By Dave Fowler                  TeamBrauns.com Athlete

I guess I will start my 1st blog by giving a little background on my journey to this point in my overall fitness and cycling. Approx 15 years ago I was working out somewhat regularly but had no real direction other than to stay in reasonable shape. A neighbour friend told me about triathlons and how he was enjoying participating. The change of pace was very appealing. I was an avid NON runner but thought I would give it a go, had a mountain bike and couldn’t swim fast but wouldn’t drown either. With that I started to train in these 3 sports. I entered my 1st Try-a-Tri and was immediately hooked. The atmosphere was inspiring and the competition was addictive even though I don’t remember where I finished in that first race.

At the time, life was very busy with 3 kids under the age of 6, balancing a career and trying to fit in time to train. I’m not sure if I always was a morning guy but I quickly became one out of necessity. Early morning rides, runs and swims became a regular part of my week. I saw gains even though I had a remedial knowledge of training in 3 sports. That said I was having a blast and I would enter a few races a year from that point on. The last few years I have eliminated the swim and have been able to compete in duathlons. I have also done 2 marathons and qualified for Boston but missed racing due to an injury.

One of the main things I have come to realize over my years of training and competing is that the true joy and satisfaction for me has been in the journey. The time and effort you put forth preparing to race. Don’t get me wrong, race day is a blast and you are able to achieve levels you simply can’t get to in your day to day workouts. And did I say before competing is addictive!

Fast forward to today. My oldest son is 18, work is still busy and I love the mornings. I have joined the Braun’s cycling team this year and I’m currently utilizing their SPEEDFactory for my coaching and training program. This has absolutely changed my view of training and truly works on the basis of quality Vs quantity. I have been able to cut down my training time considerably and increased my fitness levels in the process. My power output has increased 13% in the first 60 days!! Needless to say I’m excited to see these results and working with Winston has provided a wealth of expertise and knowledge in addition to my fitness gains.

I’m ready to plan my race schedule for 2012 and look forward to road racing as a new addition to my goals for competing this year.

Until next time…..carpe diem!