Despite having no natural aptitude for running (or any history with running for that matter), Kadie has nonetheless logged mile after arduous mile on both the road and treadmill in preparation for completing one of her lifelong dreams: competing in the Arnolds.

And over the past 5 weeks, Kadie has been working with the training team at LIVE360° to help make sure she’s ready for the big day.

Did Kadie know what to expect when she arrived at the Arnolds? Not at all.

Was she nervous? You betcha.

Was she feeling 100% ready? Sadly, no as she was going in to her run nursing an injury. [Kadie suffered a muscle tear in the week before her run... but such are the challenges facing athletes at every level]

Was she going to let her uncertainty or her injury prevent her from going out and taking on the Arnolds? Not on your life!

And with that “never say die attitude”, Kadie went out and crushed it!

Here’s Kadie’s final v-log from Ohio

Granted, she may not have set a personal best time (Kadie ran an official 27:15.1 just seconds off her PB, which is pretty awesome considering the injury. This time also placed her 80th out of the 608 runners in the “5k only” group), but for Kadie – simply following through with such a grandiose goal through all the up-and-downs was the real measure of success.

But deep down, Kadie knows that she’s fully capable of running the race in sub 25 minutes.

So perhaps inspired by the immortal words of her hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kadie has stated, “I’ll Be Back” and she plans on returning in 2013 to post a new personal best time!

Watching someone work towards and achieve such a grand goal is always so inspiring and the entire team at LIVE360° couldn’t be more proud!

Is she nervous? For sure. Is she going to let her nerves dissuade her from accomplishing her goal? Not in the least!

Let’s listen in to this week’s v-log update as Kadie shares some of the feelings she’s experiencing in anticipation of her big day.

And remember, we’ll be hosting a “good luck” send-off party for Kadie next Wednesday evening at LIVE360° from 5:30 – 8:00 PM. Come one, come all but please do RSVP before Monday, February 27th through this link: http://kadielive360.eventbrite.com/

On her most recent 5k training run, Kadie threw down a time of 25:38. Not only was this a personal best time, Kadie was also taken aback by the fact she posted this time on a run that she felt she was running at a really easy, almost leisurely pace.

As you’ll discover in the video below, Kadie is finding she’s able to maintain a 5 min/km pace with relative ease now. The great news is that come race day when the adrenaline and the competitive juices start flowing, she’ll be capable of going even faster!

Suffice to say, her training at LIVE360° is starting to pay off with a significant increase in exercise capacity!

Let’s all wish Kadie well as she plunges into her final 2 1/2 weeks of preparation: the road ahead may be steep… but that’s why she’s been training hills!

Since then, Kadie has been hard at work training her butt off. Much of Kadie’s focus at LIVE360° involves adding a number of our pretty challenging conditioning classes to her already solid aerobic running routine.

By incorporating these more intense conditioning classes, we’re pushing Kadie to better tolerate the onset of metabolic acidosis and fight through fatigue. By training this way, we expect to see Kadie throw down a much better performance as she’ll be better able to tolerate running at near maximal aerobic capacity for much longer in her upcoming race!

In this week’s update, Kadie goes through one of LIVE360°’s kettlebell classes and discovers, much like Conan, what it’s like to push through her boundaries!

The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else. I hate that. – Arnold Schwartzenneger

A self-professed Arnold Schwartzenegger junkie, London, Ontario’s Kadie Ward is a woman who lives every day of her life according to the principle: go big or go home.

And much like her bodybuilding-champion-turned-movie-star-turned-Governor-of-California idol, Kadie really chafes at the idea of being told she can’t do something.

This past spring, Kadie decided it was time to knock another item off her bucket list: competing at the Arnold Sports Festival. Only she didn’t just set the goal of competing, she decided her goal was going to be to finish in the top 5% of the Arnold Sports Festival 5k taking place March 4th, 2012.

Only one small problem: Kadie hates running and had zero experience with racing or preparing for a running race of any kind!

But like anyone who dares to dream big, Kadie didn’t let that small detail stop her.

So over the course of the summer, Kadie diligently set about working herself into running shape with the help of a few experienced running friends. And by the time her first 5k race rolled around in August, Kadie went out and threw down the blistering time of: 40:32… a time that would have seen her finish 405th out of 434 runners in the 2011 Arnold 5k race.

Needless to say, not exactly the kind of result that would predict huge success in her quest to finish in the top 5% of a race merely a few months later.

In fact, at this point most of us would have packed up our bags and called it a day. And who would have blamed us for quitting? Cutting a 5k run time in half in only 6 months… highly doubtful!

But Kadie didn’t quit. If anything, this result simply drove her to redouble her training efforts and continue chipping away at her goal.

In the months that have followed that first race, Kadie has managed to shave over 13 minutes off her time and is now consistently running her 5k’s in around 27 minutes.

Although dropping her time by 13 minutes is a huge achievement in such a short period of time, Kadie still wants more. And recently, she’s realizing that her progress has plateaued… which has led to her enlisting the help of the training staff at LIVE360°.

Over the next 5 weeks, Kadie will be adding some of LIVE360°’s toughest, most effective conditioning classes to her training regimen.  By incorporating just the right amount of anaerobic work to her already impressive cardiovascular base, Kadie is hoping to be able to power through those last few gruelling minutes and crush her previous personal best.

We’ll be journalling Kadie’s progress over the next few weeks so do continue to check back regularly. Kadie’s road to the Arnold’s will be tough, but with her dedication and the training expertise of the LIVE360° team, there’s no telling what Kadie will be able to accomplish!