When Life Gives You Lemons

We have all had crappy moments in our lives at one point or another.  Break-ups, getting terminated from your job, getting injured, and failing out of college.  I have dealt with all of those situations at one point or another (some of them at the same time).  When things go bad, the first and easiest thing to do is to find someone/something to blame.  Relationship ended?  The guy/girl you were seeing was an asshole/bitch.  Got terminated from your job?  Your boss and your co-workers were horrible people who were out to get you from day one.  Got injured?  It was your coach/trainer’s fault.  Failed a course/semester of college?  The professors were impossible to please and were out to destroy you.

This is not to say that there are times when these reasons are not true (trust me) but even if they are, the question you need to ask yourself is “How do you deal with it and then move on?”.  It’s incredibly difficult to not spend all of your time and energy in a negative mindset when things like these happen.  It’s also incredibly difficult not to hold a grudge against someone if they were part of the reason these things happened.  The thing I’ve learned is as I’ve gotten older, being negative and holding grudges gets you nowhere and does nothing to help you to not only move on but to move forward.

It can be hard to try and find a positive outcome in these situations and sometimes and it can take a while before you find one.  I have learned to take every negative moment in my life and use it as a learning lesson and it has taken me almost 30 years to learn how to do.  When situations like these happen, after I get over the initial shock, sadness and sometimes anger, I take a step back.  I stop to think of all of the negatives of that situation and realize that those situations were causing me more stress and frustration than happiness.  It can be tough to let go of a negative situation but for me, that’s what I’ve had to learn to do.  Every situation that ends brings on an opportunity for a new a better one.

I have been through some crappy times and situations over the years but what I have found is that I was able to make a positive change in my life.  By doing this, I have been able to turn crappy situations into positive ones.  After bad relationships, I was able to find someone who loved me for me and am now happily married.  After losing jobs, I was able to move on bigger and better ones and am now in the process of starting my own online business (I’m super excited about this).  After getting injured (on many occasions), I have learned to listen to my body (as well as my coach, physio and of course, Dean) and am now injury free and hitting personal bests and the podium.  After failing my first year of college, I have almost completed my diploma in Human Resources and will transferring into the Bachelor of Commerce program at MacEwan University.

So if life ever starts to hands you lemons, take some time to clear your head and make the best damn lemonaid you have ever had!

On a side note, congratulations to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on their 2013 Grey Cup win!  Rider pride!!

2013 Race Recap

Well, it’s been a while since my last post and with the help and persistence of my husband, I have decided to start blogging again.  I can truly say that 2013 was one of the best years in terms of racing that I have ever had.  I credit that to working working with the best coach I have ever worked with and finally having an injury free season.  I didn’t race a lot this year but the races I did do, I managed to hit personal bests and even the podium a few times.  Here is a brief recap:

ITU Edmonton Triathlon

This was the one that I had targeted ever since I had learnt that Edmonton will play host to the 2014 World Triathlon Championships.  With help from my coach and Dean, I was ready for this one.  I knew what I had to do to get my qualifying spot.

Unlike 2012, the temperature this year was actually bearable (it was 36 degrees C with the humidity in 2012).  It was a wetsuit swim and thankfully I had just purchased a new one a week before.  I managed to have the best swim I have ever had and was able to have a 3 minute personal best (which is huge).  I was blown away by that but had to focus on what I wanted to do on the bike (my strength).  I got into a big gear, got in my drops and hammered.  I also managed to take one minute off of my bike from the year before (and that’s hard to do with a very hilly course like that).  I credit my great ride to doing some pace work with my coach a couple of days before on the course.  Once I got on the run, things fell apart.  Like 2012, I cramped horribly and had to stop a number of times.  It was the worst run I’ve had in a long time (which was incredibly frustrating).  In the end, I still managed to not only qualify for the 2014 World Championships, I also managed to get third.  Despite the run getting the best of me (again), I had a pretty good race.

Victory Triathlon

This was a fun little race that I decided to do last minute and I’m glad I did.  I won my age group, was second female overall and had a run PB and and overall race PB.

Jay Lap Memorial Race

I didn’t do nearly as much bike racing as I had originally planned but, the races I did do had great results.  This weekend had a 20km TT on the Friday night just outside of Calgary and a crit race on Saturday night in downtown Calgary.

I wasn’t sure if the TT was going to happen or not as the weather that weekend was looking pretty unpredictable.  Dean and I took our chances and decided to go anyways.  Once I got to the race site, I did sign on, did my warm up and by the time I was done, it was go time.  The clock counted down and I could see the girl in front of me.  I sprinted out of the start gate and then got into my aero bars and settled into my pace.  My goal was to chase down the girl in front and managed to do so just before the turn around.  For the entire way out there, I could not figure out what my watts were so low.  It wasn’t until I got to the turnaround is when I looked and realized I was in my small chain ring (note to self: get in big chain ring BEFORE you get to the start house).  I saw that I was on my way to a negative split and and a huge personal best so I turned the last corner and decided to sprint.  I managed to have over a 2 minute personal best and got 5th.  Not bad considering I was on a road bike with clip on aero bars.

The crit was probably the craziest race I have ever done.  We started out all together for the the first few laps but somewhere along the way I ended up dropping a bit off the main pack due to fatigue in the legs from the day before.  The ended up to be a good decision as there ended up being a huge crash in the main pack with all of the girls going down.  It was me an another rider from Edmonton who were left in the race.  I ended up with the win, a cash prize and enough upgrade points to move up a race category.

Provincial Time Trial

I went into this race tired and not feeling good due to stomach issues.  The course was a lot hillier than expected and the wind made for a tough day.  Despite almost getting blown into the ditch a couple of times, I managed to stay rubber side down and managed to get second and more upgrade points.

Chocolate Triathlon

This was my last race before World Championships in London and my goal for this race was to nail my transitions as they had been a weak spot for me all year.  I ended up having a good race (despite some cramping on the run, again) and managed to get 1st in my age group and 2nd female overall and the fastest female bike split.

World Championships

This was the first time I have ever been to London or overseas and I truly can’t wait to go back.  As expected, the weather in London was cold and rainy.  Thankfully Dean and I arrived 5 days before the race so I had enough time to adjust to the time difference.

The day of the race it was cold and raining.  I knew had to get some sort redemption for the disaster of racing World Champions in 2008. We all started in the water which helped reduce that complete shock of diving right into freezing cold water (though not as bad as the plus 8 degree C water of Vancouver which left me with sever hypothermia).  That didn’t help me though as I could not catch my breath and had to stop a couple times as my asthma started to kick in.  It was frustrating as my swimming had been going good all season and this happened to be my worst swim of season.

The transition was insanely long and very chaotic.  As I got on my bike, I looked down to start my Powertap computer and noticed it was missing.  With f-bombs flying out of my mouth, I knew I had to ride without it.  It would not have made difference as the roads were wet, slippery and narrow.  It’s times like this I was grateful that I did bike racing and was on a road bike.  I got into a big chain ring, got into my drops and started picking off riders left right and centre.  I knew with conditions like this and there being many tight corners, I had to be cautious.  I knew there was going to be no PB today on the bike (I also found out the course was about 3km longer than it should normally be).  In the entire ride, only 5 athletes passed me and they were all male, so my ride wasn’t too bad.

The second transition didn’t go too well as I got a penalty for unsnapping my helmet before racing my bike.  Once again, f-bombs flew out of my mouth (I’m really surprised I didn’t get any more time tacked on considering how much I was swearing).  Frustrated with how the race had gone so far, I headed out on the run.  I found my pace about half way through the first lap and was so happy when I saw the finish line.  Overall, I was disappointed with my times but compared to when I last raced World Championships, I had a much better race (and didn’t end up in the medical tent afterwards).  The only thing that kept me going was that I knew that Dean and I were headed to Paris the next day and I knew that meant I could go shopping.

Despite not having the race I wanted in London, I was pretty happy with how the season went.  I hit some massive personal bests (including hitting a PB in every race I did this year) and managed to not only hit the goals I had set for myself, but smash most of them.

It’s now time to get back at for the 2014 race season and I’m pretty excited about it.  I’m really excited to spend more time on the velodrome and am looking forward to doing some racing on it (the shorter the race, the better) and looking forward to seeing what goals I can achieve with the help of my coach and Dean.  I am quite excited to finally be getting a proper time trial bike and can’t wait to see I can actually do on one.  Even though it’s still early, this is how my 2014 race schedule is shaping up so far:

Banff Bike Fest – 5 races in 4 days in Banff.  This is going to be a lot of fun and a lot of pain.

Canada Day Crit – I was sick this year and didn’t end up racing it sadly as I do actually like racing crits.

Victory Triathlon – I have to try and have better transitions at this one and it is a fun race to do.

New York City Triathlon – I can’t wait to race in my favourite city!  The only downside (besides swimming in the Hudson River) is the insanely early start times (6am start time which is 4am our time).  I told Dean that I will see him at the finish line for this one.

Jay Lap Bike Race – I have to go back and defend my win 🙂

Provincial TT – Can’t wait to see what I can do on a real time trail bike.

World Championships – The fact that they are here in Edmonton on a course I know and love makes me so happy.  I know what I can do on this course and can’t wait to destroy my previous times.  Here’s hoping there is no cramping on the run for this one.

Somewhere in there will be at least a couple more triathlons, a few more bikes races (both road and on the track) and a run race here and there.  Either way, 2014 is shaping up to be a stellar year!