The Trail Store

I wanted to post something today about the Trail Store in Louisville closing.  I saw today on Facebook that the owners of The Trail Store are closing their doors.  That stinks.  

For those of you that don't know, The Trail Store is a locally owned business that specializes in all things outside.  More specifically, it focuses on outdoor fitness such as hiking, camping, trail running, and all that kinds of stuff.  It is very similar to Quest, which we also have here in Louisville.  Last year I got involved briefly with The Trail Store with one of their trail races, which I blogged about sometime in August I believe.  I was looking forward to running in their trail series again this year and actually doing all of the races they offer.  I was going to become a regular patron of theirs as I prepared for these races.  I've decided that I really like trail running and these guys were a local business that I felt I could relate to.  Unfortunately though it seems they just didn't get enough business.  The large chain Quest has won the market of outdoor activities and seem to be growing.  That's too bad because I am a big fan of local business and patronizing businesses that reinvest in the community.  The guys at The Trail Store seemed to do that.  Their running series was a great thing and they said they plan on continuing that this year.  I hope so.  That was going to be my main Forever an Athlete project this year.  Hopefully I can still compete in all of the planned races, it's just too bad I will have to go to some other store to buy what's needed to prepare.  

This is written not so much as a diary of my quest to be forever an athlete but more of my plead to support the things you like and support the locally grown small businesses of the community that make your community unique.  The Trail Store was that and I'm sure I could've shopped there more often for my sporting needs.  I should have and I apologize to them that I didn't.  If you have that business that is locally grown that you don't want to see shut down, make sure you visit them soon and show them how much you appreciate them and what they do.  The last thing you want is for them to go away and be stuck with the chain store that couldn't care less about you or the community.  

2012 goals

New Year's resolutions are stupid.  But I am quite the goal setter.  If you don't have goals, you're just spinning your wheels in a directionless path.  Anyway, I wear many hats.  I have a budding business with Voltage Strength & Performance, I'm forever an athlete (get it?  That's the name here, get it?), and most importantly I'm a husband and father.  So that's how my goals will be broken down here.

Voltage Goals:

• I will build the Triple Crown Training Team and have 100% success rate for all participants
• I will build up social awareness through the use of Facebook, this blog, Twitter, my training at JCC, and the Triple Crown Training Team.
• I will create another running team that focuses on trail running and I will have a team run in all of the trail races sponsored by the Louisville Trail Store. 
• I will read 2 strength & conditioning articles every week. 

Forever an Athlete Goals:

• I will rehab my shoulder and get it to the best it's been in 5 years.
• I will run in my 2nd marathon in Nashville with my wonderful niece Dani.
• I will run in all of the Trail Store trail races.
• I will foam roll / rolling stick / stretch every single day.

Husband / Father Goals:

• I will make sure my wife knows she's the most beautiful woman on the planet. 
• I will do all of the Cub Scouts activities with Abe and Eli and not complain.
• I will go on a date with my wife once per month (it's not as easy as it sounds).
• I will take read Abe and Eli the Bible two days out of the week.
• I will continue to set an example to Abe and Eli on how to respect and treat women through my actions and treatment of their mother.  

I'm sure I'll add to this list throughout the year.  As with any goal, they can always get added to or modified.  Be thinking about your own goals and what you want to accomplish.  Again, it's better than just spinning your wheels with no direction to go.  

I'm putting my wife to sleep

Tonight's blog is being written for the sole purpose of putting my wife to sleep.  You see, she gets insane relaxation when she hears the white noise of typing.  And she says I breathe a certain way when I type also.  She really wants to go to sleep and she insisted on me writing in my blog tonight so here it is.  I would tell her that she'd be able to go to sleep a whole lot easier if she would put her phone down and stop answering text messages, but what do I know.

This is the beginning of the year and we all know what that means.  Big box, commercial, globo-gyms will be absolutely packed to the rafters with new people wanting to come in, start their New Year's resolutions, and take up space as they aimlessly wonder about through the gym without knowing where they are going or what they are doing.  So to help them in their quest to become magically fit in the next 30 -60 days before their motivation runs out and they stop coming, I am putting out a list of simple gym etiquette they need to follow.  If you are one of these members, please follow this list and do not stray far from it.

1. Please know that the treadmill can go faster than 2.0 mph.  It really can.  Most of the treadmills go up to 10, maybe 12 mph.  It even has an incline that you can use to simulate walking a hill.  You may not need this yet, but should you choose to stay past the initial 30-60 days of your membership, you may try this out.  Please do not be afraid of going 2.5, 3.0, or maybe even 3.5 mph on the treadmill.  You will get better results if you move more.  
2. If you are 40 and you haven't lifted a weight since you were the star of your high school football team, please do not jump on the squat rack and decide your going to do what your idiot coach in high school told you to do because you think you are just as strong now as you were then.  After all, you're a man now!  If you do that, you will hurt yourself.  Not maybe, you will.  Start with bodyweight squats, maybe go to the hip sled with some light weights.  And please, for the love of God, if you insist on using the squat rack, only do squats there.  If I see you do curls on that thing I will throw a kettlebell at you.  You've been warned.  
3. Please shower.  I realize the gym is a melting pot of many different cultures, lifestyles, races, and nationalities.  That's great, I'm glad to see so many people catch that fitness bug.  But please shower.  Use some form of deodorant, soap, something.  When the treadmills are literally 4 inches from each other and the free weight area has benches that are about 4 feet from each other, every scent, odor, aroma, funk, whatever coming out of your body is seeped into the air and whiffed by everyone in a 10 foot radius, if not more.  The gym can be a sweaty place anyway.  Please don't make it worse.  Conversely, if you are into perfumes/colognes, wait until after you are done.  That can be just as bad.  
4. Finally, if you don't know how to use something, ask one of the staff.  NOT THE GUY NEXT TO YOU.  He is trying to get his workout in and become the buff beast he see's in Muscle and Fitness magazine.  He's not there to help you.  The staff is.  Talk to them.  If they are not available, which is possible, find someone at the front desk.  But please do not have another gym goer show you how to adjust the seated biceps curl machine.  

I could come up with a list a lot longer than this but I think my wife is finally asleep.   Hopefully now I can get back to my Monday Night Raw updates.  Yes, I am that big of a nerd.  Shut up.

Happy New Year from Voltage Strength & Performance

I wanted to take a few minutes to simply say Happy New Year.

Personally, 2011 was quite a memorable year for me.  I started this blog to document my quest in never giving up my status as an athlete.  I ran my first marathon which is a huge accomplishment for a quick twitch fiber guy like myself.  But as science proves, the older we get the higher the ratio gets of slow twitch to fast twitch.  Also, I have found that running provides a way to clear the head and have a bit of time to myself and think about absolutely nothing.  I like that.  This year was the year that I also discovered trail running.  I had done a couple of mud runs in previous years so I had a bit of a taste.  But I really got into it this year and I am hoping to use 2012 as a year to really entrench myself in trails.  This is going to be a lot of fun.  On a somewhat related note to the trails, I ran my second Warrior Dash this year with my good buddy Justin.  A great time was had but unfortunately I lost my wedding ring in the final mud pit.  Booooooo!  2011 was also the year I opted for my third shoulder surgery.  This time it was a rotator cuff tear on my right shoulder.   I'm still healing from it and haven't been able to do much strength training lately.  That sucks.  Atrophy has set in and I have lost about 7 lbs. in the last 2 months.  And not the good 7 lbs I might add.

Professionally, this was a year that saw me start Guerrilla Bootcamp.  This was a lot of fun and I had a few steady guerrillas show up every week.  While I was doing this, I noticed just how many other bootcamps were going on in the Louisville area at the same time.  I have a feeling that the bootcamp balloon will soon burst due to the saturation of the amount of camps available.  This tells me I need to develop a bit of different camp and other revenue streams in order to stay on the front of the list of best possible options for those wanting to be more fit.  I started doing some part time personal training at the Jewish Community Center in Louisville also.  I just started in December and am in the process of building up my clientele.  I'm looking forward to creating bigger presence at JCC and building the Voltage brand.

2012 is looking very promising so far.  I have a Triple Crown Training Team starting on January 14.  This will meet once per week every Saturday and will also include emails and possibly videos.  It's going to be exciting.  I've got 10 people signed up already and I'm looking forward to getting started.  I going to get signed up for the Nashville Country Music Marathon with my wonderful niece Dani.  It'll be her first half marathon and my second full marathon.  I am also looking forward to running the entire trail race series here in Louisville.  Maybe I'll throw in a kickball league or something like that.  Either way, 2012 is going to be yet another stepping stone in establishing Voltage as a great team to train with and finding new events for me to do.  Stay posted and I look forward to talking all about it.