Merry Christmas!

Well my off season was going to be just 2 weeks in November, it's now been 7 weeks since I've done any training that could be considered serious. But now I'm ready to put the hammer down to the grindstone and start another serious 11 months of training.
Until today I've been unmotivated. I tend to think of life in general and human behaviour in terms of motivation... I believe that anything is possible if an individual is properly motivated and what they have to start with is completely irrelevant. So what motivates me to start the 4 hour indoor bike training sessions? Well today I saw a couple guys I know in a Triathlete Canada Magazine; that started getting me going cause I know they are working hard right now. Also, I'm getting fat which is a good thing for me mentally - my brain and mood are affected negatively when I get down to the 160 lb mark, I'm a much better and happier person when I weigh more like 175 lbs. However, being out of shape is a huge motivator for me as well, so I'll get off my freshly padded butt to work some of the eggnog/chocolate/wine off starting now. Regardless of where we want to be in life and what we want to achieve, the first step is to establish a goal, and then find the motivation to achieve it based on the reasons why you are pursuing it in the first place.

Today I had a great swim session - 1200 meters of kick because my shoulder's tweaked right now (I wish shoulders would evolve!). I think I've underestimated the importance of a good kick in a tri swim - the old credo of "saving your legs for the bike and run" is a bunch of garbage. I'm starting to be able to kick on 2:00/100m pace and so if you start with that and add the arms, you're going to go quite fast. A good kick also keeps the body in good position to streamline, which is more important that how many "watts" you can pull in the pool.

I've posted a great article for mountain bikers on the relationship between tire pressure, width and speed at the bottom right corner of this blog. Anyone racing or concerned with speed off-road should read it. The results of some experimentation with pressure and tire width definitely go against what's commonly believed to be true (eg: the fallacy that narrower, low profile lugged tires run at higher pressures are faster).

OK, I'm going training! Merry Christmas everyone, thanks for reading.

Welome to my Blog! A little bit about me...

First off, thanks for stopping by! This blog will be used by me to keep everyone up to date on my life of training and racing as I work towards competing as an XTERRA pro for the first time in 2008. Although I'll enter many local triathlon, mountain/road bike, adventure and running races in BC, my sole focus for the 2008 season is the XTERRA US Off Road Triathlon Series, and the Canadian XTC Off Road Triathlon Series. These races take place in California, Alabama, Virginia, Utah, Nevada and British Columbia.
I'll be posting regularly on all aspects of my training, as well as useful information that I find along the way related to training and racing within multi-sport events.
As for the rest of my life, I work at a youth employment centre in Vernon, BC where I help young people find the work and careers they are looking for. I also dabble in coaching swimming and multi-sports. I feel very fortunate to work at a job that I truly love and gain such huge satisfaction from. Other hobbies of mine include rock climbing, surfing and skiing with my wonderful friends.
I'll try to keep this short, so thanks for checking this out, and keep checking in :)
Mike