Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday the tough

Tough training day today. Not that the hours were long, just that the motivation wasn't necessarily there. I love days like this, though, as they really test my mental toughness. I've learned a long time ago that all the talent in the world can't make up for being a headcase. If you're going to get out there and be consistant, regardless of the sport or job or whatever, you've gotta have that mental toughness to say 'things gotta get done regardless of how I'm feeling'.

I wish I had learned this lesson earlier, but I guess now is as good a time as any. Luckily, I'm not quite yet past my athletic prime (although I'm knocking on it's door in a big way), so I think I can still use the lessons I've learned to my advantage.

Today started with a speed workout in the pool. 2800 measly yards. Nothing right? Well, I really had to do some soul searching to get it all in. The warm-up by itself was just an easy 1000 yards. Simple-worked on stretching out and getting into my stroke. Then came 16 sets of intervals ranging from 100yds to 50yds. By the time I was into my 200yd cool down, my shoulders were cooked, my traps were shot, my lats were screaming, and my lower back was on fire. Great day!

So then it was home and onto the rollers for a nice and easy 2-3 hour ride. Ok, so I've been training quite a bit indoors lately (again working on some mental toughness), and have come to love the control factor that comes along with being on a machine and not on the road. No cars or unneeded stops to get in the way of keeping my Heart Rate constant. I really feel that I get a better and more concise workout this way. However, being in the mental state in which I found myself today, after about and hour indoors cabin fever struck. I HAD to get out! There was no negotiation. I got off the rollers, hopped into some tights, threw on the jacket and the beanie and was out the door for another hour and change. By the time I came back there was frost on my eyelids (it's 20 degrees here, 8 degrees with the windchill), my fingers were basically useless on account of the numbness, and I had a HUGE smile on my face! Good times! While I'm jealous of all the people out there that can train in warm climates all year long, I don't feel bad for myself. I've grown a little tougher for all the cold workouts and near hypothermic situations I've put myeslf in. I hate the cold but I've definately learned to embrace it.

So that was today. I got in what needed to be done and now I can do it all again tomorrow! Like I said, it's not a lot of hours, it's just getting done what needs to be done, and that's something we can all do, regardless of if it's triathlon, work or whatever.

Push 'till ya puke...Always.

Friday, January 30, 2009

First in a long while....

So this is my first post in quite a while and I'm gonna keep it short. Not because I'm lazy, but because of the fact that it's nearly 1am and I have to get up in 5 hours to be at the pool in tomorrow morning.

I've been down on the blogging front for a bit as a result of my business picking up quite a bit. This is the time of year for us personal trainers to make a killing picking up new business as well as keep our current clients motivated and headed in the right direction for the new year. Also, I'm in the beginning stages of starting up some really neat internet training stuff so I'll keep anyone interested up to date through this blog.

The internet training will be similar to that of most triathlon coaching websites, including e-mail and phone comunication, packages, routines, video postings, etc. I'm looking to get this off the ground in the next few weeks so if you're interested, please feel free to e-mail me at Davidspike1@hotmail.com. I'll get back to you ASAP and have some packages pricelists all set to go along with some more info.

On the personal front, I've been training my butt off. Having a coach set up my schedule and go through things with me has been the best thing ever. At this point in my year I'm already light years ahead of where I've been in the past with triathlon. Granted, I'm only in the sport for a grand total of about a year and a half, but I can really see that I can do some damage in my coming races this season.

I've also gone back to playing my first love, hockey. No, not that dinky roller or deck hockey crap, but real blood and guts on the ice type of hockey. I played since I was a kid and probably could have gone somewhere if I didn't choose to go with lacrosse instead. Don't get me wrong, lacrosse was good to me and paid for a large part of my education, but I should have stuck it out and stayed with hockey. All the guys I grew up with that I doubted would go anywhere in the sport now play professionally somewhere (most in the NHL), not to mention that one of them just started in the friggin' NHL All-Star game last week! Good job fellas and keep up the good work!

So I've started to play again and I'm happy. It keeps me balanced in between long sessions at the pool, on the bike, and running on the treadmill.

So that's about it for now. I'll look to start posting more consistantly now that things have calmed a bit with work.

Happy training and.....

Push 'till ya puke...Always.