"Ya, but you are obviously gifted"..

HAHA! I almost choked on my own tongue. Let me rewind a bit. Over the last 2 weeks I've been spending some time at the local pool, which has an A.M. swim. So far, I've met 'Bob' a 67 year old triathlete and cross country skier, one of the local 'Iron-Docs' (2 local area doctors that started doing Ironmans a couple of years ago) AND 'Billy' - a '72 Olympian for diving. (Indonesia). Yea, the Mark Spitz Olympics, Billy was not only there he was actually a fellow pool competitor. I consider myself lucky to meet 3 interesting people a year, and here I've met 3 very neat and unique individuals in 1 week!

So I'm talking to Billy after yesterday's workout, picking his brain about the Olympics and acting like a googly eyed teeny bopper, when he says, I see you have done some swimming, you obviously have a gift. I'm sure he was just being nice as I really had no interest in talking about me, I wanted to hear his Olympic stories! But later that day, it got me thinking (ya that happens occasionally).

In VERY rare instances you'll see people who are truely gifted in what they do. However, for the rest of us mere mortals, things aren't that easy. It's takes hour upon hour, week after week, month after month and year after year to realize success. So where does that strength come from? Well, obviously, the mind. I truely believe, that the majority of the population can achieve WAY beyond what they THINK they can achieve. Unfortuneately, their minds have already limited what they can and can not do. So what mental attributes set the people apart who want to achieve their potential? The catch all characteristic is desire. Really, it all comes back to how bad to you want it and what are you willing to do get it? Think about it.

Now here is a guy who obviously has a gift and is skewing the whole bell curve: 5th grader basketball phenom

In other news..
The second week of my training camp is coming along just swell.
Monday: am swim 2k. pm spin 1 hour
Tue: am run 17k. pm spin 1 hour (held 250w @142 hr - 30+ beats below LT - nice)
Wed: am swim 1.6k. lunch run 7.5k. pm spin 45 min.
Thur: am run 17k. pm: 1:15 hill work on the bike. (to do..)

Guys, I'm telling you, do your hill repeats on the bike - it will make you strong like Conan. In very short order, I've noticed a substantial increase in power in the bike - just do it. Once a week. Hold 70 to 80 rpms in a lower gear, climb for 5 min maintaining mid Zone 2 heartrate. Rest 2.5 min. Repeat. Increase the reps over an 8 week period - trust me, you won't regret it.

Enough for today. Happy heart day to everyone!
Cheers,
Darren