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“I am made of all the days you don’t see, not just the one you do.”

That’s been the last few months.
In the pool, in the gym, on the track (and finally now on the bike again).
Learning about myself, seeing glimpses of improvement.
Nothing spectacular, fancy, or particularly interesting.
Just putting in the work day after day, week after week.

Continue reading »]]> I’m in the process of writing a post about this last season and where next season will take me but as I was playing around with Google Docs this morning I came across this.

I wrote those down at the end of my first season in triathlon four years ago. It’s a nice reminder as I set my sights on next season because a little hard work (ok, maybe a lot) can get you further than you can dream.

Continue reading »]]> It’s been a while since I posted one of these (posted at all in fact) but I came across this last night and it struck a chord. I think it encapsulates my approach to both teaching and triathlon. While most would categorize one as work and the other as play, they are as much one as they are the other.

“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which; he simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.”

-Buddha

Continue reading »]]> An explanation for “…best at the end.”

On my drive to and from Kelowna for Nationals this year I listened to the audio book of “Good to Great”. At the end, after loads of business related examples, Jim Collins related a story of a high school cross-country team that was an example of the good to great philosophy:

The coaching staff of a high school cross-country running team recently got together for dinner after winning its second state championship in two years from good (top twenty in the state) to great (consistent contenders for the state championship, on both the boys” and girls” teams).

“I don’t get it,” said one of the coaches. “Why are we so successful? We don’t work any harder than any other teams. And what we do is just so simple. Why does it work?”

He was referring to the Hedgehog Concept of the program, captured in the simple statement: We run best at the end. We run best at the end of workouts. We run best at the end of races. And we run best at the end of the season, when it counts the most.

So simple and yet so brilliant. Here’s an example of how the simple statement was put into practice:

Everything is geared to this simple idea, and the coaching staff knows how to create effect better than any other team in the state. For example, they place a coach at the 2-mile mark (of a 3.1 mile race) to collect data as the runners go past. But unlike most teams, which collects time splits (minutes-per-mile running pace), this team collects place splits (what place the runners are in as they go by). Then the coaches calculate not how fast the runners go, but how many competitors they pass at the end of the race, from mile 2 to the finish. They then use this data to award “head bones” after each race. (Head bones are beads in the shape of shrunken skulls, which the kids make into necklaces and bracelets, symbolizing their vanquished competitors.) The kids learn how to pace themselves, and race with confidence: “We run best at the end.” they think at the end of a hard race. “So, if I’m hurting bad, then my competitors must hurt a whole lot worse!”

It was a story that rang true to me in so many way. “Best at the end” reflects the importance of pushing hard right to the end of workouts and trying to outwork others. “Best at the end” reflects that my strength is over long distances and pacing myself. “Best at the end” reflects my desire to put in my best races at the most important races. “Best at the end” reflects a long term attitude that emphasizes patience in development rather than “fast now”. “Best at the end” reflects my desire to be the best I can possibly be.

So as I move into the “off-season” and I start to plan and set goals for the coming season I’ve decided it will be my mantra for next season.

I swim…best at the end.
I bike…best at the end.
I run…best at the end.

Best at the end.

Continue reading »]]> Inspiration comes so infrequently and in the most unlikely of places sometimes. So I like to keep a collection of things to get me motivated when I need it.

A couple of recent YouTube finds that have fit the bill lately…

Today I found an interesting source of inspiration. I had planned a tough workout on Knox Mountain in Kelowna (~3.5k climb with 250m of vertical) with 4 x climb alternating easy/all out.

On my first all out climb I noticed a Dad and his roughly 8 year old son (he could easily have been younger but saying he was 6 just seems ridiculous) just starting up the mountain each on their own bike. Then on the decent I saw them again, this time the kid had hit a really steep part (probably about 12%) and was out of the saddle trying to do his best Andy Schleck impression on his tiny bike. It may have been the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

The next time up (easy this time), the kid was off his bike, walking it up the steep part but not giving up. So I slowed as I came up beside him and gave him some words of encouragement to keep going. His face lit up in a way I can’t even describe.

Sure enough, on my next decent he was back in the saddle climbing again and seeing that gave me the inspiration I needed to smash up the mountain one last time all out. This little guy wasn’t complaining one bit when the majority of kids would have given up and would be sulking on the side of the road. It was truly amazing.

So I smashed up the mountain one last time and as I passed the little guy, I managed to let out a “go, go, go” in between gasps  of breath. Again, his face lit up and I could see him pick up the pace ever so slightly. It was all I needed to push my way to the top. You were my inspiration today buddy.

So it was a great workout which was much needed after yesterday had been washed out by torrential rain, hail, roads with no shoulder, flats and tubes with the wrong valve. Some visual evidence of Jeff changing a flat (note the water rushing around his feet) and the river of water coming down the road from all the rain.

Continue reading »]]> The great John Wooden passed away today. Known most for his coaching at UCLA, I had found inspiration in both his approach to teaching and success. He will be missed.

Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be — that’s under your control. If you get too engrossed and involved and concerned in regard to the things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect the things over which you have control.

Your reputation is what you are perceived to be; your character is what you really are.

“No written word, no spoken plea, can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves — it’s what the teachers are themselves.”

Someone asked a lady teacher why she taught. And she — after some time, she said she wanted to think about that. Then she came up and said,

“They ask me why I teach and I reply, ‘Where could I find such splendid company?’ There sits a statesman, strong, unbiased, wise. Another Daniel Webster, silver-tongued. A doctor sits beside him, whose quick steady hand may mend a bone, or stem the life blood’s flow. And there a builder. Upward rise the arch of a church he builds, wherein that minister may speak the word of God and lead a stumbling soul to touch the Christ. And all about a gathering of teachers, farmers, merchants, laborers. Those who work and vote and build and plan and pray into a great tomorrow. And I may say, I may not see the church, or hear the word or eat the food their hands may grow. But yet again I may. And later I may say, I knew him once, and he was weak, or strong, or bold or proud or gay. I knew him once, but then he was a boy. They ask me why I teach and I reply, ‘Where could I find such splendid company?’”

I used to say that when a game is over, and you see somebody that didn’t know the outcome, I hope they couldn’t tell by your actions whether you outscored an opponent or the opponent outscored you.

Continue reading »]]> So the triathlon season begins tomorrow with the Delta Triathlon. I’m excited but go into it knowing that while I’ve put in plenty of work through the winter, I have little race fitness. It wasn’t until this week that I started doing more than the occasional workout at race pace and so while I figure I’ll be a little faster than last year, the best will definitely be to come.

In my couple of years of racing triathlons, I have learned that I have the greatest sense of motivation right after a race. I feel inspired, good result or bad, to take what I’ve done and immediately try to better it.

So with this in mind, this race begins a five week race bonanza that I’m hoping will kick start some higher intensity training and racing. This weekend Delta, next weekend the 2-day cycling stage race Race the Ridge, the Sun Run the following weekend, a weekend off (though the UBC Triathlon is beckoning me), and then the North Shore Triathlon.

The key race in my mind is the North Shore race. I’m hoping that by that point I’m in “race shape” and can put down a serious time  (aka a sub 1 hour sprint).  That will then hopefully kick me from the sprint race season into the olympic distance race season for the rest of spring and summer.

On another note, a great article that I was reminded of yesterday thanks to the Twitterverse:

Secrets of Greatness

For most people, work is hard enough without pushing even harder. Those extra steps are so difficult and painful they almost never get done. That’s the way it must be. If great performance were easy, it wouldn’t be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.

…

The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will. Strangely, that idea is not popular. People hate abandoning the notion that they would coast to fame and riches if they found their talent. But that view is tragically constraining, because when they hit life’s inevitable bumps in the road, they conclude that they just aren’t gifted and give up.