Month: December 2017

Although for some folks in my circle of co-workers, cronies, and training partners, the New Year’s resolutions list has become passe, I think there is still value in making one.

Detractors may say the list is just a way of highlighting how messed up your life has become. Others say that you can change your life anytime. You don’t need a date on a calendar to do it.

Let me challenge those thoughts by examining briefly the first argument. While some may think of a list of resolutions is sort of like a ledger of failure, having a concrete list of things that ain’t workin’ for you is not a bad thing. Taking a sober look at your life on a regular basis is time well-invested. Furthermore, by you making the list, rather than having it imposed on you by some hostile third party (girlfriend, boyfriend, parent, employer) you may have more intrinsic motivation to succeed.

Plenty of research suggests intrinsic motivation is effective to affect long-term change. Humans are, however, pack animals. This is where extrinsic motivation comes in. Once again, this is when a list of New Year’s resolutions may be a helpful first step on the way to positive change. Let’s face it, January the first is the start of a new year. The Christmas season is over. A lot of other people are also inspired to make change in their lives at this time. Why not capitalize on the inertia and join that swell of change. Having a group of like-minded co-workers or friends to motivate you and hold you accountable in those critical first weeks may make the difference between success and failure. Groups like the one below are great sources of positive peer support.

Take a look at the folks around you who you know well and are comfortable sharing your New Year’s goals with, and then do it. You can use each other as motivation and consolation along your path to awesomeness. And if you have a success story of making any long-term change in your life, whether it was a New Year’s resolution or not, let us know about it on our comments section. For the Fit Tip of The Week, I’m Kevin Heinze.

As usual, it has been a long time since my latest Ultra 520K blogpost. In this post, we make steady (and slow) progress on the run route from Princeton to Summerland.

Day Three: Part C – Hours 1 – 2 Solitary Man

The first thirteen miles of the day went by fairly uneventful. Even though twelve out of the fourteen competitors in the race were ahead of me, I was in good spirits, taking my walk breaks every ten or twelve minutes, having something to eat and drink, and chatting with my crew. At the thirteen mile mark, at about 2:30 into the run, I was delighted to see and hear Steve King announcing my arrival to a crowd of….. five people! : my crew members Kim, Elise, Rio, the race nurse, and myself. The things that guy does to make us back of the pack athletes feel acknowledged.

At that point, I changed running shoes (should have changed sock as well), had a mini-celebration with my crew, and began to run with my wife Elise. This was probably one of the high-points of the day as I was feeling pretty good physically, the weather was quite mild, and I was on pace to get the run done well under the time cut-off.

Day Three Part D: Hours 3 – 5  We are The Road Crew

According to the topographic map of the run course, kilometres 20-40 were supposed to be the toughest of the day, so when we heard Steve King, playing music and announcing to a crowd of – just us – at the 26.2 mile mark, we all were feeling optimistic. We thought that the toughest roads of the day were behind us. We were very wrong.

As the day progressed and the temperature rose, so did the road. And as the incline got higher and higher, the quality of the road got lower and lower, well, at least for running on. The loosely packed gravel and washboard-like surface make it difficult for me to land my foot strikes and I had to prance around the road like a deer, trying not to hit the uneven sections. With this kind of surface, and plenty of fatigue in my legs, my wisest option was to not only walk up the hills, but down them as well. I wondered how the rest of the racers got through this section.

In the picture below, you can see me shouting my defiance at the hill after making it down another one. You can also see Kevin Watt’s steely resolve. You can almost see him thinking “I wish that stupid guy would just shut up & run!”

After a few more of these silly hills, I am pretty sure that I said to my running pacer, Kevin Watt that we were FINALLY done them and it should be easy sailing for the next 30 k. Wrong again. Through this section, Kevin was a real help, listening to me whine and complain and chiming in with a few short comments to keep me on track.

Day Three Part E: Hours 6-9 Her Name is Rio and She Dances on The ???

Once Kevin Watt heard enough of my whining and complaining and there seemed to be no end to the crappy road, it was time to change my running partner and have Kevin enjoy the solitude of his Ford Truck. Rio came to the rescue! Without a doubt this was the most difficult part of the whole event and Rio rose to the challenge. There was one part of the course, after I had a Red Bull and a gel that I thought the best way to make progress was to get mad.

Some rage and the accompanying caffeine rush should be good to get me through this section, I thought. Wrong for the third time! After about fifteen or twenty minutes of shouting insults at the hill, and some rage inspired self-talk, the Red Bull and gel wore off and I was back to my usual, finicky, self.

Maybe I should have trained more for moments like this. Maybe I should have just pushed through the discomfort. Maybe I should have stuck with golf. All of these silly thoughts zoomed through my brain as the miles went.slowly.by. Progress was slow but progress WAS being made. In spite of walking up hills, my average speed was still above 4.8 miles per hour, the speed I needed to maintain to complete the course by the twelve hour cut-off.

Geo Wade and Diella Siemens are both amazing people. In addition to holding down regular jobs and being parents and spouses like “the rest of us” they are also ultra-endurance athletes, although they don’t really like to admit it.

In Fitspeek 24 Diella tells us about her first experience of “going-long” when she decided to walk home from work one day (from Vancouver to Port Coquitlam). Since then she has tackled her first half Ironman distance triathlon, developed a healthy interest in long-distance cycling and is preparing to do another ultra marathon.

Geo Wade discovered  in the Victoria Half Ironman that 2 K of swimming was just an appetizer and had an appetite for more. Last year he completed a non-stop bike ride from Port Hardy to Victoria. This year he attempted the swim from the Mainland to Nanaimo.

Geo and Diella are great examples of what Fitspeek is all about, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. In addition to our feature interview we also have our usual features including Kevin Watt’s Social Media Shout Outs, Zack Neufeld’s Between The Ears, and I have your Top 3 heath trends of 2017. Hear it all by pressing play below:

In this episode, we show that Fitspeek is indeed more than just race results and tri-talk.

Our newest podcast features our first installment of the Top 6 Health Trends of 2017. We’ll sort through the hype & the jargon & give you the straight goods on things like HIIT and “Wearable Technology.” And no, we have not forgotten our usual features like the upcoming events schedule and the race results.

Have you got 20 minutes?  Because Fitspeek 23 has something for you! It’s all at your fingertips below.

And if you are inspired to take your training to the next level for your upcoming fondo, marathon, or triathlon sample our Tri*Joy Tri-For-Fifty promotion.  Get details at kknnheinze@yahoo.com

In our last Fitspeek Express interview we heard from Dan Cook: realtor, part time runner and full time father of four.

This time we hear from the rest of this podium dominating family from Abbotsford including: 17 year old Travis, 14 year old (Mr. Energy Saver ) Preston, and 7 year old Fraser. These are names sure to be part of the Fraser Valley’s running scene for years to come.

As a long-time runner, how do you deal with the challenges of being a father? How about turning your 4 children into Team Cook, one of the Fraser Valley’s fastest running families? In this Fitspeek Express Interview, Kevin Heinze speaks with Dan Cook, the very proud father of a very fit family!