Category: Aikido

Aikido · fitness

Aikido Love

Sam B7 Comments

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I’m not sure what it is, what’s changed, but I’ve been loving Aikido lately. It’s making me smile big goofy grins. Sometimes I’m still sort of smiling hours after.

What’s up with that?

Partly, it’s been a change in training partners. I’m getting to play with the brown belts a lot and they’re fun.

Why? Well I think the influx of new white and yellow belts means that I’m often one of the more senior people on the mat. Twice now I’ve had to call the bow in. So it clearly puts me on the senior side of the mat when we divide up.

Partly, I think I’ve made peace with training forever as a green belt. I can’t test for brown until my rolls improve even though rolls aren’t on my test. And that’s okay.

I’ve also gotten lots better at some things so I no longer feel like a green belt imposter. I never thought they gave me the green belt to be nice to me but I did think it might be respect for my determination more than my abilities.

These days though even I’m a beginner when it comes to rolling I feel I’ve got green belt skills when it comes to lots of the techniques.

4th kyu

I’m working my way through the brown belt review with no expectation of testing. It’s also so huge, the list of techniques, that there’s no point in even trying to memorize them. Just relax and learn.

And smile!

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Aikido

Aikido and the Walking Dead

Sam B4 Comments

So I don’t have a television. I mean, I watch stuff on Netflix but we gave up regular, old television back when the kids were little. Why? See a very early blog post from three years ago called Moderation Versus All or Nothing.

I would have been happy watching one or two hours a week of commercial TV but I never did. I watched a lot more, missed out on reading fiction and exercising, and so we got rid of our television. It felt good though now we watch movies and tv series on netflix and seem to be able to keep it in control.

But now apparently there’s an episode of the Walking Dead I have to watch, or so all my friends tell me.

See Last Night’s Walking Dead Had No Answers, Lots of Aikido and The Walking Dead: What Is Aikido?

I’m hoping lots of people get excited about Aikido as a result. The Art of Peace is now sold out on Amazon!

I haven’t watched the episode yet. I hope to soon. In the meantime, here’s a some history and demos.

 

 

Did you watch it? What did you think? Interested in giving Aikido a try?

Aikido · rugby

Cyclocross, Aikido, and other athletic bruises

Sam B3 Comments

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I think my family doctor must have a note in my file about the violent, contact sports in my life. I often arrive there with bruises and I’m nervous about reassuring her that I’m not a victim of domestic violence. It’s the Aikido bruises that are the worst in this respect because they look like signs of resisting struggle, thumb and finger grip marks on my hands, wrists, and forearms. But she’s good at remembering how active I am and we often chat a bit about martial arts.

Indeed, I can identify which pin or which control caused with bruise.

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Today's Aikido bruise

In Aikido there’s no kicking and even the striking is primarily a distraction. It goes like this: I strike. You put up your arms to block my strike and I say thank you for the gift of your wrist and elbow. I now have an elbow to lock and a wrist to which I can do very mean things.

Aikido strikes aren’t actually meant to hurt. They are really all shock and awe designed to take your attention away from your joints. There are lots of  locks and pins, and often they leave marks.

Lately there are new sporty bruises from riding my cyclocross bike. I’ve come off on the grass a few times but it’s the running mounts and dismounts that are the worst for bruises.

When I was playing soccer it was my shins that were pretty much permanently bruised, despite shin pads.

I think about bruises as part of my identity as an active person, involved in contact sports. See my post on aikido and non sexual physical intimacy. But certainly the contrast between bruises and the norms of ladylike behavior are part of what put some women off sports, especially those that involve contact. Clearly not me, since I list rugby and roller derby as the two sports I would have played if I’d discovered them earlier.

How about you? Do play a sport that involves lots of bruises? Love it, hate it, or just live with it? 

 

Aikido · athletes · body image · bras · Guest Post · health · martial arts

Why I’m happy about having a double mastectomy without reconstruction (Guest post)

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow17 Comments

woman's chest with healing words

I have breast cancer in my right breast, and in a week I’m undergoing a double mastectomy without reconstruction. I couldn’t be happier. Here’s why.

For many woman dealing with breast cancer, the thought of losing one or both breasts is terrifying. Often our sense of femininity, attractiveness and sexuality is tied up in having breasts, and we don’t want to imagine life without them.

A few weeks before I found a lump in my right breast, I came across this article from the Wall Street Journal, which reported on what doctors are calling an alarming trend of women choosing to have both breasts removed after being diagnosed with cancer in one breast (dubbed the “Angelina Effect” after actor Angelina Jolie, who had a highly publicized double mastectomy in 2013 after discovering she carried a genetic mutation that increased her odds of developing breast cancer to 85%). Only a tiny fraction of breast cancer patients carry a genetic mutation for breast cancer, and with survival rates for lumpectomy-with-radiation matching those for mastectomy, there is a concern that women are undergoing drastic surgeries for no good medical reason.

I found the article interesting, but I also knew without a doubt that if I were ever diagnosed with breast cancer, I would want both breasts removed. (It just so happens that, according to the article, I fit the demographic that is most often making this choice: educated, middle-class white women.)

Little did I know, however, that sh!t was about to get real.

Two or three days before I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I watched the Netflix documentary Tig, about American comedian Tig Notaro. The documentary details her life in the year following her own breast cancer diagnosis.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO7kJ0j4Qzw&w=560&h=315%5D

Tig had cancer in both breasts, and a double mastectomy. She’s a small, slim lesbian with a boyish style, and as I watched the film I found myself envying her breastlessness. Knowing there was a possibility that I might have cancer myself, I thought about how great it would be to not have breasts anymore.

It was then that I decided that if my own breast biopsy came back positive, I would not only ask for a double mastectomy, but I would also forgo reconstruction (implanting artificial breasts in my chest). My biggest worry was that they would recommend a lumpectomy to try and preserve my right breast, which I didn’t want – or that they wouldn’t allow me to have a double mastectomy, leaving me stuck with one large breast and nothing on the other side.

I’ll be totally honest here: I’ve never really liked having breasts.

I’m a cis-gendered, heterosexual woman who loves being a woman, and enjoys being considered attractive and desirable… but for as long as I’ve had breasts, they’ve been really large. At age 12, they were 36C’s. A few months ago, before I started losing weight (on purpose, not due to my cancer), they were 36G’s. Do you know how hard it is to find bras that size? For years I’ve crammed my girls into 36D’s, with spillover at the top and sides that would make a bra fitter weep. The one time I did get a proper bra fitting, the store didn’t have any bras in stock in my size. Frustrating.

I became a teenager in 1980, when the ideal body in North America was Brooke Shields in a pair of Calvin Klein jeans. Shields was 15 at the time, and had a figure like a boy. Slim hips, flat chest. My 13-year-old-self felt like a freak by comparison, with rounded hips and full breasts.

This post isn’t about body bashing – as an adult woman I eventually learned to love and appreciate my curves – but about recognizing that I was living in a body that didn’t match the cultural ideal, and moreover felt limiting to me.

I danced a lot as a teenager – my high school even offered proper dance classes as an alternative to Phys. Ed. – and my large breasts needed extra support for all that leaping around. By university, when I took daily fitness classes at the university community centre and was trying to become a jogger, I resorted to wearing two bras at a time when I worked out, in order to keep my breasts from bouncing too much.

(This blog has published all sorts of posts about the challenge of finding good sports bras, here.)

Big breasts were a barrier to many of the physical activities I enjoyed. I was a lifeguard in my teens and early 20s, at a time when shelf bras in women’s Speedos were unheard of. I longed for small breasts that didn’t jiggle and bounce when I walked around the pool deck.

As I’ve aged, my breasts have headed south towards my waist, and actually ache when they aren’t bound by a bra, especially at night when I’m lying down and trying to sleep.

When I started aikido a year-and-a-half ago, I had to experiment with a number of bra configurations so that I could run without bouncing (we’re expected to move quickly when called upon in class), as well as roll and flip upside down without popping out the top of my bra.

I currently wear two bras at aikido – an underwire bra underneath, that separates my breasts and prevents “uni-boob”, along with an inexpensive, too-small sports bra on top, to keep everything motionless when I run on the mat, and safely contained when I flip upside down. (I’ve noticed with a thrill of recognition that Ronda Rousey and other female MMA fighters use a similar configuration when they’re working out and fighting.)

So when I met with my surgeon after my diagnosis, my only worry was about whether she would entertain my double-mastectomy wishes. In the end, a double mastectomy actually makes medical sense for me. Turns out lumpectomy is not a medically recommended option for my cancer. Thankfully my left breast is currently clear, but the cancer in my right breast is such an unusual presentation (with a possible genetic mutation like Angelina Jolie’s, which I’ll be tested for later this year) that my surgeon tells me I’m at higher risk of getting cancer in my left breast. This makes preventive mastectomy of my left breast a sensible choice. If I wanted to keep my left breast, I’d be facing annual MRIs and the increased worry of a recurrence for the rest of my life.

I don’t have a partner to consider. I’m at an age where breastfeeding is not in my future. And while I love being a woman, I’m not afraid to look boyish. I’ve had 36 years of being voluptuous, and an eye-magnet for men and women who like large breasts. I’m ready for freedom from that kind of gaze and attention, and freedom to move my body the way I want to move my body. I anticipate “living flat” for the rest of my life, and likely going without prosthetics, too.

One of the benefits of forgoing reconstructive surgery is that my recovery should be much faster than if I’d chosen reconstruction at the time of mastectomy. I’m looking forward to getting back to my regular life as soon as humanly possible.

My only hesitation is that I feel guilty for not wanting my breasts anymore. I feel like I’m betraying a part of myself. So I’ve been spending a lot of time during my breasts’ final days trying to celebrate them. I’ve also been preparing myself for the huge visual change there will soon be in my figure whenever I look in the mirror. While my femininity isn’t tied to my breasts, I recognize that it may be for others. So I’m making plans to cut and colour my hair in a “pretty” style, and wear clothes and jewelry after surgery that make me feel and look feminine.

But honestly? I’m so excited about my upcoming breast removal. And the interesting thing is, whenever I’ve talked about it with other naturally large-breasted women, they totally get it, and tell me they would make the same choice.

This is the second of a three-part series on breast cancer, sports and body image.
Part 1: What martial arts taught me about fighting breast cancer
Part 3: My pre-surgery boudoir photo shoot

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You may also be interested in these blog posts by Michelle about her breast cancer experience:

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow works in nonprofit and small business communications by day, and also enjoys writing, taking photographs, making art and doing aikido. You can find more of her work at michellelynnegoodfellow.com. Michelle has also written about her breast cancer journey on her blog, Kitchen Sink Wisdom.

Aikido · Guest Post · martial arts

What martial arts taught me about fighting breast cancer (Guest post), #breastcancer, #cancer

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow19 Comments

MLG“You’re the happiest cancer patient I’ve ever seen.”

I was having coffee with a psychotherapist friend, and her words caught me off-guard. I thought I was handling my breast cancer diagnosis well, but I hadn’t realized my attitude was remarkable.

Most people I know are scared of cancer. Scared of hearing about it, scared of getting it, scared of fighting it, scared of losing their lives to it. There’s been a lot of cancer in my family, and it’s taken the lives of one of my grandmothers and my father. I’ve seen what cancer can do to a person. I’ve seen my father shriveled up to a brittle rattle of skin and bones, in constant pain, all hope gone.

I know what cancer can do.

But I’m being completely honest when I say that from the moment I was first diagnosed, I was not worried about my cancer. Instead I’m upbeat and positive – even joyful – about my future. Aside from some fatigue in the days leading up to my double mastectomy, I’m living a full life and enjoying the things I love, like walking in the woods, working out, meeting with friends for coffee, and working on a few extracurricular projects I’m passionate about.

Is there something wrong with me? Am I suppressing fear, anger, or grief?

After some reflection, I’ve realized that my attitude towards my cancer probably has a lot to do with my personal beliefs, and my aikido practice.

I am completely addicted to aikido. I’ve been studying this martial art of self-defense for a year-and-a-half, and I attend four classes per week. I don’t have anything like a balanced sports life. It’s aikido, and the stuff I do that supports my aikido (like physiotherapy for my aikido injuries, gentle walking, gentle yoga for flexibility, and some bodyweight exercises for strength).

I’ve written about why I love aikido here on this blog, and my feelings have only gotten stronger over time. But I never realized how much aikido has changed me until my friend told me I was a too-happy cancer patient.

Unlike most martial arts, aikido doesn’t teach you how to attack – only to defend yourself against attack. You blend with your attacker’s energy and redirect it, so that the encounter leaves both of you unharmed.

Some beginners struggle to give their full energy to aikido practice with a partner (Sam has written about this here), but for me this is one of my favourite parts of aikido. There’s a particular kind of technique where you’re encouraged to “enter” the attack that’s coming towards you – to intentionally move in to meet the attacker’s strike. I love this kind of practice best of all.

When I see my attacker raise his or her arm, I propel myself forward with lightning speed to connect and blend with their striking arm, and offer up one of my own fists to their face as a distraction, before throwing them to the ground. I can’t describe how thrilling this is – to leap intentionally into harm’s way, knowing that you can avoid being hurt by moving quickly in the right way. There’s something so satisfying about being proactive in a risky situation, and I love it.

I found a lump in my right breast in early June. I also noticed that my nipple was turned inwards, and that the skin on one side of my breast dimpled when I raised my right arm. I’d read enough about the warning signs of breast cancer to know that all of that was potentially not good news. I waited and watched my breast for a menstrual cycle, to see if it would change, or if the signs would go away, and they didn’t. During that time I also read a lot about breast cancer on the Internet.

When my lump didn’t go away, I went to my family doctor and she recommended a mammogram and ultrasound. Those results were inconclusive, so a biopsy was ordered. By the time I got my biopsy results a couple of weeks later, I’d read even more about breast cancer, including most of the information on both the Canadian and American Cancer Society websites. I can tell you how breast cancer is staged, and about all kinds of benign breast lumps. I read about lumpectomies and mastectomies (and decided that if I did have cancer, I wanted a double mastectomy). I read about genetic cancer and cancer survival rates. I read about reconstructive surgery (and decided I didn’t want that).

So when I was finally sitting in the doctor’s office and the words that came out of her mouth were “I’m afraid it’s bad news,” I wasn’t taken by surprise or shocked. I just did what my aikido practice had taught me. I entered the attack.

One thing I’ve learned in the weeks since my diagnosis is that every cancer patient’s journey is unique. There’s no right or wrong way to fight cancer, and I respect every cancer patient’s personal reactions. There’s nothing wrong with being devastated, or sobbing for days, or shaking with fear, or screaming with rage.

But here’s what I know: Entering the attack feels amazing.

This is the first of a three-part series on breast cancer, sports and body image.
Part 2: Why I’m happy about getting my breasts cut off
Part 3: My pre-surgery boudoir photo shoot

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You may also be interested in these blog posts by Michelle about her breast cancer experience:

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow works in nonprofit and small business communications by day, and also enjoys writing, taking photographs, making art and doing aikido. You can find more of her work at michellelynnegoodfellow.com. Michelle has also written about her breast cancer journey on her blog, Kitchen Sink Wisdom.

Aikido · fitness · martial arts

Aikido: Touch me (without consent) and your first lesson is free

Sam B1 Comment

 

One of the most important lessons you learn in martial arts has nothing to do with protecting yourself from strangers. It’s about the importance of consent, ongoing consent, and your right to start and stop an activity as you choose.

I’ve written a bit about this before in a post on non sexual physical intimacy.

Let me explain. In Aikido we train with partners. One person begins the technique by striking but as all Aikido techniques are defensive the person doing the technique is the person struck.

What you do with the blow, grab, punch, strike depends on the technique.

There’s a lot of throwing and a lot of very mean pins.

You’re lending your body to another person to train and there’s a kind of intimacy about that. I know the bodies of the people in my dojo pretty well. I trust them with my body. I know what the people move like, what they smell like, and how hard they like to be pinned.

There are certainly people to whom I’m biologically related whose bodies I know less well than the people in my dojo.

Suppose you’re the person who started it all. You tried to strike your training partner so they could practise a defensive technique. They’ll defend themselves and take you to the ground where most Aikido techniques end. When they pin you, they’ll keep pinning, until you tap.

Once you tap, the person doesn’t let it all go immediately. That’s not good either. It doesn’t feel good. Instead they gently and slowly release you from the pin, keeping control.

Over time the lesson that touching requires consent and that consent can be withdrawn becomes part of who you are as a martial artist. I’m not sure how well I’d defend myself if attacked by a stranger in a dark alley. I think my responses now (I can yell pretty loudly) are much better than they were before Aikido.

I do know that when people touch me, in bars for example, without me wanting to be touched they get a pretty clear signal from my body language to back off. The idea that I’m in control of who touches me has become part of who I am. This kind of autonomy, a deeply embodied sense of autonomy, is part of what I love about training in martial arts.

Aikido · Guest Post · injury

Recovering from Sports Injury (Guest Post)

Michelle Lynne Goodfellow

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You love participating in your sport. You hate pain and injury. Sitting on the sidelines sucks. This is the story of how I finally wised up and figured out what mattered most to me.

I’ve had a number of sports injuries since last year, including a torn meniscus in my right knee, a broken collarbone, and what’s probably a torn ligament in my right ankle (MRI pending). All of these were either caused by, or made significantly worse by, my very active participation in the martial art of aikido, which I began studying more than a year ago.

The first thing I need to put on the table is that I am fanatical about aikido. I fell in love with this martial art during my very first class, and for a number of reasons it’s something that brings immense value to my life. I attend four classes per week, and I’d like to keep doing aikido for years to come (I just turned 48). I enjoy aikido so much that I hate sitting on the sidelines when I’m injured, and because of that, I limped through a full schedule of classes for several months last year, gritting my teeth from the constant knee and ankle pain, and ignoring the implications of my continually swollen joints.

At their worst, my knees ballooned to the size of large melons; I couldn’t kneel (or even squat) without pain, it hurt to climb stairs, and the pain in my right ankle was so bad it kept me from falling asleep at night.

I wasn’t completely irrational about my injuries – I sought advice from my physician, who recommended physiotherapy. The physiotherapist in turn recommended exercises to strengthen and stretch imbalanced leg muscles, as well as rest. I was very diligent with the former, and pretty negligent about the latter.

It took my breaking my collarbone six months ago to finally get me off the aikido mat for an extended period of time. I was scared of permanent incapacity, and finally gave my body the rest it needed to heal my injuries. But it wasn’t easy for me. Over the months of sitting on the sidelines at my aikido classes (which I still continued to attend religiously), I heard from many other aikidokas who had experienced injuries that cut into their own practices, and all were unanimous about hating to sit out classes. It’s much more fun to be on the mat, playing.

I stayed off the mat for 6 weeks while my collarbone healed, and gradually added light aikido practice without breakfalls back into my life. My biggest fear was commencing breakfall practice again, because that’s how I’d injured my collarbone in the first place. Three months after my collarbone injury I began practising forward breakfalls (rolls) on my non-injured side, slowly building up strength and confidence. I also added Rolf massage treatments and foam rolling to my rehabilitation routine, to release adhesions and restrictions in my fascia and free up my joints, which had developed quite a limited range of motion.

My aikido practice was interrupted again, however, by an imminent appointment with a knee surgeon that was supposed to take place five months after my collarbone injury. I started a series of low-level laser treatments on my right knee and ankle prior to the appointment, and stopped participating in aikido classes at the recommendation of my physiotherapist. After an abortive appointment with the surgeon (turns out I’d been referred to the wrong doctor), I decided it was time to stop and take stock of what I was doing to myself. For the first time in months I felt almost no pain, and I wanted to maintain that.

In the end I chose to take some additional time off the aikido mat to strengthen my legs. By that point my knee swelling and pain had virtually disappeared, and my right ankle was feeling a lot better, although still visibly swollen. I wanted to see if I could gradually add in mat time again without increasing the pain or swelling in either my knee or my ankle. It was no longer worth it to me to do aikido if it hurt.

I continued to practice breakfalls for five or ten minutes before every aikido class, but sat and watched each class once it had begun. After a few weeks, with the permission of my sensei, I did warm-ups with the class, but stepped off the mat when technique practice started.

Five months after I broke my collarbone, I started practising forward rolls on my injured side. It’s been six-and-a-half months since my collarbone injury now, and I’m thrilled to be doing all of my breakfalls – including advanced rolls – better than ever.

The knee and ankle have been trickier to manage. I’m finding it’s a real balancing act, trying to add more mat time without increasing my pain and swelling. I’ve started getting on the mat for one full class per week, and I’m monitoring my pain and inflammation. Eventually I hope to be able to participate in more classes per week, but for now if one is all I can manage without increasing the pain, I’m happy. A week ago I tested for my next aikido belt, and I can continue learning at this pace if I have to.

One of the unexpected side effects of my Rolfing and foam rolling has been releasing decades-old injury to my leg abductors – the tendons that attach to your “sit bones” and allow you to pull your legs together. For many years my yoga practice had been limited by being unable to bend forward at the waist without excruciating pain around my “sit bones”. With the help of ongoing foam rolling exercises, I can now touch my toes pain-free for the first time since my teens.

It’s no fun being kept from your favourite sport because of pain and injury. What I’ve learned is that it feels really good to live without pain.

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Michelle Lynne Goodfellow works in nonprofit and small business communications by day, and also enjoys writing, taking photographs, making art and doing aikido. You can find more of her work at michellelynnegoodfellow.com. Michelle has also written about her breast cancer journey on her blog, Kitchen Sink Wisdom.

Aikido

Playing with the brown belts!

Sam B4 Comments

I’ve been attending, by invitation, the Thursday night class for advanced belts, at our Aikido dojo. I’m sometimes the lowest ranked person there and so I’ve been playing a lot with the brown belts. My current belt colour is green. I hold the rank of 4th kyu in Yoshikan Aikido.

There’s nothing like spending time with people who are much better than you at something to see just how much you have to learn. I feel like a complete beginner all over again.

Aikido is a defensive martial art but part of what I have to work is attacking. Let me explain. I need to be a better uke.

What’s the role of the uke?

The uke’s attack should be clean and with full intent, although slow and deliberate at first. You should not be stiff; a stiff uke is a brittle uke. Nor should you be a wet noodle; a noodle is an uncommitted uke. You need to find a balance point between being stiff and being a noodle. This balance is best described as being a physical state of “living relaxation”, i.e., relaxed but extending Ki strongly.

As mentioned, it is important to have clear intent and focus in your attack. After all we are trying to simulate, in a controlled way, a real attack. A real attacker predetermines the point at which his attack is going to land and does not know what you are going to do. Hence, as uke, you need to try and simulate a real attack, although slowly, by being focused on your target and having full intent of hitting your target.

From Mountain Spirit Aikido

In order to train to defend yourself, one person has to play the part of the attacker and I’m not very good at that. It would be easy to defend yourself against my gentle feeble not particularly heart felt punches. I find myself thinking, “He’s 6 ft and weighs about 250 lbs. Why on earth would I punch him?” But then my light hearted punches don’t give the person enough energy to make the response work. In Aikido, the idea is that you use your attacker’s energy against them so that really they’re doing all the harm. You’re just redirecting the force.

Osensei says, “To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace”.

But if there’s no energy to redirect, Aikido won’t work.

So I’m learning to throw myself into the role of the attacker. Outside my comfort zone but here we go.

The flipside of that though is that I also need to more resilient in terms of receiving my partner’s response. Lots of Aikido techniques involve throws and I can usually roll pretty well but when things speed up, I need to speed up my responses too. I want to be a good training partner so that the people who work with me really get a chance to practice their technique.

Learning lots these days!

 

Boxing Shorts - Leminor Sports

Aikido

Aikido, I’ve missed you

Sam B2 Comments

I did something unusual for me this week: Aikido Friday night with the Western Aikido Club and then just 12 hours later, I was on my way to the AikiBudo Centre for Saturday morning training.

Why so much Aikido in a 24 hour period? Simple. I’d missed it. Aikido isn’t my first love. That’s cycling. But these days it’s a pretty close second. I like rolling around on the mats and I’ve missed the physical contact. (See Touch me/Don’t touch me.)

It’s interesting when you catch a winter cold what goes and what stays. I haven’t been running outside. When I have a cold, sore throat, and a cough that’s the last thing I feel like doing. All that cold air in my lungs? No thanks.

Aikido is less physical and it’s warm in the dojo but I stayed away because of contact and germs. There’s a lot of touching in Aikido and I’d hate to make someone else ill.

But it was clear from just how much fun I had Friday night that I’d missed it a lot.

Whee! Thump!

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And at Western I was even the most senior student there so I had to call the bow in, shomen-ni-rei. My first time ever.

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Aikido · Crossfit · cycling · running

Serious off season training begins, now!

Sam B

It’s the middle of January and I’m getting serious about off season training. It’s been going on for awhile but now it’s just one month until I’ll get to ride my new bike on the road, not the trainer.

I’m spending a week’s holiday in Arizona with my partner and my bike. (We’ve been there before and you read about my last Arizona cycling holiday here and see some photos here. )

I love this description of the terrain: “Long open roads that tend to be very straight with low rolling hills.  This tour has been designed to enjoy the warmth of long rides in the fabulous winter sunshine.”

In fact, there are hills but you have you to choose them and seek them out. I think we have one hilly day in the mountains.

I’ve got some new cycling goals for summer. Not so much distance, a bit more, but not a lot. But more speed!

I’ve got some running goals too, a faster 5 km and to be able to run 10 km regularly without injury.

I’ve signed up for the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon with Tracy, Mallory, Natalie, Susan and bunch of other friends too.

I’m doing the Friends for Life Bike Rally again with a different Susan.

And I’m aiming to do the MEC Century on August 30th, 160 km, the day before my 51st birthday.  I’m hoping to do some local bike races, and a longer duathlon or two during the season. Maybe this one again: Fun end of summer race, complete with age group medals!

I’m pacing myself right now. I’m doing a weekly spin class with Cheryl Madligar at Pulse Spin Studio and two trainer classes a week with Coach Chris. (See Tracy’s post about her winter basement cycling tour.)  I’m also spending time with friends on the weekend riding rollers and trainers together. See Spin, roll, or ride the trainer: What’s the best choice?

I’m also back at CrossFit and I’m a regular at Aikido.

I’m tracking all my workouts with Garmin Connect and tracking all my food with My Fitness Paul. (I like tracking.)

I check in each week with cycling coach Chris about how I feel and how training is going. It all feels pretty good.

So one month until I leave for Arizona! Whee! I’m excited. Can you tell?

And a big summer of outdoor adventures soon after that. Though I’m still hoping to sneak in some winter activities, snow shoeing and cross country skiing before winter’s done.

Here we go!

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