Settling in to the Big City

After a solid 50 hours of training in two weeks of camp Caitlin and I are enjoying three weeks at home in Minneapolis. The three weeks here at home is the longest we have been in one place since April.

With an easy recovery week of training I was able to visit the Jerry Gamble Northside Boys and Girls Club every day. Although I am certainly the only red head at the Club it has bee great to be with the kids consistently so that they know that I am not just some random skier guy.

Cooling off and enjoying the fountain at the Mississippi Regional Park

Alexandria and Paige warming themselves up after a big splashing war

The neighborhood kids stop over every day to practice street skiing. It seems like every time I open the door there are a few kids standing there waiting to see if they can practice street skiing. They are getting pretty good at going around the block and it is fun to start and end many workouts with a few cheers.

There is still plenty of work to do around the house here, but the kids have been happy to help out. Gerry and Quinn came over and we picked up all of the sticks and branches from our house and the neighbors house. One of our neighbors has three little girls but the yard was so full of sticks and trash that they were never able to play in it. Not it looks great.

Gerry earned a pair of Salomon running shoes for his neighborly service.

Obstacle Course Races

Practicing Back Flips

Foosball is a serious game at the Club

Afternoon field trip to the Roller Garden. We had 78 kids on roller skates

Can 90 Kids Play Dodge-ball at Once?

Basketball is king at the North Minneapolis Boys and Girls Club. We have six hoops and ten balls and there is always a game being played.

Alison teaching me a few things about Basketball. Research has said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something and the kids at the club are working their way there shooting hoops.

I have some practice still to make with my shooting, but I have been able to teach the kids the importance of being fit and moving on the court. We have also been working on playing fair and honest.

We close the gym down after snack each day to play some sort of new or different game. This week we played the largest game of dodge-ball I have ever played. It was awesome. We had about 45 on 45, but there is a good chance there was more than that. Everyone had a blast.

It is Hot and Humid out so most of our activities have been outside. The LCO Club made their annual trip to the zoo and I met up with the crew to show them around and share with them my love of animals. The Minnesota Zoo has a new Penguin exhibit which was a big hit. It was the first time anyone in my group had seen a penguin. Of course we spent a lot of time in the fountain to keep cool.

Yes, that is a tiger. Only 400 Amur Tigers live in the wild according to a 2005 survey. It is important that we do our part to be good the environment and help protect animals.

So, I fed a Polar Bear last weekend.

I had the coolest Birthday surprise a few weeks ago for my golden birthday...

"Congratilations to our Lake Superior Zoo's chapter of the AAZK for hosting it's first behind-the-scenes tour a a fundraiser.

The tour was a birthday surprise for Olympic cross country skier Caitlin Compton's husband Brian and his twin brother Chad. Several family members also attended the tour and are now big fans of Berlin. Caitlin and Brian want to revisit the zoo in winter and help AAZK plan a children's cross country skiing event to benefit Polar Bears International"

The behind the scenes tour with Berlin, the bear, begins before the zoo opens to the public. This alone is awesome because most all of the animals are most active in the early morning. The Polar Bear is my favorite animal and we were able to get up close and watch her get fed and work with her trainer Marcie. Additionally we were able to go inside her habitat and set up her daily enrichment. We decorated a big plastic ice berg as a birthday cake with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, mackerel, hamburger and your standard polar chow.

Thank you Caitlin for setting up this once in a lifetime experience. It has been a hot week here in the Midwest. Berlin is not the only one thinking of snow and colder days to come.

Staying Cool at the Boys and Girls Club.

The slip and slide was taken to a whole new level this year.

Having Fun and Getting Strong

Over the past few years we have added some new exercises to our strength training routines. Some of these exercises are pretty cool and pretty fun. I decided to share some of the exercises with the kids at the LCO Boys and Girls Club

The old LCO Boys and Girls Club has been converted in to a mix martial arts training center. Nothing fancy, but everything is there that you might need to work out hard. These giant ropes are great simulations to double pole.

Monster Tire Lift... same motion as a dead lift

Wheel-barrow racing. It is important to make exercise fun, especially at a younger age.

How many of you can do a handstand push up?

The kids thought it was even cooler to do a handstand push up without hands. Luckily Santi was there to help hold the kids up.

5km PR!

It has been a whirlwind last two months. Moving, buying a fixer upper house, and getting married has proven to be a bit of a distraction on my otherwise consistant and solid training. The wedding celebration is now complete and we now have a fully functioning house.

The shower was our last major repair. It is hard to realize the importance of a shower, until you don't have one. Thanks to Kevin, Evan and Matt I was able to use their knowledge to get everything leak free and looking good.

Saturday marked my annual June running assesment at the Musky Fest 5k. My performances in this race have come a long ways. From a 17:05 in my first one to last years 16:04. I was pretty nervous about the race because I haven't done nearly as much running or running intervals. Plus all the distractions in my life have certainly impacted my training. Thankfully I have a very smart wife and coaches. They have helped me coordinate my training so that I am training smart, albeit slightly less than normal.

When I have been traiing it has been very good. This must have all paid off, because I set a Personal Best by running 2 seconds faster than last year. I am super excited about this. I think this married life is good for me. I am now undefeated in every race I have done with a ring on my left hand.

Watch for the next blog post, Chad and I are off to go see the polar bears for our golden birthday.

First Canoe of the Season

Our New House