Category: motivation

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Gear Corner: Electronic Media in the Home Fitness Centre

With the off-season in full swing, we’re looking at contending with less daylight, and colder temperatures – the temptation to cocoon is overwhelming.  Still one of the things you can do from the comfort of your home nowadays is train/exercise/workout.  There’s tons of articles and posts about what exercise gear to equip your home with (and I may write one myself soon enough), today I’m going to talk about options for electronic media.  Whether you’re on a bike trainer, watching a workout DVD, or simply want tunes while you exercise, you’ll probably need a way to play media.  What kinds of tech could you use? Warning: this might get a little technical; leave a question in the comments if something is unclear.

  • Tablet computer.  I managed to balance my iPad quite nicely on my aerobars while I was on the bike trainer.  I used Netflix to watch a TV show (can’t remember which one) for some slow spinning, then switched to the Bit Timer app for a Tabata to finish.
  • DVD Player (& TV of course).  There are Workout videos for strength, toning, cardio, as well as Yoga, Pilates and Biking/Spinning.  You can play music CDs or even watch a your favourite TV show while on the trainer (or treadmill or elliptical if you have one).  Personally I don’t use my workout videos as much as I’d like, and watching TV is something I prefer to do when there isn’t other noise (like my own grunting, or the whir of my bike) to interfere with my enjoyment of it.  This option is honestly a little primitive (no Internet?) by today’s standards.
  • Laptop.  It usually has a connection to the internet so Youtube videos of workouts and techniques (and there are more and more of these nowadays), plus playing DVDs and CDs is generally no problem.  It could have a music collection on there, or simply display a workout you got from a blog or website.  I’m a little nervous about having the laptop around exercise equipment – I have visions of sweat in the keyboard or it simply getting broken.  It’s a little hard to find a good spot for it, but it’s still a great option.
  • Home Theatre PC (HTPC).  Ah, the Cadillac option.  For a while I had a PC with a quiet case hooked up to the home theatre/TV, and it was bliss.  This thing had a video capture card (for recording TV) and was running MythTV.  MythTV is free software that implements PVR recording (provided you have that capture card I mention) which automatically flags and skips commercials.  So, a PVR that I don’t pay the TV company a rental fee for, and I never see commercials.  I also had music and some exercise videos ripped onto the hard drive, so when I wanted a Yoga session, I could press play without waiting for the DVD to spin up and be read – instant access.  Unfortunately, the motherboard of this machine blew and replacing it meant basically rebuilding the machine from scratch.  I wasn’t willing to put in the time, effort and cash, so I found a cheaper alternative.
  • Home Media Player – These aren’t fully fledged computers, more like hard-drives that have network capability and the right drivers for streaming/playing various media.  An Apple TV might count in this category.  The one I’ve been using is the Cirago CMC3000; it has video capture capability so I can record shows, but it’s not as good as the MythTV because I have to manually program what time to record without an on-screen guide – it only records what the set-top box is playing (meaning I have to program the set-top box too to be on the right channel at the right time).  The MythTV had its own tuner so I could just pick say, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and it would tune the correct channel at the right time.  Still, I’m using it to record shows and fastforward commercials, so that’s good.  It can stream media from my desktop and through third party software I can also play Netflix on it.  If I rip my workout DVDs to my computer, I should be able to stream them from the Cirago, or even simply copy the files over to it; it can be a network mapped hard-drive too.


    I should inventory what DVDs I have… maybe that’ll help inspire me to play them.


    Let’s see what’s there:


    That’s a little embarrassing… some are still in the plastic!  Let’s hope the season is kind to me and the videos!  If I wanted to add to the collection, I thought I’d share that Beachbody let me know that they have some new products.  Of the ones they mentioned these were the most interesting (N.B. without having tried these products, I cannot endorse or recommend them, I am merely linking to acknowledge their existence).

    • Les Mills Combat: They have Les Mills classes at Goodlife Fitness, where I’m a member.  My favourite group class is Body Combat; the cardio burn rate is unparalleled, and it’s a heap of fun, scratching my martial arts itch.  I haven’t found a class that meets my schedule lately, so having one at home would be pretty attractive.
    • Insanity Asylum Volume 2: The Insanity series are unique in that they offer drills that are meant to increase actual athletic performance (speed, power, agility, etc.) rather than simply build muscle or burn fat.  They would probably be more useful for a performance minded multi-sport athlete.


    I hope that gives some of you some ideas…. what kinds of electronic media are you using to stay in shape?

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    Motivation Monday

    I always see these motivational images on blogs and Pinterest.  I don’t always like them… so I decided to make a few of my own.  I’m not much of an artist, I hope it’s the thought that counts.

    Too many of these motivational images praise pain over common sense.  Remember, He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.

    As part of a deal on Fitness Cheerleader’s blog that we get a link up by posting the past week’s activities so here goes:

    1. Monday: Bupkis
    2. Tuesday: Gravity Machine
    3. Wednesday: Nada
    4. Thursday: Dumbell Decathlon*
    5. Friday: Resting?
    6. Saturday: 5 Peaks Trail Run**
    7. Sunday: Home sick 🙁
    *Here’s a link to this workout.  As a kid in school I had to do a report on a hero… I picked Bruce Jenner (gold medal decathlete and unfortunately now part of that whole Kardashian thing).  Still Decathlon is like, multi-sport before there was multi-sport, so the workout was up my alley.
    **This was a lot of fun despite the lousy pre-Hurricane Sandy weather.  I’ll have a report up later in the week.  It must have torn down my immune system though, as I’ve been sick (head cold, achey bones) ever since.  Today, in fact, I’m posting this from my basement.  Hopefully I’ll bounce back and have another week of exercise to report on soon enough!
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    Happy Father’s Day

    It’s Father’s Day and only 5 weeks before my first triathlon of the season.  When I made my race calendar I committed to doing the Olympic Distance at the Inaugural Muskoka 5150.  While I never posted it in the blog, I had a loosely structured framework in mind that would allow me to be flexible enough to get to where I needed to be fitness-wise for the race.

    I am nowhere close.  I won’t get upset: as they say, you can’t get upset at the results you got from the work you didn’t do (or something like that).  The usual thing to do is look at why you didn’t live up to your plan and figure out what excuses you were making or whatever kept you from making your commitments.  There is another point of possible failure though: maybe the plan wasn’t right for you and wasn’t really realistic.

    It’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel on the whole season and say: “Next year I’m getting a coach, maybe online, with a daily plan that I have to stick to.”  There are so many resources and training methods out there – maybe a Master’s Swim Group, plus a Cycling Club etc. etc..

    I’m not going to do that, though.  Why?  Because of my father (you didn’t think I was coming back around to Father’s Day did you?), that’s why.  I always wanted to be like my father.  He was an Olympic level rower at one point, and he always stayed in good shape with tennis, cycling, cross-country skiing and probably a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of at this hour.  He was a the kind of guy who could up and run 3 miles without getting sore the next day, in spite of not having run in several months.  A natural athlete – so strike one on my chances to be like him.

    He handled so many household repairs and duties himself; taking as good care of his home as he did his body.  I already pay more people to do work for me than I’d strictly like, but I’m not giving up my passion and hobby to a professional.  During a time of extreme stress in exams, my father told me: “Your brain hasn’t failed you yet.”  So I’m going to keep doing things my way – DIY training is still the Iron Rogue way.

    We lost my father to melanoma in 2000; and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him or think about him.  I doubt I’ll PR at any races this year, but Shark Boy tells me he loves me every day (in both English and German), and so does the Lightning Kid (with his eyes).  That’s worth more to me than any medal I could ever get.

    And… not for nothing, but today I did a 1500m Open Water swim with about a 2:20/100m pace; that’s my second best pace for Olympic Distance Tri.

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    Getting Back Into Good Habits

    It’s been so long… I really shouldn’t have let it get this far… I don’t know if there’s even a point anymore… I don’t even know how I’m going to get started again…


    These are the kind of thoughts that run through your head when you’ve been absent from something you’ve been meaning to do regularly, and it’s the same whether we’re talking about exercise or writing a blog.  It’s almost worse in this case, since the blog is mostly about exercise and training.

    I’ve had a long hiatus from both, and I don’t feel good about it.  I’m not going to dwell on why it happened, it’s in the past.  I was able to get back into exercising easier than back into blogging, but I think the key is the same in both cases, like Nike tells us: Just Do It.  Don’t overanalyze how to make your grand return, just start with something. 

    Without further ado, let me tell you about my weekend workout.  A group of people from Jiu-Jitsu have commited to doing the Spartan Sprint and I’m one of them.   Having a group training day seemed appealing so it was scheduled for this past Sunday at High Park in Toronto.  The way we structured our workout was to do sets of 5 minute runs (each led by a different individual).  After the run, we did a Pyramid of Squats, Lunges and Pushups:

    2 Squats | 2 Lunges (1 Left, 1 Right) | 2 Pushups
    4 Squats | 4 Lunges (2 Left, 2 Right) | 4 Pushups
    6 Squats | 6 Lunges (3 Left, 3 Right) | 6 Pushups
    8 Squats | 8 Lunges (4 Left, 4 Right) | 8 Pushups
    6 Squats | 6 Lunges (3 Left, 3 Right) | 6 Pushups
    4 Squats | 4 Lunges (2 Left, 2 Right) | 4 Pushups
    2 Squats | 2 Lunges (1 Left, 1 Right) | 2 Pushups

    For my run, we did Burbathlon jumping over and on picnic tables and benches and ducking under railings and signs.  We also did some hill work and sprints.  Overall, we got very tired, very hot and very proud of ourselves.

     I brought the whole family along to High Park; Shark Boy played on the playground and the Lightning Kid had a nap.  On my last run I tried carrying Shark Boy along – he was game but once I wasn’t able to keep up with the group, I seemed to run out of steam.  We finished off the workout with some ab work (just because) and it turned into a lovely day… especially for ice cream.

    Now that I’ve broken the seal on blog posts, hopefully I can get back into the full swing of things.

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    Best Laid Plans

    “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”   – Woody Allen

    After building this year’s Race Calendar, the next logical step was to build a training plan.  Obviously the way to attain goals is to stick to a plan that will build you up to the point where you can achieve them.  I wanted to write something up that was structured, and stand on the shoulders of giants by following or adapting something made by professionals.

    I like the book Training Plans for Multisport Athletes by Gale Bernhardt.  Each chapter is a different training plan for a different scenario: they differ by athlete’s level of experience, the event type and length, and the athlete’s goals/expectations.  Looking into the book, I figured that my plan should resemble one of three plans:

    1. Faster Olympic Distance Performance.  This is basically what I want to achieve, but the plan involves 2 workouts in different disciplines a day, even in the General Preparation phase (where we basically prep the body for the training to come).  It just isn’t terribly realistic for my schedule and life, and most structured training plans look more or like this one.
    2. 6 Weeks to an Olympic Triathlon for Athletes with Limited Time.  This one is nice and simple and also geared not only to my race type/distance, but also my schedule.  I do have more than 6 weeks to play with, and the plan isn’t structured with regards to types of workout (speed, tempo, long distance/endurance).  I wanted to get a little better in regard to having more specific training sessions, so this one isn’t ideal.
    3. Multisport Fitness Plan.  This is my favourite as it is more of a lifestyle plan for athletes who like to do multisport, and allows for some cross-training (e.g. basketball, hockey, or jiu-jitsu in my case) in your schedule.  It isn’t geared for specific race goals, but it is 24 weeks long, which was just about right at the time I made my race calendar plan.

    I struggled with trying to hybridize these plans as the structures got pretty complicated, but I liked the idea of a general preparation phase (of about 4 weeks) so I decided to focus on that.

    Mon
    Tues
    Wed
    Thurs
    Fri
    Sat
    Sun
    Week #
    DATE
    27/02
    28/02
    29/02
    01/03
    02/03
    03/03
    04/03/
    1
    Main
    Swim
    Run
    Spin
    Rest
    Spin
    Run
    Circuit
    Backup
    Spin
    Circuit
    Yoga
    Pushups
    Swim
    Yoga
    Bike Trainer
    Sec. Backup
    Jitsu
    Body Blast
    Circuit
    Jitsu
    Yoga
    DATE
    05/03
    06/03
    07/03
    08/03
    09/03
    10/03
    11/03
    2
    Main
    Swim
    Run
    Spin
    Rest
    Spin
    Run
    XC Ski
    Backup
    Spin
    Circuit
    Yoga
    Pushups
    Swim
    Yoga
    Sec. Backup
    Jitsu
    Body Blast
    Circuit
    Jitsu

    Knowing how chaotic my life was I tried to match each day to what might be available in terms of work schedule (meetings near lunch would eliminate lunchtime workouts), gym group exercise schedule (spin classes for bike workouts, spacing strength workout apart appropriately), and other extra-curricular considerations like when I would most need to be at home. Each day had not only a backup workout in case I missed my first shot (pool closures, bad weather, work related rescheduling), but a backup-backup workout. So every day had a primary, secondary and tertiary workout option. I included possible workouts like Yoga, the 100 pushups workouts, group exercise at the gym, and jiu-jistu. I tried not to plan rest days (the purple field is a tentative/possible rest day), because I knew they might happen unbidden (based on experience), but boy did I ever underestimate that!

    Here’s what happened.

    Mon
    Tues
    Wed
    Thurs
    Fri
    Sat
    Sun
    Week #
    DATE
    27/02
    28/02
    29/02
    01/03
    02/03
    03/03
    04/03/
    1
    Main
    Swim 1500m
    REST
    Spin
    Run
    Backup
    Sec. Backup
    DATE
    05/03
    06/03
    07/03
    08/03
    09/03
    10/03
    11/03
    2
    Main
    Backup
    Sec. Backup

    I started off sticking to the plan, but by Wednesday, Shark Boy had gotten sick with a fever and throat infection which kept him miserable throughout the day and woke him up several times a night.  After waking up, he was generally inconsolable for almost an hour each time.  Through visits to 2 after-hours clinics and his pediatrician, we ruled out strep throat and ear infections.  The wake-ups continued when the fever was down through drugs, and when he had no fever at all anymore.  Without turning this into a family drama post, suffice it to say that sleep was hard to come by – to a degree I hadn’t experienced since he was a newborn.  The red in the table represents days I didn’t do any exercise at all – forced rest days.

    I managed to get it together enough to attend a spin class on the Friday and on Saturday I decided I would use the scant time I had to do a tempo run.  My thinking was that since I couldn’t go long, I could at least go fast.  I had obviously contacted some kind of infection of my own; I was coughing throughout the day, but I had read that you can train with a cold, as long as it’s not in your chest.  Does having a cough count?  Apparently it does, because I was sick as a dog by Monday and took Tuesday off work.  I spent the rest of the week recovering and trying to help Shark Boy do the same.

    I’m not sure when I felt physically up to training again, because mentally I had just about given up on the idea of committing to anything (even though I’ve paid for a couple of race registrations already – see the Race Calendar).  I was really down in the dumps, and I guess I needed the entire week to regroup.

    The good news:

    • Shark Boy still wakes up a few times a night, but he’s much easier to get back to sleep again.  He’s feeling well and his disposition during the day is delightful; just like it used to be.
    • I lost about 3-4 pounds somehow during all this.
    • At the time of this writing I’ve gone for a run and a spin class this week already.

    Getting back into training after a hiatus is an injury trap for me; I had to tell myself the following to make sure I eased back into it (yes, apparently I talk to myself on Twitter):

     I’m happy to be doing something physical again.  I don’t feel up to anything hardcore (or doing any strength work) yet, and I don’t have a structured plan, but I do have the desire again at least. 

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    A Rebuttal To Swim Bike Mom’s ‘Brain Bills Job Kids and Triathlon’ Post

    So, the estimable Swim Bike Mom posted about how triathlon can come into conflict with one’s Brain, one’s Family, one’s Job, as well as Bills, Sleep and even the Body and Heart.  Go on and read it at the link above, then come back here.  Good, now allow me to rebut that post.  Yes, I know she’s a lawyer… but I am Without Fear.  Here goes…

    BRAIN: Hello Triathlon, I just wanted to give thanks for the long training sessions.  They really help me get away from a lot of the hustle and bustle.  Sometimes I even get my best work done when it’s just me, body and the road or water.

    HEART: Yo, I know what he means.  Right now I’m chilling at a low rate thanks to those little parties you throw all the time…

    BODY: Sure, you guys don’t feel any of the pain involved… to you there’s no downside.  Still, I guess I like to be prepared for when the kids need me.  Speaking of pain…

    KIDS:  Papa!  Carry me!  Upstairs! Downstairs! Through the mall!  Across the Parking Lot!  Can we go for a run or ride in the Chariot?

    WIFE:  Thank goodness for you, Triathlon!  He’d be a corpse after all that if it wasn’t for you… I’m also a big fan of your work with BODY over there…

    BODY: I like you too, lady…

    JOB: Break it up you too.  Triathlon, thanks for keeping the man healthy and sane.  Our reports indicate a below average number of sick days taken.

    TRIATHLON:  Thanks you guys… I couldn’t do it without you either…. wait, excuse me who are you?

    SLEEP: I’m SLEEP… we don’t know each other very well….

     

       

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    Building my 2012 Race Calendar

    It’s probably already getting to be too late to be plotting out my race calendar, as the training plan will follow from that – even one of my loosely structured ‘plans’ is in danger of never truly forming.  I have some favourite races, but I don’t want this year to be ‘Been There, Done That’ so there will be a lot of new and novel races for me this year.

    Month
    Race Name and Date
    Quick Note
    April
    Primary Goal
    May
    NO RACES FOUND!
    I may be supporting my wife in her race endeavours this month so…
    June
    Met Con Blue. June 2nd
    Secondary Goal; Obstacle Course Race
    Spartan Race Toronto (Oro); June 24th
    Primary Goal; Obstacle Course Race
    July
    Muskoka 5150; July 22nd
    Primary Goal; Olympic Distance Tri
    August
    Muskoka Grind; August 5th
    Secondary Goal; Off-Road Tri
    Primary Goal; Olympic Distance Tri
    September
    Logs Rocks and Steel; September 8th
    Secondary Goal; Multi-sport Adventure

    5 Peaks Trail run at Rattlesnake Point: I like running on trails and always have.  Still I don’t know that I can be considered a trail runner – I’m not sure if my usual routes are as technical or challenging as they would be if I were an ‘official’ trail runner.  Still, I’d like to try an official race and the races in this series come highly recommended.  This one is early in the season and as it’s my first one, I’ll stick to the shorter ‘Sport’ Course which is 4.5km.

    MET CON BLUE: Obstacle races are blowing up as a trend, and what I like about this one is that it’s a Canadian Homegrown effort – I’m hoping that means less overcrowding than the Warrior Dash I did last year.  Collingwood and Blue Mountain have been like a  home away from home for my family in past years, so it would be fun to head up there for this.  It takes place the same weekend as the Milton Triathlon, but it looks like I might give that one a miss this year. I didn’t get much interest from friends when I tried to get a group going, unlike…

    Spartan Race Toronto: This one is closer to where I live, and it looks like we have a strong contingent of people from the Jiu-Jitsu club going, so I’ll join in on the fun.

    Muskoka 5150: Gone is the old Muskoka Chase triathlon; I guess I have mixed emotions.  It was a long standing race and one of my first.  The long course was always ‘neither-here-nor-there’: longer than Olympic distance but shorter than Half-Iron.  The Olympic Distance (51.5km total swim-bike-run) is probably my favourite distance so I’m jumping at the chance at doing this on my old stomping grounds in what is still technically a ‘new’ race.

    Muskoka Grind: Every year I think I’m going to be able to try an off-road triathlon, and every year I don’t knuckle down and buy myself a mountain bike to accomplish it with.  So far, there’s been a dearth of these events in Ontario, but with this addition to the calendar maybe this is the year I get myself a mountain bike.  If only I knew anything about mountain bikes.  This will be promoted to primary race status once I have one…

    Bracebridge Triathlon: The Recharge with Milk Series has become my favourite, but I seem to have trouble lining up their races with my schedule (at least last year).  Bracebridge used to have a Half-Iron but now they’ve gone down to the Olympic Distance, which suits me fine.

    Logs, Rocks and Steel: In the same vein as trying an off-road triathlon, I wouldn’t mind dipping my feet into adventure racing without that pesky navigation or teamwork (I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel).  This fits the bill! The Pine Crest Course is 4km of paddling (kayak for solos like me), 22km of mountain biking, then a 5km trail run.  Overall, it’s a lot for me to work up to… good thing it’s late in the season.  Still need that Mountain Bike though.

    That’s the plan (so far).  Always subject to change as conflicts and chaos can arrive.  I’ll probably keep updating the table on a separate page of the blog as the year progresses.

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    Book Review:The Distance (An Average Joe’s Path to Balancing Family, Work, and Triathlon) by David Mills

    David Mills is not the kind of person you could make a lot of excuses to.  He trained for, and completed an Ironman triathlon (Louisville) while working as a navigator for the US Airforce in Okinawa (that means not only long but irregular hours), being a father to 2 children (including changing diapers), completing grad school courses, and attending church.  His book ‘The Distance’ chronicles his route to the finish line as ‘an Average Joe’… Although the description above doesn’t make him sound so average!

    Let me get one thing out of the way: the author is a Christian, and not at all shy about it.  If you want your reading material to be 100% secular, you should be aware of this.  If you’re like me, and interested in being part of a tolerant society, you can treat an author’s faith as part of their voice, like a naughty sense of humour, or a tendency to overuse parentheses (like this!).

    I generally stay away from biography and non-fiction, as I like my reading to have an escapist quality, but I did enjoy this book.  The book is fairly light reading; it is broken up into short chapters that give David’s overall journey a logical structure.  He starts off with not only a good overview of triathlons (specifically Ironmans) but also a self-examination of what made him want to attempt something he admits is ‘crazy’.

    After a little insight into the mind of Average Joe Ironman, he spends a few chapters giving us background on his family (including how to include them in training), work, athletic background and surroundings.  This sets the stage for us to understand how little time he would have to spare, but the other nice part, is we feel like we’re getting to know the man, and the whole read feels like a conversation with a regular guy.  His humour and spirit really help in this regard.

    From there he moves into the 3 disciplines of triathlon, one chapter at a time.  These were my favourite parts; even though I have my share of triathlon experience, I found David’s take to be enlightening (especially from the perspective of training longer distances) without alienating me by being overly technical or daunting.

    “The swim portion is like the bouncer at the door and if you want to make it to the party inside you’ve got to train and find a way to overcome your fear in order to get past that beast of a swim.  The swim portion keeps out the riff-raff”

    David’s advice is to be as relaxed as possible, not only for energy conservation, keep your technique clean, avoid the melee of feet and elbows, but also from a ‘stop and smell the roses’ perspective.  It’s solid and sensible advice.

    I got the most out of the bike chapter; since Ironman biking distance represents the biggest jump from my comfort zone (I’ve run a marathon and swam 2.1km in races before, but never biked more than 55km) in my weakest discipline.  David correctly identifies cycling as the most time consuming discipline, as well as illustrating the importance of knowing basic bike repair:

    “Part of the spirit of Ironman is self-sufficiency.  You can’t accept any outside aid from friends or family, and no one else on a bike can lend you any tools or help either….Flat tire? Change it yourself. Broken Chain? Should’ve carried a chain tool and a spare link…”

     He also stresses the necessity of eating while on the road.  I always knew to take in calories during the race (I usually use gels and sport drinks) but I didn’t know that most Iron distance athletes use real, solid food like bagels (or rice balls wrapped in seaweed if you’re in Okinawa!).  The idea of taking nutrition breaks at local stores/cafes makes longer rides seem more appealing, I’ve got to admit.

    Once you get to the run chapter, you’ll see where David’s ideas get a little revolutionary.

    “…you don’t have to run as much as someone training for a marathon… all that swimming and biking you’re doing is also increasing your overall fitness… If you must err, then err on the side of undertraining.”

    Obviously his advice is always geared toward completing the Ironman, not competing or achieving a specific performance goal.  He also highlights a difference between marathons and Ironman: the lack of headphones forces the athletes to be more ‘in the moment’ and cultivates a more communal atmosphere as athletes talk with each other and get engaged with spectators.  I liked that he was able to see a positive side to what most of us see as a real negative to triathlon racing.

    For my part, what I’ve gathered from this book and other sources that the obstacle is simply wanting it badly enough; everything else is just an excuse.  So will I be doing an Ironman next year? No, I don’t want to.  I don’t want to spend hours and hours on my bike (I could live with more running and swimming, I guess), or ask my family to make sacrifices on my behalf, or handle the more complicated logistics of travel and accomodation.  I will tell you though, that after reading this book, I don’t want to do it a lot less.

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    Motivation, Such an Aggravation

    I recently participated in a #fitblog chat (check it out! They can be fun) where a question was asked: what is your daily inspiration?

    I found answering it a little tough, as I had been recently in a downward spiral with motivation constantly decreasing.  This summer I had resolved to stick to Sprint triathlons; shorter distances would mean less time away from family, enabling me to help with house and home more.  Ideally, what I would be missing in terms of uninterrupted training time I’d be able to make up with more frequent yet shorter sessions.  Well, for a multitude of reasons, that didn’t happen.  What can I say? Real life (family, social, medical commitments) can get in the way; and they should since they really are more important.

    So I’m feeling down about myself as I’m not getting in the training times I should, but I’m not completely out of the running.  Conventional wisdom about ways to stay motivated include:

    1. Train in groups/with buddies.  I rarely do this, as I find I need flexibility to be able to train and other people means scheduling appointments (and keeping them!).  When I train by myself, getting a 15-20 minute late start, but would you want to be kept waiting?
    2. Take inspiration from elites/pros/experts.  I follow a ton of triathletes on Twitter, which ought to be a way for me to feel part of a community, but all it did was make me feel inferior.  This person’s already done Umpteen kilometers today, and I’m not even out of pajamas.  Ho-hum.
    The problem was that I was focused on performance based goals (achieving a time that was competitive with prior race performances) and the kind of training I “should” be doing: more frequent, more structured.  When that wasn’t happening, I began to worry, and get down on myself.  Fortunately, I have an angel who reminded me that I do this stuff for fun – and that is so important.  Here are my “new” motivation tips:
    1. Have fun.  Whatever you’re doing, make sure it’s fun for you.  This is your free time, you’re not going to spend it on self-torture.
    2. Anything is better than nothing.  Maybe a 7k tempo run is what would be prescribed for this juncture in time – but you can’t.  Not enough time, not enough energy, whatever… but 3k pushing the jogging stroller is still going to put strength in those legs that wouldn’t be there otherwise.

    So that’s it: unless you’re overtraining (no danger of that here!), exercise makes you an alchemist: you are turning time into strength.

    P.S. If you figure out how to turn fat into time, please contact me… we’re going to be rich!