What a great year it has been. I was sober throughout 2014. I started a new business called 10x Traction Wellness. I finished my first 100 mile foot race after three years and three attempts. I invested in my own development with the School of Greatness Academy. Career Integrated Wellness has continued to turn into the vision I had for the program. I completed my first ultra ski race in February. I've reflected and refined my vision for my professional career going forward. I spent 10 days in Canada fishing with my Father and friends. I flew to Los Angeles in May, reconnected with an old friend and participated in a personal growth experience that has changed my life. I lived 2014 with fewer boundaries than I had ever lived before. I explored running an online business, created my first product and made a few sales.

Those are just a few of the highlights from 2014. I am truly blessed with the life that I have and I thank God for my blessings.

Late in 2014 I've worked hard to create online products so that my experience and education can be shared with more than I can work with individually. I've improved at scheduling and being efficient with my time. I've gotten better at articulating my vision in all areas of my life. I have begun to understand the unique experiences that I have and I've begun to share the lessons I've learned from those experiences with the world.

I look forward to an even more productive, satisfying and blessed 2015. I'm excited to sit down and write down my goals and objectives for the next 12 months.

Thank you all for your support. I would not be positioned where I am without it.

I hope you take the time to think about the good things that happened in 2014. Then shift from thinking about all of the amazing things that you were blessed with last year into what you want to create in the next year. I'll be sharing my vision and objectives for 2015 in the next week or two and I look forward to hearing about your plans for the new year.

What is important to us? What do we want to create? How do we want to spend our time what do we want to look back at the end of 2015 and be glad that we had accomplished? What will we be proud that we had given everything we had to achieving?

Dream big y'all and then make it happen!

Jon Howard - Husband and Father of 3 | Ultra Endurance Athlete | Entrepreneur

So, I’ve shared with you about my summer events.  I’ve shared with you my three times per week workout schedule leading up to ski season.  It’s about to get warm here in Minnesota but I feel the time is right to map out my ski training schedule. 

Keep in mind; I do not race for time.  My purpose in competing is to motivate me to stay in shape and it gives me the opportunity to be inspired by so many amazing people.  In turn, I’m hopefully able to inspire others by sharing my stories and adventures.  There is nothing special about what I’m doing.  I wake up, have breakfast, play with kids, go to work, eat a snack, work a bit, eat lunch, finish my daily work, eat a snack, drive all over town picking up kids, etc, then train and eat supper with my family.  There are weekend days when I wake up at 5:00 to train.  Sometimes I don’t want to, but that’s why I pick an event.  The end game motivates me and once I decide I’m in, I commit and honor that commitment.  There is really no magic formula or special equation to the process. 

Once I create this schedule, I’m not married to it.  If there is a day that something comes up where there really isn’t time or my workout doesn’t fit into my daily rhythm, I’ll fit something in until I’m able to commit more time and energy to it.  When I settle into a good workout and get in rhythm that way, it is beautiful.  I’m at peace.  Part of that is because I don’t feel like I have to.  Up until a month ago, I’ve been working in other areas giving them more attention.  Namely, creating amazing things to serve you with and getting closer to a relaunch of my entire brand.  That will continue and now that my business canvas is in place for years to come, I’ll continue to work that out as I integrate ultra-training into my block schedule. 

For the next few months, until the middle of March, competition will drive me.  I always look forward to settling into that competitive rhythm.  I like sharing my adventures with you and it inspires me to share.  My hope is that something I come to you with will inspire you to pursue your dreams.  Living a healthy life has impacted me so deeply that I feel the need to share the gift of health with others. 

Here we go:

This training will mirror ultra-marathon training.  The distances are 50 – 58k and it will take between four and six hours to complete each one.  I’ll create a rough schedule for recovery into competition but will be flexible and listen to my body.

It’s going to warm up for the next week or so meaning I’ll ski for the next couple of days, then schedule in more dry land and ski when the opportunity presents itself.  By the first of the year the snow should be good to go.  Most of my training will be at Elm Creek.  Some at Hyland for variety and I’ll explore two other tracks to add variety to my training. 

The rest of December will consist of 30 – 60 minute ski sessions during the week, blocked when possible on back to back days.  By the end of the month I’ll be up to a two hour base.  My focus will stay the same with the dry land workouts I’ve already created and I’ll spend more time on the treadmill doing hills for cardio.

In January I’ll ski more with the first event being on February 7th.  Once that event happens I’ll settle into a healthy recover/race rhythm.  By two weeks prior to that event, I’ll complete a three hour on Saturday followed by a two hour on Sunday.  From the end of December to the end of January I’ll build to that block gradually adding blocks during the week when it fits.  Recovery will be vital and the foam roller will be my friend.

I’ll visit the chiropractor one to two times per week and stretch after I ski.  I want to be lighter and will gradually lose weight as my exercise becomes more intense.  I’m not on a weight loss kick.  If I can get down to 190-195 by race day, that will be perfect from the 205 I weigh now. 

Jan 26 – Feb 6 / focus on technique and work dry land.  This is a “taper” recovery focus so I’m brining everything to the table on the 7th, 14th, 21, and March 7th again. 

Jan 25 – two hour ski morning, 30 minute ski evening cool down
Jan 24 – three hour ski

Jan 18 – two hour ski
Jan 17 – two hour ski

Jan 11 – 90 minute ski
Jan 10 – two hour ski

Jan 4 – two hour ski
Jan 3 – 60 minute ski

Dec 28 – two hour ski
Dec 27 – 60 minute ski

During the week, depending on snow conditions and following day schedule I’ll try and ski in the evenings.  I might be able to get a few in during the day.  I facilitate workouts twice a week and have a few clients outside of that so I might be able to exercise with them a time or two as I integrate wellness into my career.

I know it’s simple, but I’ll look back on this simple plan and map out my training.  This plan does not address nutrition.  I know this will be somewhat of a challenge with the holidays coming but I’ll find a good balance between treats and not.  Ultimately I will not completely deprive myself of wonderful deserts that my family has been cooking since I was a young boy.  I say eat it.  Eat it in moderation and anyone that knows me knows it’s not easy for me to do.  Events help keep me focused and dialed in on my eating, my sleep and it helps me manage stress and be the best I can be.

Thank you for allowing me to share my journey with you and I’m grateful for the investment of your time that you’ve taken to keep up with what’s going on in my life.  I hope that in some way, I’ve been able to inspire you to dream big and pursue your passions.  Never settle for where you are, especially if your desire is to be somewhere else.  Create the tomorrow of your dreams.  No one is going to do it for you.  The good news is that we all have choices that we make every day that either get us closer to our dream day or further away.  I don’t always choose closer but I am aware of that choice every day and do things in my life that put me in a position to choose passion, desire and purpose. 

Please share your plans with me.  I’d love to be an even more personal part of your story.

Jon

Program design writing

It helps me to share this information with you.  It keeps me accountable and I enjoy sharing my years of programming experience with you.  Here is a snapshot into how I go about designing a phase of my training.  The way I write this is very to the point and some of the wording might be a bit confusing.  I plan to take some video of how these exercises are executed as I execute them and when I do, I’ll share them with you.

Ski Ready Program:  in the gym

Lunge
Balance
Shoulder strength/endurance
Core
Full body fitness

HIIT – kettlebells, Prowler, Ropes

Band shoulder circuit – ext rot, int rot, fly, rev fly, top down pulse, from front pulse, from low front posterior, from low back anterior, from high front posterior, from high back anterior (told you it might be confusing) 2 leg or 1 leg for balance training

Core challenge – crunch 60, bridge 60, push ups 40, plank 60, s plank 40, crunches 60      


HIIT – 15 – 30 minutes (fit in 2x per week)

Workouts – 60 minutes 3x/week

Ski when I feel like it

Day 1

5 minute warm up; inchworm; box step (glut activate)
Lunge with curl
1 leg RDL
Push ups
Bench rows
Band shoulder circuit
15 minute treadhill
Core challenge
Stretch

Day 2

5 minute warm up; inchworm; box step (glut activate)
X over small box step
Transverse 1 leg drop to stabilize hop
Push ups
Underhand lat pulls
Band shoulder circuit
15 minute treadhill
Core challenge
Stretch

Day 3

5 minute warm up; inchworm; box step (glut activate)
Bosu goblet squats
Rev lunch w tri kickbacks
Line hops (1 leg) side/side
Push ups
Seated rows
Band shoulder circuit
15 minute treadhill
Core challenge
Stretch

That’s the easy part.  Now it’s time to execute.  What have you spent time planning but failed to execute in your life?  What are you waiting for?  If you took action today towards your goals and dreams and applied consistent effort towards them, would you get closer or further away? 

My challenge for you is to do something today that gets you closer to your goals and dreams.  That something might be failure.  As long as we learn from our failures, we are getting closer to our goals and dreams.  It took me three years and two failed attempts to finally reach my goal of completing a 100 mile footrace so I know what it’s like to keep at it.  Some days were better than others, some workouts were better than others, but ultimately the decision to not stop is what helped me achieve my goal.  Your goals are no different.  Think about a time in your life when you pushed through even when it seemed impossible or others were telling you to give it up and stop while you’re ahead.  Draw on that success as you choose your path and attack it with perseverance and commitment.