Category: motivation

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NEXT

Bracebridge will be my last triathlon of this year.  I decided I couldn’t do any more triathlons until I can make bike rides of 2 hours or more a regular part of my lifestyle.  I knew this about a week before the race, and to be honest, I found it liberating.  I love triathlon and I hope to be doing it the rest of my life, but leading up to the race, and pretty much all season long, I felt guilt about miles I wasn’t getting in (especially on the bike).

I had done a pretty good job of exercising on the whole, but when I wanted to do Yoga or Pilates or Crossfit or Burbathlon I often did, yet at the end of the week (or whenever) I’d look at my mileage on Endomondo and cringe.  I don’t want to cringe anymore, I want to have fun.



I (or I should say, we) do have a few runs and endurance races in our near future.  First is the Levac Attack back for 2013.  We’ll be running the ‘Hard Taco’ event at 11.2 km.  We’re hoping Shark Boy will bike it beside us, with the Lightning Kid in the Chariot except for the last few hundred meters where we’ll try and get him to run/walk.  It’s on September 7th; if you’d like to donate, please click here.  We’d love to have you if you’d like to run it too, registration ends August 29th.  There’ll be great t-shirts, a bouncy castle for the kids, post race food from the Pickle Barrel, you name it.

The next week is a double-header with the Terry Fox run for the whole family on the Saturday.  We’ll probably do 5 km with both boys in a combination of Chariot and Bike, much like last year.

The next day (Sunday) I’ll be doing a trail run with the 5 Peaks series.  I had great fun with them last year, and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to fit in more of their races this year.  There’s a kid event I’m hoping I can get Shark Boy to do… maybe even the Lightning Kid, who knows?

Last but not least, Shark Boy will have a return appearance at the Kids Of Steel Duathlon run by Family Fun Fit on the weekend of September 21st.  That day has another big event, but I’m not going to talk about it in this post.

Triathlon season may be over for me, but the multi-sport fitness adventures continue!

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Midweek Motivation: Seek The Hard

I wanted to get this post out for Monday as in “Motivational Monday”, but instead I’ll steal from Kovas at Midwest Multisport Life and do “Midweek Motivation”.



I was riding along during the bike leg of the Muskoka 5150.  I was somewhere around the halfway mark and had some of those nasty hills behind me, and I found myself cruising along and thinking to myself: ”This is nice…”

Then it hit me.  I found it “nice”, because it was easy (there might have been a slight decline) and this was a race, I shouldn’t find it easy, and I couldn’t afford to savour it or draw this out.  The easy, downhill or even flat parts should be over as quickly as possible, and I needed to get to the next uphill climb – I needed to Seek The Hard (part).

On that day, I tried to blast through the easy parts and get to where I was really working; on that course, in that weather, it wasn’t hard to find.

Seeking the hard in training is just as important – that’s how you get the most out of the time spent, and make yourself ready for any hard parts you face in training.

This last week, I sought the hard in my training.

On Sunday, I tried this WOD from AllAroundJoe, which combines swim intervals, burpees and sit-ups.




I completed the 5 rounds of 200m swim, 10 burpees, 10 sit-ups in 25 minutes flat, then did the 800m swim (after stopping to put on my wet-suit... doing burpees in a wet-suit on a hot summer day isn’t ‘hard’… it’s stupid… important to know the difference).

 On Tuesday, I did a modified bike #WorkoutHack with less hill repeats due to the crazy heat and humidity. Check this out:





On Wednesday I tried our corporate gym’s ‘Tabata’ class. A warm-up, then 6 different Tabatas (most involved altenating whole body exercises on the 20 second work intervals). It was… intense, to say the least.

 Friday was another hot day, and my weapon of choice was a Burbathlon. I’m hoping training in the heat gets my body acclimatized to it should the weather be as punishing on race day. I used this article to shape the kinds of strength work I’m trying to build into my Burbathlon workouts.






Fitness bloggers love to discuss what their mantra is; what do they repeat to themselves to keep digging deep and find the strength to keep going when they simply don’t want to anymore? Seek The Hard… I may have found mine.

What’s Yours?

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Will Tri for Beer

There are two kinds of athlete: those that fuel themselves with nothing but the best nature and/or science can offer in the quest of squeezing better performance out of the machines that are their bodies… and there are the “Will Run For Beer” types.  Count me in the latter category, only I guess it’s “Will Tri For Beer (or cookies, ice cream, chicken wings, burgers…)”.

I’ve always wanted to participate in one of the “Drink-Up Link-Ups” organized by Janine from The Purple Giraffe, and my recent trip to Germany gave me an opportunity to do a roundup of my my favourite beers that I drank over there.
How can I do a post about German beer on the 4th of July?  Well, did you know that if it weren’t for a single vote, German would be the official language of the United States?  If you didn’t, good for you, because it’s bunk.  I can’t actually rationalize it too well.  Anyway…

I’m far from a connoisseur of beer, and I seem to be out of touch with the rage over hoppy beers (notably all the India Pale Ales) out there.  I guess my German heritage makes me like beers that hew closer to the Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law – only ingredients can be water, barley, hops [and yeast]) and that typically means lagers (in my experience and largely uninformed opinion).  I jump at the chance to drink a nice Pilsener, and warmer temperatures (which were rare on my trip) give me cravings for Wheat Beers.

Wheat beers come in 3 varieties: Weiss (white), Dunkel (dark) and Kristall (Crystal/Clear).  The Kristall is filtered and you can see through it – it has the cleanest taste.  The white is lighter and fresher tasting than the dark, but they’re both refreshing thirst quenchers and the dark isn’t that similar in taste to dark beers or stouts.

My favourite wheat beers:

  • Schoefferhofer – I had more of this in Berlin
  • Maisel’s – I had all 3 varieties of this one, it’s my brother’s favourite.

My favourite Pilsener
  • Schultheiss – this was my go-to beer while eating out around Berlin.  A simple, straightforward Pils.
I have a note that I drank ‘Kronenberger’ but the only thing on the web seems to be Kronenbourg 1664, which I have tried, and is decent, but I refuse to further discuss a French beer in a post about German ones.

Special mention for the Jever Alcohol-Free beer; we got this by accident but I didn’t hate it, and I found myself willingly drinking it if I thought I was still going to try to fit a workout in that day; that way I didn’t get lazy/sleepy from any beer buzz.

But this isn’t a food/drink blog, so I need another rationale to link up with the Purple Giraffe, and I have a good one.  Janine also organizes a Virtual #RunForMemory to find a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Virtual Runs are fun ways that we can participate in a cause with online friends no matter where in the world they are. I try to pick some official event that can double its purpose; last time I wanted it to be a Snowshoe race for the Kyle’s Krusade, and though the snowshoe part didn’t work out then, I still wanted this to have a little something extra to make it challenging and meaningful.

 Well, our work run club was staging a race in some of the most hot and humid weather we’ve seen this year, and this was a mere 3 days after my Muskoka 5150 Olympic Triathlon experience.

Check out that temperature and humidity. The words I used to describe it to my wife were “Death March”. And yet it was worth it. I donated to the Alzheimer’s Research cause and you can too (just use the Donate button on the Purple Giraffe site).

We are on the cusp of having unprecedented longevity thanks to better scientific understanding of our bodies and better healthy living practices… yet it’s a terrifying idea that our minds could get left behind. Read the Alzheimer’s facts on Janine’s site.

I confess I have an ulterior motive; I want the Lightning Kid to grow old and live as independently as possible when my wife and I are long gone. People with Down syndrome are prone to dementia as they age, and there is considerable overlap in Alzheimer’s research that could apply to those individuals too.

I confess I have a second ulterior motive… a free Beer Koozy for participating. See how I brought it back to beer? That’s Synergy people!

Please consider participating in the #RunForMemory and/or donating to #EndAlz.

  • Register and Run 5k or 10k
  • Donate
  • Spread the Word using the #RunForMemory and #EndAlz hashtags.
The link for the site one more time is The Purple Giraffe.

What cause(s)/reward(s) do you run for?
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Pin-It Party Link-Up

Lindsay from the Lean Grean Bean had the wonderful idea to leverage a little Pinterest and help a bunch of bloggers bring attention to some of their older posts.  Blame me or my equipment, but I generally don’t have the most jaw-dropping pictures… I do know that visuals are important in blogs, as walls of text turn people off.

I picked 5 posts based on 1.) they had to have a ‘Pinnable’ image and 2.) they represent the real heart of what this blog is about.  Here are my 5 posts:

Now that I look at them, there’s not a lot of triathlon representation, which is the main theme of this blog.  Well, my triathlon posts either don’t have good images (that originate from me), or just don’t have the level of originality that I want to present today; e.g. race recaps – I swam, I biked then I ran.  So did everyone else.  The posts above, though? They have that special Iron Rogue brand of crazy.  So go ahead an pin an image!  You can find me on Pinterest here.  And be sure to go to Lean Green Bean for other great posts on fitness and wellness.  I’ll even put a few links in the comment section!

EDIT: Can’t put links in the comments, so here’s some of the other participants I’ve visited:
Itz Linz
Coffee, Cake and Cardio
Family Fitness Food
Fit 2 Flex
Let’s Walk and Talk/

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Motivation Monday: Listing One’s Strengths

Apparently in Crossfit, there’s a saying: write down a list of your strengths and your weaknesses, then throw out the list of strengths, and work on your weaknesses.  This is certainly wise, and in reading various fitness blogs, the phrase I probably run across the most, is: “I really need to work on my…”.

What about doing the opposite?  What about acknowledging the parts of your training where you’re a total Rock Star?  Self-doubt and criticism will come unbidden anyway, we should be making room to pat ourselves on the back from time to time.  Without further ado, here are my top 5 strengths:

  1. I start slow.  That sounds like a negative, but hear me out.  I can remember my first (only) marathon.  I had put myself in a corral based on the time I thought I could achieve and then I looked around.  Old men, runners with no shoes, runners a lot heavier than me.  I began to get down… was I underestimating myself?  No,  I thought, I had spent a lot of time training, and a big part of that was getting to know my body, and what it was and wasn’t capable of.  I had trained for my race, now I needed to race my training, I told myself.  I could easily have gotten psyched out and adopted an aggressive pace early to try and get ahead of those I thought I “should” have been beating, but that would have ruined me for the latter parts of the race.  Sure enough, I did pass some of those people who had probably made that exact mistake.   Being able to be conservative has helped me not only in endurance sports, but in grappling tournaments for jiu-jitsu.  In Crossfit and workouts inspired by that philosophy, I like doing RFT (Rounds for Time) better than AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible [within a time limit]), since I find I can estimate how I’m going to be able to get the exercises done.  I’ll take very small breaks as needed and be able to keep a fairly even level of activity and intensity, rather than having an awesome first round then being close to dying thereafter.
  2. I finish fast.  I may not have the fastest time, or even the best time for what my physical abilities are, but when I cross the finish line, it looks like I’m in a race.  I was raised with the German concept of “Endspurt” which is a burst of speed for the end that you are either a) given (like a ‘second wind’) or b) make happen or c) both. 
  3. Hills.  When I see a hill, I attack it like it insulted my mother then stole my bike.  I treat it as an obstacle to be overcome – no moaning and complaining, just get it behind you.  I’ll pass people going up hills in a race; hills still affect me, and take a lot out of me, I just find the best time to recover is shortly after you’ve crested it.  Some people will re-pass me on  the flats or whatever, I just don’t like prolonging the pain of going uphill by going slowly.  That goes for running or biking.
  4. Flexibility.  I’ll run with a slower partner.  I’ll ride with a faster group.  I’ll push a baby-jogger.  I’ll go out in the freezing cold, snow, dark, whatever.  I love trying new ways to train and/or exercise.  I don’t train in the evenings usually, just because I have to be so protective of my sleep, but mornings would be fine by me (if the kids would stay asleep and in bed).  I’m definitely able to work out while tired and sleep deprived.
  5. Humility.  That one is going to look strange in a post that’s pretty much tailor made to show off, but I am aware of my own short-comings.  More importantly, I don’t compare myself to others much.  This is my hobby, and while there are those that are better and faster than me (some even while having the same or more commitments to work and family etc.), beating myself up over why I can’t do the same simply takes the fun out of my hobby and pass-time.  I do what I can, when I can, and I want to have fun doing it… that has to be good enough.
Enough about me… what are your strengths?  What makes you a Rock Star? Listing one strength is good, listing 5 is better!


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Half Marathon Training Weekly Recap: And So This is Taper

I’ve read and heard from many triathletes and runners about how they go crazy during taper; the sudden drop in activity and being forced to do so much less leaves them figuratively twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of the race.  I figured this wouldn’t be a problem for me; there’s lots I’ve been meaning to get to, and taking the time I would have put into a workout to devote to those other tasks would be great.  It didn’t work out that way unfortunately;  I think some of those athletes were talking about a much greater volume of training being done for a longer period, and the truth is, I found myself in a funk that bordered on depression toward the end of the week before last.

Chart showing all activity for 2013: Doesn’t look like much of a taper….





Chart showing Running Activity only.  Weekly results may be skewed based on whether the long run took place on a Saturday or Sunday.





I had very little energy or motivation to do anything; train, blog, work, play with the kids everything felt “too hard, why bother”.  I had a few above-average sleeps, by our family’s yardstick (that still means getting up 2-3 times a night) and I still felt tired and listless most of the day.  I can at least claim that I still got a few treadmill runs in, but they weren’t spectacular and they were less than *prescribed*.

  • Sunday: 7km run (instead of 8km)
  • Tuesday: 8km on the treadmill.   I played around with video recording my stride as best as I could with this run, and I even switched shoes.  That broke up the boredom and fatigue a little.
  • Thursday: 5km on the treadmill (instead of 5.6km).
  • Friday: I started to feel a little more like myself on Thursday night, so I was willing to put in a little more effort… just not necessarily on the treadmill as much.  I completed a spinning class, and turned into a brick by doing my 2 mile tempo work on the treadmill right after.  No extra warm-up or cool-down mileage though.
  • Sunday: Nearly 8km of cross-country skiing.  Pulling the kids in the Chariot as usual, conditions gave us some alternately sticky and slippery snow, but at least it was fresh and mild.  A really pleasant day to mark the end of my funk.


Overall this week, I’m pleased with the fact that I got all my runs in – which is to say I ran as many times as I was supposed to, even if I didn’t to them to the prescribed length (or prescribed procedure).  Let’s not even mention cross-training; there might have been a few extra planks here or there.

Next week it’s even less volume, which means I can focus on preparing logistical details for the race…

Have you ever suffered from Taper Blues?
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Motivation Monday: My Sons Are My Heroes.

Over at my Lightning Kid Blog, I recently announced that he had taken his first steps.  He is a little short of his 15 month birthday, and we’re over the moon about his development.  It’s not only terribly early by the developmental milestones for children with Down Syndrome, it’s within the range of typical development.  I was watching him try standing the other day.  He’d crawl on hands and knees, get his feet under his hips, straighten up into standing, then flop onto his butt… but he was doing this over and over again with an intensity and persistence that could only be described as furious.  Tenacity is going to serve him well because I know he’ll face adversity as he gets older.  Likewise persistence, as my father used to quote Calvin Coolidge:


Now Shark Boy’s persistence isn’t any lesser, but a little more annoying, since he will argue on everything with me, sometimes I feel like he’d dispute the colour of the sky.  What’s remarkable about him, is his response to being tired: he simply goes faster.  Think about it: if you had to pull an all-nighter, and you started feeling drowsy, you’d probably put on a pot of coffee.  What if you did a sprint around the block?  That would wake you up!  Shark Boy had discovered this little fact from the time he could crawl, I figure.


If you ask just about any toddler or preschooler whether they’re tired, they’ll automatically say no even if all signs (fussiness, irritability, eye rubs, yawning) point to yes.  Shark Boy (and again the Lightning Kid to a large extent) don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk.  As their parent, I find them exhausting obviously, but in moments when I can reflect on the day, I still admire that even as the energy in those little bodies starts to wane, their spirits want to keep going.  If I may quote my eldest son:

Words to live by…

On a bit of a post-script, I found other inspiration this week from an unlikely source… a brewing company.  I read a bit about Rogue Ales; obviously the name alone appealed to me.  They’ve got a lot of different flavours (like Chipotle Ale) that I want to try, but it looks like it’s a little hard to come by in Canada, especially in the Greater Toronto Area (BC looks like it’s better off).

By the power of Greyskull I will track down and drink this beer: @rogueales Chipotle Ale:rogue.com/beers/chipotle… #beerchat
— Axel Kussmann (@apkussma) January 4, 2013

I started poking around the website and found their ‘Declaration of Interdependence‘ down the page was the following image and text:

Source: rogue.com via Axel on Pinterest


  • Rogues take risks.
  • Rogues are willing to shun titles and personal financial success in the
    pursuit of the greater good.
  • Rogues pursue the long shot.
  • Rogues have respect for diversity.
  • Rogues are never satisfied to rest on past laurels.
  • Rogues work hard.
  • Rogues are driven to succeed in their chosen field.
  • Rogues ignore the accepted patterns and blaze their own trails.
  • Rogues have raw talent and focus on that talent.
  • Rogues are honest with themselves and others.
  • Rogues are rebels.
  • Rogues have one foot in reality to let them get the job done, but they are, nonetheless, led by their dreams.
Some of those really spoke to me (maybe not so much the one about raw talent…).  I’d like to think they apply to my life and my pursuits…

Have you ever found inspiration from an unlikely source?
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Trifecta Tuesdays!

I like Tuesdays.  They’re not Monday, so they don’t have that back-to-work sting, and yet you’re not far enough into the week to realize how far behind you might be at work.  Due to our circumstances vis-a-vis daycare and babysitting help from visitors, it’s a good chance for me to get out of the house early for some extra exercise…

And thus Trifecta Tuesday was born.


My basic premise for Trifecta Tuesday is to get 3 different forms of exercise done in one day.  I’m a triathlete… I like threes… three is a magic number after all!

Some examples so far:

  1. Dec 4th.  I hit the pool in the morning for a workout, then at lunch I had the two-fer workout that I have dubbed ‘Rowga’.  Swimming, Rowing Machine, Yoga.
  2. Dec 11th.  Another morning Swim.  Then the 3-2-1 workout: 3 cardio sessions, 2 whole-body strength circuits, 1 session of ab/core work; 10 minutes each for a (theoretical 60 minute workout).  I ended up short on time and skipping the explicit core work, but since I used the Spartacus circuit and the Matrix circuit for strength, my core was adequately addressed.  The cardio sessions were Rowing (again), Spinning, and a combination of skipping rope and the heavy bag.  I lost count somewhere in there, but it’s more than 3!
  3. Dec 18th.  Hey! That’s today!  I’m swamped with year-end stuff at work, so getting 3 activities in would take not only creativity, but… creativity in the interpretation.  I wanted to try a new elliptical trainer that has lateral motion (spoiler alert: upcoming post!) for warm-up, and use the treadmill for a post-workout cardio burn, but others like to use that elliptical/cross-trainer, so I opted for a rowing warm-up.  My weight/strength session had the upper body push (chest), legs, upper body pull (back) structure, but I focused more on tradtional moves with heavier weights like a barbell bench press.  I ended up snagging the lateral ellipitical/cross-trainer for my post-workout cardio burn.

Stay tuned every tuesday for tweets with the hashtag #TrifectaTuesday.  You do follow me on twitter, don’t you?  See if you can get your own 3 activities for your own Trifecta Tuesday!
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New Horizons and Straight Talk

I turned 39 this year, and next year I’ll be racing in the 40-45 age category; since triathlon rules will be deeming me a 40 year-old, I thought I might give myself a 40th birthday present and sign-up for a half-Ironman.  You know, take things to the next level.  In triathlon training though, you always need the support of your partner, and when the training volume increases and longer runs/rides start cropping up, this is even more true, so I approached my wife with the idea.

She is supportive, especially when she knows it’s something I really want, but she asked me a straightforward question: With the way things are with the kids, do you see yourself being able to train for a half-Ironman in the coming year.  That stopped me in my tracks.  That past week, the kids had been sleeping well, and showing a lot of development so I think I had projected that into less dependence on me as their parent, and got all caught up in my own ambition.  You see, my wife knows me better than most, and she’s seen me get disappointed before; I don’t always take things in stride, and tend to blame myself in a somewhat destructive pattern.  Goals are important, but the best goals are realistic and measurable and all that, so some good straight-talk is worth a million ‘rah-rah! you can do it!’s.  Still when presented with an either-or ultimatum, the Iron Rogue way is to take a third option.


So many of my favourite bloggers (including, but not limited to Fit2Flex, Healthy Tipping Point, Fit Mom…In Training) have been training for or completing half-marathons that I couldn’t help but catch that fever.  I figured (and my wife agrees) that stepping up my running endurance would be a good pilot project to see what our life can handle in terms of training volume.  When I saw that Fitness Cheerleader was signing up for the Burlington Chilly Half-Marathon, I had my inspiration –  I signed up! I’ve already gone on some longer (for me) runs with the Lightning Kid in the Chariot, and I hope to increase running volume all the way to Christmas.





After that, I’ll need to adopt (at least semi-formally) a training program; I’d prefer one that is heavy on the cross-training which not only aids my triathlon ambitions, but fits my ‘Fitness ADHD’ personality… which also has me interested in trying new classes and programs for increased strength.  Overall, it’s an exciting time, a season to look to new horizons; I don’t see any reason to wait until the new year.  Stay tuned to the blog for new adventures….


Epilogue: Since having that conversation with my wife, we’ve gone through several nights of less than 3 hours sleep due to the Lightning Kid’s teething (not to mention when Shark Boy wakes up too), as well as a daytime visit to the Hospital for Sick Children minor surgery to put tubes in his ears.  I think I have a pulled core muscle of some kind and an eye infection, and there seems to be an inordinate amount of coughing and sniffling going on in the Iron Rogue Den of Iniquity household.  The chaotic elements in our lives reared their heads again, and the decision to make smaller, subtler changes to my training regimen appears to have been the right one.