The Time Has Come

The time has come folks!

I am back at things again and feeling good about it. Mostly cross training stuff and that is how I like it for now. I am still commuting by bicycle and riding once a week but other wise it has been snow sports.

Last weekend I went XC Skiing with Coach and Lowell K.(ISCorp Junior Coach). It was a blast and it felt good to back on the skinny's. Sunday I went across the road to the Harley Woods on a little snow shoe adventure with my little training partner. She sure likes to run!

I must have made her tired because as soon as I put the bag down she hopped in and was ready to go.

Yesterday it was back to the woods to clean up some down branches and trees from the heavy snow a few weeks ago. I am not all of the way done but the main loop is cleared! Which brings me to my next thought..... This winter I have made it a personal goal to keep the Harley woods rideable. I want to keep the snow packed down and the trees and branches cleared. With the dog walkers invading it is like a double edged sword. It is great to have the traffic to help pack things down but people went through when the snow was wet and made huge ruts. Kind of hard to ride on so I'm not sure what I will do there. I still have a little work to do but other wise it is ok. Any way, if you are in the area on your bicycles this winter keep in mind for the most part Harley will be ridable.

After the woods I got on the old Surly and rode my way to Brookfield East where Joe once again made me work my butt off in the weight room. This time he had me doing some different stuff using Kettle Bells. I realized how weak and uncoordinated I am.....That stuff is hard! Soon I am sure I will get the hang of it but I am sure he won't make it any easier.

Thanks for reading!

DB

Time for ReFOCUS

Today, as I walked around the house feeling weak and lazy, I pondered....... Almost 20% of men my age are considered obese, and 25 to 35 percent of americans live sedentary lives.

This time of the year I start to have problems with motivation. I find it easier to stay in and watch a movie or just lay around and pity myself for feeling the way I do. Every year I have gotten progressivly better at dealing with my lul in progression but still havn't masterd the art of taking "quality time" off.

Old habbits die hard and I guess the old me still likes to come out and play every once and a while. For those of you who havn't known me for very long, I wasn't always the way I am today. Growing up I was overweight and extremely unmotivated. I did do the work my dad made us kids do like make wood, etc. Also I had a paper routed and would do outside suff with my brother Derek. Mostly though I liked to do inside things and had no athletic abilities to speak of.

At age 15 I was almost forced to get into shape as I took a very physical summer job as a concrete laboror. I wanted to quit for the first month but the money was too good. After I gratuated high school I did the only thing I learned to be good at...Work.

I grew up fast but also picked up some more bad habbits. Smoked, drank, and ate more fast food and junk food. Still I stayed relatively thin as the amount of "work" I was forced to do day in and day out. Winter months were the worst and as the days got shorter and colder so did our workload. Lay off time became very unproductive and I would slip into my old habbits of being lazy.

Every year since I was 18 I have been working on making this "lazy time" progressivly shorter. I still don't think I have it down to a perfect science but progression is the key word. To explain; this year has been my shortest down time since I started to be active, and percentage wise my weight gain is the lowest.

Like I said in the beginning of my post, I am feeling lazy today. But for me my mind never stops going. I know that down time is great for refocusing and I think it really works. I do have plans of going out and enjoying our wonderful wisconsin snowfall. Maybe a hike/snowshoe, or an MTB ride is in order. Either way, the only way to break the chain of "lazyness" is to get out and do somthing, Anything. So to anyone who reads this post that feels the same way that I do at times. It's ok as long as it is productive in other ways(refocus time), and you do something about working on the negative sides. Baby steps are better than no steps and I will be joining you this week as I get myself motivated to get off this couch.

DB