Appreciation.... Motivation...Inspiration

I finished my race! sigh... I finished it, but it was just the first step on my journey.  I'll get to that later in the post though.  First and foremost I want to say a huge and resounding THANK YOU!!!!  To everyone that supported me and cheered me on, and sent me special little surprises in the mail.  (you know who you are)  I can't beleive how many people are behind me on this goal.  Unbelievable, you know... you don't need to be an Olympic athlete to feel the love and support, I felt it!  Folks I didn't even know were cheering me on at the race, me (not the person behind me) but ME!  How cool is that, strangers cheering me on!  And all of you who sent me support via fb or in person, I used it, it drove me!  I was racing for all of you! 

Tonight I was chatting with a friend about motivation to exercise (she is pregnant and still given'er at the gym - can I hear a "woot woot"), and I think neither one of us actually wanted to come out and say it but we do it to inspire and we use that positive energy for ourselves, to drive us!  Does that make sense? At first when I was working out the idea of motivating others, to motivate myself, I thought it made me sound full of myself, or full of pride... But that's not the case.  I am fueling myself on the positive energy that I put out! And others are also benefiting.  Either way it's a win-win.  I keep going full tilt knowing that people are looking to me as an inspiration, but it's not stressful because I can go full tilt knowing everyone has my back with their love and support.  Sheesh this is confusing, does it make sense to you?

 Here is an example of when I was pregnant how I was driven by everyone's compliments: complete strangers would come up to me and give me sincere props for working out at the gym being massively pregnant, this made me feel good, so I would go back the next time.  (I'm kind of an endorphin junky as well but anyway...)  My close friends would "oohh and aaahh" at my strength and stamina, so I kind of used that as fuel/positive energy to get me through the tough stuff, knowing that I was also setting an example that "if I can do it, so can you!" But it's the feedback that felt really good, because fellow gym-bums would tell me how I inspired them to do more.  Probably some type of positive feedback loop stuff (out of my realm of phych knowledge).  

So back to appreciation, I want to show you a picture of what I keep in my kitchen in my most used cupboard (spices and tea)...  These are little messages of inspiration that friends and family have given me over the last little while.  (Not included are obviously all the emails and msg from family and friends),,, I should print them though!

Now onto the race.  I did amazing (I'm waiting for the pictures from the race photographers) but here are a few silly shots from the transition area.

I didn't wear the purple MIM (Mommy's in Motion) purple shirt while racing. I just had my tri suit on. I opted for the shorter race, partially because I'm a wimp and was too scared to attempt the unknown with a bigger than usual sprint distance (it was like 3/4 of the Olympic distance), and I wanted to test the waters out on a race that I knew I could accomplish physically.  I estimated that I would place something like 7th, based on previous results and my approximate times.  But I did much better than that.  I placed 4th out of a huge age group (women 30-39) 72 people! I placed 31st over all out of like 300.  My swim time was a bit slower than I anticipated (because I didn't know they count the run out of the water to the transition as part of the overall swim time), but my bike time was faster than I had estimated, and the run was in fact a bit faster than I had estimated.  I figured I would do a 6min swim/20min bike/15min run/and I figured about 4 minutes in transitions. So my estimation was 45minutes to do the super sprint triathlon.  If you care here are the official results.

Place: 31/325
Official chip time: 42:39.7
Category: F30-39
Category place: 4/72
Gender place: 9/203
Swim time: 7:45
Bike: 18:52
Run: 14:01
T1 (first transition, swim to bike): 1:13
T2 (second, bike to run): 0:51
Just for interest sake, I studied the top athletes and my transition times are very much within the range of top 10 (overall), and in fact my bike time would have placed me 13th!  (cool- yay to super fast new bike)!  Anyway I'm sure I've lost some of you to all these stats, but I care because in 3 weeks I will be doubling my distance at the Women's Milton Triathlon.  And I want a shot at some hardware! Or at least a good time with a good story!  I will be training really hard for the next 2 weeks.  Yesterday was my triathlon and today I already went out to train and did a 7k run. (I noticed my right knee is getting sharp pain so I will investigate strengthening my gluts to support my knee).  Tomorrow is my hot yoga in the AM and 2 hour Tri-practise with MIM (Mommy's in Motion/Babe's in Motion) group.

 So please keep sending me your love because sometimes I need it!  Some days I don't want to train, but knowing that I've got all of you sending your positive energy and motivation, it is what inspires me to push out of my "comfort zone" and go full tilt.  I am blessed to have the opportunity to train, I have an amazing husband who takes care of the kids, so when I leave the house with either my bike, running shoes or bathing suit (or all of the above) I work hard knowing that my time is precious! I appreciate so much what everyone has done so far! And I hope in turn I can motivate you, through my journey (mom of 4, returning to work after being home for 5 years with the kids) and my story!

Thank you!!!

Triathlon in T-2 days!

Hear me out now... Fair warning... This is a bit of stream of thought... Well yesterday I got reprimanded by both my husband and our marriage counselor about being to hard on myself and setting unrealistic goals.  She told me I had to change my attitude before my triathlon or it would be a complete flop!   Blah :p What's the point of applying yourself to something this time consuming and not set high goals?

Ok so maybe I looked at the results posted from last year!  So? I just wanted to know what type of competition I'm up against? Nothing wrong with that right?  And so what if I noticed I'm in the top 3 for swim/bike but my run I drop down to 7th or 8th.  Did I mention I hate running and will only do it fast to end it sooner!  (eyup great attitude I know)... I'm kind of annoyed with myself for not being able to run faster.

Yaaaa so perhaps the counselor and Mark have a point!  I should celebrate the fact that I am actually doing a triathlon (please note I am not doing an Olympic distance race this Sunday, only a 1/4 of the real thing).  My next one will be 1/2 the Olympic distance.  Anyway I actually find it really really hard not to be hard on myself? Is that a type A thing?  I also feel that since I've spent so much time away from my family and had to rely on Mark to pick up the extra slack that I want to "show" them that it was worth it.  You know... that their toil wasn't in vain!  I've been struggling with feeling guilty about doing this triathlon... and wanting to do it again next year.  In fact I've got my heart set on looking for sponsors in late fall... Because the costs are so high and I don't want it to burden my family any more.  But again more stress... I want to have a good "story" to sell right? 

"Mom of 4 does her first ever triathlon and takes home hardware!!!!"  How super awesome would that be!  Mom of 4 does her first ever triathlon and places 7th...just doesn't have the same... You know "Omph" to it!  Again I think I'm being hard on myself, but truly I want to rock this so that it's been worth all the effort, I want to rock this so that I can have an awesome story so that I can have some free equipment... I am totally fine being a walking advertisement for a company if it means I didn't have to spend the 60$-100$ on the bike jersey or shorts! 

So here I am 2 days before the race, today I got in the pool and timed some of my splits!  I am happy with the pace that I was swimming and the times I was making.  Tomorrow I have a massage/ART (active release techniques) and I'm bringing my bike for a pre-race tune up! Saturday I plan on just chilling and getting lots of sleep and eating lots of healthy food.  (well actually I've been eating super healthy food all week, plus added an iron supplement and cut out caffeine).  My plan is to have a kick ass strong yerba mate tea a half hour before my race and hopefully enjoy the benefits!  Ok I won't lie to you, it has sucked not having caffeine, for 2 days now I've been dealing with headaches, but I think tomorrow will be better.  Wow that stuff is addictive!  But I don't think I'll give it up, just try to minimize it near races dates!

Ok rant complete!  I just felt like I had to share my stress with everyone!  And I feel better now!

 Thank you!!!

Pina Colada... vega good!

Vega style!

About 1/4 pineapple, 1/2 can coconut milk, vega smoothy pack, and ice.  Blend!

Serve and Enjoy!!!

Vegan Update

In 2 days I will have been vegan for two full weeks.  I think I passed the ultimate test this past week.  Saying no to both bacon and GF non-vegan treats.  Actually I truly don't miss the meat.  I've been eating so many new dishes because I'm being forced out of my comfort zone.  I realized that if I really wanted bacon, I could make it from young coconut.  Or just go to the Naked Sprout, they have a vegan BLT!

 Anyway I wanted to share with you that being vegan in a house of meat eaters isn't that hard.  Last night I made nacho's for 5 of us.  Mine was vegan, Patrick's was dairy free, Luke's didn't have tomatoes, Mark's had no peppers... you get the point right.  Everyone likes their food just a little different from the other.  Sooo this is what it looks like in my kitchen on a typical diner!

Right: ground chicken with garlic and chili powder... Left can of aduki beans, mushrooms, chili powder and garlic

I heated it until the mushrooms wilted and turned dark.

The assembly station. 

In the oven at 350F for 20 minutes. 

So just for the record, I didn't go vegan because I have any animal right's issues.  I've gone vegan to try to clean out my system.  I want my body to run as efficiently as possible and from everything I read meat as a source of protein just isn't what I want.  I am amazed at how much my training has improved over these last few weeks.  In fact I can't even remember the last day that I took off training.  I've done something every single day and doing it well at that.  I biked 52km yesterday and today ran 7km.  Tomorrow I've got a 25k planned and a short run. Tuesday is power yoga and tri-training with the club, Wednesday is swim/bike....you get the picture!

 I'm eating tons of seasonal fruit (I love that I can do that) I am not hungry because I eat often and really well, my body is shedding the extra weight it gained in July, I am able to run further, bike further/faster, swim faster, with less rest needed between, and all while keeping a lower heart rate!  All in all, not to bad.  I've also been reading Brandon Brazier's The Thrive Diet book and learning tons of fun new tips.  Like how yummy nutritional yeast is, but to boost it's already awesome nutritional content, put it in the coffee grinder with raw sesame seeds, place in a shaker and add as a "cheesy" topping!

 Tonight I made air popcorn, melted coconut butter over it, and used my new topping (plus a dash of salt)... wow it was amazing! I also put a bit of chili powder on it to see if I would like them together... Duh! of course they went well together, chili cheese popcorn!  Clean and healthy!

SHOES!!!!

I am thrilled to finally have new shoes.  This triathlon training is expensive but I think I've been doing ok.  I sold my blue steel bike yesterday, and with that cash, plus a bit of money I made selling some of the kids clothes earlier in June.  I walked into The Running Company with my 200$ cash. They were wonderful!  Amazing actually, I tried on about 7 pairs of shoes and ran in each of them (down the block and back)...yes I think I did get a bonus workout today! Greg knew how much money I had, knew that I was with the Mommy's in Motion tri group, and checked out my feet/gait/stride and wear patterns on my old shoes. He did his job and found me a pair of racing shoes (he must have told me 10 times that these are ONLY for races)... lol.  Aren't they cute!  Plus they installed the shoe laces and told me how to use them...  I know it sounds dumb but I wanted to know what to expect coming off my bike (without socks) getting into these.  I practised in the store, under their tutelage!  I am that lame! But aren't they super duper cute!

 And these more hearty shoes are my new training shoes.  I added the red laces to spiff them up a bit! They are great for me, apparently I have a good arch. But from the multiple shoes I tried on Greg deduced that I like a snug fit on my heal and I have a wide toe heal.  Um ok thanks!  But the shoes are very comfy. I'm by no means an expert but I think paying 202$ (with tax and the laces) for 2 new pair of shoes is pretty darn good! And really who cares if it's the placebo effect, but I plan on running stupid fast in the race in my new pretty pink shoes!

 

ps.  The Running Company sells triathlon gear and clothing!