The New Year...

Rather than set resolutions for the new year, I prefer to reflect on the passing year and see what I've learned. Then I take those learnings and adjust things in life to ensure I'm leading the best possible lifestyle for me.

The biggest lesson of last year was living in the present moment. This one little task changed my life profoundly. It enabled me to have the best race ever, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, and it helped me better cope with some of lifes more difficult times, such as losing my furry friend Milo and my car accident. In general I feel much more calm about life - it's a glorious feeling after spending the former 37 years having a gerbil on a treadmill in my brain! (He's still there by the way, but he's now under control.)

The second biggest lesson I learned was that I need to work more on having a balanced lifestyle. In the first half of 2006 I found that all I did was train, commute, work, eat and sleep. My fitness was at it's peak during this time, but I didn't have balance in that I had no social life and I felt I had no time for other activities.

The latter half of last year was the opposite. I was focussed on courses I was taking, investigating, then grabbing, the opportunity to start my own business, organizing a fundraiser for a friend, and dealing with a car accident. What all this meant was I was too busy and too tired to workout regularly. I also lost control of my eating. The end result, I am 15lbs overweight and I feel as if I've taken a step back in my fitness.

I'm not complaining at all about this though. This is how we learn. When things aren't how you want them to be you take a step back, analyze it, and see what can be done to improve it. So that's what I've done.

The biggest change for me this year is that starting January 1 I became my own company. I can now work from my home the majority of time, which means no commuting and a gain of 12 hours a week! I'm so stoked about that. This will allow me time to work, train, socialize and have some down time. In other words, better balance in life.

So with all this time and a focus on better life balance I have realized there are some lifestyle changes that I hope will occur:

• Better eating habits - for the most part I eat well, but I just eat too much!
• Time for meditation - the times that I have meditated I always feel refreshed and stronger mentally after.
• Swim, bike and run, and other things - I would like to spice up my training more this year and add in more cross country skiing, mountain biking and trail running as well as other workouts using the P90X DVDs.
• Maintain my fitness in the off season - this one will have to wait as I have 11 months of training ahead of me. I am going to really focus on continuing with my training after my races though.

I am truly excited for this new year. It will be a continuation of the positive changes made last year and it will be full of new learning experiences that will enable me to grow in future. For that I say 'HOOOYAAAAH!!'.

Peace out my lovely friends!