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The Hay’s in the Barn

“The hay’s in the barn”, Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, told his team.

My all time favorite running movie?

“Without Limits”.  It’s the Steve Prefontaine story.

There’s a scene in which the University of Oregon track team is at the NCAA’s and Bowerman tells the team, essentially, there is no need to practice, “The hay’s in the barn”.

The hard work has been done.   Now, it’s time for the feast.  Time to celebrate, so to speak.

Yesterday, I actually had a very high quality speed workout and then a few hours later hit Gold’s Gym to do a light core workout.

As I was working my core, I came to a realization – I’m in great shape.  There is no need at this point to bust my hump.

The hay is in the barn.

Party time!  Carpe diem, jeff noel  🙂

PS.  Here’s Without Limits Trailer:

Inspired? If not, I hope you find it somewhere soon.

How To Get Started

How to get started?

Go outside and walk for five minutes, away from your dwelling.  Turn around and walk back.

Do this ten minute walk five days for one week.

The second week, add 30 seconds each way.  Then, every week, simply add one more minute to your total.

Example:  You started with a ten minute walk each day.  After four weeks, you are now walking 14 minutes per day.  After 10 weeks, you’re walking 20 minutes per day.

In a year’s time, you’ll be walking one hour per day.

Somewhere on your journey, you’ll have to decide how to personalize this routine to best suite your needs.

And somewhere else on your journey, you’ll have to decide not to quit.

Care diem, jeff noel 🙂

PS.  Four days until Helsinki.

As Promised, The Biggest Thing

As I promised yesterday, here’s the biggest, single most important lesson, and motivation, through this ten-year journey:

A healthy body leads to many life enhancing benefits.

WOW!

Amazing!

Earth-shattering news!

Seriously?

“Yep”.

You’re joking right?

“Nope”!

If I have to explain this one to you, you’ll never understand.

I’ll share with you a great place to start, to get healthier.  But it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.  Have more posts to write before the sun comes up.

Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Six Days

Six Days.  Hard to believe.  World Championships, here we come.

I taught all day yesterday at an Orlando Convention Center.  Doing the same today.  Went to the gym after teaching, but was very tired and compromised with a short, and easy core workout.  Didn’t even break a sweat, that’s how light I went.

Unlike previous years, where I was training madly all the way up to the big event – pushing myself to the limits – I’m trying an opposite approach this time.

My intensity has gradually softened.  The hamstring strain from a few weeks ago is the key driver for this. It’s a blessing in disguise.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

It has forced me to back off.  Backing off means less intensity.  Less intensity might mean a more rested body.

A more rested body might perform better on the world stage.

I sure hope so.  Either way, I am working incredibly hard at the mantra I developed several years ago, after ripping a hamstring for the second consecutive year.

“Stay Healthy.  Have Fun”!

Like everything else in life, “It sure looks good on paper”.

The single most important lesson and motivation through this ten-year journey?

Find out tomorrow.  Until then, carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂

Remembering Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture, inspired and challenged millions, to revisit their childhood dreams.  Sadly, he died a year ago today.  He had a wife and three children under six years old.  He was 47.

What are some of your childhood dreams?

Any of your childhood dreams worth dusting off and pursuing?

I dreamt of being an Olympian, representing the United States at the ultimate sporting, and sportsmanship, event.

Next Saturday, I fly to Helsinki, Finland to keep that childhood dream alive.

“When you look in the mirror for motivation, do you see a mountain, a rolling hill, or a mole hill”?  — jeff noel

PS.  And, like Randy, I’m not going to Finland for me.