Motivation and Rewards

How do you motivate yourself? I've been throwing this question around a lot lately. Right now I am on holidays from work which meant I could devote 3 weeks of intense training to get me back on track. Trouble is my motivation only lasted a few days. So how DO you get motivated? I am so lucky to have some pretty amazing friends who are also my training buddies. They motivate me. I could never pass up a 3 hour ride if it meant catching up on this weeks news with my best buds. I go to masters because I do love to swim but I also enjoy chatting after my sets with all of the lovely company there too. I don't usually run with friends very often but when I do it is always special. For all of those other runs I motivate myself with gearing up at my rare opportunity to listen to some fab tunes cranked up all by myself.

So this past week I got motivated and threw myself head first into some pretty awesome training. The one that has kind of stuck to me is always a nightmare ride. In our neck of the woods there is a road that winds back up into the most amazing look out. Rumour has it that the grade on the final climb up is 24% (that's the final climb of the already many tough climbs). So when my coach gave me this awesome workout (insert sarcastic voice) I needed every ounce of motivation I could get. Once I was done this bad boy of a ride I was getting myself the biggest, best reward I could buy.

  

Already a little rosy from the initial climbs and gearing up for the big one.

Before I even started the hard part I had it in my head that it's early season and I didn't HAVE to finish. I could be a quitter today. The negativities were being spewed out like a night after food poisining. Who is this quitter? Luckily I had my motivation with me and I am so glad he was there with me to get my butt up that mountain of a hill.

I sweated a lot, I swore a little, but I made it. I'll be honest, it was not pretty. My average speed was probably 2 km/hour but what matters is I did it and I did it because this crazy guy motivates me all the time. 

It's funny how we make up ideas in our head of how difficult things will be. Instead I need to remind myself that yes it will be tough but so worth it. Worth it to spend time with a great friend, spend time to be outside, spend time to sweat a little.

So you ask what was my reward? Well I have a confession to make... I love online shopping. So when I feel I need a little reward (and lately I feel like I've needed lots) I jump onto Amazon.ca to give myself a little something. So after eating a ton of food I jumped online and I bought not 1, not 2, but 3 books! Books on training!!! I'm such a nerd I know but if you walked into my house and saw all of my lovely books you would understand. 

So I want to know, how do you reward yourself? Food, shopping, night out away from the family? We all motivate and reward ourselves differently but we all know it works!

Now if you want to reward yourself or reward someone else there is a fab little place online that you can purchase gift cards and/or sell unused gift cards. Raise  has got you covered.

Picking up the pieces

It's been a while since I've been on the blog. Life has been busy. Working full time, sick kids, tri training has made me disappear from the online world. Speaking of all my crazy business I got pneumonia to top it all off. What a kick in the pants. Just as my knee was allowing me to start training again I got walloped this winter with a nasty case of pneumonia. Normally I can function while being sick but this time around I was laid right out, flat. I had to take a week off work then return with easy duties and the doctor had me take 6 weeks off from all physical activity. I embraced some much needed family time.

Even though I missed out on a lot of training I actually enjoyed my time off. But now I'm back and I am ready to roll. So how do we return from a serious illness?

We had a big snowstorm that isn't quite normal for our neck of the woods. So I got the old snowshoes on and snowshoed 10km. I was a little tired afterwards.

I also stepped back in time and had some crazy fun on the crazy carpet with my kids! Again a little tired afterwards. Where do these kids get their energy???

I'll be honest, with all of this time off I've added some weight to areas that didn't really need it. I don't always like to talk about weight because I have 2 young girls who I want to be healthy and happy. I dread the days when body image becomes an issue for them. It should never be an issue. Yet it is. I was just reading an article by the great Rachel Joyce. In this article she talks about how there is this idea of the proper triathlete body. That long lean body. I know athletes with that body type and I'll be the first to admit I envy them in a big way. I can't even count the number of times when people question me being a triathlete, why? Well because I don't have that long lean triathlete body. After reading Rachel's post  it reminded me that I may not have that typical body (hey that's why I got a custom bike) but I am fit, and I am strong. 

So I am checking my extra pounds at the door and not even worrying about them. I eat healthy and I train hard so those pounds will get placed somewhere needed.

I am holding my head high that despite having a rough winter and losing 4 months of ideal base training I am getting back on that horse and I will still be able to pull off a decent race season.

Stay tuned lots of exciting races for me and a fun little reward post.

Happy New Year!

What do they say? New year, new me? Why yes. Who doesn't want to better themselves? My motto for this year is just do your best. 

I am so excited for this upcoming year. I have already signed up for 3- 70.3 distance triathlons, a few Olympic distances and a couple of half marathons. My biggest challenge will be to complete a full marathon. Luckily I will have over 10 months to prepare for that one.

I started the new year off right with an official Polar Bear swim. I recruited a group of friends (and my coach) to join me down in Cowichan Bay to take a dip in the 3 degree water. This is what I looked like on the way to the ocean...

I have never done a Polar Bear swim before. I know that water is bloody cold in the midst of summer so I could only imagine how bad it was going to be.

Renee was my first friend to agree to actually do this with me. We are laughing with total fear.

We kept all of our clothes on until the last minute. I wasn't planning on dunking my head in until the very last second when I chucked my tuque to my husband on my way in.

Everyone is smiling on the way in, I'm not sure why?

Part of our crazy group after the frigid waters.

Afterwards. I was surprisingly warm once I got out of the water. The air temp was warmer then the water so once you got out it felt rather balmy. 

I am so glad I took the plunge. I have such a great group of friends to agree to join me in doing this. Just another showing of the great support I get for doing all the crazy stuff I do. 

So what are your goals for 2014? Are you planning to do some fun races? Reach some PR's? Whatever you do, have a blast doing it!

These are a few of my favourite thing

We are in full swing of the Holiday season in our house. The kids are running wild, I got a bad case of pink eye and my husband is rushing around trying to get his Christmas shopping done.
What better way to celebrate this time of year then with my annual "These are a few of my fav things".
Last year I had a few goodies that actually ended up under the tree for me. One of them being the SOAS Tri suit which I love oh so much!!!! To see last years list you can go HERE.
So what has made the list this year? Well read on and get some good ideas for yourself or the beloved triathlete in your life.

First up is the Lazer Tardiz Helmut.

This beauty has been on my wish list for a few months now. What's stopping me? Well this seems rather silly but I feel like I'm not worthy of a fancy aero helmut. So the question this year is does my husband think I am worthy of this fab helmut?

Next up is these adorable Giro cycling gloves. I don't really need new gloves but they match my fabulous SOAS Polkadot tri suit.

Speaking of SOAS I could use another trisuit. I have discovered one is definitely not enough and SOAS hands down makes the best tri suits for women. I've had my eye on the Vintage kit because I love the colours. It even matches my fancy custom Berg bike.

Isn't it adorable? Every race I have competed in wearing the SOAS tri suit I get so many compliments.

Next up are these fabulous tri shoes.

 I have a basic pair of general cycling shoes that have served me very well but they are getting worn out. These SIDI women's shoe are exactly what I need.

Lastly, this would make a great stocking stuffer. 

I have wanted one of these Stick's since I bought one for my coach as a good luck gift on his way to the ITU World Championships. He tells me everyday that it's the best gift ever!!!

So there you have it. These are some pretty amazing items that I wouldn't mind finding under my tree this Christmas (or for any gift giving time).

I hope you enjoyed a few of my favourite things and I wish for you and your family the happiest of times this Holiday Season. Be with your loved ones and be kind to all around you.

Take some time to rest, relax and feast on some delicious food.

Just a little break from it all.

Wow I'm back! I know I've been neglecting the blog lately but it's more because training is slow going right now. Today, because I'm not training as hard I thought I would be off topic.

I keep getting told that I am the queen of time management. I really don't know why. I'm no different that the person next to me but I do have a busy life and time management helps me get things done... on time. I recently went back to dental assisting. I still do massage but it hasn't kept me busy enough so we as a family decided I needed to go back to dental assisting to make things work. So between massage therapy, dental assisting, volunteering, triathlon training and the most important thing family things get pretty busy around here. I get up extra early to get my bike ride in. I run on lunch breaks. I swim late at night after the kids go to bed. People ask me how I do it. Honestly? I think being in a work field where people rely on me to stay on time it is just ingrained to always plan ahead. I know a month out what my schedule is and what I need to do each and every day. This even includes grocery shopping. Is it hard? Yes. Do I need a break sometimes? Absolutely. So last week my husband took me to Vancouver for an extra special getaway without kids.

We haven't been away from the kids since we had them. My parents were kind enough to come stay with them while we went out for a big night out on the town. I am still ecstatic that I got to see Pearl Jam for the first time. You see, I have been a huge fan of Pearl Jam since they first came out. I believe it was 1990 when I first heard their hit Jeremy. I'm not gonna lie, Eddie Vedder makes my heart sing with his voice and his looks. Seriously though this may have been the best concert I have ever been to.

We started our day with a gorgeous ferry ride over to Vancouver. Then we went for the most delicious dinner at Vij's. 

We made a quick stop at our hotel to check in and change and then straight to the arena.

Patiently waiting. I was so excited I couldn't contain myself.

After the opening act of Mudhoney I was bursting with excitement.

When Eddie Vedder came on the stage I got goosebumps. 

He sang all of my favourites including Daughter, a song my long time best friend and I have always loved. Pearl Jam kept on rocking for over 3 hours. I was loving every minute of it.

Eddie serenades us with some slow classics. 

The band would leave the stage for a minute and the lights would come on for a bit and then they were right back on stage singing more songs. I can't even describe how amazing this night was. I felt like a new woman after this luxurious treat away from home.

I did miss my girls terribly but it was great to get giant hugs when we walked through that door. I highly recommend a nice little break every now and then. Especially all you moms out there. I think we tend to do everything for others and not very much for ourselves and this was a great reminder to take time for myself.

Now that I am settled back into routine we are definitely back into the swing of things. We spent our weekend baking and decorating Christmas cookies, ballet recitals, Christmas shopping and of course a little triathlon training.

As much as I thoroughly loved getting away to see the most amazing band ever, I am happy to be home and busy as ever.

Stay tuned for next week I am going to do a post on my Christmas wish list!!!

Break Time

When push comes to shove I definitely take my breaks. For those of you who follow me on facebook, you know it's been a bit of a rough week. I finally got my knee surgery.

I was torn on whether to go through with it. In the spring I hurt my knee. Knee injuries are nothing new to me. I've had a few. In fact this is now my 3rd knee surgery. Luckily my surgeon is a pretty awesome guy. He knows me well enough that despite being injured I keep pushing. So he thought surgery was the best option on figuring what the heck was going on in there. Our speculations were a torn meniscus but as my triathlon season progressed so did the pain in my knee. It started out very specific and by last Friday I was getting deep anterior knee pain and locking and popping was going on too. So last Thursday right before I was leaving for a course in Vancouver I got the call...

Your knee surgery will be Monday morning. Not a  lot of notice but I knew that was going to happen. Otherwise I was looking at a January surgery date and we all know I definitely couldn't wait that long.

The hospital was a zoo! Apparently one of the busiest surgery days they've ever had. I had to wait 2 hours before they took me in. My surgeon came in for a quick visit and to confirm I was still up for this and in I went. I'm now a pro at this. I even had the same surgical nurse as last time and he even remembered me! What does that say???

So once I woke up I had immediate pain so they gave me some drugs and of course I felt better. The husband and kids took good care of me but the one person who was exceptionally great was this gorgeous girl.

She has been by my side since I got home.

So all in all things have been pretty good. Unfortunately I have had some significant swelling so I've had to really stay off my leg and keep it elevated and take Advill which I'm trying really hard to stay off the drugs but sometimes you really have to pick your battles.

I should have taken a picture when the swelling was grotesque but I'll spare you that. Instead there is this one with just a bit.

I had a worse cankle then when I was pregnant ; )

So having all of this time off you would think I would love lounging around, watching tv, catching up on blogs. You would think I would be having the time of my life with this fabulous break time. Unfortunately, I hate it. I'm reading like mad, thinking about how I'm going to work on my running. Planning out all my races for 2014. To get me all geared up I could not think of a better way to spend my day tomorrow then to watch this:

I'm going to crank the heat up in my house and get me a tropical drink and pretend I am there cheering all those fantastic athletes.  I'm also going to try and forget what my house looks like...

Lets just say my husband is not a good homemaker. 

Some other things that have lifted my spirits is yummy treats.

Menchies has a non-dairy soft serve! This week it is strawberry and when you add some crushed almonds and other vegan treats it definitely makes my day.

So there you have it. I will be off running for 5-6 weeks and very light cycling in the meantime. No races for the rest of the 2013 year. I will continue to post here and there and soon I will let you know what my big race will be for next year.

Playing catch up

Wow! It has been over a month since my last post. When I said I was taking a break from training I didn't mean the blog as well. Where do I begin?

Well I guess I'll start where I last left off... mid- August!

No more races, for the next few months it's all about fun. No more brick workouts, no more fartleks, no more time checking. My first "long" ride post race was a lovely meander out to Lake Cowichan. From my place it's about 90km round trip. My fab riding buddy "D" and I headed out nice and early. Once we got to our turn around we spotted this lovely lady.
       

                                           

Can you tell what it is? It was a wild turkey with her two babies. We got pretty close to her but didn't want to frighten her. I love seeing wildlife out on our rides. On our way home we also stopped for a lovely coffee. It's just not a leisurely ride without doing so.

Next up was my friends the Mr. and Mrs. headed to Penticton for the 1st Penticton Challenge. The Mr. has been training hard all year and this was his big day. Well they had quite the surprise when they went out for dinner while in Penticton...

They got to meet the fabulous Chris "Macca" McCormack! Apparently he's pretty hot in person ; )

and the Mrs. got to watch him race.

Meanwhile back on the Island I was celebrating my birthday. This is what an athlete does on their birthday...

They race with their family!

We did the Easter Seals Colour Fun Run. I had some friends join us as well and it was a blast!!! I highly recommend doing this race with kids. It was a 5km run and there were 5 colour stations. Each station you go through they throw a colour at you. 

Afterwards they took me out for lunch and then we went home so I could watch "Mr." cross the finish line in Penticton. Thank goodness for live tracking and cameras and the "Mrs." texted updates as well. 

As for other things, well I've been doing a ton of hikes. There's a good group of my friends that have been meeting up once a week to do some great hiking. The first day was sketchy. We kind of got lost.

This is us trying to find our way back to the trail.

Once we reached the top it was all worth it!

We went from a cool evening hike one day and the following week it was ridiculously hot. These hikes were done at the same time of day.

My latest adventure was my riding groups 100km ride. Since we are all done racing for the season we thought it would be fun to get in a nice big ride. We rode up to Ladysmith for brunch. 

If you live on the Island go to Ladysmith! They have a ton of great cafe's and restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised. We will definitely be doing this again.

I have a lovely GF cinnamon bun with my soy latte. I also had some other goodies!!!

Now you are probably all wondering how my health is since I seem to always be injured. Well my friends, the verdict is out. I am officially the biggest klutz out there. I will be getting knee surgery this year after determining the time off did not help. Not only that, I am pretty sure I also broke my nose... while riding my bike. Seriously people I do not know how I do it. I know many that get scrapes, bumps and bruises but not me. I do damage.  

Terrible picture I know but you can see my nose is bruised, crooked and swollen right into my eye.

This is taken the same day. I wish I had taken one the next day because that was when it looked the  worst. I really do not know how I do this. I am now 1 1/2 weeks out and I still can't blow my nose. My doc says it's probably broken but really what are we going to do about it? So I now have a broken nose to add to my ongoing list of injuries.

So there you have it. We are all updated and you now know just how much of a klutz I really am.