A few cool things that are going on!

I’m less than 20 days away from cycling across to AUSTIN TX!

I am so Incredibly close to my fundraising goal with about $1500 to go between now and October 1st. If you have it in you to give a little something please do… I’ve been working so hard that despite meeting the minimum goal of $5000 it is beyond important to me to meet my personal goal of $10,000 please visit http://convio.cancer.ca/goto/spoonsie. Make a difference in someone’s life.

Where to start, I can’t believe that the ride is almost here, May 18th when I decided to take this one seems like a million years away, even though it was less then 135 days away. I am exhausted but happy and so looking forward to the next month of crazyness.

The first thing that comes to mind is my fabulous friend Judy, really at the centre of this whole story. It hasn’t been easy for her as she is fighting her cancer “making it her b!tch and making it tap out” as my partner Geoff would say. Nonetheless she is a fighter and the manner in which she carries herself simply blows my mind day after day. I aspire to be as strong and courageous as she is. I can say that the best thing about this whole bike ride, fundraising etc is that I made a true friend for life that I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to know. We would have continued to be to colleagues working for the man.

Here is a picture of the two of us taken at my surprise “send-off” last week.

Speaking of this little send off, I really need to thank two of my girls Rose and Johanne for organizing such a wonderful evening. I really had no clue and was caught off guard, so much to the point I showed up unshowered after 4 hours of spin classes thinking I was dropping our dog off to be babysat! I probably smelled like a goat, but they were all nice and didn’t tell me.

Something else cool that happened also as a result of this. I met with a wonderful girl named Kym who is doing a pretty cool project called 100 Strangers. http://lemien.ca/?p=409 We had fun doing a colourful photoshoot for the bike, see it here on her blog which is about to be published in the citizen! Woot! Go Kym!

Lastly what about me now? I am starting a long overdue holiday, seems like it’s been since Summer 2008 since I had more than a few days off. Part 1 of the trip I have the honour of travelling to Oxford UK with Geoff who will be graduating from Oxford University! Such a privilege to attend! I’m off to the land of fish and chips, I’ll be back soon for a final update before hitting the road.

My CTV News Interview

Well this week we learned a valuable lesson in Media Relations.  Click here http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080319/ott_sportsspotlight_0800319/20080404/?hub=OttawaHome to watch the video and select the cycle link on the far right:

Don’t take me wrong, I am super thankful that CTV did a story on this as it is putting the message out there…

but I learned – only tell them what you want to see on TV as it’s funny how 10 minutes of interview can be summarised in a minute and 36 seconds!

It’s no secret to those who know me that my body underwent a transformation with all this training.  Under their health and fitness side they wanted to share my story.  I thought great, I get the cause out there and I get a link for my fundraising site…  I agreed to before and after pictures.

Well they put the story there but they spun it around weightloss and not about the cause and the fundraising…  Ah well, lesson for next time.  In the end like I said, I am still super thankful they featured this and hopefully there was a former me sitting there watching and thinking “If she can do it, so can I”.

oh and for those who watched and are wondering, it’s not 10,000km’s in 135 days, it’s $10,000 in 135 days and I’m almost there!  If you haven’t donated click here now to do it,  if you have and you have not received anything from me don’t panic yet… CRA is in charge of the tax receipt and I am in charge of the thank you coming shortly to a mailbox near you!

My Goodlife Fitness Rant

Does GoodLife Actually listen? 

My goodlife fitness rant….   Now let me start this rant by saying that although I am somewhat upset with GoodLife fitness, I still have been using them everyday, 2-3 hours a day for almost a year now to train.  I do that by choice, knowing full well that there are other gyms I can use, but for now I am with them because of convenience.  I will also say that this is one of many closed doors I have hit along the way, but so irrational that I need to rant publically about this.

 I have to say that even though ultimately a business is there to make money, as a client you still want to feel like the business is willing to give back to you.  With goodlife, you can get a free towel for selling the soul of 3 of your friends.  Bring them in, they sign a contract and you get a t-shirt, or a towel.  

Let me go on with my rant a little longer…  Other things that annoy me:  

• Hearing that someone (one of many and I never got my lousy towel)  I referred and eventually signed felt bullied by her personal trainer to take out a bank loan to invest in a year of personal training.
• Having the reception hang up on me annoyed while trying to book spin class, sending an email to the club about it and never hearing back.
• Sweating in a spin room where the fans and mic didn’t work for a few weeks, no one bothering to fix anything…

But all that didn’t really bother me enough to think about bringing my business elsewhere at the end of my term and most of all no longer referring GL to everyone who looks at me eh… here is a healthy person, what’s your trick.  

My “regular” goodlife fitness has a spin room that is empty completely on Sundays, I found volunteer instructors (mostly all RPM instructors) , participants (almost all non-members) and sponsors.  A great chance to bring new blood to the gym – Fresh blood for the membership consultants and at the same time help out a member without even needing to give away free towels.  

Submitted a perfectly laid out plan, asking to use an empty space… 

 Their answer?

Thank you for your request – we have a fundraiser set-up through GoodLife, it is the GL Kids Foundation….we do not host other fundraising events within the company.

Carole Woodstock

Regional Group EXercise Manager

If that is the case, then they should have the courtesy of taking down the signs saying ” how good life can help you partner in the community”  in the change rooms and all over the gyms  -  Clearly that statement is full of shit.

So again what has me so pissed with them?

Non-members + free workout = free towel

Non-members + Spin + Save a towel + Raise $ for cancer + partner in the community = Big Fat Fail.

Rant over.

112 more hours

As Judy fights for her life… I fight to get through training.

I know the two don’t even compare, other maybe the simple fact we share a daily struggle, only mine by choice. On days I want to give up, lay in bed for 3 days straight and stop, I think of Judy and I start to peddle again!

I won’t lie, the training sessions are getting to me a little bit. 3 hrs on the bike a day, first hour at what most people call “it’s still dark out o clock” also known as stupid o clock.

I know I can do it, 112 hrs left to go… And thankfully I have good people in my life… Judy feeding me a big bowl of spaghetti for lunch (awesome sauce by the way). Geoff who’s working hard to make sure I stay hydrated and not overtrained, and Mady who’s keeping me awake at work!

These are just three people of many… But these three make a daily difference!

Elysian Insight ~ Support beyond the bike.

I am still coming to grasp with the level of community support I am receiving for my #givetolive cycle.  One of the very first people that I approached was Chantale Lussier from Elysian Insight.

Elysian Insight is a sport psychology and performance enhancement consulting business based in Canada’s National Capital (Ottawa-Gatineau) region and offers consulting services to athletes in order to help them maximize their performances.    Given her mandate and business, I thought it would be a natural fit.

As a young local entrepreneur, she was limited in terms of financial support but rather than just taking a pass on it, she offered me something that I now realize was MUCH more valuable: her services.  Now I will admit that I may not have been a true believer before…  I mean how much can sports phsychology can really help maximize performance?

She converted me yesterday.  I met up with her along the canal, the two of us sitting on yoga mats underneath a big old tree.  A welcome break where I could just sit rather than do.

In discussions about how to motivate yourself when you hit that mental wall during endurance sports, I gave examples of positive self talk I use and sometime when that doesnt work, I turn to more unpleasant self talk featuring someone who used to be significant in my life who would say things like: “you are fat, out of shape, unattractive, why would someone want to be with you etc”  (I know, real winner right :/).

Thinking back to those things would help me keep going, I thought: ”I’ll show you that you were wrong”… but why was I still trying to prove to him? It made me mad that I still gave him that power.

Chantale turned it around for me yesterday and help me let go of something I was carrying in my training/life that was negative effect rather than positive.

She said it is not to him that you are trying to prove something, it’s for you…  you are proving to yourself that he was wrong. One way of looking at things help me let go of a frustration I’ve been carrying for months in my training.

After she said that, how I felt hearing it turned that way,  I was a believer in the support she could lend me.  I really look forward to working with her from this point forward and I know there will be value added and my training/cycling event will be even more of a success based on her work.

Thank you Chantale,  I love to have you as part of the “team”.

Lakes ~ Kitteh ~ Balls … (oh and some food too)

With the Triathlon season well under way, I also have to make time for some swims… and some runs.

Yesterday morning after getting a quick 5km run out of the way, it was first open water swim of the season.  Donned my wetsuit and headed out to Meech lake in good company.  Had a great swim, albeit under-fueled.  As a side note, I do not recommend heading out on a 1km swim with very breakfast being the last meal 6hrs and a 5km run before.  Nonetheless, had a great time and was surprised by how warm the water was!

I also learned that I can’t swim in a straight line to save my life.  At one point, swimming back, I lift my head after a while down and all I hear is a distant laughter…  Apparently I was successfully swimming in a circle.  Here is a little image tease of where I get to swim. Also the site of the upcoming Meech Lake Tri on July 3rd!

Once the swim was out of the way, it was time to go have some fun… Being stavin marlin we stopped at a little shop in chelsea that is quickly becoming one of my faves called “Les Saisons”.  It was there that I saw the cutest thing ever, 3 small kittens free to a good home trying make a break for the back door!  I swiftly moved into action and stopped them in their track (really I just wanted to play!)

Le Pavilion du Golf in Gatineau has the only batting cages in the region…  $10 buys you a 120 balls and a good 30 minutes of frustrating fun!  To keep going with a theme of hitting things, a bucket of balls at the co-located driving range was a must.    Results?

I can somewhat swing a bat…

I definitely cannot swing a golf club this year…

Geoff can definitely upswing me in both of those…

But I can sport a helmet!

All in all this was an awesome day spent in great company that reminds me that it IS possible to carry a normal life with the amount of training I need.  You just have to surround yourself with people who can appreciate this type of day…

To finish off the day, got a little cleaned up and shared a wonderful evening at L’atelier, by far one of my favourite restaurants in town.  The menu did not disappoint and a memorable evening to finish a great day!

Training Through Racing

So sometimes you have to give your training a goal.  That’s how I decided that I was going to move on Isabelle the lazy tv addict to Isabelle the Triathlete.

As I was turning my life around and getting in shape, people would ask me “what are you training for”.  I would shrug and say well to be healthy and for some reason eventually as I got healthier I needed to have a specific or reason to train.

So one day I decided to become a triathlete.  Why?  Because I didn’t think I could do it.  After a small attempt at a local Try-A-Tri  I was hooked and decided to start training properly.

I swam,  I ran and I biked.   I even invested in a real road bike a sweet Argon 18 from Euro-sports.

And after all this training, on May 22, it was time!My first Triathlon…  I was scared and apprehensive.  I knew I was fit,  fitter than most but could I finish it?  Would I hit a mental block?  Well, not only did I finish it, I rocked 2nd place in both my age group and category!  A Silver medal at my first event.  I ain’t complaning!  I would also like to give a shot out to my very dear friend @madyricottone who has been game enough to sign up with me on most of my adventures!

Here we are after the early bird Triathlon

St-Patty’s day 10km Race

Ottawa Race Weekend 10km Run!