Things I am thankful for.

After my previous hiccup in training and my much needed rest yesterday, I started thinking about all the things I should be grateful for and how focusing on negative only serves to do one thing "make you more negative". My personality type although driven and determined (which is a good thing), can also serve to make me feel like a bit of a failure if I don't reach my desired goal or stay within the realms of what I think is acceptable for me. I wonder why it is I do this to myself. Nobody else expects or requires that I perform to a certain level, in fact all of my friends (yes, you all included) only ever tell me how great I am doing. So with that in mind, I made a list yesterday of all the things I should be grateful for.

• A healthy body and spirit (mind is getting there).
• A loving and supportive family.
• Friends who encourage and enable me to succeed.
• The ability to see, hear, talk, feel, love, desire, trust, believe, create.
• To be free in every aspect.
  
• The ability to give all my dreams and aspirations a good chance to succeed.

So as I focused more on the things that I should be grateful for, the negative and down thoughts just seem to dissipate.

"Nurture your mind with
great thought's"
Bejamin Disraeli

I am also thankful for having a great coach. I rang Jodie yesterday and told her how I was feeling and she brought up a really good point. I felt the same thing in Week 3 of my last month's training, so as of next month instead of having a monthly programme where it's 3 weeks on with 1 week recovery - I will now have 2 weeks on 1 week recovery till my body adjusts better. I mean really it's all about getting to my 70.3 goal healthy and strong - not to keep having periods of complete fatigue. I think this is going to help immensely. Thanks Jodie.

I am also grateful for that the fact that Tryingatri has reached 104 registered followers. Who would have thought. I certainly never did when I first started this journey. Thankyou to all who read, comment and share in my ups and downs. You guys are awesome.

I am also thankful for the fact that I got to watch "Dumb and Dumber" yesterday for like the 1000th time. Nothing makes me laugh as hard as this movie. This movie was my husband and my first date. I could not stop laughing in the cinema, nor talking back to the screen. Poor Stephen I am sure was wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. Something else I am thankful for, he has stuck around for 16yrs. I must not have embarrassed him as much as I thought.

What are you thankful for?

Flat out knackered.

Yesterday arvo was nothing short of "BLAH". Both physically and mentally. I just couldn't get it together. I felt really flat for most of the day and now know that this my body's way of saying "Barb, take a chill pill". Unfortunately in true Barbie style I didn't listen and tried to go the one extra step, and now am wishing I didn't.

As much as I love track and everything I do, last night was just so hard. My legs felt heavy, almost like walking around with a couple of gumboots on filled with cement. At first I thought it was just that feeling you get when you are warming up, but as the session progressed I got more and more tired and my legs got even heavier. I even had to take puffer x 2 which is slightly unusual. This then had such a negative effect on my psyche. Most people would be happy with running a sub 5 min 1km TT, but because it was 9 secs slower than my last attempt I got a bit peeved. Mind you, if I really wanted to look at it on a more positive note - this was after 10 x 400's.

The 10 x 400's were meant to be on 1:50 with a 30 sec break inbetween. But this was not to be. It gradually got worse until the last 4 were on 2:20. I just could not keep up with the pack, they are just so strong and fit. Everything I hope to one day be like. I know it will happen, but being impatient me:

I WANT IT NOW!

Anyway, when I got home and had a shower my left foot started to feel a bit achey and tight. So when I looked down I kind of was a bit shocked to realise how swollen it was. This is the ankle I twisted ever so gracefully (NOT) on my first ever bush walk over a year ago. What do you think? Ghastly, I have a cankle!!!!

So I strapped it and elevated it and I must say it is not much better this morning. But then again neither is my other ankle. I think this could be fluid retention - a totally negative side effect I have been left with after Steroid treatment for the flare - up of arthritis. Two summers ago anyone would have thought I was suffering from elephantitis my ankles were that big. And I also had "pitting oedema" to match. So today I will just wear my compression sox and try to keep my legs as elevated as possible to remove some of it. No training today.

So as not to finish this post on a downer, my Giveaway entrants list is growing. I am so happy. Keep the entries coming for Barbie's first ever Aussie giveaway.

30 Seconds To Mars - Closer To The Edge

Hey Q:

You inspired me to post my own song. I heard this the other day. Thanks :)

Aussie Giveaway - Tryingatri's first.

Did you miss me? This has probably been the longest I have gone without writing a post. I don't really know why, other than I got caught up doing a million and one other things. I totally missed Monday's training session altogether as the weather was just ridiculous and I used it as a rest day and nursing my other child who had tonsillitis. But, I am now pleased to say that there is no-one left in my house who is sick and I finally got a child free day today and took full advantage of it and went for a 2 hour ride and a 15min run off the bike. I can't even begin to explain how good it felt to just get out and ride or do anything for that matter without thinking about how quickly I had to get back to give meds or come to terms with the fact that I was to have another day of no training.

SO whilst I was out riding doing my "Thaing", I was thinking about all the wonderful emails I had received in the last 48hrs or so. Some had to do with saying thanks for my photos that I took at the Nepean Triathlon, others had to do with more writing opportunities in regards to getting our club recognised, and another had to do with interest in regards to our Aquabike event - the first ever Aquabike event held here in Australia by Panthers Tri Club.

This email was definately something to write home about. You see, this email came from a lady in South Australia enquiring about Aquabiking. How exciting is that!!!! I was so intrigued about how she had heard from another state about our Aquabike event. So I emailed her and she has replied that she found out through Google Australia after typing in "Aquabike Australia". I can't even begin to explain the enormity of it all. This could, if all goes well - fingers crossed - Nationwide. I will keep you all updated in it's progress.

So now onto Tryingatri's first ever giveaway. Are you excited????? I am. I wanted this giveaway to be totally Tri related but it seems going "Aussie" is how it has panned out. It has a little bit of everything. So I hope you like. I will quickly explain each little prize and it's significance.

• 2 sets of earrings by Kurtaiky. My daughter made these in Aussie colours. I love them, not only cause they are made by my Taillah, but because they are just cool.
• Aussie swim cap - so everytime you wear it, you are reminded of ME.
• Panthers Cycle Drink Bottle - because these guys rock. I love my local bike shop guys. They are always helping me out - no matter what. Dave said to say "there's a message in the bottle"
  
• x 2 Panthers Cycles stickers.
• Australia headband. So when your sweatin', it'll be the Aussie band that wipes your brow.
• Australian towel. Every Triathlete needs a towel, this one will definately stand out in the crowd.
• x2 "Hands off my bag" tags. Make sure no-one touches your precious Tri goodies.
• Paw Paw ointment. I swear by this stuff for dry lips, boils, scratches - and i am thinking it would help in the chaffed nipples dept for you blokes.
• Aussie thongs in a Size 8. No Aussie is complete without a pair of thongs.
• Penrith Valley Nepean Triathlon Swim Cap. This is my one that I wore just the Sunday gone. Think of me when you wear it.
• A small satchet of Chamois Butt'r. I do believe this is an American brand but this Aussie Gal loves it. So, I thought I would share its wonder.
• A little book of inspiration - whenever you feel a bit low, close your eyes and open up to any page for some guidance. I love this book.
• Any Aussie bag to carry all your goodies in around transition.
• Not shown (Panthers Tri Club sticker). Of course i would add something of my Tri club here. Panthers Tri Club Rocks.
  

So basically this is how it goes. All I need you to do is:

1. Become a follower (if you are not already) 1pt
2. Tweet, FaceBook yadda, yadda, yadda (let me know here) 1pt for each
   
3. Pass this giveaway on in a post on your blog (let me know) 1pt

That's it. Entries close my 26th November at 6pm and the winner will be drawn my Sunday the 28th 6pm. Goodluck

Team Nevermet ROCKS Nepean Triathlon.

I have always been a fairly self sufficient kind of athlete having come from a swimming background. But if I ever had to choose someone to be my buddy in a team event, it would be Aaron. You see up till this morning Aaron and I had never met. We had simply communicated through emails and text messages after being hooked up through a mutual friend Cloe. And I really could not have asked for anyone better to be my buddy. We had said a couple of days before that we would meet up at our Tri Clubs tent before the race and get to say HI in person.

So upon driving in this morning I was really excited, not an unusal occurence for me, but for some reason I didn't have those usual pre-race nerves. There was something strangely calming about knowing I had only one leg to complete. That's not to say that I wasn't going to give this my all, but it now meant that I didn't have to try and conserve my energy for the other two, nor totally freak out about the fact I was going to possibly die on the run leg.

Upon arriving to the tent there were some team members there already getting prepped and sorting themseves out. The camaraderie amongst our team mates is awesome. No-one is ever short of a supportive word or equally a bit of sledging, it's all in good jest though. Before I knew it Aaron had turned up and we made our way to transition to rack his bike. Cloe had found us a fairly good spot which was close for me to get to him in T1. I left him there after some chit chat and said "see ya soon and goodluck".

It was about now that my nerves did finally kick in. My stomach started doing flip flops and my mouth got really dry and pastey. I needed water, lots of it and my best friend did her best to supply me with drinks of fresh water from her bottle. By the time my race was ready to start, it felt like the temp had reached 26 degrees celsius and that was at 8am.
No sooner had the previous race gotten in the water to start, I quickly jumped in with my coach for a bit of a warmup, but it felt more like a cooling down (just what I needed).
I started trying to figure out where I should position myself, you see some of the guys I was going to race against looked fairly tough and I simply didn't want to get smashed over.
And as the race kicked off I took off as fast as I could so as not to get caught up in the whitewash. I could see some guys to my right and some guys to my left who were doing the exact same thing as me, and it wasn't long before two of them closed in quickly on either side and one swam straight past me. Then so did the other - awfully close though I might add.
I thought I saw some others pass me and I was getting a bit frustrated but decided that there was no point trying to hang on and get totally spent trying to win, this was afterall my first 1km competitive swim. The swim just seemed to go on forever, everytime I looked to my right I thought "I'm sure I have seen that marker before". So you can imagine my joy when I finally reached the final bouy which signalled a right hand turn into the final 30m to shore.
I was so excited to have finished, not because I had had it, but rather I think I did my best and gave it everything I had. My job was done and I think I gave my team the very best advantage I could. It was now Aarons turn to fly the "Team Nevermet" banner. I gave him a pat on the back, wished him luck and watched as he ran off into the horizon out of T1 with his bike. This was really exciting.

I only caught a glimpse of him on his bike leg and set my sights firm on trying to get some good shots of him on his run and make sure I gave his as much encouragement as possible. It was a stinking hot day and the mercury had risen to 34 degrees celsius by the time he started his run leg.
I really felt for him with this heat, but Aaron is a total legend. He smiled everytime he spotted me and would give me a thumbs up. So when I finally spotted him coming through with only 200 metres to go I ran beside him and took photos as I went. I wanted him to know that I was so happy to be part of this team.


When Aaron finished I gave him a big hug and thanked him for being an awesome buddy. We scored a couple more photos and then we went back up to the tent and replenished some much needed fluids and sugars.
Aaron was really pleased with his times and I sadly could not give him my times as I did not have a stop watch, but as I got home and jumped on the Nepean Triathlon Website I was really shocked to see that race results were already up. So here it is:

I do believe we did exceptionally well.

I didn't get passed by as many people as I thought. I must have been imagining those other swimmers. Aaron, I am so honoured to have had you as my buddy. Should you ever wish to do another team event, please do not hesitate in giving me a call. I think we make an awesome team.

"GO TEAM NEVERMET"

Guess what I wanted to be when I grew up

Yep, from the tender age of 4 I wanted to be a prima ballerina. Nothing else made me feel as good. My mum said I used to prance around the house doing Pirouette's and Grand Jette's until I would fall down in a heap saying "I feel dizzy". I used to love wearing my Tutu and having myself all prettied up, however I recall screaming like a banshee whilst getting my hair slicked back so tight you would have thought I was being murdered. I mean really - who needs to invest thousands of dollars in a face lift when you have ballerina bun's that do the same thing.

I even loved ballet more than swimming - oh shock horror. I hated getting up early and always smelling like chlorine. I hated always being cold and wet. I hated the fact that all my friends got to sleep in whilst I endured kilometres after kilometres of winter swims in an outdoor pool. Ballet on the other hand made me feel like a girl, not a fish. That was until my ballet teacher decided that my shoulders were getting too broad from swimming. Take a look at me, I did get much broader than that, but she was one tough teacher.

I was her star pupil and had been picked out during one of my examinations as a potential candidate to go to the Royal Australian Ballet Academy. And because of this she would really drive me hard during my 4 nights week training. Mix that in with 11 sessions of swimming a week I was one exhausted little individual. After 5 yrs of ballet and at the mere old age of 9, I gave up ballet and focused my attentions on swimming.

Anyways, the point of this post was to highlight that even though my dreams had changed, my zest for being the best I can be has not. I want to try my hardest the same way I used to as a child, only this time in the world of Triathlons. My drive and determination has not left me, it has only been intensified x 1000 as I have gotten older. I am not wanting to prove a point to anyone else other than me. We all have things to prove, things we want to achieve, dreams we want to fulfill and demons we want to lay to rest. My demon is the 12mths of hell I went through with my back. Triathlons saved my life and sanity. The people I have met throughout my journey have spurred me on to bigger and better things. I can't thankyou enough for all your support. I truly feel blessed.

My stash of giveaway stuff is growing. I got so excited I kind of went crazy, I think you guys will

LOVE IT

The rains are here.

Yesterday's rains were totally ridiculous. I haven't seen anything like that for a while. We had a mixture of hail, torrential rain, gusty winds, lightening & thunder and whatever else mother nature could throw at us. I remember when I was younger, this seemed to be the usual occurence during the warmer months, however because it happens so infrequently now, everyone is flabbergasted.

My main concern was that I was not going to be able to do track last night. I didn't want to miss out on another opportunity to get better at my running and the chance to learn something new. Who would have thought running was going to be my new love. Especially after everything I have gone through with all my injuries and back concerns.

Sure enough when the rains stopped, the sun came out in full force and it was now not only wet but the mugginess was almost a little too much to take. You could almost feel it rising off the ground. So when the time came to leave for track and the fact that I had not heard anything otherwise to state that it had been cancelled, I was so excited I got dressed, waited for hubby to walk in the door, gave everyone a big kiss goodbye and rushed out the door.

As I was driving there I was preparing myself for the inevitable "the grounds are too wet and we need to cancel tonight", so I was thoroughly surprised when I arrived and it was all good to go. Track just needed to be altered, that's all. We were going to do hill repeats. Never done these before and might I say I quite like them even though they nearly killed me.

The loop we had to do was about 600m in length - 300m up and 300m back down. We started off with a 1 loop nice and easy followed by a further loop at race pace which I did in 3:20. Then main set which came up next would test me beyond all measure. It was 5 x 600m loops, up hard, back easy jog with a 30 sec break between each set.

The humidity had me totally wringing wet soon after the warm up so having done this mainset my singlet was now dripping as well as fleckled with mud all up the back. We then followed it up with 4 x 200's at race pace with a minute break inbetween. I was totally spent. Had nothing left to give but so glad I gave it all.

This morning I woke up feeling refreshed and my legs weren't sore at all. That was until I tried to swim - and then the cramping began. I was meant to do a 3.7km swim but dropped it to 3.4km. Not too much of a drop in distance but nonetheless my legs were protesting from last night's hills.

I am pleased with my performances to date and keep my fingers crossed daily for future success in everything I try.

I was also thinking about doing a Giveaway but have no clue as to what to Giveaway. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And no being silly - no I cannot give away a car!!!!