Hello,

Wow - when I first started this Grind training I never knew where it would lead me. Now I am 46 grinds in and have started some personal challenges that have amazed even myself.

First it was a challenge to do the Grind every day of the week. Then it was to do it twice a day for most of a week. Then this past Saturday I booked it aside to see how many grinds I could do in one day! I thought I could do at least 5 or 6, was pushing for 8 and ended up with 7. What I was happiest about though was that all 7 were under 1 hour in duration:

08/21/2010	07:03:11 PM	07:59:15 PM	00:56:04
08/21/2010	05:29:38 PM	06:22:55 PM	00:53:17
08/21/2010	02:19:33 PM	03:19:12 PM	00:59:39
08/21/2010	12:22:44 PM	01:17:37 PM	00:54:53
08/21/2010	10:46:39 AM	11:41:16 AM	00:54:37
08/21/2010	09:15:28 AM	10:12:24 AM	00:56:56
08/21/2010	07:46:27 AM	08:44:12 AM	00:57:45

The times are backwards there as I copied and pasted it from the Grouse Timer program but you can see that the fifth one at 2:19pm was the longest and it was also the most difficult for me.

I started out with the first one just listening to some soft music and doing a relaxing Grind - aiming for under an hour but not really caring. The second one was pretty much the same but could feel my legs were still a bit sluggish. The third one went quite well but then there was not a good situation when I arrived up top.

After the third grind as I arrived at the Grind Timer there was a gentleman lying beside it with two people doing CPR on him. He was pulseless. One of our patrollers arrived and I offered my help, having just completed my recertification for level 3 OFA. I mainly worked in support - making sure the oxygen was flowing, position the spine board and stretcher and lifting him into the stretcher and helping to carry him to the tram.

The CPR was effective and his pulse had returned by the time we loaded him into the stretcher. When the paramedics received him at the bottom he was incoherent but was making sounds - a good sign that his airway was clear and he was breathing. I sincerely hope that he makes a full recovery. Was a scary situation and the adrenaline was flowing as I tried to remember all my training.

That made for a quick fourth ascent as well. Near the end of the fourth, however, I started to feel really really hungry and knew that a power bar and banana would not cut it. So I got a salad and a couple slices of pizza.

After lunch, the fifth grind was difficult. I was sluggish, my legs didn't want to get going again, I felt tired both mentally and physically. I think also the adrenaline had left I was crashing from that too. I went back to the cabin, had a hot shower and laid down for a few minutes before heading back to meet my brother in law, Jordan, and starting the sixth grind.

The sixth grind felt great! It was the quickest one of the day. That was also Jordan's best time so far. Good job buddy!

After that Jordan didn't think he had a second one in him, so I went back and on a lonely Grind (it was so empty compared to the day! It was kind of nice) I finished my seventh just as the sun started to set. The seventh was a bit of a mental push to convince my legs to keep going but it felt amazing at the end to know that it was over and that I had met my goals.

I'll probably try it again some day and go for 8! Why not! Maybe 10? :)

I took Sunday off for some bird banding and some R&R but then was back at it this morning. Felt good at first but I quickly realized my legs had not recovered fully from Saturday. I pushed through it, however, and ended up with a respectable 48 minutes.

The second grind I did at 5:30 today and it was a mental push just to do it. Felt lazy, sluggish and knew my legs were not feeling good. However, I was going to do it with Jordan (but he went up with friends before I got there!!) and really wanted to keep up the two per day. So I went to it and the first 100 feet were horrible... funny how that can affect your grinding and mental state. My legs were burning, I was gasping for breath and just did not feel it. But I pushed on...

Somewhere just after the first quarter I got my second wind and started to pick up the pace. From there on I set record split times and as I hit the 3/4 mark I knew I was close to a personal best pace so I picked it up and dug deep and pushed on. Heart rate rose about 170 as I climbed hard and finally swiped in with a new personal best time of 46:18. Not bad for a grind I didn't want to start!!

Still quite tired now so I'm off to bed... haven't dreamt about the grind yet... probably a good thing! But I will get up and get back on it first thing in the morning.

Cheers!

Hello,

Today was my 36th grind of the season and for Grind for Kids. Had an early start at 4am for bird banding this morning so didn't get my usual pre-work grind in and then had some running around after work to do so I didn't get on the Grind until around 7pm tonight.

Decided to just go a few gears below maximum and keep my heart rate around 160bpm. Felt strong all of the way up and ended up clocking in at 49:10. Feels good to see improvement and know that I can not go all out and still break 50 minutes. Listened to The Secret some more and just focused on deep breathing and really stretching my legs out as I climbed.

I've been debating resting completely tomorrow or doing a gentle grind in the morning to stretch the legs and work the body in preparation for doing a long multi-grind session on Saturday. I think I'm going to do a nice slow grind in the morning and focus on breath and legs and lots of stretching. I think this will help me mentally prepare for what I hope will be a 4 to 6 grind day on Saturday.

Now for some sleep!

Hello,

Today I had a great second Grind this afternoon and ended up setting a new personal best time of 46:38. It's amazing how personal bests will seem to come out of nowhere. The last time I set a PB I wasn't expecting to and today I was not expecting to either. After a nice slow grind this morning I ended up working all day and was rushed towards the end to get down to do the Grind. Maybe the adrenaline of the end of the day carried over onto the grind.

Could tell right away that I had a great time going when I beat my first two splits by 20-30 seconds each. After that I just tried to not run out of steam, as happened yesterday. The remaining two quarters each broke new split times as well. Overall I'm quite happy! Maybe the low 40's are not out of the question this year.

I do find myself working much harder and I've attached the read-out from my heart rate monitor here. When I'm really pushing my heart rate stays in the mid 160's and towards the end when I go all out it breaks into the 170's. Pretty cool to check out afterwards though.

Tomorrow I plan to do one more grind and I'm still debating if I do one on Friday or not. Saturday I hope to try and complete 6 grinds in one day. We'll see!

Hello,

Sometimes I am amazed by the amount of water loss occurred on the Grind. Yesterday afternoon, for example, I weighed myself before I went down to do the Grind and weighed in at 233.4 lbs, and then after the grind 229.2 lbs. That's four pounds of loss in a single Grind! Amazing. Really shows the need to stay on top of hydration and drinking lots of electrolytes to replace what you are losing - especially if you are doing multiple grinds in a day.

Yesterdays grind was feeling great... until the third quarter. I was probably on pace with my personal best time but then somewhere in the mid third quarter I hit a wall. Suddenly my legs were dead tired, my breath couldn't come fast or deep enough and it was mentally tough to keep going without taking a break. I think I probably pushed too hard in the first two quarters and with the high temperatures (in the upper 20's if not 30 degrees Celsius) it wore on me. Still finished with a respectable 51 minutes, but it didn't feel good. Also once I start to go fast I notice my breathing rate and quality go down hill and I don't find myself as efficient. I guess that's the importance of all those slower grinds where I focus on that and train my body to do those things subconsciously.

This morning's grind was better, felt pretty strong, didn't push it, finished with a time of 53 minutes. A friend lent me 'The Secret' as an audio book, so I threw it on the Ipod and tried Grinding while listening. It went pretty well! This might be a new trend for me and it focuses your mind on something other than the grind. Also the Secret's message is one of positive thinking, the power of thought and using your thoughts to achieve your goals - the law of attraction. I kept thinking of ways I could use these techniques on the Grind... now I need to put them into place. Mostly it's about keeping good thoughts - instead of saying 'I'm so tired, I can't finish' or 'I won't get my best time', think about the good things, 'I'm enjoying this, being outside, exercising' or 'This is making me stronger now, improving my fitness' and 'I can beat my times if I want to'. We'll see if it helps!

I made it to McKinley status on the Grind Timer... that's 33 grinds (today was 34) and bascially means I've climbed 5 out of the 7 highest summits on the continents. You can visit Jason's post from a couple days ago to see the entire list of summits and their grind equivalents - www.thegrousegrinder.com .

Jason's now considering doing the Grind backwards... god help us all!

;)

Slow Grinding

Hello - been a few days since my last post as I took the weekend off from Grinding!

Friday I did one grind in the morning with my friend Debbie Heurion. It was her first time so I let her set the pacing and she did amazing! We clocked in at 54 minutes with no breaks at all up the Grind. Good job Debbie!

Saturday and Sunday were rest days for this week, during which I hope to complete the most grinds per week of the season.

Started well with two grinds yesterday. The morning grind, as always, seemed a bit sluggish at 51 minutes and change but I picked up the pace for the afternoon grind and came in at 49 minutes for the second best time of the season. It felt really hot and muggy out and I think if it had been cooler I could have broken my personal best time of 47 and change.

I can start to feel all of the grinding paying off. It's amazing how slowing down my time on the grind by even a few minutes can make a huge difference to the legs and lungs. With my heart rate monitor I can see exactly where I need to be at for the amount of effort put out. For my best times I need to be in the range of 165 bpm on the monitor and keep the legs going fast, taking two up steps at a time where possible.

But by just lowering that BPM by 10 or 15, to around 150-155 I can complete the Grind a few minutes slower but never feel super taxed while doing it. This morning I completed a grind of around 55 minutes but hardly felt out of breath the entire way up. When I swiped in at the top timer I was not out of breath. To me that shows a lot of fitness improvement over the start of the season when I was huffing and puffing to break 55 minutes.

Also, to my sense of competitiveness (alas I try to turn it off!) it's a great mental boost when I can step past people who are working hard and are out of breath and feel great myself. Although by going slower I do have to let people by and remember what I am trying to accomplish - it's not the time I'm after, it's whatever goal I chose at the beginning be it max heart rate or breathing rate.

I aim to complete daily doubles Monday - Wed this week and then either a single or double on Thursday (my early morning bird banding day) and take Friday off to prepare for Saturday. I've been wanting to take one day and see how many slow grinds I can complete in the day. I'm hoping to do that this Saturday. I hope I can complete 6 grinds in 2 or 3 grind reps with some recovery time in between.

Wish me luck!

Two more days, four more grinds...

Yesterday saw two more grinds, one in the morning at exactly 50 minutes and one in the later afternoon at 53 minutes. Didn't really feel the need to push.. legs were a bit tired from all the grinding, so I just focused on breathing and proper leg extension. Surprisingly it felt rather easy at the 53 minute pace!

Today, I did a back to back double-grind in the late afternoon. Had a 4am start for bird banding this morning so I was pretty tired in the afternoon. Had Jordan, my brother-in-law, join me for his first ever grind. I waited to give him some encouragement as he climbed and we clocked in at about 64 minutes. He waited up top while I went back down and did a second grind coming in at around 51 minutes. Again, didn't feel the need to push, since 8 grinds in 4 days has my legs feeling a little fatigued.

Quite tired now! Going to get some sleep and try to do a double-grind in the morning before work.

Goodnight.

A meditative grind and a double-grind

Hello,

Today was my first true double-grind of the season. Up until now I've quite often done two in one day but one has been before work and the second has been after work. Today I did two back to back.

In order to save my legs for the second grind I really wanted to concentrate on doing the first grind nice and easy but with some purpose. So I decided to try to limit my max heart rate to under 150, and try and focus on deep diaphragm breathing, inhaling through my nose and out through my mouth. This actually worked surprisingly well!

I kept feeling like I wanted to go faster... my legs were really urging me on! But I focused on breathing and keeping my pace. My breathing felt great and I hardly felt out of breath at all. I didn't even break much of a sweat until the 1/4 mark - which is very unusual for me on the grind! I purposely put on slow music and entered an almost trance like state... it's a little weird but doing the grind became like a moving meditation that run!

By keeping this even pace, one that I felt I could easily carry on a conversation with, I finished the grind in about one hour. About 13 minutes off my Personal Best. Had a quick snack, changed into dry clothes and went back down to do it over again.

I think I started the second grind too fast, as by the half way point I was really feeling it in my legs. I was on pace by the 1/2 mark but it fell off from there and I ended up about four minutes off my best time. Definitely challenging to do two in a row and keep up good paces! I was amazed by Jason Chong's grind times today that started at one hour and progressively got faster until his eighth time was 36 minutes! An amazing performance.

Tomorrow I have a media interview early, around 7am, and will try and fit a grind in after that.

Here is my heart rate from the garmin for the slow, meditative, grind!

New personal best!

Did two more grinds today. The morning one was off of my season's best time of 49:40 by 5 seconds, coming in at 49:45. Then, after work, I went for my second grind of the day and blew that away by almost two minutes, clocking a 47:53. That's also a new personal best for me! A couple years back I did a 48 and change but have never broken the 48 minute mark.

Now for the 45 minute barrier! We'll see about that...

I find it funny how the second grinds of the day tend to be faster than the morning ones. I guess the body is still waking up, is not stretched or properly fueled up first thing. After a day of eating well and having the warm up of work, the second grind tends to go faster and I feel like I have more energy.

Tomorrow I have an early start for hummingbird banding - alarm is set for 4:45am. After I'm done work I'm going to try to do two back to back grinds for the first time this year. Hopefully it goes as planned!

For those of you who don't know me, I am the Wildlife Manager of Grouse Mountain's Refuge for Endangered Wildlife. As part of my position here my wife and I live in a cabin on top of the mountain. This makes for easier access to the Grind and quick showers afterwards! For the past couple years since we've been living up here I've done most of my hiking into the back country and skipped the grind due to the crowds. This year, because of the Grind for Kids, I've decided to do the Grind as my exercise of choice and challenge myself to do it as much as I can.

That alarm sounds early... goodnight!

Ok... I Will Write a Fitness Blog... I Will!

Ok... so I've really been getting into this whole 'get in shape for Kilimanjaro in January' thing. I started to feel that the one thing in my life that is lacking is being in as peak shape as I can be.

Then back in June I saw the Grind for Kids (www.grindforkids.com) fundraising effort and thought that it looked pretty cool and I might give it a go. So I set the modest goal of $200 dollars to raise and 25 grinds. Now, a little over a month since starting, I am sitting at $750 in donations and pledges and have already completed 20 grinds and have about 5-6 weeks remaining in the fundraising.

This past week I've done 6 Grouse Grinds. That's more in one week than I have ever done before and more than I thought I could do. I am now upping the Ante and starting to watch my nutrition and energy levels and try to do more grinds per day as well as per week.

A big inspiration and motivating force has come from the fact that I am helping out for Children's Hospital, while getting in shape myself at the same time. One thing that keeps running through my head while on the Grind is that many of the kids in Children's Hospital would love to be out in nature, hiking and having fun, but they can't. I can. So I really shouldn't complain that it's long, it's hard or I'm too tired. I just need to get out there and do it.

Jason Chong's amazing run of over 270 grinds so far for Grind for Kids has been a huge inspiration and reading his blog (www.thegrousegrinder.com) has made me believe that I can complete multiple grinds per day, with an intellectual and smart approach to doing so. So my goal has been to monitor my training and gradually increase my numbers and times while at the same time learning more about the nutrition needed to do so.

To help out I purchased a new heart rate and gps monitor this weekend - the Garmin Forerunner 305. It monitors a lot of different items and I'm just learning the software but the two that stand out most are of course heart rate, to make sure you are training in the right zone and GPS to show elevation data and route. I've attached a couple files here showing my first Grind with it on Saturday. I actually completed the grind about a minute faster but was catching my breath and forgot to turn the Garmin off! It also tracks my split times at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 marks. Should be interesting to compare as the season winds on.

I'm will post frequent updates here as to how my grinding is going so that my family, friends and others who have pledged to Children's Hospital for my grinds will be able to follow my progress and thoughts.

Goodnight for now!

Files from the Garmin: