Capital City Track Club

As of a week ago I am officially a member of the Capital City Track Club.  This is not a big surprise since that has been the plan since I started this journey.

At the club's AGM I was able to meet with my throwing coach Rob Fisher and have a chat with him and my current coach Ron Thompson.  Ron's job is to get me fast and strong over the winter so that come spring the prep work is done and I can get right into throwing with Rob.  I love working with Ron as he put's me through circuit, stair, sprint and hill workouts.  The one on one attention he has been paying have helped me so much in the past month.  Ron and Rob are able to talk with eachother constantly.  Ron can update Rob on my progress and training and Rob can point out specific things he wants me to work on. 

Athletics Alberta has already released their 2013 schedule and I am so excited to start competing against the rest of the throwers in the province.  Luckily the majority of meets are in Edmonton or Calgary (2.5 hour drive) so travel will be minimal.  As I look at the schedule I can't help but see the IAAF World Championships in Russia and wish I was at that point already.  Patience is something I am not usually good at but I will have to learn.  No worries Worlds in china are only 30 months away and I will be there.
      



http://capitalcitytrackclub.ca/

David

Ice Crystals Forming

It's mid October, it's Edmonton, it's cold!!   Good thing I love training outdoors when it is cold.  Everything around just seems calmer and quiter.

I headed out to the Millwoods football field this evening for a workout.  I took my 8lb medicine ball and my new 600g turbo javelin.  Now in October in Edmonton it is dark by about 730pm.  Since I got to the field around 8 I was happy to see the peewee football teams on the field and the lights shining bright.  I jogged around the field and went into the endzone to throw the medicine ball around.  I was planning on doing a circuit workout, but the temptation of throwing around my turbo jav was too much to resist.  I spent about 20 minutes tossing around the javelin in the endzone before the players started to head off the field.  Then the groundskeeper turned the lights off.  Now what???  It's dark, it's empty, and it's quiet.  Perfect time to throw.  Throwing down the sidelines with only the parking lot lights to guide me.  As it got later in the night running between throws, ice crystals started to form on the turf as the temperature got lower and lower. 

It has been a long time since an outdoor workout and I have missed it.  Getting ready for a long winter of indoor training, gotta get outside while I still can.

David

A Training First

I have trained on 3 continents and at least 5 different countries.  I have trained in -25C temperatures and +40C temperatures.  I have trained in rain, snow, sleet, hail, wind, lightening, thinder, in the dark of the early morning and the light of the highest sun.  But tonight I trained in something I have never experienced before. 

I am at work tonight, I had jsut left my desk to start a medicine ball workout at 1245am.  The start of my medicine ball workouts encompass several throws so I head outside our office building.  As I step outside i looked up in the cool Alberta sky and see the northern lights dancing in the sky.  I could not help but just stare up at the sky.  Like a ballet dancing in the sky, the blue and green lights stretched and danced accross the sky.  I started my workout and during every rest period found myself staring up at the sky watching the dancing lights.  As my workout headed indoors, I still went outside during rest periods to make sure they were still there.

I love being Canadian and am honored that I have had the chance to represent my country and wear the maple leaf at many international athletic events.  The last time was in 2009 and I was swimming, riding, and running.  The next time I will be throwing a javelin and I cannot wait.  I am so proud to be Canadian, the winters are cold, the summers are hot, the mosquitos are a pain in the ass and the northern lights are amazing, all together they make up my favorite place on earth to live......and to train.

David   

Negativity vs. Realism

By now word is getting out to various friends and family members about my new athletic journey.  After having so much support from everyone the last 10 years I was very surprised at how many people are....hesitant to give me their full support.  I have come up with a couple of reasons for this:

1:  The majority of my friends have at some point in their lives completed a triathlon and/or Ironman.  Alot of my friends have only started racing in the past 3 years or so and I feel like my triathlon career have influenced their training and racing.  I am not taking credit for their individual successes, but part of me wonders if they would be racing had I not had a part in introducing them to the sport?  Because of this influence I think many of them are very surprised with the decision to leave the sport and to return to track and field.

2: And I hope this will change, but they may see the Olympics as an un-obtainable goal.  This is very disappointing to me.  I am a very goal oriented person.  If I want to achieve something I will work my ass off to get there.  Prior to qualifying for the 2005 ITU World Triathlon Championships, my coach kicked my butt and trained me hard so that I would qualify....and i did.  My 2010 Ironman Canada I wanted to race in under 11 hours.  It was my first Ironman and was very excited to be there.  I finished in 11:21, not disappointed, quite the opposite indeed I had a great experience at that race and it taught me a lot.  That goal stayed with me going into my second Ironman race this year.  I pushed myself harder leading up to the race and on race day.  I broke 11 hours by 7 minutes......goal achieved.  I need to throw 80m to make the Canadian qualifying standard (2012),  there is no way I am going to do that in the next 12 months.  I may only throw 50m this year and there is nothing wrong with that because the year after I will work harder and throw 65m, and the year after that I will throw 80m and go to IAAF Worlds in Beijing and qualify for the Olympics. 

There is a big difference between a negative point of view and a realistic point of view.  At Ironman I was realistic that something may not go as planned and the race could take 17 hours.  By mentally prepairing for this possibility I am able to handle it and adapt faster than if I did not.  The negative person would say I am not ready and I cannot do this and not try. 

I know this is not going to be easy, but I know the rewards when I achieve this goal will be amazing and life changing.  I look forward to the skeptics coming around and joining the team.

David