I had somewhere I wanted to take this blog but once I started typing it out, it just didn't seem to be too heartfelt. So I will keep it simple and then give you an update on what's been going on. I wanted to write about what defines a person. How you are not defined by the standards that society has put in place, but instead by the standards we put in place for ourselves. Don't let society make you think that you are less than because you don't fit the mold. Don't let someone think you are poor because you have less than. Don't let someone think you are ugly, fat, skinny, because of their standards. You know you, and if someone else makes you doubt that then don't waste your time with them.
Let what you do define you. I'm not talking about what your job is or what kind of education you have, nothing like that. I'm talking about what you choose to do in your own free time, that's what defines you.
But anyways, I'm kind of stuck after that so I won't drone on about this. I just want to get that out there.
My training the past couple weeks has been pretty great. I have had absolutely zero, knock on wood, pain anywhere. At least nothing out of the norm. We all have small aches and pains, that's part of endurance. Just nothing to make note of. After my massage a few weeks ago the calf issues I was having are completely gone. I have been following a pretty strict regimen of stretching and rolling the calf, as well as stretching everything else from the belly down. I think that Yoga has been very beneficial as well. I always feel like I'm not getting anything done on Yoga days but it's a day to repair the body, as well as the mind. I am mostly repairing the body during the yoga, but later in the day I repair the mind with a cheat meal. I literally live for this meal! Favorite thing of the week, eating whatever I want for one meal. I just gotta say that when all you eat is chicken and vegetables and some bred throughout the week, that one meal is pretty damn important.
Pretty much the past few weeks have been structured like this: Monday and Tuesday are bike skill workouts building speed and power. Each of those workouts is immediately followed by a 1 hour strength workout. The strength workouts are awesome and I really enjoy them. These are my favorite two days of the week, that don't involve food. Wednesday is a swim workout focusing on form followed by a run. The run has been mostly hills on the treadmill and lasts about an hour. It actually goes pretty quick when you are doing sets instead of miles on the treadmill. Thursday is a hill repeat workout, which is just horrible. This week I did a 10 minute warmup at about 7mph, treadmill is in speed rather than pace. Then 10x60-90 second hills at an 18% grade at 6.5mph followed by a walk at -3% at 2.8mph. Each of these totals 3 minutes. Let me tell you how hard this is... Real hard. For me the last 10 seconds of each hill is a struggle. My legs will feel like they are on fire, my lungs feel like they are tearing apart, it feels terrible. But when that last hill is done, I get a really good feeling of accomplishment. Tomorrow I have a 3x900m swim followed by a 10 mile run. It's suppose to be snowing and 30 when I need to run tomorrow so I'm thinking outside would be fun. Sunday will be and has been a 2.5 hour bike.
I have really been enjoying this training. I haven't dreaded anything yet, even the hill workouts. I wouldn't say I like them but I don't have a hard time motivating myself to get it done. I have been feeling like there is not enough time in the day though. It just seems that there needs to be about another 5 hours on each day so I can get everything done and then relax a bit. Monday and Wednesday I'm up at 3am to ride and then a the gym at 5am to lift and home by about 6:30am. It's just always go go go. And now with us trying to get our house on the market our weekends are completely shot. Throw in trying to organize fundraising events and the IM4RM campaign and things just fill to the brim. I definitely couldn't do it without the help of my wife Nicole and my friends, mainly Justin and Carl. They have all helped a ton with IM4RM.
We have racked up quite a few donations for IM4RM and Ironglut. I think both will turn out great! I really hope so because not only do I want to raise a lot of money for the charity, but I want the people coming to the event to enjoy themselves. I don't want anyone to be disappointed. We will also be having our race kits made for IM4RM. So if you are interested in sponsoring us now is the time to get involved so we can get your artwork on our jerseys.
Well, that's all I got today. I gotta do some dishes and clean some house. Have a good weekend and don't forget to register for Ironglut at www.im4rm.com.
