Marathon Madness...

So yes, I started running in my very first running clinic ever!! North Shore Athletics is a local running/fitness shop that has started a running clinic a full 6 weeks before some of the other running shops around town. It's been pretty good; there are essentially 3 days of running a week - light runs on a weekend to build up a good pace and to stick with a pace group, Tuesdays are hill climbing (which is my weakness...I run out of steam quick on the hills - the training will help me get stronger here), and Thursdays is tempo running (ie. take the pace up, take the pace down, etc...). The feedback from others that have tried other clinics and the one for NSA is that the clinic with NSA is built on running time; not just distance. They work on the enjoyment on running and not just pure pain for distance...this helps keep people encouraged to keep working on improving.

Andy and I also started a new program call P90X. Andy saw this on a TV program while we were on our California road trip. This program is the real deal; and it's hard. Totally focuses on body weight and 'muscle confusion' to build results vs. just lifting stupid amounts of weight (which could work also but I haven't felt muscle fatigued like this before...and the stiff muscles are slowly starting to show results of the workouts).

Work has been great - been working on the development and part-time consulting. My personal life has also been doing well; feeling centered and more confident. I got got another self-coaching program that I'll be working on soon; the last time I did one, it really got me juiced about life. Andy calls that state of mind for him as 'finding his mojo'. I'm feeling really good now and I figure that the worst that could happen with going through this second self-coaching program is that my mojo just gets stronger!!

Today was great!! The best part of being my own boss is that I can define when to work and when to play. So what did I do? I went skiing up at Whistler. It was AWESOME!!! I bought a new pair of skis last season that I hadn't used until today. They were great!! Now I'm a causal skier, no expert by any means and last season, with an older pair of skis that I had, I kept crossing my skis and would get frustrated by the end of the day. This season, with these new parabolics, it was an awesome day!! Lots of control, quick turns, controlled my speed...everything was great!!
I think my training on learning to ride a motorcycle helped me too. "How?", do you ask? Well, when riding a motorbike, it isn't like driving a car. In a car, when you look anywhere out the windows (front, look in the rear view, look out the driver/passenger windows, etc..), in which direction does the car travel? If you are driving straight ahead, is the car not still essentially driving straight ahead? Typically it is (unless the driver is not paying attention or is driving carelessly that is). With a motorbike, what the folks at Pacific Riding School trained riders with is that if you look in one particular direction, the bike will tend to track towards the direction that you are looking - there is no opportunity to 'sight-see' while riding (it's way too dangerous for that). My thought is that the real streetbike riding is also not done in the straight-aways (as any idiot can drive fast); the real riding is done in the corners. I was taught to look far into the turn in order for the bike to track and take me through the turn (which really works for me) and is essentially the technique that I used for skiing today. Where I looked is where I went....and it was awesome!!




Christmas is slowly approaching and there a few presents that I need to purchase...not a lot but a few. Looking forward to the dinners and spending time with my friends and family.

h.