Zumba

So I did a few minutes of Zumba yesterday with an excellent trainer who's going to be doing some Zumba classes thru Sustainable Fitness. My quads were burning within 10 minutes. I also reaffirmed my undeniable whiteness (ie. total lack of rhythm and coolness) but it was still good to try.

Check it out (no, the video below is not a perfect representation of the class I was in):

GSP wins...as if there was any doubt

After another clinical dismantling of his opponent, GSP really seems to be in a world of his own. His reaction to winning every round decisively? He said he was very disappointed with a number of technical mistakes he made (none of which were visible to the knowledgeable commentators or anyone else watching). Sheeesh.

GSP defends his belt this Saturday

"I don't believe there is pleasure in life, only the release of pain", George St. Pierre.

Fight this Saturday night.

Preview here.

Karate Monkey 2.0

I picked up a Karate Monkey frameset from Olympia in the fall to build up a relatively inexpensive bike for winter riding. It served me well over the winter but once spring appeared to be close I got an itch for some upgrades, including a Fox F29 fork, new wheels (Stan's ZTR Arch rims, DT Swiss 240 hubs, Revolution and Champion spokes, and blue nipples) and some BB7 brakes. Actually I would have been happy to keep my rim brakes but it's really hard to find 29er suspension forks with rim brake studs - I still went for the low-tech cable discs though, so I can easily swap between suspension and rigid forks.

Got a good ride in yesterday, before the snow fell overnight. It felt good.

Spring paddling is on its way!

Oh boy, I'm getting spring fever! What are the chances I can get the boat in before the end of March. I don't care if I'm surrounded by floating ice, if I can get in a paddle before April I'll do it just to say I did. The creek is already flowing (and flooded) and the river looks ready to go, though colder temps are forecast for the next few days. We'll wait and see!

Puratone becomes official team kit sponsor

We're thrilled to announce that Puratone has become TheTrainingCoop.com's official team kit sponsor. By mid-spring we should all be decked out in short and long sleeved jerseys, vests, and jackets bearing the Puratone logo alongside our own, in addition to our long time shop of choice, Olympia Cycle & Ski.

Puratone is a world-class, fully-integrated agribusiness, leading in hog production, animal nutrition, and environmental stewardship. As an employer they pride themselves on a goal-oriented work environment that emphasizes honesty, integrity and teamwork. We hope that TheTrainingCoop.com demonstrates a similar focus as we train for, participate in, and host local events, and we'll try our best to live up to the Puratone slogan now on our jerseys, "Leading all ways" (at least we'll try to lead in spirit, if not always physically at the front of the pack).

Rake to the head and other misfortunes

Our own Young Carpenter stars in this week's edition of the Fort Garry TNR report, though he may wish he had more of a supporting role. Read all about it here. Hope your head is feeling alright today Graham.

Sustainable Fitness / TRX in the local news

An article on Sustainable Fitness / TRX ran in this morning's Free Press. Here it is.

Endurance athletes at greater risk of artery problems?

Hmmm. This article doesn't share nearly enough details of the original study to formulate any real judgement, and even in its entirety I assume the study will create some controversy, but it was interesting enough that I thought I'd post the think here.

My Next Video Idea!

This is what my GoPro Hero HD camera could be capturing:

Amazing - Amazing - Amazing ... nice landing too!!!

* I am normally onboard for the take-offs and landings, but maybe I could do this out the back of the Herc some time!? ... yah right ;-)

Dean Gurney - Newest TrainingCoop member

A hearty welcome to Dean Gurney, the latest addition to TheTrainingCoop.com. At this rate of growth we will be ready to field a full ProTour cycling team within 15 years (which is precisely when I'm hoping my performance will peak).

Dean and I met in grade 1, or maybe it was kindergarten, and from that point onward I've tried to become half the runner he is. Dean had a personal running coach in elementary school and was established as a top national competitor, medalist, and record holder by junior high school. He's been the better part of many medals we've won together including provincial sprint relay gold medals, badminton men's doubles tournaments and divisional championships, Manitoba Marathon relay 1st place, and much, much more. On his own Dean has amassed a very impressive collection of ribbons, trophies, and medals in many different sports. He's also adapted his competitive experiences to lifestyle oriented fitness activities such as paddling, snowshoeing and skiing, strength training, and more.

These days Dean's competitive training is focused on triathlons. He's tentatively looking at a half Ironman in Calgary this summer, though he's already completed a full Ironman and shorter distance triathlons as well.

Winter Trail Run Video

Check out this video I came upon thanks to a Facebook link that Dallas had commented on:

Chester Creek Winter Trail Run from Andy Holak on Vimeo.

Trail running on frozen trails and waterfalls in Chester Creek, Duluth, MN. February 2010. Cool!

Dreaming of summer

Maybe less than two months and I can get the surf ski back in the water, even if I have to dodge a few icebergs at first. I stumbled across the video below this morning and was really impressed at the control these guys have in some fairly big side chop - they make it look so effortless. Those boats are only 17-19 inches wide.

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