A first

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AUS Hockey, competing, dalhousie tigers, diet, exercise, family, fitness, hockey, training, working out

Well, that wasn’t so bad.

I completed the World Vision Canada 6K Run for Water on Saturday morning, under brilliant sunny skies and comforted by the chill embrace of sub-zero temperatures. Moments of it were actually fun and rewarding.

There were about 200 runners at our location in north Mississauga. I’m not a runner and now I remember why. One kilometre into the run, we passed a sign marking the distance. It was one of the most demotivational moments I have had in recent times.

Really? I have to so this five more times? The first kilometre was the worst.

My route strategy was simply to run until I felt uncomfortable and then walk a bit. I never needed to walk.

The six people I ran with, all also members of The Athlete Training Centre, were younger and faster and better runners and I was content to let them sprint away from me. The fastest finished the run in about 33 minutes. I toddled in about seven minutes later, respectably in the middle of the pack.

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Super Bowl stuff, other stuff

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AUS Hockey, budweiser, cycling, dalhousie tigers, diet, exercise, family, fitness, hockey, super bowl, training, working out

There wasn’t a whole lot “super” about Sunday’s Super Bowl, at least not from my perspective. The game was not exciting. It bordered on boring.

I’m not a hardcore NFL fan. I’m just a guy who likes watching elite athletes do their thing on a big stage. I’m also a journalist so I enjoy the stories within the stories as much as I enjoy the game line. I like the buzz, even if the Super Bowl has more manufactured buzz than any event outside of a manned Mars landing deserves.

It will not surprise you that I was hoping Denver would win. The aging quarterback going for something big perhaps for the final time, versus the brash up-and-comer. I will always tilt way more toward the Peyton Mannings of the world over the Cam Newtons. And lately, more towards the aging guy . . .

But off the field Sunday, both of their performances were not something I would commend my sons to emulate.

Caution: men thinking

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AUS Hockey, cycling, dalhousie tigers, diet, exercise, family, fitness, hockey, training, working out

Only 10 more weeks to go in the New Year challenge at ATC.

Only.

Week three of the eat-better, get fitter challenge is upon us. Assuming people stick with it, April 1 is an ocean away.

I’m not certain how success will be defined at the end of this and whether everyone who started out two weeks ago will still be involved at the end. Actually, I think I know the answer to the second part of that statement – not everyone is going to hit the tape at the finish line. Some are falling off already – or in fairness, perhaps they were never really volunteers to the cause.

But the group enthusiasm is there for now. The 6a class continues to bring in about 20 people on weekday mornings in spite of the cold and dark. And people are in a decent mood, considering the time of day. The tempo of the workouts has changed with much more focus on strength. We’re lifting heavier weights to build muscle, taking advantage of the new diet regime of less meat, more plants.

We still do cardio – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday still feature fairly intense spin sessions. But the emphasis is on strength. Some respond better than others but I feel it after a “lift” day. Today was front squats (barbell rest on front shoulders and then full squat with progressively more weight.) Wednesday is dead lift. Friday is bench.

I excel at precisely zero of these but that doesn’t stop me from showing up and doing what I can. Richard told me I’d be “shredded” by April 1 so, that’s the deal.

More mountains

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AUS Hockey, dalhousie tigers, diet, exercise, family, fitness, hockey, training, working out

An elite mountain climber is said to have been asked what he saw at the top of the mountain. And he said: more mountains. So with that inind . . .

After losing a bunch of weight and improving my fitness, it’s easy to fall into a trap and think the beast has been slayed, I’m a fit guy and Men’s Fitness is holding on line 2 to arrange a photo shoot.

I don’t often have such moments – almost every day I work out, there is an actual National Lacrosse League all-star training with us, as well as three or four other youngsters who actually are very fit. I mean, machine-like athletes with highly tuned bodies.

Not a middle-aged guy in danger of pulling a hammy unloading empties at the Beer Store.

So, we older folk don’t need to look far to see what work remains. And for me, it’s all work.

But there are days when you are rockin’ some new clothes and the sales women were a little more flirty than you’re accustomed to and you lose all perspective for 10 minutes. And then you show up at the gym on Saturday and Richard throws in an exercise you’ve never done before and later you feel like you should spend the rest of the weekend in a Jolly Jumper.

Five for Friday: Vol. VI

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AUS Hockey, canadian politics, cycling, dalhousie tigers, diet, exercise, family, fitness, general, journalism, music, tiger woods, training, working out

Time for five for Friday. I have no idea what to say. I’ll be honest. I’m just filling in the spaces right now and hope it makes sense.

–

Item 1: Awesome workout today. The group was a little smaller than usual but the music was a little louder and everyone was having a good time. Why do Fridays always feel more fun?

It was as much of a good time as you can have running suicides, doing ropes and sweating at 6 a.m. , but me, I enjoyed it.

There was a funny moment yesterday just before spin when Richard asked Mike – one of the top athletes and nicest people at ATC – what music genre he wanted for the spin. Mike got the honours because he was the winner of the November challenge. Mike was flummoxed so Richard turned to me to name a genre and I picked Motown.

And then much chirping ensued.

A weekend in Parentland

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4k tv, AUS Hockey, diet, exercise, family, fitness, general, hdtv, hockey, junior hockey, kids hockey, training, working out

It was a pretty decent weekend, all things considered. I had two grueling workouts, we bought two TVs, Chris came home for the weekend, the peewees had TWO big wins and we had a couple nice meals.

If it wasn’t for Pad getting crosschecked in the mouth Friday night with 90 seconds left in the game, I might have elevated the weekend to great. But that’s how it goes in Parentland.

On Friday we replaced the late, lamented family room TV with a new 49-inch LG 4K model. I honestly wasn’t in the market for 4k — new technology with four times the resolution of a 1080 screen — but the price was good, we like LG, Chris approved and the rest is history.

Sonny’s Dream

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AUS Hockey, canadian politics, competing, diet, exercise, family, fitness, general, hockey, music, ron hynes, sonny's dream, training, working out

Sonny don’t go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy’s a sailor, and he never comes home
And the nights get so long, and the silence goes on
And I’m feeling so tired, I’m not all that strong

— Sonny’s Dream, by Ron Hynes

 I’m foregoing the usual Five-for-Friday with a musical interlude.

A guy you’ve never heard of from a place you’ve probably never been who is famous for a song I’m guessing you don’t know the words to died yesterday. I owe him much.

I never met Ron Hynes, the Newfoundland folk singer who among hundreds and hundreds of songs wrote a barroom howler called Sonny’s Dream.

If you read the lyrics sober, it is a profoundly sad and moving song about a young man trapped in the service of his mother, long abandoned by his father for life on the seas. She implores him to never leave; he stares down the road to the cities he’s never seen and dreams of something better.

If you sing the song in a pub in a less-than-sober state, you will make friends, have a grand time, completely miss the sadness of the song, and possibly marry someone you sang with.

Where I sweat: The ATC

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ATC, Athlete Training Centre, AUS Hockey, AUS sports, competing, cycling, teamwork, training, working out

With an assist from my wife and one of my best friends, the Athlete Training Centre probably changed my life. For sure it changed the way I live my life, so. Close enough. This is a true story and if you’ve been thinking about fitness you might want to read it.

This is a long read. Get a coffee. I’ll wait.

I mentioned a few days ago ATC — where I work out — is having an open house later this month (Nov 28, 1p to 5p and more info here). If you live in the west GTA, it might make sense for you to check it out.

The Athlete Training Centre is a gym, not a health club. High-end athletes from numerous sports train here with the goal of maximizing their fitness. Created to service elite pro, national-level amateur and college athletes, ATC now also offers a program for ordinary adults who aren’t elite but want to be fitter.

Sometimes the worlds collide and I’ll find myself sweating on the turf doing sprinter situps next to a member of the Canadian world champion field lacrosse team across from a working mom of three. He thinks nothing of it. And neither do I.

Welcome to ATC.

A reassuring voice will be missed

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AUS Hockey, AUS sports, Bill McLean, dalhousie tigers, hockey

When you first start a family, it is inevitable that someone is going to tell you to enjoy every minute because the years pass in a blink of an eye, or some other cliché. And it’s almost true.

Two decades is 20 years whether you’re sitting on a desert island or enjoying watching your family blossom. Beyond the feeding, clothing, and care, parenting is about making sure your kids are loved and equipped with the skills to go out confidently into the world on their own.

And when that day comes, you hope that the people they meet will look out for them. We are all battle-hardened veterans of parenting wars, and we all regard our kids as fragile cargo.

We have been fairly lucky. Our boys had the luxury and privilege of living in a comfortable, safe, home in a nice town in a great country. They made solid friendships. They got educated. They played sports, learned the value of teamwork and joined social groups. They learned right from wrong. They are confident, smart, fit, handsome and *just* worldly enough.

A travel day

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AUS Hockey, cape Breton, dalhousie tigers, diet, exercise, family, fitness, general, hockey

Before leaving Ben Eoin I spent some time just sitting on the shore enjoying the quiet. It wasn’t cold. I was the only human in sight. It was wonderful.

I think I have to chalk up Monday as a travel day.

We awoke in Ben Eion after having a great evening visiting with Laura’s family. The weather was classic Nova Scotia indifference — cool but not cold, cloudy with a spit of rain now and then, sunny with dark rolling clouds, and then rain. A good day to drive the four hours back to Halifax.

Today is Day 6 with out working out for me and I’m getting a little twitchy, but I’ve got a bunch of things going on that are preoccupying my time. It just means I’ll be all the more motivated when I get back. Right?

Right.