I’ve re-written this about three times. I hope this one is the last one. A couple of my blog readers have asked me about my objective goals, and a lot of family members or local trainer types have asked me with a puzzled tone of voice what I’m training for. Well, this is an interesting topic for me and a difficult one to put into words, so if you want them the numbers are at the bottom but the real beef follows directly below.

Goals. Everyone has goals. However we choose to word it or decide to avoid this or that question or finally allow ourselves to come to terms with our training, underneath lies our goals. Personally, my goal is officially to train and kick a$$. After years of wanting to be significantly faster than I had been and never understanding how to do it, I’ve found that the best way for me to move forward is to throw the objective goals out the window and just focus on the training. I tried on and off for TEN (ten!) years after my burn out and subsequent ejection from the WSC (Gunnison) running team to achieve something substantial as an athlete, and repeatedly got too stressed out or too injured to get anywhere. Needless to say, that can break a man down and force him to face some truths about his motives.

A couple of years ago local mountain butt kicker Brad Precosky told one of my training buddies that in order to do well in mountain races the training simply had to be part of your lifestyle. That particular statement has had a major impact on the way I look at being an athelete, and loudly rings the bell of truth in my mind. I don’t know if it was the tipping point, but since then I realized that visualizing racing and winning can’t be the only carrot leading you into physical oblivion. However you choose to put it you *need* to be into the process, and you need to *own* the process. It’s yours, it only works for you, and you will spend 95% of your time in it, and 5% of your time racing. Whether he realizes it or not I can thank my dad (who doesn’t ski or run) for that truth.

Last October’s training experience in Norway cemented that concept of for me. Here was this group of over-40’s out there doing bounding intervals in the rain, $h1t talking and and trying to kick each others’ butts on a Sunday double pole just for the heck of it. They met regularly, liked going hard, and anyone could join in. They weren’t burnt out ex-whatever’s, and they weren’t trying to break any records or place in this or that race – they just wanted to break each other, and they were *fast*.

Above: UAA nordic head coach Trond Flagstad winning Mount Marathon last week, Alaska's most prestigious Foot-race. Trond is a great example of someone with a solid outlook on athletic lifestyle.

As I’m writing this I’m sitting in my living room and I can’t believe how tired I am. I just finished up the most intense couple of weeks of the highest quality running and roller skiing training I’ve ever had, and I knew exactly why I was doing every part, how my body would react, and loved every minute of it. Believe it – this is a big deal for a B-team high school skier that’s never had any instructional coaching. Tuesday was 2 hours of running tempo at Kincaid, Thursday was 6 x 5 minutes classic up Potter Hill, Friday was 6 x 1 minute hiking Mount Marathon. The following Tuesday was a 3 hour skate with blow-out sweat-vaporizing rage-face pickups, Thursday was 2 of 3 hours hard tempo on the crux of the Crow Pass race course, today was a perfectly executed second-place finish at Knoya Peak. Feeling tired almost everywhere on my body I know that I have successfully “thrown my body in the sink,” and have never been this worked.

Crow Pass Race venue. *This* is the point.

What does that kind of stuff mean? Solid training is an amazing accomplishment, and it feels really, really good. I’ve never trained like this before, and as a consequence I’ve never raced like this before. It’s great to place in this race or beat that guy or max these pull-ups to help you stay focused, but at the end of the day if what you want to do is possess a lifestyle that will make you become the essence of what you are trying to accomplish, then learn to love to train, and *become* every one of the small steps along the way. You will race more consistently, enjoy more of your life, and you will absolutely see the path to reach your potential.

If you really want to know, here’s some numbers:

- Top 3 Crow Pass Crossing
- Top 3 Lost Lake Trail Run
- Win my leg, or sub-6 minute 1/2 marathon miles at the Klondike Road Relay
- Top 3 or 5 in Sven Johanson, Pia’s Classic, or Tour of Anchorage
- Ski at Senior Nationals
- If not this year, then next year, or the year after, or the year after, or the year after….

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