There is no fast track to fitness.

I nearly set myself up for failure last week. I almost signed up for my 3rd year of long course triathlon (70.3 miles, or "half ironman") training. Ha! That just goes to show you that staying on plan is hard even when the plan is to not have a plan.

Thank you Mike and Jo for guiding my head back safely from the clouds.

I have enough on my plate with school and work, and a full race season with shorter, hopefully much faster, races. I will have more time to outreach to people wanting to get into the sport. There are a handful of people in my running club who are going to do their first triathlon this year. That is so exciting to me because it shows that not only is the sport picking up more and more people, but people are realizing that cross functional and cross sport training can be very beneficial to your overall health.

I said this before, and I shall say it again. Triathlon saved my life.

What many people do not know is that anyone can do a triathlon. So accomplishing a triathlon in and of itself is nothing too amazing. What is amazing is when people make life changes, find their motivation and inspire other people to make healthier choices in life. That I applaud! I applaud setting a triathlon as a goal and working towards that goal. Now THAT is an accomplishment, because now days people just do not seem to want to work for anything.

There is no magic pill to weight loss. There is no shortcut to fitness. Them be the breaks. Sorry.

It is a cycle and for some reason, only a few people get that. Triathlon/running is as much about finding a happy place in fitness and health, as it is about the camaraderie that comes from participating. You will never find a larger group of cheerleaders as you do in the triathlon and running circuits. We may race against each other, but we always celebrate each other’s victories, and share in each other’s defeats. The only bad day, if you have your heart in the right place, is the day where someone gets hurt.

I have met some amazing people along the way. I have also met some real jackasses. Two people who clearly fall into the former category (as in amazing people) are my friends and former RACING GREYHOUNDS teammates Jeremy Hagerman and Craig Weaver.

Together they have started this amazing triathlon team called "Team Motiv-8" (you can find them here: http://team-motiv8.com/), and their principles are solid: to motivate and to inspire. Major shout out to them and I am on board 10000000% to help them succeed in any way possible!

It is time to act as an ambassador to the sport and to health and fitness. I am walking proof that anyone can go from overweight slug to athlete. You just have to realize that not all athletes are rock solid in form and top of the pack in races. We come In all shapes and sizes. We come from all places in life. Everyone has an equal opportunity to reach the ultimate finish line… a lifetime of health and happiness.


So with that I decided to add a different purpose to my 2011 year. I am taking the slow and steady approach and will be chronicling my journey from mediocre to fit. I will take my baseline weight, my baseline measurements, and will perform a fit-test to have baseline numbers.

Through my exercise and vegetarian diet, I expect to be able to transform myself. However, the proof will be in December when I leave for Florida.

Each week I will do a quick summary, each month a fit test. I expect struggle, but then again this is not a flash in the pan, this is my lifestyle. It must be sustainable and realistic. I travel a lot for work. I work a lot. I have 6-day-a-week classes to finish my Masters work. I have a puppy, and am working on my house and health with my man Mike. I am a member of a cycling & triathlon race team, a swim club, and a running club.

And just like you - I have a life.

So follow along with me and see how it can be done. How you can turn your life around with small steps. How everything we do adds up exponentially.

I will not be posting my food intakes.
I will not be posting up my workouts.
This is not going to be an exercise and fitness log as I already have that at dailymile.com and beginnertriathlete.com.

This is my Journey blog.

So as such what will I be posting?
I will be posting out total minutes or hours in my weekly summary.
I will be posting up any information I come across, or an occasional recipe or workout that I felt was pretty exceptional in either skill or ease of mastering for those of us not blessed with 4 hours a day to work out.

This is the lifestyle of balance and fitness that I have striven for, for so many years. 2011 is the year of doing it!

Peace, love, and running.
RedZone

Forget the Ring, I Want A Fling!

Lately, I have been feeling more like a flirt and less like an athlete. A mile here or there is still a mile in the books of health, however this year I am not looking for a huge commitment. Nope, I am not looking for a "ring". I am looking for a "fling"!

Road: Hey there, long time no see!
Me: Oh my goodness, look at you! You look so flat and new! Have you had work done?
Road; *giggles* Oh my, no! Well, I have been taking better care of myself. I am trying to give up salt and being so hot to cold all the time. And what about you? Do I see some new muscles there?
Me: *blushes* Why yes, you do!
Road: You know, we really should catch up! I miss you!
Me: Oh yeah.. sure! I um, I have some things though with a bike, then this thing with the pool later, and of course lunch with CrossFit and then the rock climbing with... um yeah. Totally we will make it happen. We WILL make it happen! Gotta run... err.. gotta go! School work is calling, you know how that goes! *muwah* toodles dear!

This is the first time that I have had absolutely nothing to train for. No big "A" race looming in the horizon, or a big plan to direct me how to get there. Now that I have no race commitments, I get to flirt with every and anything that interests me.


Those of you who know me know that this is a huge deal for me. 2011 is proving to be the year of restraint. I have some cool goals for the future, but they will just have to wait. Did I mention that I am not one for waiting? Yeah. This is going to be a year!

Those who know me know that I used to be am a "follow-the-plan-to-the-letter-then-freak-out-when-things-go-awry-in-life-because-they-always-do-than-goodness-that-I-always-have -a-back-up-if-not-tertiary-plan-awaiting-for-implementation-in-the-wings" type of gal. It must be the girl scout in me. Or the fact that I am very Type A.

*cough*

Going back for my Masters this year is putting all aspirations of endurance racing on hold. This is actually fine by me as I have never had a year that I allowed myself to just go out there and knock out some smaller distances with purpose. Somewhere in my head I am not doing anything unless I am doing it for hours at a time. With all of that endurance focus, I never had a chance to allow myself to enjoy other things. Rock climbing, rowing, CrossFit. These are all new to me and things that I am incorporating into my fitness regime.

I guess I can look at 2011 as the year that I am training for my Masters graduation ceremony. My plan? Complete my last 5 classes (woot!) and walk down that isle mid-December, move my tassel over to the other side and maybe even throw a cap in the air for fun.

Post-graduation my endurance life can resume but it will have a different purpose.

I do this because I love this, and I want to help other people do this as well. Well, not necessarily THIS, but the figurative "this" - the thing that they never thought that they could do.

I want to help someone get to the finish line of something.
I want to help someone to the start of something.
I want to help people get over their fears of failure and realize that A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G is possible if they put their minds to it.

Good days, bad days. As long as some part of the day was spent trying to make forward motion it counts.

I guess similar to how some people live off of trying to prove something to others, I live off of empowering others to do what they love. I am passionate about the things I love.

The one thing I walked away from at Welland was the feeling of zen in racing. I have held onto this feeling and realize that that is why I do this. When you propel yourself 70.3 miles with nothing but a smile on your face the size of Texas, you know that you have found happiness.

While some days that smile way turn a bit upside down, I am grateful for every moment I am blessed with living. ;o)


So here is to the year of no plans other than having fun, going short and fast, and enjoying every moment of the journey to a well rounded me.


Peace, love and running,

RedZone
2011 MBA graduate in training