Introductions Are In Order

Hello everybody.

I am excited for this project as it is one that I had been thinking about for a while, and while I was outside training I thought that it might be time to do it.  I am talking about chronicling my journey from a slightly overweight couch potato to a highland heavy athletics athlete.  Wow that does not roll of the tongue very easily does it?

Here is a little story for you all.  I had always wanted to go to the Longs Peak Highland Games and finally went up one year.  It was a lot of fun with so much to see from dancing, music, crafts, clans, genealogy, and of course the heavy athletes.  These are the guys that throw trees for fun and share a comradery that I hadn't seen since high school track.  My wife and I spent the day up there, we walked around and saw some of the events but it didn't really set that I was going to compete until two years later when I went to the Colorado Scottish Festival where I had the opportunity to volunteer with a good friend and my current landlord at a "Tartan Information" tent.

I was hooked.  Our tent was set up adjacent to the athletic fields so I had the opportunity to watch most of the activities and realized that I really wanted to do that.  I started going to practices the next weekend to learn some of the events that I have never done, or seen, before. Having thrown discus and shot put in high school and a dabble into collegiate track before the program got cut from my college I thought I could do it.  I had never been more sore the next day in all my life.  This sport was like nothing I had ever done before and after one practice I was hooked.  Unfortunately it was so late in the season when I discovered this sport that I was unable to compete last year but I bought some equipment and got ready for this year.

During the off-season (the winter) I started to live in the gym, at least live every other day there.  I found a power lifting program called the "Stronglifts 5x5" which got me seeing some amazing gains in the gym.  I was going up in weight every time I went into the gym and felt that my posture was finally improving and my energy levels were through the roof.  It was an amazing feeling.  The weather started to warm up, I was coaching track at the local high school, and everything seemed to be fitting into place.  Then *dramatic music* we got hit with the Coronavirus.  Everything came to a crashing stop.  I was no longer able to go to the gym.  Some of my equipment was stuck at work, that I was no longer able to access, and my motivation crashed and burned.

I sat around for about a week feeling sorry for the lost gains from the gym, for the loss of my season, and for the loss of my track kids season.  I was miserable.  Well last night (4/7/2020) I decided you know what? I could sit and feel sorry or I could actually come up with a plan and do something.  So here I am, I'm doing something.

I created this blog as a place for me to brainstorm, share the ups and downs of preparing for a highland season, share videos and techniques, and to promote a lifestyle of fitness while trapped inside during this "Corona Lockdown" (not as fun as it sounds).  I hope you, the reader, join me on this journey as we take back our health and learn to soar.

You can follow the daily journey here.
You can catch a weekly update on my YouTube Channel
Or connect with me on Instagram @wylesco