality sleep.

11.  OOPS, I am only supposed to list 10!   I LOVE MY LIFE!  had to add that one!

Thanks KC for getting me to do this!  A fun and enlightening experience.  To all my blog readers, please try this out and send me a message letting me know would love to read!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Arent Thursday's the top!

I had another great Thursday!  Imagine!  The photos above are only a part of what makes the day a full and awesome one.  Like every other Thursday it is a routine kind of day!  

A short run at 5AM to wake up, followed my an improving yoga practice.  As some know mornings are not my specialty, not that I am in a bad mood or anything, I just seem to have some mental block to accepting early mornings.  It is crazy as I get up before 7am from November to April 7 days a week, so by now you figure I would be over whatever it is that urks me!  NO!  Except for Thursday.  I dont know if it is the variety of workouts or number of workouts that I enjoy.  As time is getting closer, I hope I learn that it is the frequency that I like.  It would make the 2 workout a day for 6 months a fun time.

ONe of todays highlights was my swim once again.  As planned I increased my distance and intensity again.  The gradual build will hopefully be a good strategy over the next dew weeks.  Todays total distance was 3000m with about 50% of it as drills.  For one of the first times, I started to feel some upper body burn from the swim.  As I have been working on form I find I am using a lot more upper body muscles to pull myslef  forward. My last workout had a lot of paddle work.  As I was on the last set of a 5 x 300m today I could feel my upper body getting tired. It was a great feeling!  

Tonight was exciting!  THis weekend is supposed to be awesome weather so I spent some time getting a road bike ready to go.  This Saturday I will spend the first half of the day skiing and then get out on a road ride!  Wahoo!  Spring is in the air!

Hope you had a great day!  Dont ever forget, Live for your Dreams!  It makes the world a better place!

Cheers

It's hump day people!

Yep, half way through another week, more miles on the shoes, more bubbles in the pool and more experience to reflect upon as the quest continues.  Today was a rest day as I head into Super Thursday, 445AM run, yoga, swim, run, run!  I love it!
Altlhough it was a rest day, that work thing kept me flying like a crazy man. I felt like I was watching an Olympic Hockey game, on the edge of my seat pushing to get every little bit in order to win.  It was another great day running to close some new business.  I must say that days like today make me realize how much I strive on stress.  The more I have on my plate the more motivated I become and the better I seem to get at it.  I guess I ned to start training harder and hope that the strategy pays off.  In either case, I will make some money at the office and get some great workouts under my belt!
Today was also a great day of progress with my run clinic world.  A few more inquiries came in, each day a couple more is a good indication that people want to participate.  I have spent quite a bit of time preparing so I am anxious to get out there and help people towards the start line.  It is a great feeling to know that I am going to be able to share with others my experiences, my knowledge and my enthusiasm.  Best of all, being at the start line with them in 9 weeks, seeing some of them accomplish the first run race result of the their lives!  My winter sport enthusiasm is finding its way into my summer world!  Hold on Sally, the ride has just started!
I learned recently of the best compliment that anyone could ever look for.  As most may know I am enthusiastic about helping others get to a goal.  I have a client who I have been teaching skiing.  I learned that very recently he was going to stop his membership at our club when his kids were off to school.  He felt that he was not progressing in his skiing and that without the growth and progress he could focus on other areas.  He recently went out on a requested private lesson with me to see if he could gain some new insight.  It seems to have spurred a change in his thought process.  A friend shared with me that as a result of the winter of lessons and the private lesson that we went out one he has found a renewed enthusiasm for the sport and is no longer considering ending his membership.  This for me is the greatest compliment in the world.  I am very proud of my ski ability and would teach for free it it paid my mortgage.  To receive this kind of feedback makes every bit of my enthusiasm grow even stronger!
I hope that I might have that same influence on others in the upcoming clinic, and that I drink some of my own kool aid when I am 10 weeks into training and feeling like a sack of hammers!

Thank you to all of you as well.  This goofy little blog world has been successful at  a couple of things for  me.  It has motivated me a ton hearing your training stories and awesome race reports!  It has also given me a world of accountability.  Hearing teh pain and work you do makes me want to share my goals, and if I tell you guys, guess what, I need to poney up and get it done!  This journey has been a blast so far and it is only getting better!
Time for my run and yoga sleep!  Hope your day has been awesome!  Happy hump day and Cheers to you!

Swim.......Run

Yep, I did a tri.....tlon today!  Yeah, a tri.....thlon!  I had an awesome swim and a messed up excuse to be called a brick.  Followed it by a good run!
Today was a bit of a prefect storm.  Work was really busy with a ton of new business coming in and a lot of new opportunities to feed my habits.  It seemed that now that the Olympics are over everyone has some time to pay attention to business again.  Good for me!  I got 4 more opportunities today, after that I stopped answering the phone(kidding).  It should feed the machine for hte next while.  I don't talk much about work as this blog is not about that.  But at work I am as enthusiastic and intense as training.  I dont like to lose, so a lead to me is a sale.  Whenever I get a new possibility I pride myself on being able to get to the bottom of the opportunity and ultimately disappointing my competitors by winning the business.  
All that being said, today was a great day, a lot of new business coming in and more funds to feed the tri monster!
What about training???  Today's swim as you might imagine was awesome.  I had a 2400m practice with a combination of distance as well as drills.  Lately I have used a strategy of building some practices that are cumatively exhausting.  Start easy, build up a little, add a little more umphhhh and then make it a crazy dig deep adventure. The way I see it I might as well get used to being in adverse environment.  training is likely going to be a bitch and race day cant be any easier.

As well as a good day with training and work, chasing the dream was a great adventure as well.  My goal of having a successful coaching group continues to move forward.   I had several ore inquiries today for my upcoming clinic.  Once again I beleive that it is going to be a great success.  I am so excited to share my passion and help others get to the start line.  If any of you have any words of wisdom from your experiences please share them. As athletes you have enjoyed all kinds of experiences, please share them with me and allow me to share them with others.  After all, someone inspired you to become an obsessed tri fool, you owe it to others to do the same.  In a short while I will share my website and share the success of others with you !

Cheers and happy Tuesday!  It sucks that hte Olympics are done!

Go time gets closer yet!

Another couple of weeks of slacking off and then it is the real deal!  No more calling my weekends cross training time, doing short runs or no pushing 100% all the time.
I am looking forward to the training experience for a few reasons!  First, I suppose as a Type A, I want to see what I have inside myself and how far I can push that limit.  Kind of a bizarre thing to want to go that hard, but that is how I am wired.
The second part is following a structure to get to what is still an unknown result to come.  Following a very well outlined strategy with a lot of tough workouts should prove for some good results.  Following this will be a huge baseline experiment, as this is IM #1 I dont know what I am capable of, so the next few months will tell me each day what I can do and ideally lead to a great day in September.
Another great part of this goal is the realization of a dream.  Until only a few months ago the thought of IRONMAN was a bucket list thing.  Well, here goes, a chance to tick that one of the list.  I have the outmost of respect for the people who have completed an IM and I now have the chance to become one of them.

In the process of all this happening has been another goal established.  I am hosting my first run clinic starting next week and it appears that it is being received quite well at this point.  It is very exciting to be able to share with people a passion and to get them to the start line with me.  The race in May will not only be a good marathon training run for me, it will be a first, leading many people to the start line from the first time.  The attached photo is my(and doggie Karma) intro on the PYC website, my 15 seconds of fame!
Today was my first 10 mile run, it was a very deliberate slow run trying to keep my heart rate scary low. I have to say it is really hard to run slow to do that, but it is a required way to go right now to get the base I need to establish.  So my 10 miles was done at a 9 min pace keeping my heart rate under 150, it felt very easy to accomplish.  Easy from an exertion perspective, but it killed not to speed up.  I suppose that will come soon enough!  My goal this week is to run all 5 days building up some mileage, then next week I will 'coast' as I swim a little more.  The last time I did that small experiment my running improved a great deal, so I figure I can try it again and see what results it provides!
Now that hte Olympics are over, I am going to catch up on my sleep.  I hope you all had a great day!  See YA!

Canadian Man's Weekend Part Deux!

After an unbelievable day of skiing, the first of the weekends nail biting hockey games was played!  WOW!  It seems that Canada's hockey players made a deal with the media to make certain that hte games were the most nerve wrecking experience ever enjoyed.  I could not believe when I was beckoned back to the room after I had left because I thought the game was over!  Another 5 seconds and the outcome may have been totally different!  BUT, it was not, it was great to be over that game and sitting back to wait for the final game on Sunday!
Saturday morning once again proved to be another epic ski day!  The snow was once again top of boot deep and light and fluffy.  A dream ski day again!  The catch on this one was that I had a group that I was coaching that morning.  My ski clients pay a lot of money and have a high expectation in the sessions that they attend, they expect to ski away each week with some  new tools to improve their sking.  Saturday turned out to be a dream day for me.  As we gathered at the bottom of the hill to head into our session, one of the ladies in the group apologized.  I wondered what it was she was going to say, she said they wanted to ski and not listen to my teach.  WOW!  A dream come true, we headed up as a group and skied for the entire 2 hour session! thank you to my group for their desire to ski powder, it turn out to be a bit of a ski bonanza for me!  The day finished great as well. It was a full moon and a few friends headed out to the country for a moonlight snowshoe and some dinner!  After a great ski day it was the icing on the cake, finish the day with a good walk through the forest with tons of snow!
Sunday was another great day on snow.  With so much fresh snow over a couple of days the conditions proved to be excellent throughout the resort.  My group on Sunday had a similar idea to Saturday's group.  Lets go ski!  SO for 2 hours we flew up and down enjoying the rest of our dream ski weekend.
As many of you know the weekend finished with the suspense of the Canada/US gold medal Olympic hockey game.  I can not believe how crazy that game was.  once again, the deal with the media to see that everyone would be on the edge of their seats for the entire game. The result was outstanding!(for me anyways)  Go Canada Go!
The Olympics proved to be a 2 week event that has made very Canadians crazy proud.  Walking around proud as peacocks, chests held high happy to be considered the best.  As well as being proud of the athletes and the commitment that made to be the best of the best, Canadians proved to be awesome hosts to our friends from around the world!  I am proud of how we dealt with the bad weather, terrible press and a naughty girls hockey team!  We cowboyed up and showed the world that we are a great place to visit and that everyone is welcome to visit!
I am happy to see the Olympics come to a close, I could not handle another 2 weeks of late nights on the edge o my seat!  But, I sure was a great addiction to satisfy, I hope all of you enjoyed it as well!

Oh Canada, our Home and Native Land..........

A Canadian Man's weekend!

Since my post, shich seesm like en eternity ago, I have had a ton of fun!  Yes, it was like a weekend at the cottage(teh cabin for American friends) since last Wednesday.
It did start on a great note Thusday with my normal workouts, I will not call them routine as that suggests a boring part to them.  My monring Yoga as always proved successful.  I practioced twice last week and founf the benefits to be even greater.  Over the next few weeks I am going to stick with a couple of practices a week to get me ready for the start of my traning.  It is also beneficail as it allows me to meet the people who will particaipting in my upcoming ROGA clinic!  ROGA?  What the heck is ROGA?  Running and Yoga!  Yes, my passion for coaching and teaching is coming to reality with my first true run clinic.  It is being done as a combined practice with POWER YOGA CANADA.  It is going to be a clinic for first timers up to 10k for an upcoming spring race.  After each run/training session we will follow it with a Yoga practice.  I am so looking frward to it starting.  I have to thank the Pauline and Kinndli from PYC for their support and encouragement in getting this program going with them!  Wahoo!  As some people know, I have a slogan, LIVE FOR YOUR DREAMS!  This is the beginning of a realization of a a dreama nd it is a lot of fun! 
Thursday also was another great swim day.  Overall as I sugested I would do I am upping my distances in my practices.  As I have done some good drills and technical work, I think it is important to push the miles a bit on those drills to keep form over the longer course.  Some of it was tough!  Did a ladder drills, 1 x 100, 2 x 200, 3 x 300.  Not to crazy?  Did the first 100, started the next 200 on 2:10 from start time, then started my subsequent 200 on 3:50, then for the 300 on 5:20.  For you fish like people, probably a piece of cake.  As I just got a conistent 1:50 a few weeks ago, so it was a great push workout!  I love the intesnsity of those workouts, and wil contiue to nupn the ante!  My intensity gets to my training partner as I push him beyond what he thinks he can do.  But, as I tell him, once at the start line, cutting the mileage or intensity is not an option!
Following my great swim, was week 2 of my ruin club at Lululemon.  The weather man promised impending weather chaos, so I did not know what to expect.  As I arrived at the store it was great to see the people from teh week befreo returning as well as one more new runner joiming in.  It was a graet 5k short run to get people into the winter run groove and set some base miles for new runners as well as some who have not been out for a while.  It is a great group to lead and run with as they all have a goal in  mind and want to work towards it together.
After my run the boys part of the weeked truly started.  The beginning adventure was a 2 hour drive through a crazy winter storm.  I am talking a strom where the roads were not distinguishable from the fields, a 2 hour white knuckle why the hewll am I doing this drive!  Once a year my ski club has a 'Men's Day', it was a Friday last week!  A day where 750 men get together on the premise that they are going to ski!  Ususally does not happen nearly that way.  So, I had to get up north to meet the friends that I was hosting for the event.  The drive was awesome though, I listed to the Canadian/US womens gold medal game as I drove up!  WOW! Couple of times I almost drove off the road becasue of the excitement(and the fact thatI did not know where the road was) What an awesome game!  I love nothing more than hearing the National anthem being played at the end of a game!  It was a graet game playing a great rivalry!  Truly made the scary drive a blast!  When I finall y did get up north, another tremendous Canadian/Olympic moment! Wathcing Johaniie Rochette skate to a medal finish!  OK, if that did not stir an emotion in you, you are a hard ass!  It represented the Olympic  spirit in teh greatest way and she could not have honored her mother in a more fitting way than a medal finish!  I know that she does not read my blog, but, WAY TO GO!  She should serve as a role model to every athlete and child! It was awesome!
Friday moring was the greatest part of mens day!  Woke up to more than a foot of new snow.  It was well over the top of my ski boots and the club was closed to only 750 people!  A powder day!  If you are a skier this means something to you.  There is a saying, 'there are no friends on powder days', for each his won and go find a new track!  Holy smnokes, run after run was epic, doing turn with snow flying into my face, hitting air and landing in snow piles above my waist.  Turn after turn I giggled like a scholl girl flying down the hill like a fool out of control taking huge airs and living the dream!  It ranks amongst the best ski days I have ever had!  The best part, so many of the guys were hung over from the night before, they did not stay out to ski it!  Ususally at mens day a lot of beer is involved, this year I had one beer at lunch as I wanted to be out on the snow as long and productively as I could!  I skied my ass off!  If you ever want to learn to powder ski, give me the time and the place and I will be there! NO, you dont have to pay me, just give me an excuse!  :) 
The antics following skiing are typical of amny room full of beer and 700 men.  A lot of farting, tons of food, a bad comedian.  It was a good day as it did raise $10000's  for charities.  Overall at 10 out of 10 day!

TO BE CONTINUED.........