To the core, to Lance...an unbelievable day

Had a really great week, both training and at work. Seems like the Holiday lull is finally over, and things are starting to happen again. Today I had the opportunity to meet with Eric for a strength training session. It was a small group of 4, and extremely worthwhile. I would definitely recommend it for everyone doing any type of endurance training, especially triathlons. Eric showed me/us a routine of 12 core exercises divided up into 4 sets of three each. I was quickly shown how really weak my core section is, and how important it is to eveything I do. The overall idea is to do 10-12 reps per exercise with 3 sets per. When Eric demonstrated each exercise, they look easy, but they're all incredibly challenging. I've got some real work to do on the lunges, the V-ups I found almost impossible at first, and the double crunches. He made me a believer in strength training.

After a couple hours of talking, demonstrating and working on this routine, Eric took the 4 of us for a beautiful trail run, right out his front door. The weather was picture perfect, and we did a great hill climb in the snow, and then some hill repeats by the lake before returning home. All in all, a terrific 3 1/2 hours, and I met some new athletes, including Eric's sister. But it turned out to be a tad more costly than I expected. The price for the session wasn't the costly part, but after I came back showered and ate, I now had to get some 6 & 8 lb. weights, a couple of resistancebands, a physioball, and a new pair of Asics sneakers. Oh well, my contribution to the ailing economy.

It was well worth it, I learned a lot about strength training and the weaknesses I need to work on. I feel great, even my knee that I've had a low level gnawing pain with as of late, felt great all day. Now I need focus on doing this routine twice a week....Stay tuned.

After all of this, I was finally home by 4:30 and had a chance to see a great interview with Lance Armstrong and Phil Sherwood on Versus TV...catch it if you can. Say what you want, Lance is a class act. His priorities are honorable, and his response to questions concerning his teammates, especially Alberto Contador were great. Then I watched the last stage of the Tour Down Under, and the old man actually went to the front of the pack for about 30 seconds towards the end of the stage, really impressive cycling...it gives hope and inspiration to all of us, especially us older ones. Just a great day all around...Enjoy your week...