Namaste

Taken literally, the word namaste means "I bow to you". In yoga, namaste is said to mean "The light within me honors the light within you," and is used as a salutation spoken by both the yoga instructor and yoga students.

I’ve been practicing yoga (practicing is a nice way of saying I’m really not all that good but I try) for a little over a year. In the off season I’ll practice two to three times a week. During the season I make every attempt to attend one class per week. As the training weeks progress and the durations increase, keeping the weekly goal is challenging. I’ve incorporated several yoga positions (called asanas) into my daily stretching routines, some of my favorites daily stretches are; cat-cow, downward facing dog, pigeon pose, standing forward bend, and lizard pose.

Honestly I never thought that I’d ever be practicing yoga. I was encouraged to try it by one of the studio cycle instructors at Lifetime Fitness (Sarah L). When I walked into my first class, I thought to myself, ok Sarah, I’ll give you six weeks. I was completely intimidated after my first class, I was one of two men in the class (over the last year or so I’ve learned that fitness classes at Lifetime are comprised of 90% women, except for studio cycle where the mix is more like 60/40) and I felt completely out of my element. I was about as flexible as a piece of peanut brittle, had absolutely no clue what any of the poses were or how they should be done, and was pretty sure that this yoga thing wasn’t going to be for me. But I committed to six-weeks so I was determined to stick it out. And I’m so glad I did, my flexibility has improved well beyond any of my expectations, along with core and upper body strength. Yoga can be quite the workout, it is completely up to you, you are in control, the instructor is their as a guide and a mentor.

Every instructor teaches differently; I feel extremely lucky to have had some excellent instructors over the past year. I enjoy the different approaches each brings but one thing they have all had in common is a genuine passion for their practices and the ability to encourage and challenge their students. For this I thank them and am grateful. Yoga is now part of my daily fitness routine and is becoming an integral part of who I am. I know yoga will play an important role in my overall fitness, be it swimming, running, cycling, or just daily life activities, and will help prevent injuries common to endurance sport training.

In class when we do tree pose the instructor commonly says “and you can be any kind of tree you would like” well, I think I’d like to be the tree in the photo above, a strong and sturdy tree, growing up out of the rocky soil, right on the edge of life. Defying gravity, in a way, I overlook the world around me, surrounded by such amazing beauty.

So with that I say to you… namaste …

Let the Head Games Begin

As week eleven (of the 36-week training plan) ends and twelve begins, my appreciation grows of just how much of a mental challenge this Ironman thing is.

On Saturday, I participated in a charity event at Lifetime Fitness. Augie’s Quest, a fundraiser for ALS, (“Lou Gehrig's Disease”), put on by the Lifetime Fitness Foundation. The Woodbury Lifetime had lots of activities as part of the event; a silent auction, cardio and core classes, and an endurance studio ride. I participated in the 4-hour endurance ride. Lifetime’s Group Fitness department lead the event with four instructors, one each hour, and a DJ. The instructors were great and the DJ was fun (a little loud at times, even for me) but was integral for survival during the four hour studio ride. This brings up a funny story. On Tuesday, earlier in the week, I rode my bike on the trainer in the basement (not brave enough to head outside quite yet). When I finished I came up for dinner, my daughter Alexandra asked, “So what did you see on your bike ride today, Dad?” With a the sweet sting of sarcasm in her voice. It makes a Dad so proud to see that the apple does not fall far from the tree. Anyway, during the endurance ride I got to practice my race-day nutrition strategy, magic beans, cliff bars, and water. There really isn’t any magic in those beans (Jelly Belly Sport Beans) but I like to think there is. As hour three progressed I developed a familiar pain in the ball of my feet, a pain, at times intensive enough to bring tears. I’ve tried a variety of things over the past couple of years (the Specialized Footbeds have helped the most) but the only thing that works is to stop, get off the bike, take off my shoes, and relax my feet. About 5 minutes does the trick, and then I’m ready to go again. I can only imagine at this point what that will be like come that Sunday in September. Oh yeah, and then, when I finally do finish the bike, a mere 26.2 mile run to massage my feet into submission. Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into?

LTF Indoor Triathlon Race Report

The 2009 race season is officially under way! Yeah!

Well, I got up early this morning, (04:00, not really all that early for me). Had a banana, took a shower, used my newly purchased men's body shaver/trimmer...TMI...

I arrived early, it was a beautiful morning, sunny, -19c, a great day for a triathlon!
The water was rough, oh, not really but it makes for a better story...doesn't it?

I was in the first wave, it was a mass start, all ten of us. After the whistle blew I had to sprint and fight my way to the lead...okay Miles, enough, just tell the story already.

Really, this is a great way to start the season off. For me, having an event every four weeks or so keeps me motivated, keeps me focused, and eliminates the monotony that sometime comes with endurance training.

The LTF Indoor Triathlon is a timed event. A 10-minute swim, 30-minute studio cycle ride, followed up by 20-minutes on the tread mill. The transitions are fixed at 10-minutes for T1 and 5-minutes for T2. The event is scored based on how far you go in each discipline and is graded on a curve based on the number of participants. If there are 50 total entries, the person that swims the farthest in 10-minutes gets 50-points and so on.

My only goal was to improve over last year. I'm pretty happy with the results, I was +1 length in the pool, +1.2 miles on the bike, and +.13 miles on the run. I owe the improvement to the group fitness staff at LTF. In the winter, in Minnesota, you end up inside a lot. Endurance training inside can be a tough lonely road. The group fitness staff has been a lot of fun to work with and provide motivation you just cannot get training alone, thanks!