Hey,
As hoped for, May has been a great month of training - lots of good weather and plenty of fun, hard, consistent workouts. All this has left me short on time for updates, but I had to write about my soon coming adventure, the anticipation is killing me :-)
As of Monday morning (31st), myself and my uncle (aka - training partner and fellow friend of suffering) are heading out for another week long bike trip. Last year, we rode around Lake Ontario. This year, we are heading around the lake to begin our adventure - crossing by way of Niagara Falls, and then are hoping to make our way to New York City! Once on the state side, our route will take us east all the way over to the St Lawrence River. From there we will follow along a roadway that parallels it, and head south down to Manhattan. We hope to ride to the tip of the island, give a wave to the Statue of Liberty and call it a trip :-) We estimate the trip to be around 1000km's and will likely be riding anywhere from 180-200km's a day (we only have a week to get it all done :-)
Actually if all goes well, once we reach that Manhattan we will load our bikes up in the car (his wife will be driving along and meeting us at the end of each day) and on the drive back home we want to stop in Lake Placid and ascend Whiteface Mountain (on our bikes of course), which is an 8 mile climb of about 3500ft with averaged grade of 8.3%! It should be a great week, and I'm really looking forward to it. Cycling is a great way to see the land, and of course the long rides are great for Ironman training.
Here's a funny story - Upon hearing of my bike plans, one of my buddies at work asked me if I'd be resting this weekend before the big trip (they can't believe I'm riding that far, and that I'd do it on my "holidays as fun"). No, not really I said. I have more training to do: a 25km run on Saturday, and Sunday I'm doing about a 100km ride, followed by a short run :) What about my uncle you may ask? He's no slouch either - tomorrow he is running the Ottawa Marathon, which will be his 25th marathon of his running history! Amazing! I'm wishing him all the best, and hope he has a great run!
Well, that's a wrap on what's ahead. I'll post little updates on my FB page each night (if I can stay awake)! When I return, I'll give the full report here!
Cheers,
Jon
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Right Choices...
Hey!
Its been a while sine I wrote, so I thought I'd drop a quick update and a little thought to ponder...
Here's the thought - 'Right choices bring right emotions'. I can't lay claim to thinking of this on my own, in fact I learned it at a very young age when I was a teen. When I fist heard it, it was intended to be applied when considering moral decisions (it was likely a teaching point in a sermon at church/youth group, I can't recall for sure though). I remember thinking how sensible this seemed, and always tried to apply it when making tough choices.
What does this have to do with training? Well, a lot actually. This past week, I had one day where I had to do a mid distance run. It was nothing too crazy or intense, but I did not feel like doing it at the time. I felt like putting it off, but could not as work was on the horizon that afternoon. The only other option was skipping it, and that is rarely a good choice (I should write about that sometime).
Anyways, in spite of my lethargic feelings, I made the right choice and got out the door running. As I suspected, it felt kinda rough at first. My legs were tired, and I wasn't really in to it. However, a few km's in to the run, I started warming up and feeling better. The legs started turning over more freely, and I was running smooth. Soon I was enjoying the session, and by the time it concluded I was very pleased with how I ran, and more importantly, that I got the workout done. I made the right choice, to get the workout in, and as was said to be true, the right (good) emotions followed.
So the next time, you feel like skipping a workout or giving in to some crappy feeling, try and remember this story. Put the emotions aside, and make the right choice - the right emotions will follow!
Cheers,
Jon
PS - I'm short on time right now, so I'll drop the training update another time. Things are well though, and I am hoping this month will be a great one, with an epic training week planned at the end of the month - details to follow! :-)
Its been a while sine I wrote, so I thought I'd drop a quick update and a little thought to ponder...
Here's the thought - 'Right choices bring right emotions'. I can't lay claim to thinking of this on my own, in fact I learned it at a very young age when I was a teen. When I fist heard it, it was intended to be applied when considering moral decisions (it was likely a teaching point in a sermon at church/youth group, I can't recall for sure though). I remember thinking how sensible this seemed, and always tried to apply it when making tough choices.
What does this have to do with training? Well, a lot actually. This past week, I had one day where I had to do a mid distance run. It was nothing too crazy or intense, but I did not feel like doing it at the time. I felt like putting it off, but could not as work was on the horizon that afternoon. The only other option was skipping it, and that is rarely a good choice (I should write about that sometime).
Anyways, in spite of my lethargic feelings, I made the right choice and got out the door running. As I suspected, it felt kinda rough at first. My legs were tired, and I wasn't really in to it. However, a few km's in to the run, I started warming up and feeling better. The legs started turning over more freely, and I was running smooth. Soon I was enjoying the session, and by the time it concluded I was very pleased with how I ran, and more importantly, that I got the workout done. I made the right choice, to get the workout in, and as was said to be true, the right (good) emotions followed.
So the next time, you feel like skipping a workout or giving in to some crappy feeling, try and remember this story. Put the emotions aside, and make the right choice - the right emotions will follow!
Cheers,
Jon
PS - I'm short on time right now, so I'll drop the training update another time. Things are well though, and I am hoping this month will be a great one, with an epic training week planned at the end of the month - details to follow! :-)
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