Not much exciting going on in wisconsin since camp; school, eat, sleep, train, study, repeat. Pretty boring. But the weather has improved from Blizzard conditions just a short 3 weeks ago, so that is good. And the start of longer training rides means I get to explore further and further into the midlle of nowhere. Here is just a sampling of some things I have seen over the past week or 2.

1) Having to stop for chickens crossing the road

2) An old farmer in the biggest pick-up truck ever, almost hitting, me, then saying he was sorry b/c he didn’t see me behind that “gosh-dang-ol-post-there” (he was referring to the stop sign that he didn’t stop for)

3) There are still remaining snowbanks on the tops of the bluffs (and its 70 degrees)

4) Baby sheep running alongside me

5) 2 middle age scary guys in an old chevy astro workvan asking me to pull-over for a second while I am in the middle of nowhere (yes, I was scared)

6) Farms with Llamas and Yak’s

Thats all of the weird and interesting sightings for now.

For all of us in the triathlon world this past weekend saw the start of the Ironman season with Ironman Arizona taking place in Tempe. There were some great performances and my congratulations go to all those that trained and competed in this event especially my TIMEX team mates.
 

However, for those of us in the less tropical climates we are dealing with the changing of the seasons. In Canada this means spring with the NHL playoffs in full swing and at the local level hockey tournaments are the order of the day.
 

This past weekend I participated with some of my employees at the arena in a little hockey tournament. The tournament was set up as 7 people per team including a goalie. The plan was that you could have 1 goalie, 5 skaters and 1 spare. This was a little shift in my Ironman Training having not been on blades for 8 years or more. It gave a whole new meaning to anaerobic training something us distance athletes do not do enough of. Not to worry though, I got in a couple bike rides in between games to loosen up and work out some of the kinks, bumps, bruises and ……….
 

Having not played hockey for a number of years I was pleased to see some of the progressive changes that have taken place. Firstly’ and foremost was the inclusion of women and men on the same team in a tournament sharing all the ice time, responsibility and duties equally. To this end were a couple statements heard from the ladies stating that they “were upset if the guys did not try 100%”. They felt that there should be nothing less than 100% effort on everyone’s behalf thus having a truly competitive game, which was great to hear. The other significant change was the significant amount of alternate beverages after the game rather that the brown bottle staple of years gone by.
 

The tournament involved a series of 5 games including semi finals and a final. I was very happy to make use of my new Spenco insoles in my skates as they gave a whole new meaning to the word comfort as we progressed through the busy weekend. Our team played in the final for first place in our division. We were the highlight game of the day with our final game being tied after regulation at 0. After overtime there was still no score and only during the shoot out was the determination made of who was the best on that particular day when we scored one goal and the other team came up empty.  
 

The weekend was fun and now as time goes spring here will soon be summer. Next weekend I will be back on the bike for those long rides and soon will be culminating the preparations my Ironman in June.
 

Remember, cross training can take on many forms so use it effectively towards your long term goal.
 

Happy training,
 

Bruce “The IronCanuck”

Happy Friday the 13^th…hope you have a Fabulous, Fabulous Friday!
 

I went to my first Active Release Therapy (ART) on Wednesday.  For those of you who are not familiar with ART, ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART.  (I got that statement off of their website, and you can visit it at http://www.activerelease.com/.)
 

It really worked!  For the first time in over a week, I had no pain and I told Dr. Brian Flournoy, my ART practitioner/physician/therapist (I don’t really know his ”title”), that for the first time in over a week, I felt like I could RUN!  Unlike the expected response, he instructed me to!!  WOW!
 

So, on my way to the car, I tested it out.  Sure enough, I was able to run – to my car – pain free!  (Oh, it’s the little things in life!)  However, by the time I made it home, it had tightened back up and I decided to get on the TPQuadballer (before my first “real” trial run). 
 

That loosened it back up, but by the time I was ready to run, Mother Nature delivered 25+ mph winds and a severe thunderstorm!
 

Fast forward to yesterday…
 

I took my TPQuadballer to school, and used it off and on throughout the day – my students were enamored by the site of it, and many just had to get on the floor and “try it”!  It was quite hilarious!  Anyway, after school, I geared up for my first run in over 9 days.  My goal was to run 5K or a little over 3 miles – easy. 
 

Starting out, I was surprised at my initial feeling of not missing a beat!  My “belly” breathing was good, turnover was normal (96 steps a minute), and my perceived effort was surprisingly right on!  This lasted for about the first half mile, when I seriously thought to myself, “I should turn back”.  I was noticing a decreased range of motion or “tug” in my left hamstring, followed by a dull ache that started to appear below my knee in the outer part of my left calf.  Once again, my ego and stubborn pride refused to stop at just 1 mile!  Man!  How humiliating, to not even be able to run 3 miles!  I ran on…
 

I was approaching a few runners on the trail that stopped to walk right before I reached them.  As I passed, I told them, “great job!”  They laughed, almost as if to respond, “yeah right!”  I looked at them as I passed and said, “No, really…GREAT job!”
 

It made me wonder what was going through their minds…they did not know me, and seemingly couldn’t accept someone running “past them” with a compliment as they were shutting their run down to walk. 
 

Which led me to the next point I pondered…why do you stop running or why do you keep running?
 

Yesterday, though my body was telling me I should’ve turned around at the ½ mile marker, I had a goal.  I would keep running to attain my goal of running 3 miles, and I was determined to get to the 1½ mile marker so my goal could be realized and logged. However, the dull ache had turned into a stabbing pain, and it was all I could do to get to the 1 ½ mile marker…leading to the reason I would stop running.   
 

I was faced with the reality, my ego would take a backseat to my body – it had done all it could do.  So, I began my walk back home. 
 

The two runners from earlier passed me – they were running.  I again tried to run – three steps, and I was back walking.  I walked on. 
 

Then, a larger, male runner passed me.  Again, I just had to try again.  Nope.  I walked on.
 

I then just started soaking in the beauty of the day, and really observing everything around me – the squirrels, the geese, the ducks, the rabbit, the beautiful sky, the spirit of spring, and the other runners and walkers. 
 

Once again, I pondered what makes a person stop running or what is the motivation to keep plodding along? 
 

I witnessed three different runners simply stop – between markers!  What was their goal?  They hadn’t reached the next ½ mile marker, they just stopped!  Were they injured, too?  Had they reached their goal between the markers?!  Was the discomfort they were experiencing too much?  Had they taken more running steps than before?  Regardless, I was glad to see others out exercising.
 

Keep running.
lisa

This past Friday was the “first day of the rest of my life”. I have been coaching girls’ basketball this year and our season came to an end Thursday evening when we were beaten in the playoffs. So, immediately after school on Friday (I am a high school math teacher), instead of giving hours to basketball practice or hours devoted to the responsibilities of coaching, I headed straight home to get back in the saddle again!

When I got home, I checked the weather channel for the direction of the wind and temperature, and changed into my brand new bike shorts and gear. After the normal pre-ride routine and strapping on my Bodylink, I carried my bike downstairs and was officially back in the saddle, again!

Initially, the entire “feel” of my bike was somewhat awkward. I use PowerCranks, and was surprised at how quickly I adapted to riding in my aeorbars – last season it seemingly took me a week to be able to ride in the aero position for more than 5 minutes! Though the wind was awful (there were gusts up to 40 mph and we were under a “red flag alert”!) and being pelted by the residual sand (from all the ice and snow we have experienced) was a little obnoxious, I was excited about the opportunity to be on my bike and getting my bike legs back.

Training as of recent has been hard to find consistency. If you have watched the Weather Channel, Wisconsin has been in a deep freeze. For almost three weeks the average temperature was not above zero degrees with windchills often at 30 below! This even forced me onto the treadmill, which I had to run on for 5 days when there was wind-chill warnings.

But one of the motivating factors to finishing a long run on a cold morning is looking forward to a warm breakfast and hot cup of coffee when you get back. Besides the cold, we have about 10″ of snow or so on the ground, so the local xc ski trails have a decent base. I have been getting out skiing for some great cross-training.

This is the hardest time of year for me to train, as I really get sick of being indoors. But I am really just trying to lay down a foundation for the season and get my body fully adapted to working out 2x a day again. The forecast is calling for a few 10 degree (above 0) days coming up, I might have to get out the Australian Gold Tanning Oil.