Your Vitality & Lifestyle Fitness Coach

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Hilly, Hot & Hella Good Challenge! My IronGirl Race Report

I have always enjoyed challenging myself physically and seeing all that I am capable of. This is why I love Triathlon’s! I know that “Yes I Can." For me the physical and mental aspects flow over into all other areas of my life. I can ALWAYS exceed my expectations and limitations and maybe even find, there really aren’t any.

Below is my IronGirl race experience. This was also a special time for me being Mother’s Day weekend having lost my mom at the end of last year. It was a celebration of her spirit of adventure and in honor of her, my hero.

Race Prep
Arrived Thursday and mentally prepared for what we had trained for with excitement, expectation and a little nervousness. My first tri was an entirely flat course so I had little to compare to race wise. Training with Martha and Tri La Vie was a great decision and prepared me accordingly for this very hilly, hot, windy and challenging course.

One of the many things I appreciate about Martha as a coach is how she involves our mind-set, I spent most of Friday listening, observing and connecting with other team mates and fellow triatletes and had some quite time at the end of my day visualizing my swim, bike and run with efficiency, strategy, determination and some shazaaaam!

Race Morning
Played DJ with a few jams in my car on the way to course and felt incredibly present. Felt excited and ready to go as I set up my transition area. Made my way over to the lake with plenty of time to spare, acclimate and do some drills in the water remembering loooooooong reach, relaxed strokes. I made the mind-mapping connection during my pre-race dip in the lake that my coach often speaks of. I watched each wave of age categories start their race prior to mine and mapped my swim with a straight line.

The Swim
Let’s just say that before I started training with Martha and the team I was swim-challenged. I did my first tri doing the back-stroke the entire way and I’m sure I gave the biomechanics of it a bad name! But this time it was going to be different. I had my mantra, I visualized my swim with all the skills and mechanics I learned and practiced, relaxed and leisurely walked into the water during my heat while most of in my category slap happily ran in with little strategy. As I settled into my swim groove… it happened. I actually began to pass people on the swim. I experienced no one thrushing, kicking, elbowing or slapping me. A straight line, I had my course, I was finding my inner swimmer and that first big orange buoy and me were one. I made it nice and easy to the buoy and to my surprise, passed some navy blue caps, even a yellow (the age groups who started prior). Then the wind picked up and the lake became choppy and I took in a little water. Relax. I targeted the second buoy and turn, which was a small orange dot, came larger into site. Rounding the second buoy and passing more people I needed to relax with much more distance to go so I relaxed on my back and do the backstroke WITH strategy… to the bridge. To the bridge, I kept saying to myself. Relax on your back, catch your breath to the bridge. Then I would push through to the end. The bridge came, I flipped over and rocked the rest of the way smooth and fluid until my chest almost hit the bottom of the lake muddy floor for an easy stand up and run out of the water and saw Martha and Robin more excited for me than I had ever seen. The swim was done, I felt like a rock star, incredibly confident and glad that part was over.

T1
I felt each dizzying step of that quarter mile uphill trek thru transition 1. But I was pumped, confident and purposeful. Then there were the two guys who were offering to strip your wet suit for you. I was surprised and had to think. should I? I already had my plan and didn’t know how proficient and fast they were. I was racing for time this Tri and had made a last minute decision to wear a skirt/short combo thing that I had not tested in wet-suit disembarking and feared the very albeit cute skirt/short combo might come off too… I ran past them in a split second decision, got to my transition location and did my 1-2-3 fast wet suit removal and my skirt stayed on! But somehow my feet were determined not to come out of my wet suit despite my ample body glide and PAM. Finally, we worked it out and my left foot submitted, then my right. Did my bip-bop-boom quick remainder of my transition, sucked down my GU nutrition and ran out with one hand on my bike seat lookin’ like a true Triathlete the way Martha coached us to be.

The Bike
I love hills, I love hills, I love hills and I sang it mostly out loud to a few fellow Iron Girl’s amusement along the way. Hills out of every transition are a beautiful thing is what I told myself smiling. I had rocked it in my training with hill repeats and was prepared. Many weren’t and some even got off their bikes and walked their bikes up the hills. I experienced gear issues for what seemed like more than a ¼ of my ride, worked through the issue, plowed through, embraced the burn, sipped often, sucked more nutrition, pushed hard knowing recovery was coming soon and hooting and hollering at every volunteer and every Twenty-Something year old on their bike as I cycled passed (in Triathlon's, your age is marked on your calf). I learned that I could really push and go beyond the edge and still be okay even it felt like I might throw up. I won’t blow up, die or fall apart. Push. Recover. Drink. Push. Recover. Drink. Woo Hoo to the nice people on the side of the road Volunteering and encouraged riders with “good job, rock it out girl” as I passed on their left. All they could eek out was a breathy “you too.” Push. Recover. Drink. I gained even more time flying down the hills and again was greeted by Martha and Robin jumping and hollering for me to “go, go, go, Rachael!” I will say it again, I felt like a rock star. My strategy was going hard on the bike, which is my strength, while relaxing on the swim and utilizing whatever was left on the run. I was about to learn about how to do that maybe a weeeee bit more efficiently.

T2
I dismount my bike like someone who knew what she was doing with a one-legged over the bike while riding thing (surprising myself) that I see when watching the IronMan World Championships in Kona on TV. I transition in and realize I need to catch my breath and recover a little more than I anticipated. I got to my transition station knowing I needed to bring my heart rate down. Helmet off, hat on, shoes, turned my race belt so my number now faced front and took my next bit of nutrition. Still needed to bring my heart rate down for a little more recovery to rock the run. The porta-potty bathroom was the answer. Perfect! Just what my heart rate and my bladder needed after 20oz of fluid electrolytes on the bike. Start out of my transition isle and forget my mini hand fluid carrier. I go back (normally I wouldn’t for timing but needed the 33 extra seconds to recover more). Ran into the porta-potty, and after threw out a Molly Shannon Mary Katherine Gallagher SuperStar after I jump out of the blue porta-potty box they placed in front of the spectators. What else is a Tri La Vie Triathlete suppose to do coming out of a porta-potty with an audience?

The Run
Not my shinning-est moment. Another big uphill start of a transition and there were Martha and Robin again yelling (these ladies get around) “Rachael, go, go, go” as I danced the running man while running past them. Not easy to do, running man while running. It wasn’t pretty and they may have thought I lost all remembrance of running form. Part of my race strategy was “fun” and though taxed at this point, I was having it! Then I saw it. Afghanistan. You hit the dirt trail from the pavement soon after that lovely uphill from transition, down a dirt hill and civilization disappears. I then saw all the “ants” of people way out in Afghanistan that Robin Miller mentioned in our team prep meeting. I actually started laughing. Okay, here we go. Their is a run/walk strategy many champions and long distance runners use to increase their time and efficency, usually thru the water/hydration stations or every mile or so. Doing strategic walks for a short time during a run releases lactic acid from your legs and gives you an extra push both physically and mentally. My coach taught us this strategy and at this point, I was embracing it. Only by the third big hill, it was more like shuffle/walk with more hills to come. Kiddingly I say Afghanistan but that is what I imagine it to be like. Not even a single tumble weed. Now this was an adventure. Then, the first water station came into view. I quickly learned the ice cold sponge they give you is for more than wiping your face. A volunteer shouted “keep it in your bra, it will cool you down.” Brilliance. Then at some point during a walk in my run/walk (we’ll call it a shuffle) somehow I mentally checked out and lost track of how long I had been walking. I thought “Rach, you’re rockin' a Triathlon!” Maybe it was the heat, maybe I was relishing the moment, but I knew I had more to give and to go so I shuffled on. Soon, I saw pavement and civilization. Then there they were again as I returned from Afghanistan, Martha and Robin. I expected to hear something profound. It was. Martha yelled “Rachael, breakfast is just around the corner!” Then I saw the additional Tri La Vi supporters and sash bearers… and down the hill with victory arms up running and woooo hooooing past the spectators. Then, past the finish line happily stopping to do the running man in place followed by a photo opportunity of the occasion with medal in hand by the Iron Girl photographer.

My race was done! I did it. Actually, I rocked it!

I am Iron Girl…. Hear me roar! Watch me rock it!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Be in the "Now" to Be in the "New "

This past Friday, March 20th was the Spring Equinox. In nature, it's a time of beginnings. New growth, new life and even a new moon. Its a time when things are about to bloom, but not quite yet. Warm weather is looming, but not quite yet. Trees and flowers are on the verge of bursting into full and vibrant color, but not quite yet. Maybe you've sensed a few “not quite yet’s” in your life of late too. Breathe. Breathe in the calm and breathe out the peace of the present moment. Being in the "now" will facilitate bringing you into the "new." The new of "what's next" for you.

I find many parallels to life in athletic performance, exercise, endurance and physical challenges. Moving and breathing through a time of fatigue of lifting or increasing stride challenges your muscles and endurance. What follows is a time of repair and recovery. And then a new space of endurance or definition appears.

Whatever we may be feeling physically, emotionally or even spiritually, because its all connected, is bringing us closer to the "new," the what's next for our lives. It may not make complete sense, almost like we can't quite put a finger on it or even explain the "between" feeling and we may not even know exactly what the "next" is, but we know its something other than what we have, what we have done and perhaps in some cases whom we associate with. Allow and breathe through, soon the fullness and newness of Spring with all its virbrancy and bloom will be here. The beauty of this Spring season is we don't have to figure it out or work at it. It comes on its own when we are in the now.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

What Lies Beneath

In the fall of 2007, six days before my birthday I summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. The seven day climb up the Machame route was the most challenging and rewarding experience to date both physically and mentally. The high altitude of the tallest free standing mountain and one of the 7 highest in the world challenged my personal limits and have challenged many who set out to conquer. Local villagers will look you penetratingly in the eye and state “you must Kill Kili.”

Kill Kili. As a coach, practitioner and speaker I enjoy reframing words as they are powerful and telling in relation to mind sets and limiting beliefs. But this statement I embraced. I needed to own it and Kill Kili. They call it having “mountain courage” and it has very little to do with athletic ability or training. It lies in the depth of your soul, untapped and waiting to reveal what we are capable of. Exploring, reaching and exceeding personal limits.

I now understand why more than half who attempt to summit Kilimanjaro don’t make it. With the physical and emotionally fatigue of pushing your personal limits, the lack of oxygen and altitude sickness, there are a hundred reasons to stop. Your body and your mind has no problem finding reasons to turn back around and will proclaim them loudly. But there is always one reason to keep going, if you can find yours.

Isolated moments of solitary climbing, just me and my thoughts learning what I was made of when no one who knew me was around served as a wonderful caveat for pushing my personal limits and my beliefs, almost as much as the physical aspect, particularly on the summit day.

The summit day began at midnight and for eight hours in the dark we climbed in the thin air depriving our bodies of oxygen and energy. Disoriented yet determined, the only thing I could think was to put one foot in front of the other in the early morning hours on the quiet of that mountain and take it one step at a time. Through the uncomfortable fatigue, shortness of breath making every step laborious while quieting the thoughts of “what the hell was I thinking” and pulling deep within for what I was capable of, finding the mountain courage and pushing through my personal limits.

I had many conversations with myself, self witnessing and realizations that final summit day for the 8 hours up to the summit of Kilimanjaro’s crater, Uhuru Peak. And when I reached the summit at sunrise, all the pain and effort that preceded had been forgotten.

To this day I have a hard time finding words to fully express and describe adequately my experience. It’s so sweetly personal and as I was sharing it over the weekend with a mutually inspiring risk-taker who is a dreamer and equally passionate about life, it prompted me to share the experience in my blog. Having the opportunity to see the crater of a magnificent volcano and ancient glaciers at the summit that will be evaporated in less than 50 years and a view that very few on this earth will ever see and knowing that "I did that" overwhelms me with joy, pride and fortitude to this day. It is an experience I can build upon mentally and physically. Kilimanjaro parallels so many aspects of life and how our mind set and belief are only limiting if we believe they are. If you think you can or you can’t, you are absolutely right!

I also believe there are generally two types of people in this world. People who go through life saying I can and others who say I can’t. The “I can’ts” are often not conscious or even verbally recognizable. To others it may not seem as though we have any "I can'ts". They quietly make a statement in our lives keeping us comfortable, detouring us from risk and all the opportunity and largeness of life that is ready to embrace us on the other side of the "I can". Detouring us from greatness, from mountain top experiences that will transform our view and our life propelling us into extraordinary and exceeding personal limits.

What is your mantra? What are your limits? What is your ultimate? What is your quiet “I can’t” that is keeping your from mountain top experiences and the rapture of truly being alive?

Are you willing to explore and really see what’s inside your soul? If you are, I know greatness and extraordinary awaits!

Be Great, Glow Within, Stay Juicy,
Rachael
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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Uninterrupted Existence

Uninterrupted existence. That’s one definition of endurance.

Endurance is the power to hold on, move through and allow in spite of feelings or uncomfortable circumstances. Personal success isn’t measured by being void of failure or momentary misplaced mojo, it is continuing on, moving through and intuitively knowing when to allow.

It's persistent succession, continuity and determination. It brings a breath of hope and momentum that propels us out of the ordinary and the less-than-desirable in-between or dark moments of our journey towards mountain top experiences. To simply keep going and commit within even through the funk.

Endurance athletes train this way and why I love presenting to clients the challenge of participating in an athletic race with preparation such as a 5K. They are physical metaphors and are parallel to excelling forward even during uncomfortable times and give a foundation of what we truly are capable of. Endurance athletes go through highs and lows. They remain persistent, determined. Not over night, but by practice. They have the end in mind, the big picture, the finish line. Their training is an uninterrupted existence.

All great achievements take time and include highs and lows. Endurance is the crowning quality of success. To keep going even if you have a set back, because you can always turn it into a “come back!”

If your mojo is temporarily misplaced, tap in and find your personal inner endurance. Find your “why” and live it out loud.

Live with uninterrupted existence.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Feeling Moxie?

Moxie . It's an attitude; a way of being in the world that creates immense freedom. It's where savvy, committed, smart and highly skilled meet spunky, shameless, gutsy, and brazen. It's what some folks might misenterpret as "too big for your britches," but it's not. It's that sassy part of each of us that needs to be tapped into and this is the place to find yours!

Moxie (mok-see) noun,. slang
* vigor; verve; pep
* courage; fire; nerve
* skill; know-how
* fortitude and determination

So tap into that moxielicious part of you for motivation and verve to live out loud!

Who’s rocking their moxie?

Be Great, Glow Within, Be Moxielicious,
Rachael
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Monday, February 16, 2009

Live Juicy & Transform Your Perspective

Many of us think of exercise or working out and eating well as a “goal.”

It’s not. It’s a given, it's creating a healthy lifestyle.

Stick with me a moment here. We don’t set a goal to breathe, do we? It’s what our bodies are meant to do naturally. Changing our perspective about this is the first step in allowing our bodies to reset back to their natural, vibrant state and create a healthy lifestyle of exercise and eating well beyond a “program” or a “goal.”

Not one animal in nature has an exercise “program” or any other program for that matter. It’s unnatural. They are instinctual and don’t lay around debating if they should move, starve or deprive themselves or curse the extra padding they put on in the winter months. You are a "Juicy Animal!"

When we understand that our bodies are hard-wired for activity and actually want to move and eat nutritious foods from nature and not a box, shift happens. Our bodies begin to reset back to its natural state and making time for exercise or getting up for a morning workout before your day starts with kids, spouses, career and all our wonderful productivity will no longer seem like a chore or “what you need to do to get skinny.” It will be what you want to do in your natural, vibrant state of a healthy lifestyle.

This is a new perspective and may take a moment to digest. Notice what you thought when you read about creating a healthy lifestyle over setting a goal? Were you overwhelmed and felt like you “had to” or oh no, I’ll never be able to do that? That is a limited belief and now you have an opportunity to be curios about whatever little voice is talking back and ask “is that true?” How do you know you can’t? Have you ever been in your bodies natural, vibrant state? Our bodies naturally want to move and eat well.

I am passionate and excited about igniting shifts in perspectives towards transformation and not just providing a "program."

So what’s driving you? To achieve a weight loss goal or to create a healthy lifestyle of sustainability for the long term? Now is a good time to start with shifting your mind-set.

We are creating a juicy lifestyle and as your coach, trainer and facilitator of possibilities, Transform Fitness Camp and Verve Enterprises Coaching is designed to champion the brilliance that already exists inside you. To support resetting your expectations of who you are and living who you are meant to be with wellness, vitality and living fit, healthy and hot rather than being another “program.”

Wellness and vitality simply means this; we no longer doubt ourselves, we function from a place of source (knowing we are capable and pull the answers from within), regenerating, refueling and reengaging our energy with exercise and noshing well and taking care of ourselves as we reset our expectations and create a healthy lifestyle. One juicy day at a time.

That my friend, is "Living Juicy!" Spread the juicy word to those you love and care about!

Be Great, Glow Within, Stay Juicy,
Rachael
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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Romance Yourself

In honor of February being “Heart” month both physically and emotionally, I've composed some inspiration to ignite your motivation in taking exquisite care of yourself, your vitality, personal success and fitness goals.

• Keep movin’ keep choosin’! Today is a new day, choose to take care of yourself and give your body the nutritious meals and hydration with water it desires so it can in return give you vitality, energy and abundant health (and a lean body, flatter tummy and lifted booty)

• Accentuate the positive; what have you accomplished since your decision to take care of you and be fit and healthy? Find sources of strength and positive change within yourself, outside your immediate circle, with regular strength training and in healthy food choices that you have a accomplished and use it as your new experience to build upon (this will aid in changing your old “picture” as well). Even the smallest change adds up, its all significant. Give yourself credit for even the smallest step.

• Strengthen your resolve; The new year brings with it the “need” to set resolutions, you may have thought or even written a few (I prefer goals and intending over resolutions). Keep up with your goals and intentions by surrounding yourself and reaching out to those who are on your same path.

• “Be the wonder woman you CAN be” ~Diane von Furstenberg (the word "can" suggests you already are, you just have to choose to take steps and live it)

• Find yours; find your personal goal, not the goal of what you think you should be according to the media or others, find what you love, what makes you happy, what makes you tick, what you are good at as it relates to exercise and moving your body, a great tasting, nutrious healthy meal you’ve made, finding your inner runner, inner athlete, inner rock star or finding your inner _________ (fill in the blank).

• Say hello to your future self by creating a mantra or manifesto that has resonance for you. “I am lean, Strong and Healthy”; “I am fit and full of Vitality”; “I have become the woman I want to be for myself, my children, my significant other;” “I am unapologetically sexy, sassy and fit.” Just a few ideas to ignite your own.

• Give YOURSELF a Valentine. You are deserving! “Self-love, my trusted friend, is not so vile a regrettable behavior as self neglecting" ~William Shakespeare.

• Create an extraordinary day by changing or shifting your perspective. My desire is that this post has done so...

Be Great, Glow Within, Stay Juicy,
Rachael
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