Track Season

As Winter barrels on, I find it amazing that the track is and has been clear of snow for a few weeks now. In few weeks, when the season starts, chances are snow will fall again. The typical Wisconsin Winter makes you feel like spring is near, but soon after slams you with another foot of snow. Prolonged cold and snow that lingers into April makes the track season difficult to manage and keep training on track. In a perfect track world, I would move my team to Jamaica to train year round under the sun with the best athletes in the world. An indoor track would be nice, but I guess a basketball gym and hallways will keep us moving until Wisconsin lets the warmth of the sun reach us once again. Trying to plan out the season is useless. Practice changes with the weather and the weather changes daily. The only way to keep making progress is to have a massive list of activities targeting different energy systems that can be used at anytime. It must be nice to live in a warmer climate where weather is never a factor.

Exercise!?! It's Too Cold!

If you're like me, you're going on 4 or 5 months of little to no exercise. You see a little holiday weight go on, but you don't see it getting off anytime soon. Unless you love cold, you're probably like me and opting out of outdoor exercise. So, with Spring around the corner, it may be time to get back in shape. I suggest the old school 50/50. 50 pushups and situps everyday. The situps will keep that gut tucked away and the pushups will push out the chest far enough so your tee-shirt hangs loosely over your stomach. Of course, some serious running or biking is necessary to burn fat stored up over the Winter, but pushups and situps will suffice for now.

It's also time to cut back on food intake. Cold weather makes food appetizing. Throw in some holidays that expand the stomach and you find yourself looking for food every couple hours. My advice, drink lots of water and snack often to keep your stomach full. When it comes time to sit down for a meal, you won't over indulge. The smaller the serving, the easier it is for your digestive system to break down food. Big meals sit in your stomach for hours, making you lethargic. Keep it small, keep it healthy. Easiest quick fix, no soda and no fast food!

Melting Away My Cabin Fever

If you've ever had the glorious experience of living through a Wisconsin Winter, you've experienced the worst. Six months of leafless trees and dirty snow covering the ground will have you begging for a flight out of town. The frigid air pierces exposed skin and sends an icicle chill down your spine. I ask myself daily, "Why would anybody want to live here?" Maybe it's because I'm not from around here. Do locals of Wisconsin grow to love the indoor prison sentence that nature has granted them? I forget how it feels to have the warmth of the sun shine down on my face. My hands are pepetually purple from the cold and are dry from a constant dry air coming from the furnace. I have acquired grampa hands that appear old, worn, and wrinkled. I wonder if they will resume their youthful state when warmer weather comes along.

Today is the second consecutive day above freezing. As a watch the snow melt, a feeling of depression that a long winter brings, starts to break. I see grass emerge under a dirty white blanket of snow. Seeing the grass brings back the thought of summer, and how bright and beautiful everything used to be. I check out the satellite image of my house on google/maps.com and see how my house looked when everything was bursting with every shade green. My heart fills with hope and my mind is filled with ideas. I am a functional human being again.