It wasn’t supposed to be easy. It wasn’t

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competing, cycling, diet, exercise, family, fitness, training, working out

If it had been easy, he wouldn’t have called it a challenge.

The 81-day Athlete Training Centre Challenge is all but over. It was harder than it looked, but easier than some thought. I’ll let that contradiction ricochet around your mind for a while.

The brain child of Athlete Training Centre boss trainer Richard Clark, the challenge was meant to push us physically, challenge us mentally (in terms of exceeding our own perceptions of our boundaries) and stimulate us intellectually to fully understand the implications of our food choices on ourselves and the environment.

That’s my interpretation. Others may have heard other messages. The rules: no alcohol. No dairy. Meat only four times a week. A minimum of five one-hour workouts per week. Just do it. And have fun. No bitching.

The physical challenge seemed a success for many of us “adult athletes.” I lost more than a dozen pounds, I lift more weight and I’m stronger, I hit new lows in body fat readings, improved my cardio to the extent that I could actually run six kilometres, and made a lot of the new clothes I bought last fall feel a little baggy.

Yoga pants don’t cause cancer, and other good news from the gym

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cycling, diet, exercise, family, fitness, general, yoga, yoga pants

First, you need to know that the only thing in the world that doesn’t cause cancer is yoga pants. You will need to keep reading to find out why. But first …

Today was the first time since I was a teenager, or at the very least a much younger man, that I ran and felt almost good.

I’m going to put that little caveat on there – almost – because, you know, I hate running. So let’s not get carried away.

But for some unexplainable reason, after creaking around the house on Sunday afternoon with a sore knee and wondering if I was aging faster than that blue cheese in the fridge, this morning I could actually run.

The bad news is that I’m not sure that anyone else noticed what passes for running well in my world.