Happy Fathers Day!!

Just wanted to say Happy Fathers Day to all the dads and congratulations for being there for your kids. we've always appreciated it even if we were brats or still are!

So I've been really thinking about things in my life and came across an article my manager had me read a few months ago. It was an article about great leaders and what makes them great. Apparently there has been very little empirical research done on this subject, only stuff you see in the book stores or on TV. The article was written by a group that has recently finished a study over the last 15 years of managerial traits and what makes people great managers, leaders, mothers, fathers and humans. They found that people that focus on the things that they are really good at turn out to the be the people that are the most successful and happy. The people that try to be good at everything or really bang their heads against the wall tend to be the folks with the least growth.

What struck me about this article is that it spoke very logically about succeeding on your strengths and not your weaknesses. It also shined a light on some things I've been doing in my life. I've been avoiding a lot of my strengths and focusing on a lot of my weaknesses. Interesting thought right? I've been trying BFL, Couch to 5k and other fitness related challeges with marked success at the time but I was never able to sustain my workouts and fitness over a long period of time. What does it mean? Why can't I do these things? Am I an idiot or am I lazy? Maybe I'm hard headed?

I don't think it was any of those things. I think it was just not listening to my intuition about a great many things in my life. I used to write all the time and I loved it. Yes I don't anymore...yet I have the yearning to. So I've been doing that a little bit at a time and I've found that I really enjoy it now as much as I used to. I'm also realizing that I'm probably not a great technical support engineer but I'm a damn good people person that has a broad technical background. Why have I been spending all my time trying to be more technical instead of going into product marketing or product management instead? Then the other day after lazing around trying to figure out the newest fitness fad it hit me...why the HELL did I ever stop swimming? Seriously? I was a great swimmer, it left me with great stamina, great muscle tone and a flat stomach!! Again...why was I always running in a different direction than where my strengths were leading me? Who knows. But I'm starting to realize that I'm needing to stop running and jump right back into what I'm good at.

So this week I got back in the pool. Guess what? I'm sucking wind!! But my stroke and conditioning as far as the overall swimming goes are nearly intact from the last few times I swam and certainly not far off my competition form. In fact I was in the pool not just keeping up, but to be honest, SMOKING the other swimmers that probably do lap swimming every week!! It was definitely a great motivator and most importantly it felt natural and like something I had been missing. Almost like an emabrace, a loving hug from a friend I hadn't seen in a while. Plus I miss the smell of Chlorine strangely enough! Am I still needing to get back into swimming shape? YOU BETCHA!! But I'm not hurting in my back and knees like I do when I run, I'm not feeling my tendons swell like I do on the weights and I'm actually enjoying the workout for the way I feel during the workout instead of seeing the workout as a means to an end. It's relaxing and invigorating and I hope that I keep it up.

So my workouts so far have been:

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Friday:

Warm up:

6x25 Yard Freestyle (10-20% Effort) :20 rest between each 25

Drill/Kick/Pull Set:

2x50 Kick (20-30% Effort) :20 Rest between each 50
2x25 Pull (20-30% Effort) :20 Rest between each 25

Main Set:

1x25 (40% Effort) :20 rest
1x75 (70% Effort) :20 rest
1x25 (40% Effort) :20 rest
1x50 (70% Effort) :20 rest
1x25 (40% Effort) :20 rest
1x25 (70% Effort) :20 rest

Cool Down:

3x25 (10% Effort) :20 Rest between each 25

Total Yardage: 600 Yards

Sunday:

Warm Up:

2x50 (10-20% Effort) :20 Sec rest between 50

Drill set:

2x75 Stroke Drills with Pull Buoys (20-30% Effort) :20 Rest between 75
(1x25 Right arm drills, 1x25 Left Arm Drills, 1x25 Both arms and focus on technique)

2x50 Kick (20-30% Effort) :20 rest between 50

Main Set:

1x25 Butterfly (60-70% Effort) :20 rest
1x50 Backstroke (60-70% Effort) :20 rest
1x75 Breaststroke (60-70% Effort) :20 rest
1x100 Freestyle (60-70% Effort) :20 rest

Cool Down:

4x25 Free (10% Effort) :20 Rest Between 25

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So I'm happy with my workouts so far. They take me about 20-30 minutes to complete and I don't even think about the time. I'm not clock watching or worrying about when I'm going to be done. I just do it. I bought a great book that was authored by Janet Evans, the gold medalist from the 88,92 and 96 Olympic Teams and she provides some excellent workouts for people just getting back into the people all the way up to swimmers looking to compete at the international level. It's not a great book for technique but it's a fantastic book to design your workouts and build a swimming base from.

And no I didn't forget...today we have a little Father's Day Trivia!!

1. This Academy Award Winning Actor is the father to Angelina Jolie and grandfather to Maddox and Zahara.

2. This Father-Son tandem hit back-to-back home runs on September 14, 1990.

3. This 1993 film starred Daniel Day Lewis and Pete Postlewhite as a father and son wrongly accused and and imprisoned together for their roles in the IRA bombing of the 1970s. What is the name of the movie?

4. Okay this one is an easy one for Lori :) Liv Tyler is the daugher of Bebe Buell and what famous American Rock n Roll star?

5. What is the name of Superman's Father?


And the Bonus Question:

This famous actor who once played Superman's Father is in fact the father or Singer/Model/Media Bozo...Courtney Love.

Have a great Fathers Day!