CLUB WALK NIGHT
Just a quick note tonight - an evening club walk with my running room half marathon clinic - what I would call a recovery pace for almost 9 km - gives me a total this month of 287km - plus my cross training and strength training
Really looking forward to High Park on sat morning with the Ontario Racewalkers - this will be an experience
Sweet dreams all

Early To Rise and all that
Well up and at um early this morning - a 630 am start and off to the gym - my gym is 3km from my house so over the summer I have been power walking up to the gym, doing my workout and power walking back. I found it mentally contardictory for me to drive the car up when I live so close and can do my cardio on the way to and from. With my new found beginners knowledge I gained last night with Ontario Racewalkers, I put some of it to parctice this morning and just concentrating on my arms I found it incredible that I could drop my time by 4 minutes round trip to and from the gym to home............While at the gym my typical is to do an easy 15-2o minutes onthe bike and then do my endurance - this morning I concentrated on upper body circuits and core circuits - each set of 9 exercises followed by 10 minutes high intensity on the stairmaster...............did 3 sets of this - it was a great workout and now I have the energy to head to work for the afternoon..........Short turn around again today - finish work at 8pm and back tomorrow at 4am. Tomorrow is my Oakville clinic night and I am looking forward it..............Cheers all

ONTARIO RACEWALKERS
This was an awesome night - first night training with the Ontario Racewalkers Club. Their coach is fantastic and I learned so much my first night and watching those racers who have been doing this for awhile is totally inspiring - the technique is literally so technical that you really have to concentrate and take baby steps one day at a time to learn..............got in 6km on the track and am looking forward to the High Park loops on Saturday.....I think I have found the place I want to be - the other racers are great and really helpful..............A big thank you to Sarah(our own Canadian Racewalker) who directed me this way and whom I was very fortunate to meet tonight - her technique is so impressive Thanks Sarah

LONG WALK - LONGER DAY - SHORTER NIGHT
I was a great walk this morning - accomplished 24km and in decent time - that will probably be it for the long stuff until the Port Perry Half - the weather was perfect this morning and very peaceful - have found some new trails and hills to add in on my long days - so I feel as if I accomplished quite a bit.
And then if was off to work - started some temporary(?) management duties today at work - unfortunately I finished at 8pm and then have to start at 0400am tomorrow
I am really hoping that I can meet with the Ontario Racewalkers tomorrow to begin some real coaching - I finish work at noon and if I can get some beauty sleep I will go to their workout at 530pm

Well we made it to the botanical gardens - flowers were great - nice trails and very peaceful and refreshing




My wife fancies herself a quilter and obviously thinks she can make novelty hats as well - she thought this would be a nice addition to my race wardrobe - I on the other hand think it clashes with my eyes!!!!! LOL

Sunday - Sort of a day of rest
An early start this morning - had our clinic group walk this morning - I decided to make it a leasurely recovery walk today - we did 15km through the Heritage Trail in Oakville - it was really a beautiful walk - mentally it was great for me and the softer surface was a extemely pleasant change from the asphalt - I will have to do more of this in the future - even had some great inclines there..................Gives me more incentive to do my long walk tomorrow morning before work - i typically try for 22-27km and my long day and I am going to try and make the best of it as it will be my last L-O-N-G one before my first half marathon on Sept 9th
We are off to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton this afternoon if the weather holds - may have some nice pictures to share on our return

So much for an off day
Oh well, best laid plans and all that - I finally have a weekend off work and I had originally been scheduled to work but have accepted a temporary promotion which gives me my weekends which is great due to the number of races coming up
I had planned to take a day off workouts as well but decided to do some more strength/endurance/hill training at the gym. I did some core work and then 7.5km hills on the treadmill --- kept about a 7:43pace on the hills-minimum grade of 9.0 to 15.0 for about 55 minutes - felt great afterward and we were able to spend the afternoon down at the street festival near St lawrence Market on Front street in Toronto
Looking forward to being able to do 16km tomorrow on trails with my running room club.
Got my 60km walking in for the week even though I took 2 days off after the Midsummernights Run last Sat Feeling Great

Like I said before - thanks God for racewalking - these are the before pictures

Time to ramp up the workouts
Yesterday was the day that I have decided to really crank up my training - I am happy with my times so far but far from satisfied - always have to have those little goals to shoot for.
I have found that when I am upset, frustrated or angry I can channel that into positive energy thanks to racewalking
Yesterday was a semi typical strength and endurance training day - firstly, I spent a couple of hours at the gym. I usually do endurance there - involving circuit training followed immedaitely with5 minutes on the stairmaster. I have now decided to work in Hill training on the treadmill as part of this workout now - so yesterday, I did three sets of 5 leg exercises - eg legpress, leg curl, leg extension, hamstring curl and horizontal calf press followed by 10 minutes fast Hills after each set of 5 exercises - then a one minute rest -doing it all over again ....Then I did the same with 5 core exercises - this way I got my strenth training in plus endurance plus hills ---------------I loved it ----you sure learn how to breathe properly after awhile. I tend to concentrate on my legs alot as I had full knee replacement 2 years ago---------after all this I relaxed in the hot tub, had lunch with a friend as it was a day off work
In the evening I went to my half marathon clinic at the Oakville running room - the picture is with some of my clinic friends - there we did a relaxing 8km...........
I just got home from work tonight and am heading to the gym to do a shorter version of the endurance training - the weather is mot great outside so I think i will do 8km in doors on the treadmill and focus on hills again with a little ab work and chest work
Cheers all - have a good night

Well I finally, I think, have figured out this blog thing ---- I hope
Just got back from the gym doing my strength and endurance training - have a club walk with my Oakville running room clinic tonight - it is the half marathon and although I have done quite a few races this summer, my longest has only been 15km - so this half marathon clinic is helping alot - my first half is Sept 9 in Port Perry , followed by the Scotia Bank Half in Toronto on Sept 24 and then Niagara Half on Oct 22 - then a month off racing till I do a full marathon in Honolulu on Dec 10/2006
I call my training "MISSION POSSIBLE - TARGET HONOLULU"
Since i started doing my race walking seriously about a year ago after coming off of full knee raplacement I have lost almost 60 pounds and 10 inches on my waist - alot inpart with help from Paul and Gary - the management at Oakville running room
My times have been respectful i guess - best 5km time is 34:44, best 10km is now 1:10:11 and best 15km is 1:47:40
Cheers all