I'm leaving Australia today and the way my schedule worked out, I'm probably going to take a "zero" in the training log. Not a big fan of zeros as I do best with a dose of exercise every 12 hours, or so.

Earlier this month, my buddy, Tony D, flew half way around the world to train with me and see what he could pick up in terms of training secrets. I did what I could for the guy and I think he learned quite a bit from the experience. Tony doesn't have a blog so this article is a summary of what I hope he picked up!

It's fashionable to say "there are no secrets" and "there is no easy". We should all HTFU and JFT...

That's true but it is also an over-simplification. There is a tremendous amount of experience, and knowledge, that goes into what's required to perform at a high level. This week, I'll highlight four key concepts that have helped me in academics, finance and athletics.

In my clearer moments, I see the hazards of having a job that is focused on providing answers.

Every answer I give can reinforce my thought patterns and biases. In one sense, having a wide range of clients provides me with an opportunity to work through a coherent picture. However, without caution and effort, I can dig deeper and deeper into creating my personal athletic dogma.

I have a few tactics that I use to balance consistency bias. This week I'll share them - you can apply them to sport, specifically, or life, generally.

The first part of this letter will share some ideas on setting up a high performance mind-set. The techniques can also be used as a coping strategy when dealing with challenging people/situations.

The second part will be an update on how I'm settling back into the real world following my big trip across New Zealand. With a little over a week to regroup, I've had some insights that should be interesting for you.

We're going to start taking deposits for our Moab Camp shortly - (May 3rd to 9th) - if you are interested in signing up then drop me a line.

One thing that amazes me about the holidays is how we choose to get run down by over-scheduling, weak nutrition and alcohol consumption.

We spend most of the year building the life that serves our needs then "treat" ourselves with anywhere from two days to three months of sugar, booze and fatigue. At some point, many of our souls will start to rebel.

This week's article is about what I did when I heard that calling.

I'm looking forward to the Tour of New Zealand and I hope that I have the energy (and connectivity) to share frequent updates.

Monica repaired my Terminator sunglasses for Christmas. I'm rocking them in this week's photo.

At camp, I am not going to check email - FYI.

We flew down to Sydney yesterday and I had a chance to brainstorm blog topics. Here's the list of items that I want to share with you:

• Work Before Work Rate
• Kids and your Athletic Performance
• Your Marriage and your Athletic Performance
• Simplify to Succeed
• The Anaerobic Athlete
• Be Excellent, Dude - Focus On What You Know
• Talent At The Line - Maximal Training
• Weenie Training
• Windows of Opportunity (Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em)
• Self-Sabotage, hardness vs flow
• The Time You Have
• The Person Not The Protocol
• My Best Clients
• Hoax Algorithms
• Live Like A Pro
• Learning To Say "No"
• Catching Up
• No Easy Way

That's 18 mini-topics. I'd better hit them early in the camp before I get too shelled!

I suppose that a more appropriate title for this piece is "Who Am I" but there's such a good connotation with "Who Are You" that I couldn't resist.

This week's photo is Lex seeking comfort after Daddy used her for a bit of (gentle) air guitar. Not popular in case you were wondering.

In following our athletic journey, we are often seeking a transformation from what we "are". More specifically, we are using athletics to change the view we have of ourselves.

OR... we use our results to resist the view that others appear to place against us.

Seeking transformation can freak people out. With good reason! Major personal transformations (or obsessions) are often triggers for relationships ending.

Is it any wonder that we tend to gravitate towards folks that share our addictions, in all forms.

One of the interesting psychological effects of the end of the race season is the first wave of "cabin fever" that sweeps through my head (as well as my team). Between our peak periods, race weeks and recovery needs... many of us are starved for endorphins!

This neurological craving tends to show itself in a number of ways. Most common is that we start looking back on the season and wish we could have been "tougher" in our races.

I receive a lot of questions about how to deal with pain; and how to push harder.
Pain...
Harder...
In life we most often get what we expect - more than focusing on how much a task is going to hurt, or how difficult it may be. I prefer to figure out what's required to perform. Ultimately, our goal is performance, not pain tolerance.

This week I will share some ideas about true performance -- concepts and techniques that have enabled me to succeed in a range of fields. I will use athletics in my examples but sport is a metaphor for life. The tendencies that we show under athletic stress are the exact same ones that occur in our family and work environments.