*Boss yells from their office*
"Admin, get my door please"
*Admin gets up from their desk and closes door, then returns to their desk*
"Admin, get my door please"
*Admin gets up from their desk and closes door, then returns to their desk*
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Friday, 18 November 2016
A man in crisis
I come back from a coffee break to find a coworker on their hands and knees by the window. Papers were littered over the floor in front of them. Jokingly I asked "What's wrong? Is everything okay?" implying they were in crisis. There was a "network problem" and the scanner wasn't working. They were attempting to take pictures of the documents with their phone but gave up out of frustration when they realized they were double sided. They chose to hand deliver them.
Sunday, 6 November 2016
Sunday, 2 November 2014
The Road to Ironman
As I assumed the usual Saturday/Sunday afternoon position of lying on the couch with my laptop to recover from a cycling workout I started wondering what professional athletes do to avoid boredom during recovery. Then I realized a lot of them have blogs and it's probably for that reason - to kill some time while in horizontal. Then I realized I started a blog a while ago thinking I would write, and then didn't. Well, I may have just decided to write updates on my very long journey toward an Ironman race, but I'm not making any promises to myself or commitments. I think some reflection along with my journal will help keep me on-track during training.
Here we go...a bit of background first.
I started running in the winter of 2009 for fitness purposes. I think I was overweight (195lbs - 5'11") and I decided I would get fit by doing a fitness video. I started with the 3 month P90 program and then after great results I did the P90X program. That really helped me shed the weight and put on muscles I needed to start a new chapter in life. I had a coworker (now friend) who lead me to the YMCA with him once a week to run laps. It was more like him running laps around me, and even running backwards and encouraging me to keep going. By spring, I started running around the block at my parents house. It was still a stop-and-go effort, but I was capable of running!
In 2011 I moved to Toronto and lived by the waterfront. It was the perfect place to run and even if you weren't a runner, you wanted to when you saw the beautiful trail. It made you want to join all the other runners. This is where I feel my passion for running really started. I set out one day and ran 30min. I was curious about the distance and realized it was around 5km. The next time I challenged myself to 7k, then 8k, and so on. Within months I realized I was able to run for 12km without problem and that it made me feel really really good. That same year my buddy Jay (way back from college!) entered my life again, and together we entered the Toronto Half-Marathon. Without any formal training, we both successfully finished around the 2hr mark (1:58 to be exact). Realizing that and learning a little bit from newbie mistakes, we entered the Around the Bay 30K race and again completed with success (3:09). I was hooked. The next couple of years I spent time figuring out proper training and working on improving my running all-around. A few more PBs and I found myself reaching the glory most runners aim for - my first marathon. It felt like a great debut and made me realize I really enjoyed long distance/endurance types of races. I learned a lot more about the sport from experience and was invited to coach a group of runners for a half-marathon race. That was also a great learning experience and really sealed it for me. Around that same time I met someone in the clinic and one through a friend who planted the triathlon seed in my head.
By spring I decided to get into road cycling and bought my first road bike in April. It was an instant love. I tried to learn as much about the sport as fast as I could and ride as much as I could. Not even a couple months went by and I was registered for my first triathlon. I'm quite calculated with my execution, so I decided I would wait until the end of the season to do my first triathlon (Guelph Lake 2 at the end of August). The reason behind it was to learn enough about the sport and get a lot of good training in. I joined the Toronto Triathlon Club where I met a lot of great people and was exposed to a lot of great resources. The next few months had me back in the pool again doing some serious swimming I had not done since I was a kid, and following an olympic distance training plan (I was training for a marathon at the same time). Everything came down to that one day in August when I would have my triathlon debut. I even took a day off a few days before the race to go scope out the location and get a swim/bike/run in with a couple friends from Guelph. The race day was epic and I felt like a pro. I'm good at pacing my self at a run start, but couldn't contain myself during swim start which cost me a bit of time with having to stop to catch my breath. I was feeling great out of the swim and onto the bike and felt like I had a strong bike until I suffered a flat about 4km from the finish. After spending about 15min changing the tire I was quite annoyed. All in all I finished the race and felt great, but to make up for it I decided I would race Wasaga Beach the next weekend. The swim was cancelled that morning so it turned into a duathlon, which was kind of bitter-sweet. I was ready to apply my swim lessons learned, but it also meant I would have a strong race because I had put in a lot of good work on the bike and on the run path this summer. The result was one that made my head explode - I finished 6th in my AG and 40th overall with some very nice and encouraging comments form the people in the club.
This lead to a pursuit to get better and I continued training and swimming until it was too cold. While I've been recovering from a running injury that cost me the Niagara Falls marathon which was my A race for the year, I made some more decisions. These decisions however I took very seriously and made a promise and commitment to myself. On August 16, 2015 I will complete my first Ironman triathlon at Mt Tremblant. With a nice new triathlon bike, an indoor trainer, and a sample training plan I'll spend the next couple of months working with a professional to get my swim and run checked out, put together a nutrition plan, and assess my training plan and get to serious work starting in January. January will be the beginning of my 7 month journey to Ironman. I will use this blog to help me reflect and hopefully one day read with the same level of satisfaction I have when I think back to my friend Richard running laps around me at the YMCA and how far I've come since.
Here we go...a bit of background first.
I started running in the winter of 2009 for fitness purposes. I think I was overweight (195lbs - 5'11") and I decided I would get fit by doing a fitness video. I started with the 3 month P90 program and then after great results I did the P90X program. That really helped me shed the weight and put on muscles I needed to start a new chapter in life. I had a coworker (now friend) who lead me to the YMCA with him once a week to run laps. It was more like him running laps around me, and even running backwards and encouraging me to keep going. By spring, I started running around the block at my parents house. It was still a stop-and-go effort, but I was capable of running!
In 2011 I moved to Toronto and lived by the waterfront. It was the perfect place to run and even if you weren't a runner, you wanted to when you saw the beautiful trail. It made you want to join all the other runners. This is where I feel my passion for running really started. I set out one day and ran 30min. I was curious about the distance and realized it was around 5km. The next time I challenged myself to 7k, then 8k, and so on. Within months I realized I was able to run for 12km without problem and that it made me feel really really good. That same year my buddy Jay (way back from college!) entered my life again, and together we entered the Toronto Half-Marathon. Without any formal training, we both successfully finished around the 2hr mark (1:58 to be exact). Realizing that and learning a little bit from newbie mistakes, we entered the Around the Bay 30K race and again completed with success (3:09). I was hooked. The next couple of years I spent time figuring out proper training and working on improving my running all-around. A few more PBs and I found myself reaching the glory most runners aim for - my first marathon. It felt like a great debut and made me realize I really enjoyed long distance/endurance types of races. I learned a lot more about the sport from experience and was invited to coach a group of runners for a half-marathon race. That was also a great learning experience and really sealed it for me. Around that same time I met someone in the clinic and one through a friend who planted the triathlon seed in my head.
By spring I decided to get into road cycling and bought my first road bike in April. It was an instant love. I tried to learn as much about the sport as fast as I could and ride as much as I could. Not even a couple months went by and I was registered for my first triathlon. I'm quite calculated with my execution, so I decided I would wait until the end of the season to do my first triathlon (Guelph Lake 2 at the end of August). The reason behind it was to learn enough about the sport and get a lot of good training in. I joined the Toronto Triathlon Club where I met a lot of great people and was exposed to a lot of great resources. The next few months had me back in the pool again doing some serious swimming I had not done since I was a kid, and following an olympic distance training plan (I was training for a marathon at the same time). Everything came down to that one day in August when I would have my triathlon debut. I even took a day off a few days before the race to go scope out the location and get a swim/bike/run in with a couple friends from Guelph. The race day was epic and I felt like a pro. I'm good at pacing my self at a run start, but couldn't contain myself during swim start which cost me a bit of time with having to stop to catch my breath. I was feeling great out of the swim and onto the bike and felt like I had a strong bike until I suffered a flat about 4km from the finish. After spending about 15min changing the tire I was quite annoyed. All in all I finished the race and felt great, but to make up for it I decided I would race Wasaga Beach the next weekend. The swim was cancelled that morning so it turned into a duathlon, which was kind of bitter-sweet. I was ready to apply my swim lessons learned, but it also meant I would have a strong race because I had put in a lot of good work on the bike and on the run path this summer. The result was one that made my head explode - I finished 6th in my AG and 40th overall with some very nice and encouraging comments form the people in the club.
This lead to a pursuit to get better and I continued training and swimming until it was too cold. While I've been recovering from a running injury that cost me the Niagara Falls marathon which was my A race for the year, I made some more decisions. These decisions however I took very seriously and made a promise and commitment to myself. On August 16, 2015 I will complete my first Ironman triathlon at Mt Tremblant. With a nice new triathlon bike, an indoor trainer, and a sample training plan I'll spend the next couple of months working with a professional to get my swim and run checked out, put together a nutrition plan, and assess my training plan and get to serious work starting in January. January will be the beginning of my 7 month journey to Ironman. I will use this blog to help me reflect and hopefully one day read with the same level of satisfaction I have when I think back to my friend Richard running laps around me at the YMCA and how far I've come since.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
My First Post
For my first post on the blog that does not yet have a purpose, I present to you, my non-existent reader, this wonderful gif I created of my baby niece. Say hello to the Internet, Liliana.
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