"Drop and give me 100!"

With the race season now officially over, I have returned to my off season training that includes weights, cardio and core training. I missed them all summer and for the first month or so, it was fun to not have to kill myself doing 2-4 hour training sessions. But like anything after a few years, it does get a little boring doing the same thing over.....and over and over, so I was happy to stumble across a new challenge.

It's called "The 100 push-up Challenge" and it's a simple program that takes you up to 8 weeks to complete. It's very well planned program that can help people of all fitness levels. This was just what I needed to spice up my workouts.

The first thing you need to do the initial test. This is where you start doing push-ups until you can do no more (muscle failure). Now armed with your number, you look at the chart to determine what week of the program you will start at. It's cool because anyone can do the same program.

I completed 43 push-ups, so I started at week 4. I was surprised I couldn't do more, but damn it was hard!

The program, like all things with this cool little challenge, is simple. You do three 5-15 minute "push-up workouts" a week and the difficulty is progressively increased .

Check it out and be sure to post your push up max.

HK post #2: Funny Inscription

After the quasi failure of my Orillia triathlon I made no secret that I wasn't happy with my performance on the bike. Tanyia fearing that I was willing to just about anything to get better gave me this book. "How awesome is my wife!", I thought to myself. Then I read her inscription...

"Jim,

Because you are an inspiration.... Because I am so proud of you... Because I love you....and because this book is cheaper then a new bike!

Love Tanyia"

God I love her!

HK Post #1: Orillia Triathlon

The Orillia Tri was to be my most successful to date....well that was "the plan" anyway. This was the same race I had used one year earlier as my inaugural triathlon, so having those times as the benchmark was a huge advantage. I had already done the course, so all those internal questions about "Can I do this?" had already been answered in spades. I had evolved into a far more experience competitor since that first race and was eager to show how far I had come by winning my group. Simply finishing was no longer enough and bottom line I was ready.

For the most part the race went well, but my ego got the best of me in the end. Everything was going perfectly. I crushed the swim and set a new personal best time for the 750 meter. On the bike is where I made a crucial error. Instead of gearing down on hills and and doing a high RPM climb I kept the resistance high, rose out of the saddle and powered up the hills. BIG MISTAKE! I was exerting far too much energy and ultimately going slower up the hills then if I had just kept to the plan. And it gets worse....in frying my legs out on the hills I was also killing my wheels for the run. As crazy as it sounds now, at the time I was just so high on adrenalin that I didn't even feel pain and it cost me the win.

I finished 3rd in my group and although I am happy with the result now, at the time I was pissed! When I crossed the finish line and saw my time I was in absolute shock. Until that moment I was convinced I had done enough to win and it was tough to come crashing back to earth. In the end the 4 minutes I wasted trying to macho my way up the hills cost me and I will use this as motivation for next year.

Things I Learned from this Race :

• Practicing transitions works. I was in out in record time (both sub 90 seconds)
• STICK TO THE PLAN...frustrating but true
• Tanyia, the kids are my biggest fans
  
• Win or lose I love this sport!
  

Houskeeping Updates

Lots of stuff has been happening since my updates dried up in early July and my infrequent updates have created a big list of things I intended to post....but never got around too. The list started in the summer with me just jotting down a few points to serve as a reminder for when I had the time to post them. Well over the summer and now early fall, that list as grown to over a page and a half!

I have spent some time this morning mulling over the list and will be posting many of them over the course of the next few weeks.

All of these retro posts will have "Housekeeping" in the title.

It feels good to be back!