Training Blahs!

I will start with yesterday.  I had an awesome run with the CRAZIES!  We had a great group of seven running.  We started at a really nice pace and picked it up along the way.  Towards the ends, I felt like I just needed to go.  I kind of felt bad leaving the group but I just needed to do it for myself.  I took off and had some really nice last miles, for me anyway.  For some reason I felt like I did not run well last week, but I put in 28 miles running and felt good.  One of those mysteries I will probably never know, but I was satisfied with my run and that is important to me mentally.  The group is really making strides in the running category and I am excited for some warm weather to come and see what we can really do.

Today was a good workout as I pulled off the trifecta( according to Aaron M.) workout this morning.  Getting biking, swimming and lifting in all before 6:15 a.m.  I do not mind these workouts once I get going.
I jumped on the bike at 4 a.m., actually like 4:10 and rode at a high cadence for 15 miles.  I tried to keep the cadence over 100 rpm for the full time.  For the most of it, i was able, except the first couple miles of warm-ups.  High cadence is probably the least favorite of any bike workouts.  I am not really sure why, but it is.  Then, I quickly transitioned to my jammer and headed to the Y for a 1750 yards.  It was actually a good workout, I found a really good rhythm today.  I did 5 x 100 all under 1:30 and then 10 x 50 at 40 sec or below with 15 second rest intervals.  Overall I was really happy with the swim which adds to some confusion for me, which I will address later.  After swimming I hit the weights for a pretty tough weight workout too.  I was joined by Todd, Lisa, Curt and Jayme.  My chest will probably be sore tomorrow.  Here is the workout:
Group 1
3 x 15 Bench
3 x 10 Explosive Push Up
3 x 10 Burpee's

Group 2
3 x 10 Overhead Cable Chop
3 x 12 Reverse Swiss Ball Leg Ups
3 x 10 Straight Arm Pull Downs

Group 3
2 x 10 Box Jumps
2 x 10 Cable Rows
2 x 10 Weighted Sit Ups

Pretty good overall workout today.  I am looking forward to the run tomorrow as well.

Here is my mind set at this point in my training.  I really would like to get a triathlon in, just something I wanted to do.  However, I am finding that trying to squeeze all the different types of training in, is very hard on me, my family, and just finding time to relax.  I am signed up for the QC Tri and I will do it.  I have put way to much time in to not do it.  I am really liking the running at this point in time.  I may be at the "runners high" right now.  Maybe because I am seeing improvement, maybe because of the groups I run with.  Whatever the reason, I am really enjoying that, I always feel like I really accomplished something when I am done.
There is another Tri in May I may sign up for so there is something closer for me to train for instead of waiting till June.  Maybe that will bring that motivation back as well. I know I can do well in the tri, at least for me, I just need to get my mojo back.  Maybe once things settle down at work a little, it will come back.  Needless to say, work has been crazy this month.  So I ill quit whining, get back on the horse I rode in on, and start making things happen for the positive!  I know I CAN.  Here is to spring getting closer each day and the weather letting us get outside and enjoy it!

CRAZY Week!

This has been one crazy week!  I kind of knew this would happen going into the week.  I had a lot of events going and just needed to keep rolling and keeping it positive.  This was FUN week this week as I had mentioned in my previous post.  My objective is to get our school "moving/active" this week and keep it going.  We did a number of things to get the students engaged this week. We had former UFC Champ Pat Miletich come in and get almost 1100 students at BMS moving with some push ups, jump squats, burpees and crunches.  It was a pretty cool to see that many students getting active.  We also had students take a pledge to live a healthy active lifestyle to go with our theme of "BMS Gettin' Fit".  Here is an after picture of one I posted last time.  Those are little shoes on the wall that each student has filled out to make the healthy pledge.  We have teamed up with Live Uncommon and have a goal of getting as many people as we can to join the Torch Light Parade.  The Torch Light Parade is a fun event to run, walk, skip, hop, dance, do whatever you can to complete the three miles.  It will cross the Mississippi River twice and end with an awesome concert.  Our hope is to get as many students involved along with staff, but more importantly, get the students and their family and friends involved too.  We want this to be a community event, for all to enjoy.  We would like to have a thousand runners join our team.  If you are interested, sign up and liveuncommon.org and join TEAM BMS.  I know it will be a blast!  We had the awesome Live Uncommon team come in a present to the students.  We had some technical difficulties for the first couple of days but all in all it ended on a positive note.  My goal for each week is to keep reminding students of our goal to get to the TorchLight Parade and present them with activities that will help them achieve the goal.  Keeping in ming, that we want to change the world, one person at a time.  We ended the week with assemblies that included a dodgeball championship and a teacher student dodgeball game.  It was a lot of fun, but I am sure that some teachers, including myself, have some sore shoulders this morning!

As far as workouts go, this did not get any easier.  On Monday and Wednesday, I was able to pull off the trifecta workout.  his meant I rose from bed about 3:55 a.m. and jumped on my bike to get 20 miles in doing various workouts ( Speed, Interval, High Cadence).  Then off the bike to swim at the Y for 30 minutes, trying to squeeze in at least 1600 yards.  Then off to get the weight workouts in, mainly focusing on core workouts.  I had planned on doing this Friday as well, but I just could not do it, I had to listen to the body.  On Thursday nights, I usually play soccer in a league.  This past Thursday, I had the tournament and we ended up playing two games.  Upon waking up Friday, I just felt like my legs needed a little rest.  Not to mention I had ran 7 miles earlier in the morning.  So, I did, I slept in till 4:45 and went on to get the swim and lift in.  I was glad I got that done.  On Tuesday and Thursday, I was able to get in seven miles with my group of CRAZIES!  These runs were both really good and I am feeling like the running is really getting better and will be able to hit some PR's this year.  I ended the running week with a miserably cold run this morning at 4:30 a.m.  Thank goodness for my running group; John B., Rick F., Katie G, Aaron M., and Lindsey.  If I did not have to meet them, I probably would have crawled back in bed.  It was 19 degrees this morning, but felt like 3 degrees with wind at 24 mph.  Most of this run was not as chatty as I normally am.  All I could think about was getting done and getting warm.  The sweat on my coat and underclothes was turning to ice, my face was cold.  I felt really good otherwise, I just wanted to be done for some reason.  Thank you to those runners who helped me DIG DEEP and GET IT DONE

I am also contemplating(95% sure) joining the Live Uncommon Race team for the summer.  This is a great opportunity for me to give back to the community while also holding myself accountable for my own health.  This is a big undertaking as it will require some fund raising but I also think it is something I need to do to support the community we live in.  There are a lot of good people out there and a lot of people that need that extra help.  I am looking forward to getting going on this, I just need to get signed up!  One of the team Road Coaches is Aaron Maurer, who is also kicking butt in his training!  I am hoping we can get fellow runner Katie G.  on the team.  If we can get all this going, I think this is going to be a summer to remember.  I also will turn 40 this year, I AM going to do this with a bang!

Now, off to enjoy the weekend and my family that I have missed during this busy week!  Get out there and enjoy what YOU CAN do!

Joining the RevoLUtion!

Well, tomorrow is the kick off to the RevoLUtion for Bettendorf Middle School.  We are kicking off our FUN week, Fitness Uniting w/ Nutrition!  In the past we have done this week and we concentrate on fitness and nutrition for one week.  Then it kind of goes by the wayside and we move on.  This year I am determined to not let that happen.  I have teamed up with Live Uncommon.  They are awesomely uncommon people!  I am trying to get as many students, family and staff to join the Revolution Torch Run on June 2.  We will be kicking it off tomorrow with a lot of kids exercising in the gymnasium and followed up by the Live Uncommon team coming into the school and getting things kicked off!   We will end the week with some friendly games of dodgeball.

My belief, is that all people CAN do what ever they want to, if you put your mind to it.  I tend to amaze myself everyday with things I find myself doing.  If I can make a difference in a few lives this year by getting them to live uncommon and change, I will succeed.  I believe, that with the help of many people, I can make a huge difference in the upcoming youth.  I WILL lead by example and continue my efforts in my own goals and prove that YOU CAN, if YOU TRY!

I spent most of my day off at school getting the halls ready.  See my decorating below.  I am in hopes that I can make a difference in our youth.  It will only take ONE person to change our world!  BMS, welcome to the RevoLUtion!  Lets make every day count and make it count for our future!

What an Awesome Training Day!

Been a while since I was able to blog two days in a row, but that is what a day off will do for you!  I set out on a long run this morning with Katie G.  We decided to head down to the river and run on the bike path and head over the Arsenal Bridge and Centennial Bridge for total of 12 miles.  This run turned into an unbelievable run.  As we were running, the sun was starting to rise.  We started with the wind in our face a bit, but not to bad.  As we crossed the Arsenal Bridge the sun was starting to peak over the horizon.  What a beautiful way to perk up the run.  A nice dark blue sky with the orangish-red sun starting to peak over the edge of the earth.  Today is one day I wish I would have had my phone with me as the morning provided some beautiful opportunities to take pictures of the most amazing things we have around us everyday, but don't always get to see.

We then trekked our way through downtown Rock Island, weird to see The District, dead!  Back over the Centennial Bridge we went.  Decided to head back to the bike path and into Davenport a little more before turning around.   On the way back, we were cruising along the river and there it was, the most majestic animal in America.  A beautiful Bald Eagle soaring along the river, only about 30 yards from us.  Hunting away with the sun beaming down on us.  It was awesome!   It gave me a shot of adrenaline, I felt I could run forever at that point.

Not to mention along the way, Katie and I had some great conversation as we always do.  Something about the morning.  I think it is more a longing for warm weather to get here.  The sun was warm on the way back, the Mississippi River was gleaming in the sun.  Everything was brilliant.  Then we were coming around the bend from Lindsay Park in Davenport, a rather shallow part of the river, and their was a log hanging out of the water.  Sitting on top, once again, a huge Bald Eagle, sitting there staring at us.  Almost giving us a nod of approval.  We were enjoying nature and its beauty.  Again this made me feel like I could run forever again.  It is nice to have those natural bursts of energy because of your surroundings.  Katie and I talked that some people may never get to see this, ever!  Not only did we get to see it, we were making ourselves healthier while doing!

The only bad part of the morning was my watch was dead so I am relying on Katie's watch.  We ended with 12 miles in 1:35.  This is by far the best time I have had for a run in a year.  This mild winter has really provided me with the ability to train hard.  I am about 3 months ahead of were I was at last year, if that makes any sense. Made me feel good about what I have been doing, especially with the heavy load I took on yesterday too.  Legs felt great.  I am looking forward to getting some speed work in soon as I think I will see even more change in my fitness when I get those in.

As the week is winding down, I am ending on a very positive note.  I have been able to take the challenge of a family member's death, try  to find peace with it, and ended it with some of the best training I have had in a long time.  Not to mention an very nice dinner with my beautiful wife last night (Kennedy was with us but fell asleep).  I was going to hit the bike tomorrow, but with this experience today, I am going to not push the envelope, give my body a day to rest, and enjoy the rest of the weekend.  I wish all of you a wonderful weekend and challenge you to get out and enjoy!

What a week!

This has been quite a week, to say the least.  There were many emotions that went into this week and many work hours.  Everything from from working out to work to family!  It started out with a very awesome man in my family passing.  Jaybird, he was such a great father and family man.  It was a very hard to watch his family deal with this part of life.  Taken so sudden at the young age of 53.  Sunday and Monday we spent remembering all the great things he stood for.  I think the hardest part was watching his daughter grieve and watching my daughter learn about death and what it is all about.  Tough thing to learn, however, I am not sure we ever learn it.  I have a very tough time at these and tend to be pretty emotional and my daughter has picked this up as well.  This is the way we started and sometimes these events make us realize that life is to fragile and we need to make sure that every minute we are here, on earth, we should make the most of it.  Making every effort to enjoy those around us and enjoying life as we know it.  I am pretty sure the after life will be awesome but I know what I have right now is awesome as well.   I WILL enjoy this and make the most of it!

Then came Valentine's Day!   It is a nice day to remind us of how much we love those that are significant in our lives.  Although, we should really do this everyday, it is nice to have the reminder to take the time to do this.  Especially after the reminder of how precious life is on Monday.  I think the best was my girls giving me a Valentine!  They were so nice and I appreciated them so much.  I love the innocence of their love for their dad!  I thought you might like to see them as well.  Not to mention my amazing wife.  We had a pretty mellow day but our love in unconditional and I will forever cherish that!

Work was another story.  Conferences this week and had some coaching issues to deal with that did not make things very easy.  Plus I am trying to get our FUN (Fitness Uniting w/ Nutrition) week up and rolling.  That was a little stressful but I WILL overcome many of these problems and keep trucking forward!

On to my workouts.  The last few weeks I have spent working on fitting weights into my schedule.  I feel like I did a good job of getting that worked in and building a base on weights.  I know deep down, I cannot leave that behind so I was trying to figure out a way to make sure I keep this in my workout regimen.  I will keep my Tuesday and Thursday tuns with the group of CRAZIES.  I will not give that up, they are to valuable at this point.  My big problem is that I would like to say I will ride my bike at night when I get home from work, but I know I will not on a consistent basis.  So, I have changed my plan.  On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I WILL get up a little earlier and get biking, swimming and weights all in before 6:15 a.m.  On those days I will ride for 45 minutes, then head out to the Y by 5:00 to get  a swim in for 30 minutes and then weights for 30 minutes as well.  I will continue to get my long runs in on the weekend.  My weeks will be heavy on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays but as long as I listen to my body, rehydrate, I BELIEVE I CAN make this work.  I started this Wednesday and continued on to today.  So far, I feel pretty darn good.



Today I started off with a high cadence ride.  My goal was to ride 45 minutes at a high cadence of over 100 rpm.  I was able to accomplish this, with the exception of my first couple of miles because I was warming up.  As you can see below I was pretty consistent and stayed over 100 rpm.














After the ride I shot off to the Y and had a pretty good swim.  I did a ladder workout to swim.  Didn't start off that well as I forgot my goggle at home.  I had to barrow from the Y, I hope I don't have some funky eye disease come tomorrow!  I started with a 600 yd warm up then did the ladder with 20 sec rest in between all of them.  I went as follows: 25yds, 50 yds, 75 yds, 100 yds, 150 yds, 200 yds, 150 yds, 100 yds, 75 yds, 50 yds, 25 yds  and the a 150 yd cool down for a total of 1750 yds. Felt pretty good all the way through.  However, I did cramp at one point, which only means one thing, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

I went ahead and got my lifts in as well.  Today was a good day, not to mention I had the day off!  Great way to begin a four day weekend for me.  I then headed off with a great meeting with LIVE UNCOMMON.  I am excited, we are launching the REVOLUTION next week at school.  I hope we can help make some difference in getting kids active and leading a healthy lifestyle!

After the crazy week, don't take everything for grant-it.  Live life everyday and don't let those little things that get in our way of life bother you, figure out how you can get around or over them and continue forging ahead and make every day count!  See how you CAN make a difference, EVERYDAY!

Today's Challenge..I CAN

Today, I decided to make a change in my workout.  Although it was the first day, I think it is going to work.  I decided I needed to get up a little earlier at least a couple times a week, really would like to do three, and get in biking, swimming and weights.  I have spent the last three and a half weeks trying to build my base on weights, biking and running.  I have accomplished all of this and want to continue.  The reality of it is that if I say I will wait till after work to ride my bike or lift, I won't do it, I make to many excuses. So my goal on Monday's , Wednesday's and Friday's, I will lift, bike and swim.  I think my key will be to keep myself hydrated all the time and keep the nutrition in line.  Today, I was able to bike 20 miles and felt really good pushing in high gears.  I will alternate my rides with high cadences, low gears and building muscles and intervals workouts.  I then hit the pool for a 1400 yd swim in 30 minutes and then lifted for 30 minutes with a core workout.  Great way to start my day, I had a great sense of accomplishment and think I can build on this.  I will just have to make sure not to push to much and injure myself.  Below are my biking results:

I will get a better blog in when I have a few more minutes.  Been a pretty hectic week for me!  Now to rest so I CAN get 6 b4 6 tomorrow!

Great Route and a Cup of Joe!

Needed to alter my normal running routine this weekend due to leaving town tomorrow.  Katie G and I decided to get it done early on Saturday morning.  I was not expecting such a cold run.  These mild temps lately have spoiled me.  It was 11 degrees out with a 17mph wind.  Wind in the face proved to be pretty darn cold!  However, both of us dressed for the occasion and made our way out into the cold.  We decided to run a route that we had not run before.  We met at Satrbuck's on Middle Rd and decided to head to Davenport.  Little did we know we would hit two bridges and three cities along this route.  I will probably say this was the coolest running route I have been on in a while, maybe it was because it was out of the ordinary or just because we crossed bridges?  I do know one thing, this will be an awesome summer route. We took off through McClellan Heights on Middle Rd.  down through the East Village of Davenport to hit the bike path on the river.  That took us to the Rock Island Arsenal Bridge. We headed over that and along the bike path in Rock Island along the river and through the RI District over to the Centennial Bridge and back to downtown Davenport.  Running through downtown Davenport was pretty awesome in the early morning hours.  Not to much movement but was nice to actually see how nice this place could be.  We continued on the back to the bike path and back through the East Village and then we met our match...The Middle Rd. Hill, Holy Batman, the sucker is huge!  I am glad we were towards the end because, I am not sure I could have handled much more, it is steep, long and took my heart rate to the max.  It is good to incorporate those type of hills but that might be the biggest beast I have run in a while!  I think it is mental too, about halfway up it turns and you think that is it, but NO WAY!  Again, there will always be always be struggles in whatever you do.  Positive thinking CAN take you a long way. I CAN say that I have conquered that hill and it will get better every time I do!  We ended our run at Starbuck's on purpose so we could get a nice cup of warm coffee.  And it was just that, a nice warm place to sit and enjoy some good conversation and coffee.  This was the quickest pace I have run double digits in a while so it did feel good to push our pace a little this morning.

Along the run we had some good conversation, as always.  One thing stuck out in my head about this conversation we had was about individuals and relationships.  It is funny how we all seem to go through life and we put our lives on pedestals.  No matter if it is work, individual goals, relationships, we seem to think we are standing out there alone.  I am not talking pedestals like we are the best but pedestals that we are the only ones that experience the things we do or situations we encounter.  For example, in a relationship that we are the only ones that have communication problems with our spouses or at work that we are the only ones feeling like we are swamped or while exercising that we are the only ones struggling to accomplish a goal of some sort.  In reality, I think we all experience some sort of set backs when we try and put ourselves out on a limb or pedestal and think we are the only ones going through it. We are all humans and experience different things in life, but when it comes down to it, we all have a lot of similarities too.  Communication is imperative to any situation we may encounter.  I think that is one thing I love about the groups I workout with is because a lot of those frustrations come out and it helps.  It also makes me think about other communications I need to have and how much more important those are and the need for them to take place to make life a better place.  Amazing the thought processes that you encounter at 5 a.m. in the morning and how much they make sense.  Good thoughts to start a weekend!  I CAN make better use of my communication skills and make life and the situations I encounter better.

Have a great weekend, what CAN YOU make out of the situations you encounter?

Motivation

Another good run with the CRAZIES this morning, although we were missing Aaron.  Today was an interesting day for me.  I started the morning, lets say not very motivated at all, and ended my run with such positive thinking.  Getting to your workout destination is probably the hardest thing to do.  When you have a bunch of crazy runners waiting for you it makes it easier.  And when you have a bunch of CRAZY runners that have great conversation it makes it almost a punishment if I miss.  The run today seemed to start off fairly quiet, even Nick, who seems to be able to talk about anything anytime, was quiet.  As the morning went on, I started to perk up a little and still not really in the mood to talk a whole.  As I ran, I found that just listening to the group sometimes is all I need.  There is a lot of interesting things that go on in every ones lives.  Not to be creepy or anything but sometime listening is good, probably a quality my wife would like me to be better at ;)  Anyway, we ended the run pretty strong and I felt pretty good about.  Oh, and a shout out to Phil for kicking it in and seeing his times get better and better, great work!

Another good happening this morning after my run, I saw John and Rick kicking tail on the treadmills.  I went in to talk and John needed my conversation to help them get through.  I so know what he was talking about so I just started chatting as fast as I could and as some of you know, I really don't talk all that much.  Great to see those guys so determined to reach their goal of Leadville.  Keep it up boys!

When I dropped my girls off at my moms house, I was delivered with some bad news. A Cousin of mine, more like an uncle, had passed away last night of a heart attack.  54 years old was Jay.  I will have his family in my thoughts and prayers.  He was an amazing guy and a great Father!  Death always bothers me to no end.  Probably the one thing I am really scared of in this world.  Not necessarily death itself, as I have found myself getting more informed about this, but what I will leave behind.  Saying  this, I mean my family.  I don't want to miss a thing with them and just cringe every time I think of missing anything in their lives.  Jay will leave behind his wife, Theresa (awesome lady) and his beautiful daughter Alix, who he was an amazing father too.  My thoughts and prayers to his family and I know Jay will watch over them. Rest in Peace my Friend!

After that news,  school was alright with the exception of situations with sports.  But I guess I am ending it the best way, spending it with my girls.  Mary is off to do a few things so we are chillin' and enjoying time together, the most precious of all time.

Exercise this week has been good.  I have a little foot ailment that has put a giddy up in my step but is getting better.  The weights have been awesome and biking is getting there.  Tomorrow I will hit the bike hard and then get some more weights in.  Next week, I will head back to the pool and start that over again.  Hopefully, I have not lost to much yet!

Well, to an interesting day, a full moon and enjoying all the time you have here with the people that surround you and make you who you are.  I know I CAN.

After re-reading the post, kind of random today but that seems to go right along with the day!  Tomorrow is Friday, Enjoy!

Week in Review...Long!

For whatever reason, this has been a long and trying week for me, probably why there has not been a post all week.  Overall, I would say it is not a bad week, just a tough mentally challenging week.  I had some pretty positive things happen. Pretty successful week as far as working out and making some things happen a little quicker than I thought I could.

First off on Tuesday of this week I had the best run I have had since last year in May.  I set out on my normal run with the CRAZIES at 5 a.m.  Actually a larger group than normal; I was joined by Katie, Jane, Phil, Nick and Aaron.  We got into the run at a pretty normal pace for us and we took a little different route to make it a little longer.  For some reason the last mile and a half, the pace rocketed up.  At first I thought it was the wind and after chatting with Katie about it, nope, it was us.  Finished the last full mile at 7:22 pace then the last .66 at 6:50 pace.  For me that is flying.  For the 6.6 miles, it was an average overall pace of 8:04.  I have not ran like than since last year when I did the half marathon.  As I look back on it, I am running way ahead of schedule and think I may be able to do some amazing things with my half marathon this year.  So I am looking forward to that!
On Thursday we had a nice light run in the morning.  I am glad it was nice and easy because my legs were still a little heavy from  biking and the Tuesday run.  Jane and Katie and I had some really good conversation.  Kind of interesting running with women sometimes to get their thoughts and perspectives on things that men really do not talk about while running.  I have great respect for these two ladies so I do the smart thing and take it all in and agree;)  I was glad for the light run because I also had a soccer game Thursday night and we only had one sub, I ended up playing the entire 40 minute game.  My legs were tired and my hip strained a little so Friday was going to be a rest day!  At least for my legs, I ended up lifting upper body and it was good just to get that in and rest my lower body.

My other training is going well.  I really have liked the weight training I have integrated into the workouts as well.  I am feeling stronger and starting to see results.  My biking is picking up too as my legs are feeling stronger.  I need o get back to the pool but I think I am going to get one more week of good lifting in before I hit the water more.  I think I have plenty of time for that so I am not to worried about that.

This morning I finished up my week of running with a 19 mile run and all done before 7:30 a.m. or at least very close to that.  I felt pretty darn good this morning all things considered.  Again the Leadville group is an amazing group of people to run with.  I honestly believe I would not be running where I am at right now if it was not for their inspiration.  We were able to finish our last mile in under 8 minutes which is a huge progression for me. Last time I was struggling to even make it back to the house, this time I was pushing it back.  This felt really good mentally and physically.  My hamstrings are the only thing feeling the affects right now, otherwise I feel great.

On the run this morning we had some great conversation and even so good we missed our turn and had to run a little further on the first loop, but all is good because this group is AWESOME!  One of the conversations this morning was about who you surround yourself with is what you CAN be.  I feel very fortunate, I have surrounded myself with all sorts of people and I feel pretty blessed to be a part of this group and call them friends.  This morning it was John, Curtis, Rick, Katie and Mike.  Being part of this groups really has opened my eyes to what I CAN accomplish.  John has talked to me lately about completing a marathon.  After today, I believe I CAN complete one now.  I probably have always been able, but now I know I CAN.  I am going to search for one so I can take the drive I have and make it reality.  Through church, the gym, running, work and other things I do, I have put myself in a ring of friends that I believe make me more powerful to myself than I ever thought or believed I could be.  Each week my belief in myself is getting stronger and my belief in the people around me are more powerful.  Surround yourself with good, and good will prevail.  I know I have talked about it before, but each week I train with the guys that are doing Leadville or my morning CRAZIES, I see the work in progress and am amazed at what a difference a few people getting together, to better themselves, can do for one's power to believe in themselves.

Also, thanks to John for giving us a little inspiration.  He gave us all a "Dig Deep" wristband to help motivate in our workouts.  See the picture, it has the Leadville logos on it as well.  This will help in those times of mental weakness to know, I CAN DIG DEEP and persevere!
With that in mind, I need to get a move on to the day.  Today is going to be more powerful than yesterday because I CAN believe in myself in what I CAN accomplish.  Have a GREAT and Positive weekend!