Looking Forward....

Hope this finds everybody well and that you all had a great Christmas.. I love this time of year because it's an opportunity to look back on the past year, think about what went wrong and what went right, and how I can improve on things for the coming year. The past year saw the opening of my dream gym, which was huge. New Hampshire now has its first functional strength training gym right in downtown Nashua at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning. The response has been phenomenal and everybody is really excited about the way we're redefining the way to get in shape. I want to thank everybody who has been coming to the gym and talking it up with their friends and family. The only way a gym like this works is through the excitement and commitment of its members. Michele and I are totally committed to helping each of you reach your goals.

At this time last year I made a list of goals for the year.. On the list I had things like, "open a gym", "come top 20 in a cyclocross series", "top 10 in the Green Mt Stage Race, masters group".. These were in there with the regular stuff like "save the world" and "be kinder to the French".. I have to admit that I wasn't real good about reaching many of my goals, but that was because opening the gym took so much effort that everything else kind of took a backseat. I wasn't able to train for bike racing so I actually didn't get to do one race last year. To reach the racing goals I had for myself I would have needed to be at about 15 hours a week on the bike. I just didn't have the time with a 40 hour a week day job and then trying to get a new business going in my spare time. Oh well, there's always next year, right? Which brings us to "next year".

In 2009 I've set my primary training goal to get top 10 in my age group for the Mt Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb.. 7.6 miles of relentless uphill at an average grade of 12%. No breaks. No downhill. I've done this mountain 3 times in the past. Best time was 1:20:00 two years ago.. This year my goal is to get 1:10 and if conditions are really tough then I want to be no slower than 1:15. Once you get above treeline at about mile 6 the wind gusts get up around 50mph+ and riders have been known to get blown off their bikes. There's really no way to describe how difficult it is to finish this race. At mile 1 you feel OK, but know there's a long way to go. At mile 2, you've been going uphill for about 20 minutes and your heart rate is up over 90% max and it has been since mile 0.4. Things are really starting to suck. Then right around mile 3 you hit a section that's an average grade of about 18% for a mile and you question your sanity. You know you're not even half way, you're working super hard, and your mind is telling you "there's no shame in getting off the bike. this is stupid and i think we might die if we continue. i don't think we're going to make it to the top today. please stop."... It only gets worse and your mind gets less polite and starts saying things like "what are you thinking, you fking asshole!!". After mile 4 the road goes from pavement to gravel. On the gravel sections, it's steep enough that when you stand up on the pedals to give your back a break the rear wheel spins out on you so you have to sit back down. The last 3 miles are completed, literally one pedal stroke at a time. The last 50 yards of the race are at 22% which is like climbing a wall on a bicycle. I'm sitting here getting nauseous just thinking about how much it sucks. So why do it? I don't really have a good answer. But it's the single toughest thing I've ever endured (physically anyways) and I always like to prove to myself that I can endure things that test you at the highest levels mentally and physically. Plus they give you a really cool fleece blanket at the top after you fall off your bike in a shivering heap because it's 26 degrees and you're in a state of shock with cold sweats. It's all about the blanket :)

So that's the primary goal for 2009.. I have a bunch of other goals too.. 

- Buy more organic food and clothes.. I'm not saying I'm going to become the guy at Starbucks with the pony tail and the t-shirt that boldly states "The Hippies Were Right".. What I'm saying is that eating organic is really good for your health and wellness and that dressing in organically made clothes is good for the planet.. If it makes the planet a better place for my kids' grandchildren then I'll pay a couple extra bucks to wear wool, organic cotton, and clothes made from recycled water bottles. 

- Continue to learn and train hard so that I can give our gym members and personal training students the best experience possible. I can't teach it if I don't live it. I spend hours a day training in the gym and reading books and watching video to make sure I'm the best trainer and coach I can be. I live it and I love it. None of you will ever have to wonder whether or not I'm the real deal.

- I'm planning to bring some of the top functional strength training coaches in the world to Nashua for workshops in 2009. I'm already working out the details for a visit from Steve Maxwell in March and Jon Hinds in May or June.

- 100 burpees in 5 minutes. I'm not saying anything else about this one. It hurts too much to even think about it.

Oh yeah, and save the world and be kinder to the French....

Here's a workout for you for today:

250 revolutions on the jump rope

100 hindu squats

25 hindu pushups

10 pullups

10 burpees

Repeat for 4 rounds total...

All the best,

kevin