Sticking my head in the snow

With all that is going on with national politics I thought I would take a moment to reflect. I was emailed a this photo from my brother John a few weeks ago and finally took a few seconds to take a look at it.

Jackson, Josh and his forever BFF Liv skied this day with John while I was with Anne and Lexi. This year we have gone skiing as a family 14 times. Lexi is practically skiing on her own, stopping on her own and really understanding how to turn and navigate down the hill. The first full run of the year took us just under two hours with 3 "stop and take off your skis and play around" breaks. The last time up we cruised the very same run in under 30 minutes. She was OK with this new sport but not until she was able to show her cousins and aunts and uncles that she is a big 3 year old skier did she really show signs of enjoyment.
One of the last times up I was able to go with Johh and 7 nieces and nephews and have them try to follow me in and out of the trees and jumps. We even found a man made wooden drop off used for mountain bikes in the summer and jumped off ourselves. Parker did it with me and we had a blast.
I love family activities where we get to be together, at such a very cool location. We are just a few hours a way each week to some would say the world best skiing and we have truly loved it this year.
I am not sure if we will get up again as the weather is changing and so are the interest but if not I will cherish this year and remember how much fun it has been. I love that we can go skiing and some days we have all 20 of Walton's together.
Keep the good times rolling.

Love you Anne,

T

134BPM Average for workout

The month of March has for me has been all about weights and low heart rate training. Last week I had a LSD run for 2 hours where I kept my HR average below 150. This week was a 3 hour brick with 2 hours riding and 1 hours swimming. The goal for the day was to keep all things in check to allow myself to maintain a low HR. I have not been on the bike with a max HR goal for a very long time so it made the day fun for me. I set my alarm to beep and get mad at me past 140BPM. I left home "second left past Kansas" and started my fun epic day. By the time I was 10 minutes into the ride I was freezing and turned around to go and get more clothes.
Shoe covers, Full hooded hat, bigger gloves and my Practical Coaching Riding Jacket was the addition that I put on. Leaving the neighborhood I felt better and more prepared for the bad weather I was riding into. I headed west on Iliff going all the way to the Cherry Creek bike path. The traffic between my home and this point is full of very rude, crappy drivers and really surprises me how bad they treat cyclist. When I hit the bike path the snow started to fall and I was toasty warm and feeling good. My HR stayed in the right zone and I would only have the alarm go off when I was climbing. I took a loop in the Cherry Creek Res. and then jumped out of the park on Parker road. I headed south to the 24 hour fitness at Parker road and Arapahoe road. Walking into the pool I saw the kids getting ready for family swim with mom. I switched from cycling clothes into my swimming gear. I took the next hour chillaxin in the pool to finish my 3 hour brick. It felt great training at such a low HR. I took a look at the results on my Garmin and averaged 134BPM for the 2:12 hour ride. I had a max HR at 170 and burned 1608 calories.
The swim felt really good and I am pleased with the key workout for the week. I look forward to the season this year.
Some interesting points for this workout are as follows:
-25 oz of water for the ride
-1 bar at 170 calories consumed during the whole 3 hour event and I felt strong in the end!
-Started eating in the 3rd hour
-sweat rate was the lowest I have every had. I did not take off a wet base layer at the transition.
-Swim felt very, very smooth and was able to focus on form

This month is a build month and I look forward to my RMSS Cycling training camp in 2 weeks in Moab, Utah.

Tell next time BOOOO YAAAAAAA

Love you Anne,

T

March Madness 2010

This time of the year we all gear up for Collage basketball and the official theme called March Madness. However while I was at school with Jackson and Josh on "basketball with Dad" night on Monday I had the opportunity to show the boys my awesome basketball skills. First was the free-throw contest (Air ball 3 feet right) the Dad and boys behind me let out a loud laugh. Second was the 3 pointer (I was closer but still air ball). Third, the backwards free-throw and as you can guess I was not much closer than my forwards free-throw. Last and final was the half court throw and I really was pleased that I came close to hitting something. In the end 4 shots with 4 air balls, I believe that I will be traded in for a better version of Dad next time the boys have to take me to school. So, March Madness does not get a lot of play at my home we seem to fill the void with our normal activities except this year. The Walton's are having their own battle to the top and I feel it is kind of fun.

We started out with a low seed and our first round game was against a home in Aurora called "Walden". We were very nervous about this first round of competition and Wednesday we went head to head. Our team of inspectors, Mortgage brokers and real state agents battled for 4 hours and in the end we came home with a first round victory. We are past inspections and heading for an EOM closing!!!!

The Second round started before the first round (Not very good with this story line, it looks to be coming off the tracks already) where I started a diet to bring myself back from the dark side. During the 3 day prep faze I ate Protein and green veggies and 15 hours into it I started to get the pains from sugar withdrawal. I had headaches by the second day and as my co-workers can attest I became a jerk. However, I did make it, I am out of the prep faze and onto weight loss to get me back grounded and eating healthy. It is interesting to see how I have slowly moved away from what I know to be a balanced diet and allowed myself too many special treats. In fact I believe that if you have special treats 2-3 times a day you can't call them special anymore and they become a apart of my HIPS AND BELLY....ERRRRR I mean diet! So I am winning after the first quarter and will let you know how the battle goes for the month. I do not need to loose a large amount of weight this time but I do need to get what I eat and how much of it I eat back in line.

And to butcher this analogy just a little more I will tell you my "final 4" game. I have started to get serious about training again. Anne agrees that I have a very simple path to success on exercise. If I have a race to work towards I train better. If I train better I eat-sleep-act-think better. I am a better person when I a working out and so I have hired a coach again. I have planned a race schedule that has road racing, triathlons, Xterra's and Running races. I started my official schedule towards these events on the first of the month. I look forward to this season with my triathlon friend, my new cycling team RMSS and the assistance of coach BETH TENNANT. I have several friends that have ths same races with different coaches and teams but we are all still hanging together, racing together and training together.
In fact one of the highlights of round one is that we are moving close to Michael and Michelle and I will have a world class triathlete close to our home and a fun training partner with both Michael and Michelle. BOOO YAAAA.

So a pretty good start to March, I am very excited about all that is progressing. I look forward to the ups and downs this month and hope that I will get to the "big dance" I am not sure what that dance will be or what the finals will look like so throw me a firkin bone..

Peace,

Love you Anne,

T