colinjenkins.ca

You can now access this blog by going to www.colinjenkins.ca.

Yea I know, I am the coolest guy alive.

Check out this video of some wicked fast running.  Awesome.

The Power Of Belief

Ask yourself this...How important do you think belief is?  Do you believe in yourself?  Do you have belief in your teammates or co-workers?  Do you have complete belief and confidence in your coach or boss that what they are doing is the best thing for you?  The power that believing has can not and should not be underestimated, it has the ability to make a mediocre athlete GREAT, and a great athlete MEDIOCRE.  Without having complete confidence and belief in yourself and the people around you, then oneself will never reach their true potential.

Of course every now and then you have that little devil creeping inside your head telling you that "You are doing too much, you are going to burn out, there is no way that I can do all this work" or "You are not doing enough, next race you are going to get demolished, pummeled, mutilated, flattened, pulverized, etc. etc."  When those thoughts come digging in, thats when you tell the little devil to F&%K off and remember that there is a reason that you have a coach that hopefully knows what is right for you at the time.  

Belief is a big thing in our squad in Victoria, without the belief and committing 100% to our program, there is just no room for you.  There is no room for the half assed athlete, or the pick and choose athlete.  It is all in and believe or go take a hike!  With saying that, I have complete faith and BELIEF in our coach, Joel Filliol.  It really is a no brainer when you have someone like Joel working for you.  All you have to do is show up and he tells you what to do.  I love it when Joel comes out with a crazy ass set and not one of us complains or peeps up to say WHAT THE!?!?!?!  We might smile to ourselves but the set is said and all Joel has to say is "Ready, go" and we are off.  Some great examples of this is we show up to a swim workout like any other morning and Joel says, "OK, 50x200, 10 swim, 10 pull, 3 IM, 2 kick twice through."  Instead of us questioning Joel's mentality, the first thing said was "We better get started" and we were off on the next top.  Another example was that Joel had a favorite saying last year when it came to certain running workouts.  On the schedule all it would say was "400's".  Ok so we know it is speed work.  We show up, "Hey, how much are we doing?"  Joel's reply would be "N+1."  N being when you think you cannot take another step, then you do one more.  We all think 10, maybe 15 since it is a speed workout.  We take it out hard, 10 comes along and you are thinking "I am glad that this is finishing soon."  We finish 10, then Joel says "ready go".  15 comes along "ready go".  20 comes along "ready go".  24 comes along "ok this is N".  After 25 we are done for it.  When you are coming in expecting only to do half as much work as you did the last half can be torturous.  I don't know about the others, but I wanted to throw my water bottle at him but it was my BELIEF in the program that kept me going.

I have tons of examples like that...one being we were doing running hill repeats up Mount Doug here in Victoria with finishing the interval by coming down the other side fast and then recovering around the base.  Well my hamstring was sore and tightening up when we had a couple more to go.  "Joel, I think that I might be done, my hamstring is starting to get pretty sore and I don't want to make it worse."  Joels reaction was priceless.  Without looking up he says "OK we are leaving in 20 seconds" and not acknowledging what I said at all.  I took this as him saying "Suck it up and stop being a wuss!"  That may not be the best example but it was a time when I thought that coach knows best and I should do what he says.  BELIEF IN BELIEVING.

I know that I got carried away with these examples but I think that it is extremely important that an athlete has complete faith in everything around them (coaching, equipment, sponsors, etc) and BELIEVE that they can achieve the impossible.  BELIEVE that what they are doing is the best thing for them and better then what anyone else out there is doing.  BELIEVE that they have the smartest coach, that their group is unique and works the hardest then any other group in the world.  Having this mentality during training and bringing it to the start line thinking that you are better prepared than every single one of these athlete standing beside you means that you are already half way to accomplishing your goal.  Have no doubts, just believe, BelievE, BELIEVE that you can do it and you will be amazed at what you are capable of doing.  When those doubts start creeping in, you are FINISHED!  Thats why in the picture above I have the Olympic Flag with the words "BELIEVE" above my bed, to remind me of why I moved out to the other end of the country and leave my family and friends behind.  It reminds me of the belief that I have in myself and in our training squad.

I BELIEVE THAT THE IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE and that I will be on that start line in Beijing or die trying!

Here comes the winter

Just got off the trainer/rollers.  It is getting to be that time of the year when I would rather sit on my bike for a couple hours and stare at a blank wall than brace the cold and wet conditions outside.  I am sure that soon enough I will just suck it up as I always do but for now...indoors is just fine with me.  Plus I am in need of some winter training gear so not being properly dressed and equipped just makes it that much worse.

I rode the rollers for an hour then switched to the trainer for the second hour...just to mix it up a bit.  Bit more comfortable on the trainer as I can move around a lot more freely compared to being somewhat at attention of where you are on the rollers so I do not fly though the sliding door window.  It wasn't too bad as I was listening to an audiobook...Brother Fish by Bryce Courtney.  It is starting off to be pretty slow and boring....hopefully it picks up a bit and gets more exciting.  I cannot really find any more of his works to be better than the first book he wrote and still my favorite, The Power of One.  Read it if you haven't.

Lots of swimming and riding this past little bit with the occasional run thrown in their.  Next week we are starting some heat training sessions to get ready for the Cancun World Cup coming up fast.  They ended up changing the race venue without telling anyone so we had our hotel booked on the other side of Cancun in a non-refundable hotel.  We thought that it was going to be a lost cause and money well wasted but out travel agent got it changed for us to the proper side of Cancun.  No worries now.

Dinner is calling my name.

Beijing Architecture

Check out these videos to see what kind of buildings Beijing is building for the Games.  Pretty incredible stuff.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

Some pics from Greece

Rhodes World Cup - Lessons learned

Wow that was a strange race...many lessons learned though!

So the trip started out not the greatest.  My bike got lost on the first flight from Toronto to London.  The strange thing about it was that the flight was only half full, I checked in plenty of time before the flight, and I had PRIORITY tags on the bike.  So when I got to London and there was no bike there, I knew that the chances that it would be found were slim to none.  I checked everyday about the bike but all I was getting (and still get) is "TRACING CONTINUES.  PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER."  So no bike for the race.  My bike box had all my bike stuff in it with my running shoes.  Lesson learned...bring all shoes, pedals, one set of training clothes, and race stuff with me in my hand luggage from now on.

So on Friday I contacted the local bike shop and they lent me a loner bike.  It was a 55cm (I am a 58-60cm kind of guy), a little on the heavy side with bad components (it had a triple front chain ring) but I was still happy to have a bike to ride.  They also gave me a helmet and a pair of cycling shoes that were 1.5 sizes too small!  I was able to borrow race wheels from Carolyn Murray after her race so the bike was the best that it was going to be.  I was not sure what my measurements were from my old bike, so I had to guess and adjust my position on the fly to "what felt ok".  Lesson learned....bring bike measurements to races.

Race time.  HOT HOT HOT, oh yea it was a HOT HOT HEAT (which I am going to see tomorrow night in Toronto with Lisa :D).  It was a run in (beach) start...I had a great start, right at the front, got in control fast and in the zone.  Second or third going around the first buoy, oh yea!  The I started to get swallowed into the pack.  People grabbing my feet, hips, back and shoulders which shot me back a few places.  "OH MY GOD, IM FEEL LIKE I AM DROWNING.  RELAX.  RELAX.  GET THE F*%K OFF MY BACK YOU A$$HOLE.  OH MY GOD, IM LITERALLY DROWNING.  RELAX COLIN, RELAX"  So that was the commentary going on in my head as I was getting swallowed up.  Thank God the first lap was over, now I can start to swim.  NOPE. Still getting beat up, and it was not a great feeling.  I am a very confident swimmer but when you are in the middle of something like that, swallowing buckets of water, fighting for space, it can get to be a very panicky situation, I DID NOT LIKE IT ONE BIT.  Well 3/4 into the second lap of the swim we started to swim into shore.  I was on the inside at that point trying to find open water.  GET THE F*%K OFF ME!  YES! OPEN WATER!  WAIT, THIS IS TOO MUCH OPEN WATER...WHERE DID EVERYONE GO?  I stop, put my head up and S*%T!!!!!!!!!!  The rest of the field is 25m to the right of me going around the last buoy!  OH MAN, OH MAN, JENKINS YOU ARE AN IDIOT.  THATS RIGHT, AN IDIOT!  YOU DESERVE TO BE STERILIZED THEN DROWNED FOR SWIMMING THAT FAR OFF COURSE!  Well anyways, I sprinted back to the last buoy and hopped into the pack.  At least there was still some people around me.  A couple minutes later the worst swim of my career was over.  THANK GOD!  So I was 2nd going around the first buoy, got put into a washing machine for the rest of the lap and came out after the first lap in 17th.  Decided that it wasn't fair for me to be so good in the water that I thought I would make it a bit more fair and swam a little extra on the second lap, just for fun.  Finished the swim in 57th.  Thats right!  I lost 40 places doing my little stunt.  Lessoned learned...know the swim course (don't go into panic mode, stay calm when in a washing machine) and ALWAYS SWIM AT THE FRONT!

Got on the bike, rode HARD HARD HARD for 2 laps to catch up.  YES!  It came together.  Now I know what it feels like to have to chase for that long....it sucks.  For the rest of the bike I tried to stay out of trouble and conserve as much energy as I could with the Stallion that I was riding.  A couple of breaks went off the front, some successful, others not. Only if I was on my LITESPEED bike!!! :(  I found it hard enough just to stay in the main pack.  DAMN BIKE, JUST DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, AND STAY OUT OF TROUBLE.  OK.  Bike done.  THANK GOD THAT IS THE LAST TIME I SEE YOU MY SORRY EXCUSE FOR A STALLION!  YEA YOU ARE MORE LIKE A PONY, A MINITURE PONY AT THAT WITH ONLY THREE LEGS, A DRINKING PROBLEM, AND THREE PACK A DAY SMOKING DIET!

Off the bike and into a pair of borrowed running flats that were 1 size too small.  DAMN YOU, YOU SIZE 13 CLOWN FEET!  I tried to stay in a pack for as long as I could.  Running with people is a lot easier and more encouraging the running on your own way off the back.  So I ran with some people for most of the run, I did not run that great but I was happy to get that far after all the set backs that came flying full speed at me this week.  I finished 43rd.

So there were some highs of this trip (ummm, maybe not....cannot think of any....oh wait there was.  Warming up in the water I saw schools of fish swim by in the crystal clear water and thought that it was "pretty cool to be here"), and then there was many lows or things that did not go my way.  But out of those lows and mishaps I learned some valuable lessons.  I know that it sounds funny but I grew as an athlete from this trip, a better prepared and smarter athlete...next year I will be able to use these experiences and prevent the mistakes that I faced during this trip.  

Now it is dinner time.  Then time to pack...HECK YEA I DONT HAVE A BIKE TO LUG AROUND!  AP and I are on a 1:30am flight out of Rhodes tonight to London, then onto Toronto from there.  Belly says "STOP TYPING, ME HUNGRY!"  OK BELLY, LETS EAT.