Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Finally retired x3

Well Lea retired 3 pairs of my pants yesterday and not because they were worn out or anything like that but because I can now pull them on and off without undoing them.  So that meant it was time to start seeing what other pairs of pants in my closet fit that I haven't worn in a very long time!  It feels good to fitting back into a size 32 again.

This past weekend we had a few members of the NOTS come to town to join in on some training.  The weather wasn't great but we still managed and did a ride outside on Sunday at the track.  It was nice to get outside and off the trainer.  I got a new road bike back in the fall and only got to ride it a couple of times before winter so other than the week I was in Florida and riding it's got very little use yet outside.  It's probably the last bike I'll ever be allowed to buy and  it's a good thing I didn't pay anywhere near full price for it!
 
Training has been going fairly well.  Again it's been mostly little short workouts whenever I can get them in but so it's been working and they've been fairly consistent and it feels good to push 230 watts again on the bike for a sustained amount of time so no complaining here as on wards and upwards we go.
 
I have to say congratulations to Devin who is one of the guys I coach who this past weekend ran at the Toronto Young St. 10km and ran a best time of 32:19 for 20th overall and beat some of the elite runners.  This is a very fast time and his hard work is paying off big time already and we are very early into the season.  You can find Devin's race report on his blog and the link to that is just on the right hand side of mine.
 

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Spring - I hope!

Stepping foot outside this morning sure felt like today was the first day of Spring.  Last night we got a big rain fall that helped with the melt of the snow and this morning the warm air and sun shine was sure a nice change from the cold we've been having as of late.
This past weekend was a Family Fun Day at the Caruso Club and we knew the photographer, Rob from Westmount Photography who had done my pictures when I was competing and who has done all of Hudson's pictures was going to be there doing a free family picture so we got there early to avoid waiting in line.  We were in luck as he was just finishing setting up and we were able to go first.  Again the picture turned out amazing and I can't say enough about Rob and the pictures he takes!
 
I really didn't get much training done this past weekend other than a little bike ride and that's alright as my knee had been giving me a funny little pain so the rest was good and I was still busy spending a couple hours each day cutting, hauling and splitting wood.  We were lucky that about two weeks ago hydro had come down our road and cut down a bunch of trees along the hydro lines so I didn't have to go back too far into the push but it was still enough work getting at least a 12-15 cords of wood from where they fell to piled in the wood shed.
 
This weekend NOTS(Northern Ontario Triathlon Squad) is having a mini training camp with Aron coming from the Sault and Josh from North Bay for the weekend to join up with those already here in Sudbury.  It's sure to be a fun weekend with everyone putting in some quality training with race season just around the corner.  These guys have been training hard all winter and are in incredible shape so it's going to be a task just trying to keep up with them.   

Friday, April 12, 2013

New start, new goals, new perspective on life!

It's been a couple of years since I've posted anything on here and a lot of things have changed since then.  There have been many highs but also some lows but this blog will take a new focus as I am on a different journey in life than I was a couple years back. 
There have been highs of raising my son who will be 3 years old this August and watching him grow into a young boy as he is already riding a 2 wheel bike, did his first triathlon last summer, loves to sing and play with his puppy and brings a smile to my face everyday.
I am the head coach of the Northern Ontario Triathlon Squad and coach about 20 youth and young adults daily and watching their success is always inspirational.  Some have been racing all over North America , competing on the Jr. National circuit and there is a couple who will be competing at this years World Championships in London, England and one who has qualified for the U23 Elite World Duathlon Championships.  I have a real passion for working with these guys and seeing them achieve their goals gives me great satisfaction.  I will continue to update often about how they are doing and what's up next for these guys and girls.
I took a big step back from any training and racing these past couple years and both physically and mentally I think I suffered from it.  Physically I went from 155lbs when I was racing to 220lbs if not a bit more at my heaviest.  I never really thought this was possible for me but it happened.  I stopped all forms of training that I was doing and really wasn't getting much physical activity at all but continued to eat as if I was training full time.  Around Christmas time this year I decided it was time to do something about it and slowly I started getting back into training yet this time with a different approach.  I wasn't going to sacrifice any time with my son or anything else.  If I was going to train it was going to be on my time and it wasn't going to affect anyone else.  Same sort of idea went with the weight.  I was going to go on any kind of diet first because I don't believe in diets and second because I love my food and wasn't going to make those around me change what they are eating just for me.  So I still eat white pasta or bread and if Hudson wants to go to McDonalds then we go to McDonalds.  Since Christmas I've lost 30lbs but more on the way!
Mentally the break in training and racing really gave my mind a chance to think about other things and feelings and emotions I had pushed aside while I was training came started to come back.  I had some pretty dark days and finally went to talk to someone was diagnosed with some pretty serious depression and had to fight off thoughts I ultimately would of regret and would no have been fair to my family and friends.  Today though I like to think I am in a different place mentally and even though it will always be a struggle I have learnt ways to deal with it and appreciate the good things I have in my life.

With that being said I will be getting back to some racing this summer and I really excited about it.  This time its going to be fun no matter the place I finish and the time I get.  I'm looking forward to updating this blog on a fairly regular basis as I know some friends and family used to appreciate it and liked to follow along so I will make a honest effort in trying to do that with all kinds of updates not just how my training and racing is going like what used to be the focus in the past.