getting back on track

It has been a real challenge getting back on track after the half marathon in October. I've set a bunch of goals but in all reality none were really all that meaningful to me. So here goes a little bit of honesty! I want to weight under 200 lbs! goal 198 by June 21, 2011. Also,  I really don't love running but I LOVE cycling. I  was listening to this running life the other day, a fantastic podcast and Gordon mentioned that  something about loving to train and in all honesty I don't really like running all that much. that being said I don't plan on stopping running but I not sure a Marathon is really MY goal. Getting much faster on the bike is way more exciting to me and likely way better for my body. so signed up for Gran fondo in Penticton, BC this summer and may ride Whistler Grand fondo in September as well. Ok that is all for now! time to get to work!

Complacency

Sometimes we forget why we started things. I've had a good year so far, made my long term 100 lb weight loss target, ran my first 1/2 marathon, did a self supported sprint tri and had some great long rides, even played some decent tennis. BUT the 45th year is about something more. My first post said

 "I've committed to making my 45th year my fittest year yet." Not to have a good year, not to be a bit fitter but fittest ever. So time to move forward on the bigger goal. I'm lingering at 225 ish lbs but see some old habits creeping back in. A few less work outs a little less care with diet a few too many beers, one word really complacency.  Yeah I'm healthier than the past, healthier than a lot of guys my age but that wasn't what I committed to. Time to ramp it up. 7 more months of being 45 left so no time to waste. I want to see how lean I can get. I have a great base so time to ramp up the fitness, and clamp down the diet. I haven't been below 200 lbs since I was 20 so not sure if that is possible but challenge goals are only fun challenging if there is a chance of failure. So I putting it out there my goal is a lean 199 by my 46th birthday. Details to follow!

Seasonal training!

One of the things I've been talking about in class lately is how we view time. For the last couple of hundred years western society has viewed time as linear, finite; that is when time goes it is gone forever. Now of course it is gone in the most rational of ways, but other civilizations and more agrarian societies have viewed time as being more cyclical, that it is comes and goes like the patterns we see daily and seasonally in our life. Essentially our actions are governed more by the seasons and their variation than by a clock and calender. It seems to me that we are trying to make a return to a more agrarian way of life, at least in part. The eat local, eat seasonal movement is moving more and more to the mainstream. So I thought this would also be a great way to view my training focus and training challenges. Winter is our time to restore, the purpose of hibernation for some creatures, but for humans it seems that winter is a time to recover, to build strength, to experiment and set one's self up for performing. Spring is rebirth, time for a big challenge and to put your winter efforts to the test. Summer is to challenge and grow even more. Finally fall is the harvest, time to aim for a personal best, to leave it all on the table before another winter of recovery and restoration. A simple view of a annual plan but for me it just seems to make sense. We will soon see. Winter comes early in my world (Nov-March) so I'll keep you posted on my new training seasonally approach! Let me know what you think!

So we begin again! THE PLAN

Well its 21 days since I finished my last major goal, running my first half marathon. The last three weeks have been all about planned recovery, in the past I would have been freaking out about less than stellar eating habits and lower intensity workouts, but I knew I would need a break, more mentally than physically. The interesting difference this time is I can't wait to get back at it. I've been running and eating pretty well anyway but I miss the focus a goal brings and more importantly the way I feel when the eating and exercise are in balance and are a priority.
I've reworked an annual plan laying out three major events for the upcoming year. Something major in three of the four seasons; spring, summer, and fall and using winter to build the base, get strong and get flexible. The spring goal is the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 1st. It will be my first full marathon. In the summer (mid July) I'm going to ride a Granfondo in the BC's Okanogan region and tie that in with a family vacation and mountain biking with younger son. Fall is still a bit up in the air, as it stands I have two events, one being a duathalon in September the other being the Victoria marathon (likley the half, this time with a goal of less than 2hrs or maybe even with the older son!) in October. These will be the focus for what I'm doing but I still plan to play some tennis, get in the pool and maybe even do a sprint tri in there somewhere, but I will fit these in around the key events.
I'm honestly a bit terrified of the marathon (not the event itself, I have a lot of faith in my ability "to gut it out" once I'm out there) but more the training volume. I'm going to continue to use a run/walk method on the long runs and slowly build on the base I have from October's half.  In the short run I have a new weight loss goal, drop 15 lbs by the new year, to help with the pounding of marathon training. Stay tuned!

A post of thanks! pt 2!

Wow what a year to give thanks! 100 lbs down! self supportted tri done! 1/2 marathon complete! Definitely deserves 2 posts! Yesterday I thanked Mary , my partner for past couple of decades. Today we sat at dinner and my 15 yr old and his friend announced that next year they want to run the half marathon and my youngest son is looking forward to getting to the gym! After a teen sleep over they were there yesterday am at km 9 cheering me one, pretty impressive lads thanks!! I also have a bunch of other folks to thank especially those nameless few at work who had the patience to get me out walking then walk/running and finally running, I am forever thankful! I'm also thankful to a bunch of folks I've never meet! @holisticguru on twitter has offered some killer nutrition advice and support. She is awesome check her out! Two podcasts that never fail to inspire and entertain @kelownagurl on twitter (who also has been unreal in her support!) kelownagurltris podcast and zentri, zen and the art of triathlon podcast. Thanks to everyone, look out for me I've only just begun. The goal for me in the coming year is to help inspire others and to give back, an impossible task really, but one I look forward to taking on! Enjoy Canadian thanksgiving!

A post of thanks! pt 1!

It is thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and I certainly have a lot to be thankful for. Today, 10/10/10 I ran and finished my first half marathon. No records but I did finish in under 2 1/2 hours and I finished with enough left to enjoy the rest of the day and to already start searching for my first full marathon, ideally next summer, to wrap up the 45th year! I have down played this event, lots of people run and finish these events and way more challenging events, as was evident as I watched footage from Kona yesterday. Yet this was VERY special for me; it was a way to celebrate my 100 lb weight loss and my return to living like an athlete. More importantly it was a commitment I finished. I took a chance and took on the challenge of running without knowing I would succeed. We often choose goals we know deep done we can achieve but putting yourself out there is something I haven't done much of.  As I got up this morning the espresso maker had a card signed by my wife kids and even my mom who is visiting. Mary wrote a reminder of a favorite Theodore Roosevelt quote of mine that really sums up what this run meant to me. 

 

“ The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

 

I can't thank my family enough for their support. Tomorrow more thanks, a race recap and what next????

How NOT to train for a half marathon

So 2 weeks to my first half marathon. The training plan was well laid out but alas plans are guidelines are they not?? Last week no long run, decided to play a final fall tennis tournament, 2 weeks before foot injury no long runs, before that a summer ending sprint tri, all great stuff (except the injury) but not on focus for the event to cap off summer. Back at the long run today, 8 plus miles felt fine, one more long run next week back to 9 or 10 miles and I should be fine, but not ideal prep. Strange how I feel I need to make stuff more challenging, "hey anybody can do a half marathon if they do the work!" I still haven't really internalized and acted on the fact that it is ALL about the WORK! OK lesson learned and some pain to come in a couple of weeks but I will push hard and finish strong. Time will tell how successful I'll be!