Our first OKC meet (using the OKC/IKSFA official ranking tables) was a total success. We had to do it in Hawaii. It had to be something that would make us smile forever. We had a strong group of 14 ready to lift. They flew in from the mainland and drove in from across the island. Some were competing for the first time, others have been competing for years and all over. Terri flew in all the way from Connecticut to lift, and we had our California mafia there too.

2 hours

Juliet had this thing scheduled to a T. Every flight, every judge, every minute was accounted for. I can only imagine how difficult it is to run a huge meet. I was completely impressed with how smoothly this little guy ran. Big thank you to Juliet and JT and all the judges for making it happen.

Thank you to Crossfit Oahu for letting us invade your space!

It was hot. Holy shit it was H-O-T hot. I was excited about it. I was thinking that with my body that warm my muscles would relax and maybe my lockout and rack would come together. I focused on this point from the moment I landed on Oahu. Before my sets now (in training and recently in competition) I practice calming my brain down. I am not very good at it but I will continue to practice until I’ve got it.

So there I was, just about to start my Jerk set…totally warm and loose…pretty damn focused and quiet…the bell rings and just as I go…

Like 10 super cute, ridiculously fit, 20something year old tan girls in tiny shorts and high socks come running into my little quiet boring space and start doing kipping pullups about 15 feet in front of me! It was like some weird kind of Popka* based dream! Popka, Popka, Popka, swinging and popping with chirping and growling and even laughing. Seriously though…WHATTHEFUCK!?!?

Like I said, I had just started this whole mind calming thing. I am just a man after all. I did not have a good set numbers wise but I am confident I will remember this set fondly forever!

After I dropped the bells I had to laugh and Nazo came up to me and said “That was a lot of Popka” with a smile and a laugh. Was it? I hardly noticed.

My snatch set was when the heat really hit me. I don’t think my hands had torn in about a year or so before my last training session heading into this meet. They were healed up and I felt strong and fit and ready to lift but that humidity man…my right hand tore at 62. So I switched and started thinking about all the lifting I had to do during the cert that weekend and all of the tuff I should not be thinking about during a set. My left felt pretty good until about rep 30. My heart started beating really hard. It was much faster and stronger than normal. I started to get a little dizzy and I had a moment where I actually got a little scared. I did two more reps. I had to put the bell down. It just didn’t feel right. I finished with a 100 total and went through my normal self loathing thing for a little while.

I crashed on one of the big mats on the side behind the fight board and one of the popka girls came over to chat with her friend like a butterfly landing on a nearby branch.

That was nice.

I like Hawaii.

I’ll toss up the stats spreadsheet and stuff about how proud I am of everyone who lifted tomorrow. I just had to get the Popka stuff up first.

Kettle,

*Popka…Jason and I were in Blagoveshchensk with coach last year getting our heads spun by all of the beautiful women and Jason asked coach “Coach, how do you say (Jason used his hands in the well known semi-circular cupping motion for butt) in Russian?” coach looked a little surprised, threw his head back in a laugh, repeated Jason’s gesture and said “Popka”.

So I thought I would try to enjoy some of the good things that happened during my training on Friday and you know what? It was surprisingly easy!

Usually I have a big set of Jerks on Friday and an equally (but usually in a different format) nasty set of Snatches on Saturday. However this Saturday I was booked up on the personal side so I had to double up. I was not expecting much because usually I can barely get through one of the big sets on their own but it had to be done sooo…

Snatch, 32 kg 25 reps in 1’15” 4sets 1’ rest in between 4 sets right then 4 sets left.  Usually I do not have two big interval sets on consecutive days but I guess I was just lucky like that on Friday!

The first good thing that happened was my head did not go into the tank after my jerk set. You see, after that set I felt like I really failed. It was not until hours later, a footage review, a blog entry, and a bunch of great feedback that I realized it was actually pretty good and a pr in a few ways.

The second good thing was closer to awesome than good. Up until now, after a jerk set like that, I would be smashed up to the point where I was useless for a day or two. If I crush myself aerobically I can recover. If I push all of my musculature to it’s breaking point I can recover. But the big intervals do both, they really kill me.

Anywhoo,

I had 30 min in between these sets and I could not believe how fast I was able to recover. I ate an apple and I felt pretty good going into the snatches. I changed my shirt (which is why it is too small and every rep is belly, belly, belly, sorry about that) because my jerk shirt was just soaked and I was ready to go.

I did well on the right. I am pretty happy with it. I had a blister forming under a calus on my right hand before I started and I was nursing it throughout the set. I was pretty sweaty from the jerks still and I ended up tearing for the first time in I don’t know how long. Can you see when I tear? (hint…it’s near the end).

Right side

See..I am pulling and the bell is still behind me (Rudnev shakes his head)

I only get a minute between sides and I am a little winded and tired when I start my left. Also, I am starting my acceleration pull early. I do that when I get tired. It looks cool and powerful but it is energy expensive and hard on the hands. I ripped in the third set. I REALLY cannot remember the last time I ripped TWICE in the same workout. It must be years since that has happened (point being, it’s not good). Anyway, you can see I’m getting tired and after the tear I tried the last set but it kept ripping more and I do have to compete on Friday so I let the set go.

Left side

It’s all good though. I am confident that if I had done it fresh I could have finished. Also, unfortunately for me my competition Jerk sets are never long enough to crush me like that big interval. Hopefully someday they will be but by then this interval will be easy too.

I really felt these past few weeks have been a failure but as I was filling out my sheet I realized that I had successfully completed almost everything. It really was a surprise. I was much better than I had thought. And Friday after all turned out to be a good day.

A very good day

Kettle,

One more thing… Thank you for the emails and comments. It really is nice to know that when I get all messed up in the old head that I am not as bad as I feel. It really means a lot.

BOOM!

Chu-Hi!!!

I think that most everyone who pushes kettle has had a similar feeling to the one I wrote about. I have similar feelings to that one all the time. It’s just this last one had some legs. I really did want to walk away but as I was writing the blog I started to feel better which honestly made me angry in a whole new and exciting way. So I couldn’t talk to anyone.

Training had been spotty. I had been having a lot of trouble focusing on my set before, during, and after the set. When things got hard I would let it slip away. So I went back to the drawing board. I just got all clean and shit. I actually practiced settling my mind down and last Saturday I set a PR in the snatch. I found it again. It was like I was lost up there for so long and all of a sudden it was back. It was a miracle.

But then a bigger thing happened. I saw Will Metcalf and Andy Fitting MASH up the bells in New York. I saw those numbers and my heart started to beat faster and my hands started to sweat. I know Will is one hell of a lifter but the numbers he hung up served notice! Andy, I didn’t even see him coming. As far as I know he did more snatches than any American has ever done in competition. I like and respect both of these guys and to see them kicking ass like that flipped my switch!

Will has been giving me pointers on my Jerk for a few weeks now. I have been trying my best to follow his advice and I feel that I am getting closer. I am losing weight and stretching and all that stuff but because of his advice I was able to take a step back and fix a flaw I thought I was just going to have to live with. When he first wrote me I was surprised. He is a better lifter than I am, but I technically am his competition.

He helped me anyway.

That’s a real fucking man right there.

I took his advice into my set today like I have since he gave it to me. This interval set is a rough one for me and every time I see it, it gets harder. Today it totals 111 reps, 11rpm, 10 sets, 1 min on, 1 min off. My one set pr is 32 to give you some perspective.

Here is the second set. Went pretty well.

Here is the seventh set. Where things start to fall apart.

Here is the last set. The wheels are off and the wagon is sitting up on blocks.

Here is the breakthrough. Yes the wheels fell off. Yes my form went to shit. Yes I clearly have work to do. But aside from all of that, what really happened here was I fought the suck of all suck that kills my sets and wrecks my life. It started to pull me but it could not catch me. It could not hold me down. I would love to say I am a fighter and all that shit but the truth is I had failed at almost every turn when the suck got this bad. Only a few times had I EVER IN MY WHOLE LIFE really been able to fight through it and win. Today, as tired as I was I picked those fuckers back up and finished.

Sure I failed at the set, but I got further than I ever did before and I kept my head in it. You can see it in the video. It was physical exhaustion not a mental collapse. I even had to pick myself up and do a nasty snatch interval half an hour later.

I didn’t quit and I didn’t want to walk away. My brain, which so often is like a smashed windshield, didn’t crumble to pieces.

I’m back.

Maybe even a little better.

I owe you two guys huge.

Thank you, really.

I can only think of one way to repay you.

Kettle,

Crashed on my back I let one fly. One big honking hock of spit straight up in the air… In slow motion of course…

Spitting in the gym? What have I become? Have I regressed into the being the petulant little shit that I hate? Am I really such a big baby? Where has my mental toughness gone? I am constantly quitting. I have lost my faith in my training, my coaching, I lost faith in myself.

Walking away.

What can I do? What can I do? I can work labor. I can go back to doing doors. I don’t think I could be a trainer though, certainly not a coach. I guess I could become an advice columnist. I have finally hit a point in my life where I hate myself enough to give advice to people I don’t know about how to live the good life.

But Kettlebell?

No

Never again.

I learned my lesson. I learned that when you try to do something that does not come naturally it sucks and failure is guaranteed. There is nothing fun about this. There is nothing wonderful or honorable or fulfilling about failing and quitting.

But here I am.

I just spit over my own fat, weak, soft, spoiled, lazy, arrogant, failing fucking face. I am what I hate, an angry, spitting, yelling, tantrum throwing snapping turtle of a below average bastard. I did this to myself. I made this. I made this world I live in. It is time to walk away. It is time to go home.

“Why won’t you just let me go home? I really hate this!”

“Because we love the shit out of you!”

“I just can’t do this anymore…I just can’t”

“Fuck you, get up!!”

“No! I’m going home…”

“No you’re not! We all have lots of shit riding on this, riding on you! We believe in you! We know who you are, how fucked up you are, and we still love you!”

“No”

“Fuck your No! Boo…Hoo… Big boy had a bad day..”

“Bad for weeks”

“So what?!”

“So I just can’t take any more!”

“You’re not going anywhere no matter how much you can or can not take anyway”

“Whatever…why? What makes you so sure? Oooooh…the voice knows all…bullshit!”

“I know you are not going home because you have to get up before you can go home.”

“Fuck you”

SPLAT… That spitwadd hit me right in the forehead. I couldn’t do that again if I had 100 tries but in that moment it was perfect.

I deserved that.

I needed it.

Ok, I will get up again. It seems at times this is a sport of getting kicked in the fruits, throwing up, getting up again, and getting back to it. They really should change the name of this sport to “Getting Kicked in the Fruits 4 Days a Week Sport”.

Sorry for spitting in the gym.

Won’t happen again.

Kettle,

Today I am happy to announce that this April 14-15 MOVE FITNESS & TRAINING in bringing The Orange Kettlebell Club  to Spring Fitness in Hawaii for our first Certification Course!!

We have been working on this project for a long time. I am sure anyone who reads the blog knows that we have been all over the world studying kettlebell sport and teaching workshops. We have been to Russia to study with the IKSFA coaches 3 times since early 2010 and we have been in competitions across the US and Russia. We have been teaching workshops since 2007 and with our ongoing education and experiences with IKSFA and Coach Rudnev we have reached a point where we feel ready to raise our game.

We love this sport. We love the training that goes into it. We love what this adventure has done to us and for us. We want to do our best to help move it forward. We know that we have a lot of work to do and we are excited to get started!

We will do our absolute best to bring you a quality product. We will continue to train and coach and compete. We understand how important the process is. The training is the fire in the boiler. We need to keep that going. We need to push ourselves.

To anyone who is interested in attending our certification I can promise you this, when you are training for the test we are training too. When you are smashing yourself against the bells we are killing ourselves with you. We love it. It is what we do.

The Competition

We were thinking Hawaii…if that works for you guys

We are excited to hold the first OKC/IKSFA competition at Crossfit Oahu!!!

We will be awarding IKSFA Ranking up to Rank 1 (Sporting Perfection).

You can get more information at www.orangekettlebellclub.com

We love to compete! We know you guys love to compete! We are hoping to hold a few regional competitions this year. We are grateful to IKSFA for their tutelage, support, and guidance with this project. The IKSFA coaches have taken their time to teach us more than how to lift. They have taught us how to be sportsmen (we are trying!!) and how to represent the sport. We will do our best to make you all proud.

I’m gonna go now because I am super excited and I don’t want to ramble on.

Thank you for checking out the blog and the cert!

We hope to see you soon,

Kettle

Sorry all. Dolby got Juliet and I sick when we went to LA last weekend and I for one have been having trouble kicking this chest cold. (Thanks Chu-Hu!) BOOM!

That, along with our camera breaking has led me to this. I have no footage for the week. Which is ok because I have another thing I want to talk about.

Digging

You ever get the feeling that when someone comes to you they need coaching that doesn’t really have anything to do with kettle? I mean, it does, in the respect that they want to get in shape but sometimes it feels like more than that. I know when this happens it is my job to lay out a comprehensive blah blah to help them with their fitness blah and their aesthetic yawn ca-ching. It is my job. It is my least favorite part. I always keep thinking “why are you here?”

After attending Balboa University in the 80′s and then again in the 00′s for a little post grad work I can pass along this gem for sure…You can not buy your new you from me. It must come from you. You can’t buy your health from me either, sorry we are all out of that…check back next week. Did you want to buy a heart? Does this look like OZ?  I don’t even think you meant to ask that did you? Not knowing where to start is like being lost at sea. This is not Star Trek, I can not teleport you to the finish line. I don’t even sell gps. I do have some maps though, they are a little worn, and I don’t know exactly what they are maps of, but I’ll sell them if you want them…cheap.

It’s funny. These maps, they always get you to the beach, some beach, any beach, your beach (wherever the hell that is). You’ll be happy for a little while just to be off the ocean. You will be happy to have made that progress until you see the shovels. You didn’t expect the treasure to just be sitting there waiting for you did you? You are going to have to dig a little bit, maybe a little more than a little bit. Some people have to dig deeper than others to find what they are looking for.

Hey, at least the shovels a pretty new right? Lots of people have been to this beach. Lot’s of us have landed here but that shovel man…that shovel is sooo heavy…ughhh. People really hate that shovel. Most of them just pick it up for a minute and then drop it, get back on their raft and drift back off to sea. 

But you look like a digger. I bet you gonna rip right in it. You are almost there now. How deep could it be really? Digging, digging, digging, boy you are tunneling past some crazy stuff. You are getting pretty deep now, you can barely see the sun at the top of the tunnel any more. The light is just about gone. Is this the deepest you have ever dug? Have you found what you are looking for? Did you find your treasure?

You are all alone. There is only room for one down here. I promise you that. It gets lonely. When you are down that deep it will really get your gears turning. You start to think about what matters, who matters, why you are in this deep and what it is you are really looking for.

You keep digging. Eventually the light is gone. You have dug so deep that it is just you, your shovel, and your thoughts. “I must be near the center of the Earth by now.” “How long have I been digging?” You have to rest.

You have to dream.

When you wake up you will only want one thing…out. You want to feel the breeze on the beach. You want to feel the sun. At the very least you want to see the light. It is time to climb. You climb all day, all month, all year. It’s hot and dark and endless. It is different from the ocean though. You are not lost. You know what you need to do. Hand, foot, hand, foot…just keep going up. 

A white scratch.

That is all you needed to see. It is time to go. You just have to finish. You just have to get to the light. It is your whole life.

When you are in the hole. When you dig all the way down to your center. When the light goes away and you keep going…this is when you find what you are really looking for. I don’t know what it is about the digging. But it is not the boat or the beach or the shovel or the map (although they do help and they are all ON SALE right now for CHEAP at the okcblah blah blah), it is your will to use them. That’s it. No secret.

You’re back on the beach. You are out of the hole. Give it a second to let your eyes adjust. Give them a second to focus. Can you see which way to go now?

kettle,

This week was a fun week of training. A few of us were getting ready for another IKFF meet so our training was a little altered. Juliet Kyrsten and I Road tripped it down to LA on Friday to lift on Saturday and it was Super Fun! I want to thank Luke Sniewski and the crew at LEAF Fitness for putting on a great meet. The vibe was excellent and the people there were max fun. We got to see some of our friends and make some new ones. It was the first time I ever just did a snatch set during a comp but lifting was kind if a list minute decision and I want to stay on my training program so I tried to look at it as just another training day but in the end I still felt the good jitters before the set and I ended up eating it. I only got 95 reps total which is lower than any 5 min set I have done over the past few months. I really did earn the lousy result though. I have not been as locked in as I should be. I have been having a little trouble transitioning out of stage 5 but this weekend helped…A LOT! I saw the results of my friend John Lesko hitting his CMS this weekend (Congrats John!!) and that combined with my own poor result has helped me clear my mind of all distractions. I am ready to get back in the gym tomorrow and push myself away from the dinner table so to speak.

That being said…it was really great to get to lift and support some of the team and feel the energy of some up and coming lifters. Watching the sport grow is a real thrill! I am proud to be a part of it and I am happy that during one of the sets Juliets Camera was destroyed and the footage of my set was lost forever…so so sad…so very very sad…

We did however manage to salvage the video of Juliet hitting CMS in Long cycle. She really did walk into this set. She does not train long cycle and only had about 2 and a half weeks to prepare for this meet. She got 91 reps with the 20kg. I know it looks like a 24 but all the bells at Leaf Fitness are green. That aside they were nice bells. They have good handles and felt pretty balanced. I am sure people set PR’s with them and I think they are excellent for a gym if anyone needs to stock up (Contact Luke Sniewski at www.leaflifestyle.com if you are looking for quality bells in bulk at a good price).

Here is Juliet making a smash on the Kettle:

I know that some of the other sets were recorded by different people and I was thinking about waiting for them to post the sets before I wrote the blog but since it is called “The Sunday Blog” I figured I should get out what I could no matter what. I do have a few videos from the week of training. None of my stuff is here because I thought I would have my comp video and I didn’t bother recording my lifting but I do have a little treat. I kept the video rolling a little after the set and I think I got some cool stuff. I don’t know how long I can get away with this before the guys catch on and start hamming it up… but I think these are pretty real.

So, here is a set by Nazo from this week. I like the end around 8:40

Here is a vid of one of Juliet’s new students Rebecca with her first 10 min Jerk set with the 12. I caught some of her thoughts at the end of her set too. She has no idea LOL!!

And I got some footage of Sarah lifting after taking a little time off. She is kicking the rust off. My mom would say she talkes like a truck driver!

Also, my friend Mike Noritake wrote a super cool blog about the meet and OKC. You can see it here http://kettlebellsandsinglefins.tumblr.com/day/2012/01/22

I can’t wait to get some rest and kill it tomorrow at Juno!

Kettle,

one last thing… sometimes there is a lady named “Elle” who comments on my blog. My father really likes to read her comments, but I am a little worried. Juliet swears she is real but I don’t think she actually exists. I mean, she was supposed to be in LA and I brought her an OKC shirt and everything but she didn’t make it. Hmmmm…. something doesn’t add up. Stay tuned, I will get to the bottom of this!

I have not really posted any Jerk sets on the blog because I am embarrassed of my numbers. I have this mental block when it comes to Jerk and I am always stuck between 30-35 reps. This week I did ok on Monday. Wed was terrible and I crashed during the second set but Friday was a good day. I was happy with my pacing and I got 37 reps with the 28′s. I know this is not an earth shattering number of reps but it is a pr for me with the 28′s. I started to get excited once I got to 30 and lost my concentration a little bit and dropped them at 37. I was happy with the set but the normal emotions crept in afterward. “I could have done 40 but I quit”. It is what we call the “steady state” around here, no matter how good the set is it still sucked.

Juliet needed a little break from Biathlon and this weekend she is going to take a shot at Long Cycle. We have not trained long cycle in over a year and she has about 2 weeks to prepare for this competition so one of the things she is stuck doing this week is “clean with extra swing”. We use this drill to build grip strength and timing for the clean. It is a great drill to write on a program and a terrible drill to see on a program…Boom!

Nazo has been a blast to train with as she is working her way back to the platform! Most of you know about her time being stuck in Japan during the earthquake and it has been a long road…BUT SHE’S BACK BABY!!! She is working on long cycle and we are building up her strength with a 14kg in a 5×5 drill. 5 seconds in the rack then 5 seconds in the lockout. It’s nasty. It’s double nasty with two bells! She really guts it out on this set and puts up with a cheeky camera man as he keeps it rolling after the set!! Chu-Hi!!

This is my snatch set from Wed. It is 32kg snatch+extra swing. Coach Rudnev is a mean man. Doesn’t he know I’m out of shape?! Well, I’m in shape if the shape is round! Anyway…I survived and finished the set. I have been working on my backswing because I get lazy and let the bell bend behind me. Apparently I think I am so big and strong that I can get away with being lazy...nyet. You can see in the beginning I am bending around the back badly. I try to get every rep clean but I still have much practice ahead. Coach calls this “A major flaw” in my technique. He is right naturally. I am working on it.

My student JT Killed his 10 min Long Cycle set in Hawaii with 65 reps in 10 min with 24kgs! I am very proud of him!!

And in Singapore my student Ian did a great set of 40 reps in 5 min with the 20′s Long Cycle. Ian has come such a long way and I am proud of him as well. What a great student and friend!

Next week I hope to get some footage of Dolby, Salemi, and Sarah up here…Stay Tuned

kettle,

Now the training is back and it fits a little too snugly around the thighs if you get my drift.

Stage 5 was epic. 4 weeks on the road in Japan and a 4 city tour. Did you know that in Japan they have all you can eat and drink menus? It’s a preset price and they just keep feeding you food and Chu-Hi hour after hour?

Needless to say I am fat. Fat fatty fatpants fat. Fatter than normal that’s for sure, but it was worth every last sip I do promise you!

Now I am dealing with the repercussions of sweet, beautiful excess. I am struggling through my training with this softer body and it is not fun. *

My wind is not what it should be and my rack has regressed.  That being said Coach Rudnev did pull me aside in Detroit and explain to me that I was still bending in my backswing and if I do not fix this error he would…eh…eh…kill me.

So I have been working on that.

Every rep has to be a good one. Not just the fixation but the backswing, breathing, acceleration pull, and insertion. Going into Detroit I got onto this speed kick. For example, if I had to finish my workout with 100/100 glove snatches I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible and in a dominant way. This was a change from my “just hold on for ten minutes” attitude that I had in the middle of last year. I was cranking out reps at light speed but I was letting my technique go and using my strength to lift. This was great for my wind because the bell was a 16kg or a 20 kg but when I switched back to the 32kg bell there was less than ideal transfer. I had been practicing sloppy reps.

See…Here is me with a 30kg rushing and getting sloppy

So I have been working on that.

Every rep, every set, has to be perfect. My speed is down a little but I can feel my technique improving. I am still out of shape and that slows me down but I am getting fitter every day. The diet is getting better. The running is getting better. The reps are getting better. It is all starting to come together.

Next weekend I will be in Los Angeles at the IKFF competition. I had not planned on competing this early, I am really looking more towards May, but the OKC has a few lifters going and I couldn’t miss it! I am just going to do a snatch set and stay on my program. It will be fun (I think). It will be a good early test for me to see if the month of work I put in on my tech has been paying off or not. I think it has but we will see.

Kettle,

* This is not to say it was not fun to soften up this body. It was fun. IT WAS MAXIMUM FUN!! I needed it and I am happy I did it. You can’t even imagine the footage Nazo has of Jason and I in Osaka tearing apart a whole floor of the hotel from our room to the elevators in cowboy hats and Kimonos with wooden swords and countless Chu-Hi’s! We can’t post it but if you see her ask her to see it, she has it at hand ALL OF THE FREAKING TIME”.

I needed a little quiet.

Last year was a wild one for me. Not that it was more stressful or harder than any other year. And I am not saying that it was more challenging than your year or the year Nazo had, or the year my neighbor had, but for me it was a time of change.

I knew it was going to be. I put myself out there and I knew there would be interaction with others. I wanted to make it a regular thing. I wanted to be more of a public guy. I thought it would be good for me, and it was, I think.

It started with the Siberia trip. I loved that. I trained so hard and it was really a leap into the unknown for me. Thank you Aleks and Coach Rudnev.

I was in the frozen river man. I went to Siberia in February and I touched it. It was like when I went to Africa and I had to touch the dirt, I had to touch it. I had to take my shoes off and feel that dirt between my toes. I’m big John from Long Island, what am I doing in Africa? Siberia? 100 years ago this never could have happened. But it did happen so I can check those boxes off now.

Far off places between my toes…check.

Last year I learned what it was to train. Training with success and through failure. Training when I am tired or cranky or sore or manic. Training even on the days my mind broke. Training my head, training my body and my heart. Training with Dolby and Nazo and Juliet.

I got to compete in Russia twice last year. I earned it in the only way I could, I showed up.

I entered a tournament knowing I was going to lose to a guy I didn’t like. He knew he was going to beat me. It was a strange emotion.  He beat me. I didn’t like it, but I took it.

I coached my team all year and I am so proud of all of you. I am proud of your students. I am proud that I played a role in what you are becoming. All of you.

We did the One Hour Long Cycle Charity event for the second time and we raised around $6000 for Japan Relief. Nazo was stuck in Japan during the earthquake. It was not good. It was not easy. So many of you came out to lift and support the cause. Thank you so much!

We went to Detroit. We focused on that meet since February. As we got closer to the meet I started withdrawing. I stopped blogging and we were not even teaching workshops. It was just training and recovering. That was it. Looking at my blog now I realize I did not even report on the results of the OHLC. I just couldn’t do anything other than train. I really let my business go. The funny thing is with Juno’s help I ended up with more clients than I had before the training got deep. For some reason I guess people are attracted to you when you are eating it as hard as they are.

The team Killed in Detroit. I did not hit what I wanted to but I did not crap all over myself either so I will take it and build on it. Met a few cool people and got to reconnect with some old friends. It was great.

Straight to Japan again from there for 6 events in 4 weeks including Japan’s first GS tournament. It was stage five part one. We were still focusing on Kettle teaching and lifting but we did not have numbers to hit. Just that ability to relax was huge for us. We needed it so badly. We had been locked on for almost a year non-stop.

After Japan I got a week of real, true stage 5 BOOM!! I got fat and slept in and really got away.

3 weeks ago I got back on the training horse.

2 weeks ago I really gave it my best effort.

Last week it started working and I am pleased with the progress.

Tomorrow the diet tightens up and the weight will come off again. It is going to be a big year with some big goals.

I am starting a new thing on my blog (new to my blog but surely not to the universe). Nazo, Juliet and I train together at Juno. Sometimes Sarah and Mike are there. Sometimes Dolby comes up or Rebecca stops by to lift. You never know who is coming by. I will write about the week of training on Sundays. I have creatively titled this “The Sunday Blog”.

So since the last few weeks have been about Quiet, I do not really have anything to say about training or to show you about training this week. I am just writing to write I guess. It has been a long time since I have done that

It feels good, like a far off place between my toes.

Kettle,