Monday, April 19, 2010

Such little time so much has happened!!

So much has happened since the last post. Alright so Friday, I went to work and had a stellar day teaching Athletes how to do hand offs. The cool part was before that when we had Jerry Lynch come and talk to our team for an hour and run through some exercises. I learned a lot not only for my students but for me as well. I have had a lot of education in this job that should not only benefit me as a coach but also as an athlete. This was Friday.

Saturday had the track meet, and what a stellar day. We had some awesome performances with a lot of PRs and a couple of state qualifiers being Birdie and Jake. Abbie biked up to watch and she got a ride back. It was nice for my world of work and personal life to come together. Go Lions!!

Sunday, Soccer mania, so I biked over to watch Vince and Abbie play soccer, then came home ate, went to my meeting, and then ran around a mountain. Pretty much legit!! How awesome is that..

Then today I got some my online coaching done, some other things as well. I went for a bike ride up a canyon that was really intense, I am becoming such a better runner, and cyclist, time to get in the pool now though. Tomorrow is my long day I have bold running to coach as well as track, but that will be no big deal.  Large goal is to go to CAC tomorrow John (my track Boss) gave me a three day pass, I think Tues, Wed. Thur. is the best time to do it because it will be the most beneficial.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Time

Time, this is the most valuable thing we have in life. We let people waste it, and we should not. The number one person who wastes our time I think is us. Why? Possibly because of the comforts we have everyday now.  I ran for 3 hours today(off and on depending on the snow). I could have done that a long time ago, but I didn't. Why? Because I have been lazy(refer to last blog), and I have been wasting time. Swimming is the hardest part of a triathlon for me. I think a reasonable goal is a 1:30 per 100m pace. Alright, so the better swimmers are usually around 1:10. Fair enough, and maybe I should not worry, and just focus on my 1:30, which I am right now. Just a note to me however: In an Ironman ratio race in order to make up for a 1:30 to be towards the top I will have to run 20 seconds faster per mile. Awesome, wait no it's not. So after I obtain this 1:30 goal, I am going to aim for a 1:20 goal. at 1:20 I would only have to run 10 seconds faster per mile. This is much more doable. Now if in the next two years I am able to cram that guy into a 1:10, then I run a 6:06 mil pace, and toss in a 25mph bike ride, we are looking at an Ironman Champ. A lot of times people say make your weakness your strength, I am going to have my work cut out for me.

Track and field: We are going to have two relays this weekend the boys 4x200m, and the girls 4x100m. I am pretty excited to see what happens.

Working out today: I tried to run up to bear peak, 3,000 feet up, and it proved to be very difficult, I had to take a couple of short 5-15 second breaks, but ended up doing very well, until I got to the snow. Snow and ice, what it is April. How does this happen? Well it does and I was forced to a safe walk. On the way down, I mistaken one trail for another, then went to the South Peak, then came down a trail known as shadow side. It was not toobad, but very steep, so it was more of dropping slowly from rock to rock, than running. there was a nice long run all the way back around the mountain once I was finally finished. What a great day. Sorry Abby for missing the bike ride we had planned. The Purple is my run.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Saturday

Motivation: something that motivates; inducement; incentive.


   I feel as though there is a greater evil spreading among people today, including myself. It is a lack of motivation. Or perhaps laziness. I feel as though it is slipping almost more and more everyday. This last week has been a great week for working out for me. However I have been lazy and have chosen more entertaining things to do instead of blog, or work on my webpage. It seems as though it is hard to be satisfied with what you have. For example: I keep looking at used bike on craigslist, just because I think I can get better with a newer bike to practice on. My triathlon bike is great, no questions asked there. The bike I practice on though is a 90s chromoly, that is closer to 30lbs. I think I should get a lighter more responsive bike so when I go on rides with people I can keep up more easily, or I can even lead for a little while. That is true. However which will force me to ride harder, develop more muscle, and feel really good when I am racing on my tri bike, the answer is simple: the old bike. So, I am going to stick with the old bike, and be happy with what I have. I was thinking of writing an article about how to go about starting triathlons. There are many books out there that do a great job of explaining how to train, and choose your first race. There is not a list however of important things to buy, and in what order. This list I think would be great, and could be followed along with times. The problem is that like any triathlete we are not all the same. A lot of people can just go out and a buy a 10,000 dollar bike just to make themselves faster, meanwhile they are still going to get passed by me or one of my friends who has been putting in the work. I guess living in boulder has made me doubt myself a little bit. Everybody has matching running tops and shorts with some big name on them, or even worse the riders with their beloved team top with the matching bib shorts. I know deep inside that stuff does not matter at all. A lot of times I use to take pride in knowing that I am good because of me, and the stuff does not matter as much at all. 


From  the edge movie: "What one man can do, another can do." This is very important to me in looking at previous big ironman contenders. In 1989 Mark Allen went 8:09, that time would have won every ironman since 1997. I am not saying that Mark Allen is not amazing, he is. What I am saying is that with the advantages I have simply by living 20 years later I too should more easily be able to meet a mark of 8:09 if not I should at least be close to it. Did he have a brand new Felt, Cervelo or Blue bike? No. 


So I should take pride once again in myself, and my work. When it comes time to race I will know my race came from inside me, from the work I have done. not from a check book. I am living to fulfill my dreams, if only everybody was as lucky as I am. 


Today a swim, and maybe a ride. I went mountain biking on Thursday and I felt like a kid again, how fun. 

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

235 Days Until Cozumel

Alright, so I have been going harder and going to set up a strong workout routine based around maintaining my run getting more miles in the bike, and swimming 6 days a week. So far it is working out. I get discouraged like many people when I do not meet the times  for the workout. It is not always about making the times. Sometimes its about reaching inside yourself and finishing the workout, or coming back with only one bad time. No matter what happens you do not want to end the day with regret. That is the most important thing. So some words of wisdom is "If you try your hardest, you will never fail". This is true in all aspects of life. Think about that. You might get last place or have a super crap workout, however if you learn and gave your best, there is not much more you can ask, so you do not fail. You may not meet a goal, or even come close, but once again as long as you give it hell, it is fine.
Yesterday I coached one of my sprinters as they did hill repeats. They had one slow one. I knew he was bummed. This student however is not scared to fail. He will try anything. At the first track meet he fell on the first hurdle, then got right back up and finished the race. People laughed, but he did not care. I can learn a lot from that. Anyway I told him he controls his destiny. His mental determination can control what the outcome of the rest of splits. Sure enough that was the last split he had over 34, with a goal of 33. How awesome. I hope he realizes how well he did.
I need to control my destiny now. The last 5 days have been crazy!! We had a game night where my hombre Robert Baca (who I ran against in high school) and Chris Viskup(triathlete friend) came over and we had a game night. Apples to Apples night to be exact. The next day Abbie, Robert and I helped Chris move to Fort Collins. He did not have a lot of stuff so it was way easy. So then we went on a boat ride in the Horse tooth reservoir in a motor boat. It was cold, and there was still snow on the hills around the water. Then we went out and watched Clash of the Titans, which was mediocre(dvd rental), not really worth going to the theater. Then Sunday I ran Biked and Swam. It was crazy Ran into a really funny sign that said "Nazi Zombies Ahead!".

Yesterday I ran into something really funny, the most testosterone in a movie EVER check it out, so many super stars!!