Meet My Trainer: Matt McGeown

"Don't you quit on me Mary. Don't you ever quit." My trainer barks at me as I am trying to squeeze out my third push up.

I look up at him, and wonder how it is that I, an independent women enjoying the power of my 40's, am actually paying this 23 year kid to push me harder than I would ever want to be pushed on any given day. Worse than that, I basically have to surrender all control to him twice a week.

I look up at him and see the tattoo on his neck that reads "Never Look Down." His personal reminder to live only in the light of possibility and never in the darkness of "can't." It reminds me of why I am here, giving up all control and why I signed a year long contract with him.

Last week I wrote about how cycling was what started it all for me, but to be fair, before cycling there was Matt. The person to whom six months ago I humbled myself and confessed that I couldn't do squats, that it hurt to walk up stairs and that I had never done a push-up.

Although Matt's arrival in my life was entirely random, it was thoroughly lucky. On a very basic level we connect. What I like about him is that he understands the paradox of weight training. It is, in his words, "both the easiest and the hardest thing you will ever do." Easy in as much as it is about forming a habit, hard in as much as you have to push yourself to the point of pain--something that is counter intuitive for most of us.

"With training you can't cheat. You put in the work, and you will see the results." I know this to be true. Since we have started working together I have done well. But there have also been some days when I have been disappointed. It has been difficult at times not to look down.

It's times like these where, for me, having a personal trainer really pays off. Matt believes that everyone has a natural ability and it's just a matter of tapping into their goals to find the key to motivate them. Because he knows where I want to be, he is able to bring me around pretty quickly when I start to hang my head.

I ask Matt why he thinks some people who want to train are more successful than others. "You have to want it badly enough to do the work." he says. For him the physical aspect of it is a simple equation; hard work equals results and results fuel the desire to continue. Something anyone can achieve. 

But he and I both know that there is also a major psychological component to training and to achieving any goal. It takes focus, determination and patience. Matt believes that you "take each goal rep by rep." I forget this a lot. Sometimes, like in life, I just want to get to the end of the set to mark it of as complete. Matt always reminds me that there is no payday at the end if you don't pay attention to details and view success as the sum of your experiences. Wise beyond his years, working with Matt makes me stronger on many levels.

Never quit,

Mary

Next time: Me? Running?

Cycling: how it all began

There are times in life when one simple action can have a profound impact on your perspective.  In March of this year, I did something ordinary which gave me the extraordinary confidence to pursue what has now become the 43 Project.  

I bought a bike. 

For years I had been crossing paths with people doing all sorts of outdoor activities.  I remember often saying to myself “I wish I could do something like that.”  But for a long time, I just couldn’t muster up the courage to try. I think I believed that at my age it was likely too late.  Finally, after a winter of spinning classes, I decided to put my money where my mouth was.    

Although it took me about six weeks of looking at my bike propped up against the wall in my living room, I finally psyched myself up to take a spin around the parking lot.   They say you never forget how to ride. I had my doubts, and really… who are “they” anyway.  

A little wobbly at first, I pushed down one pedal and then the next and miraculously, I didn’t fall off.  “They” were correct.   

I started in May with short rides of one or two hours in length.  In June, Marla convinced me to join her on a Toronto Bike Network excursion.  This was my first mid-distance ride of 42 Km.  I don’t know how long she had to wait for me at the end of the ride, but eventually I made it back. 

Completing that ride was a significant milestone for me. It was my first big physical accomplishment in over 20 years.  Even though I arrived last and an hour later I could barely walk, I felt empowered.  This one mid-distance ride had made me believe that with enough hard work, I could do anything.  Looking back on it, it was the genesis of the 43 project.



Lighthouse at Etobicoke Yacht Club

Since that ride, I have slowly been able to increase my distance. This past Sunday Marla and I decided that we would take the Lakeshore Waterfront Trail to the lighthouse on Leslie Spit and then west along Lake Ontario to the Etobicoke lighthouse.  From High Park and back it’s a 52.7 km trip.  It was a fantastic day and after about 20 minutes on the road I remembered something else from that first mid-distance ride... I really like cycling.    

While I am having a great time this summer getting outside and seeing new parts of the city, I still want to acheive more. So, I  have decided set some new short and long term goals:

• On September 15^th I will compete in my first competitive ride, the Tour de Greenbelt.  I will be taking on the 60km route. 
•  In June 2013, I have my eye on 100k ride from Kingston to Perth,
• In September 2013, I have set an objective to complete the Schuylkill Century in Philadelphia PA.

As always, I will be letting you know how these things work out, and as I build endurance I will be checking in. In the meantime, if there are any good rides in your area please let me know.  I also really like to travel.         

Never quit, 

Mary

Next time I get some advice from my personal trainer on how to stay motivated in the gym       



The Leslie Spit Lighthouse



Mitsubishi City Chase: strategy, endurance and a fully charged iPhone

I fight my way through a mob of red shirts scrumming a poor volunteer who clearly drew the short straw when the day's tasks were assigned.  I manage to grab a clue sheet.

At Nathan Phillips Square, in the heart of downtown Toronto, Marla and I are trying to figure out our first clue:  Mel Gibson's character's name in Braveheart + First name of the band that sings "I should be sleeping"...Carolyn Waldo is waiting for you.

We need to complete nine challenges in all, six mandatory and then three more. 

"I think these ones are clustered in the west end. According my phone Wallace crosses Emerson  two blocks north of Landsdowne St."

"That's got be the furthest one away.  Let's do it first and then work our way back to the centre of town"

"Come on."  We take off for the subway. 

Because we fail to Google the information in the clue, we find out the hard way that Wallace and Emerson is 20 minutes away from where we should be. Eventually we emerge, triumphant, from the change rooms at the Wallace Emerson Centre Pool.  The challenge is a synchronized swim routine. 

A real synchronized swimmer shows us what we have to do.  I'm all good with everything except the backwards somersault.  I try it once, I get water up my nose, in my ears and I can't contort myself all the way around.  Marla tries to show me what I'm doing wrong.  She disappears under water in a backwards whirl and emerges again...blood running down her nose.  "Ok.  Maybe don't try it in shallow end she says."  But there's no time to practise anyway, it's our turn.

Maybe it's the blood, or maybe they just look at me and decide that it's hopeless, but incredibly they give us a stamp for our first check point. We are out of the pool and back on the road again. 

Over the next few hours, we never stop moving, thinking, and searching for information on our phones. According to the rules, we can only travel on foot or by mass transit. Sitting on the bus or street car becomes our only break.  It rains, pretty much all day.  At times, we are soaked. 

But in the end:

• we hit three out of four targets in a hockey shooting competition and do 20 burpee jumps each to make up for the fourth target
• I pull Marla around a track on a wagon that's strapped to me
• we throw javelins
• we pull a half tonne truck about 25 feet and have to eat a raw garlic clove covered in wasabi because we aren't fast enough 
• we complete a "flair" bar tending routine
• we do squats and push-ups at a GoodLife gym
• Marla holds a python and a tarantula while I eat a cricket
• we spin for 20 minutes because I pick the most high calorie food on the menu and the challenge is to burn off the food you pick.

Finally... after 5 hours and 33 minutes of perpetual motion...we cross the finish line. We are number 139 out of 318 Chasers.  We are exhausted and starving, but elated that we make it before time runs out.  

People often say that it's journey that's important and not the destination-so it is with City Chase.  It's a race that takes patience, the flexibility to deal with things you can't control, as well as equal measures of endurance and the ability to laugh at yourself.  I was lucky. I had a great teammate and for both of us it was pure unabridged fun.  So far it has been the highlight of the 43 project.  I can't wait to see what's in store for Mitsubishi City Chase 2013. 

Never quit,

Mary

Coming up in the next few posts, I get some advice on staying motivated and I get back on my bike and do a mid-distance ride. 

Preparing for the Mitsubishi City Chase Part 2: Rock Climbing

It was a quiet walk from the parking lot to the climbing gym.  My friend Marla and I are usually pretty chatty, but this time there were big things on our minds.  Marla's fear is heights. Mine is anything involving upper body strength or lifting my own weight. It was going to be an interesting evening.  

As we stood in front of  the doorstep, I looked up to the roof, about three stories up, and trying to be positive I said "O.K.That's not bad, that's as far as we have to go. We can do that no problem."  Marla looked a little concerned. 

"Let's just get in there." she said. 

Inside, the walls are stucco white with strangely shaped brightly coloured formations seamingly haphazardly jutting out from from floor to ceiling. There are ropes everywhere and people are litterally just hanging around. They are chatting, laughing, swinging.  Much more at ease than we are, clearly this is no big deal to them...fun even. 

With our sweaty palms and too tight climbing shoes we follow the instructor over the bouncy floor to the practise room.  During a lesson on figure 8 knots and baleying, Marla and I learn that we hold each others lives in our hands--because we aren't edgy enough already.

Marla, headed for the top

Marla is first up on the wall.  She's awesome.  Although she is clearly pushing the limits of her fear of heights, she succeeds. I also manage, although it's a bit of a bumpy ride, to get her down without incident. 

Now it's my turn. 

First attempt to climb.  I fall off the wall.  Can't even get up on the first ledge. I hear that old familiar inner voice say "I honestly don't know if I can to do this." For a fleeting instant, I experience that childhood feeling of dispair. Since most of my life my arms have been too weak to support me, my brain immediately tells my body "no" when it encounters a challenges like this. "Shut up brain, what do you know anyway."

Marla is talking to the instructor. Nobody sees. I give myself a good talking to..."Ok.  Try again.  You can do this. You have been working on your upper body strength for months. You hang on and pull yourself up."  They are watching me again, and.... YES!!! I am up on the first part of wall.  

I know this sounds ridculous, but I will tell you right now, each step I took towards the top, on that first climb, was a personal victory, a validation of months in the gym.  In the end we both made about five trips up and down and ultimately reached the three story height of the building.   

On the walk back to the car there was a lot more conversation.  There were even  "high fives" as we laughed and reminisced about the walk into the gym earlier in the evening.  While we agree that neither of us is going to take our newly developed climbing skills outside anytime soon, we are both very glad we had the chance to give rock climbing a try.

Never quit,

Mary

Next Challenge: Mitsubishi City Chase, August 11, 2012. 

Follow me through the Chase on Twitter

@MaryJ_43Project

Preparing for the Mitsubishi City Chase: Part 1

When I unleashed The 43 Project I pictured a series of challenges like milestones in careful sequence along the road to July 12, 2013. Each well thought out, the preparation, the nutrition, the rest and the training almost a religious ritual. After all, am I not a decidedly middle aged responsible woman--fully in control?

The 43 Project unexpected lesson #1:

An awesome July 12 birthday celebration

I am, and always will be, the same drinking, staying up all night and partying sophomore I was in 1990. The challenge for me this time was leaving the party and getting back on the straight and narrow.

After an incredible July, which I wanted to go on forever, August arrived. The specter of the Mitsubishi City Chase on the 11th, loomed large on the calendar. I had promised my Chase partner that I would try as many things as possible to get a good base of experience for the race. July had gotten away from me and I hadn't really held up my end of the bargain.  I had to pull myself together.

In order to sever the connection between the evil city, that I love, and my current mid-life urge to live every moment as if it were my last, I sought refuge at a cottage in the woods by Moonstone Lake. I needed to do three things; sleep, eat properly and get some exercise.  Once again, I got by with a little help from a friend.

Luckily for me, Mrs. Guinness, one of my best friends, has a cottage near Moonstone lake and she was kind enough to introduce me to what I think may become my new aquatic passion...kayaking.

After just 5 minutes I was hooked.

Many of you have been kayaking for years, and now I can honestly say that I understand why.  The movement on the water and the stability in wind and waves is beautiful.  What was not beautiful, however, was the way I sort of rolled out of it on my side.  But I am sure that with practice I will be able to elegantly disembark. The City Chase has a kayaking challenge so at least I will know how to get into the boat.

Now that I am back in the city, and in the swing of training again, there is one more pre-Chase activity that I will be trying...rock climbing. I admit it...I am terrified.  I will be doing this tonight, so stay tuned.  If I don't freak-out or end up smashed like an egg I'll be posting again on Friday.

For advance notice of whether I made it or not, you may also wish to follow me on Twitter @MaryJ_43Project or by clicking on the link above.   I will send my first ever tweet from the rock wall.

Never quit,
Mary

A note on the Mitsubishi City Chase:

The Mitsubishi City Chase is an urban adventure challenge where teams of two follow clues and complete 10 of 40 possible challenges around the city.  Most, but not all, of the challenges are physical, some involve fear factor activities like eating bugs and holding snakes. Teams have six hours to complete the challenges. City Chase takes place in cities across Canada.