6 Tips for Getting your Coaching Business Started.

Those of you that have been reading this blog from the beginning probably already know the story. The question has come up several times in the last several months so I thought I'd tell the story again and offer up some tips to people looking to get into the coaching world.

This blog was really how I ended up getting my start in coaching.  In the early days of this blog I documented my goal of running a sub 1:40 half marathon the year I turned 40.  I talked about my training, my diet, things I loved.  It was essentially an online diary.   I crushed that sub 1:40 goal and ran a 1:35.  That was in 2011.  In 2012, I had a very successful year of racing, either winning my AG, or the overall masters title at several different races.  I was a self coached athlete at the time and I had put a lot of focus on strength training and speed work.  I talked about this often in the blog and on Instagram.  I did a lot of research into structuring a running plan and how to build strength work into it.  I firmly believe it was all those early successful races that opened the door to coaching.

I didn't come from an elite level sport background.  I played soccer during high school and not at any sort of high level.  That was it.  Everything I knew about running, I learned through trial and error, reading and talking to other runners.  The same with triathlon.  I am a student of the sports I love.  Plain and simple.  At first I had friends ask if I would coach them.  So I said sure.  It seemed like a natural fit for me.  I loved helping people work towards a goal with a solid plan.  And that's how it all started.

Before I quit my full time job to pursue coaching full time, there were a few things I did.

1.  Get certified.  There are plenty of certifications out there, look at one that makes the most sense for  you in terms of your goals as a coach.  Personally I felt having a certification made me more credible.  Certifications also make sure you stay on top of your education and growth as a coach.

2.  Figure out what your niche is.  Is there something in your sport that you have a lot of experience with or have done a lot of research on?  Do people come to you for advice on that particular thing?  If so, consider that your niche.  Put it out there when you start marketing.

3.  Determine your worth.  Research other coaches in your area and see what they are offering for what they are charging.  I started off a little lower than the going rate in Toronto simply because I was new to the industry.  I knew that as my business grew and I learned more, I would bring myself up to the going rate in my area.

4.  Utilize social media to get the word out.  If you have a blog, blog about it.  If you are on Instagram, post about it.  I did both things BEFORE I left my full time job so people were aware that I'd be accepting new athletes.  Set the stage so people know when you'll be open for business.

5.  Build your brand.  In the age of social media, this is so important.  The internet is filled with potential clients.   How will you get them to hire you?  Think about ways you can engage with people and share your knowledge.  If you are offering something of value, people will follow and potentially become clients.

6.  Approach local clubs and see if you can work with them.  I coached cycling with the Toronto Triathlon Club for two years.  That was additional income over and above my private coaching clients.  It got me out of the house and in front of potential new clients.  It also helped me get outside my comfort zone and work with a group, which in turn added another piece of knowledge and experience to my coaching.

I can honestly say that getting into coaching was the best career decision I've ever made.  I am a "helper" and I always have been.  It just took me 45 years to figure out where I was happiest helping and this is it.

If you have any other questions related to coaching that I haven't answered here, don't hesitate to comment or email me.  I'm always happy to chat!

Keep on chasing those dreams!

~ Coach PK 

photo courtesy of Edison Yao

2017: You Were a Good One

Happy New Year!

I'm still alive!  I know I've been M.I.A these last couple of months but I haven't felt like I've had much to share and truth be told, I've been busy focusing on building my coaching business and working on a bit of side hustle as well (more on that down the road).  I've been spending more time on Instagram, telling snippets of stories there.  But I will come back to blogging in 2018.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas.   Ours was pretty low key, especially since G was sick.  That meant I went to my parents on my own.  He's starting to feel better but it's been a pretty slow process.  I'm crossing my fingers I don't get it.  I've dialled back the workouts these last two weeks just to balance out all the other activities.  I find this time of year we can really stretch ourselves far too thin and then we try to cram in training and we inevitably get sick.  I didn't want that to happen this year so I skipped a few swims, did some easier effort rides vs anything too hard and made sure I got adequate amounts of sleep.  A "few" swims turned into two weeks out of the pool but I will get back there soon.  😁  Especially since I've got a big ass goal for 2018.  I put it out on Instagram a couple of weeks ago and I'm putting it out there again.  It scares the crap outta me but I want it.  And you HAVE to WANT it, especially if it's a longer distance race and you know you're going to have to put in the time in less than ideal training conditions.

So what is the big ass goal?  I want to qualify for the 2019 70.3 World Championships.  I have chosen Muskoka as my A-race, which means I need to put in a lot of time in the HILLS this year because I want to absolutely crush that bike.  My run needs to improve a fair bit as well.  I am currently working out the kinks in my body to help provide a much more stable core for when I start to add regular speed work.  I've seen some glimmers of my old running self so I have high hopes that I will be able to find some of that lost speed.  I just have to make sure I remain healthy.  That is KEY.

The fact that I made it through a very successful season of racing with no major issues was huge, especially after my disappointing 2016 season.   As I said on Instagram, 2017 was fan-fucking-tastic.  It exceeded my expectations many times over.  My main goal was to get to the start line of Tremblant 70.3 healthy and ready to race.  Everything else was just a bonus.

My 2017 instagram #bestnine 

Professionally, this has certainly been a year of growth.   I have to pinch myself sometimes because I can't believe I'm finally doing my own thing.  People keep asking me if I miss my old job and the resounding answer is NO.  I miss the people but I do not miss the business at all.  I am still finding my way and figuring out what works and what doesn't in terms of running a business.  It's taken me a long time to get into a groove and I'm still working on developing a solid routine.

I am thrilled with how well this first year has gone and I'm SO thankful to all the athletes that have trusted me with their training this year.   It hasn't been all sunshine and roses however.  There has been some self doubt.  Things have seemed daunting at times.  But as the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day and I have learned to plan accordingly.

I'm looking forward to planning some fun events for 2018, in addition to the two I've already got on the calendar:  The Limitless Tri / PKPC  Fun in the Sun training camp in March and a beginner's swim clinic with Coach Jason from Tri-Train on January 20th.  Today's first annual Fun Run was awesome and my crew has given me some excellent ideas for 2018 events.  They may or may not involve beer and running.  😃

A handful of the PKPC crew!

Thanks so much to everyone that has read my ramblings this past year.  I know I have been a very sporadic blogger this year but I am aiming to change that in 2018.

Here's to a happy, healthy and KICK ASS 2018.

~ Coach PK

A New Start + Another Trip Around the Sun

Remember my sneak peak from Monday?  Well, I'm happy to say that my new website is LIVE.  You can check it out here.   You may also notice a slight change in the header of my blog as well to tie in with my coaching website.

Everything was done by Chick and Owl Design.  They are a brother and sister duo and the sister, Katie, happens to be friends with my little sister for what seems like forever.  They were great to work with and I am thrilled with the end result.   I highly recommend them.  

The original plan was to launch on my birthday but they delivered early so I launched yesterday (happy early birthday to me!).  Quite frankly it's just as well because I spent a lot of time on social media yesterday and given that my girlfriends are coming in tonight, I don't think I would have been able to devote the time to do much if I was playing hostess. 

Tomorrow is my 46th birthday.  Forty Six.  WTH.   I still feel like I'm 30 something.  My body tells me otherwise every damn day but that's part of getting older, right?  Normally I'd have something clever to post like last year but alas, I do not.   Perhaps later on next week so I can reflect on turing 46.  

I did get a second early birthday present in the form of a meeting (along with an actual present - yay!).  It's not every day you get to meet Instagram / Facebook friends from another country but today I got that chance.  I finally got to meet my IG friend Shannon.  Today was an absolutely fabulous day.  We went for a run (as you do!) and she took me around her neighbourhood.  The conversation was easy.  I felt like I've known her for years.   It's funny how social media makes you feel that way about people.  And of course, as social media runners do, we had to document it.  You can see Shannon's post here.  So much laughing.  It was a lovely way to spend a morning and I'm grateful I got the opportunity.   I also can't believe that I got that much air!  ha ha ha.

Happy Almost Friday!

Coach PK

Monday Musings: Birthday Week & A Sneak Peek

Hey hey hey, it's Mon-DAY and I cannot believe that we've been here for a MONTH already!  February has pretty much flown by.  Normally I'm not a big fan of February but I'm not gonna lie, I'm LOVING February this year.   We're really enjoying the weather, the people and the fact that we can hop on our bikes and ride right from our front door.  G said he thinks he could live here.  I'm not sure I could, as much as I love the warm weather, I know I'd miss the changing of the seasons.   Not to mention my family and friends.

Speaking of my family,  my amazing sister made it on local TV to talk about a project that she has been working on for the last year.   To say I'm proud would be an understatement.   And I realize that it's been a while since I've mentioned my dad.  His heart attack back in November was quite serious but he's finally in cardiac rehab and he's on the mend.  He's changed his diet and he's now allowed to play some badminton and he's in the gym lifting weights.   So things are moving in the right direction!

We didn't get up to much this weekend as G had to jet off to Paris for work so there were no tourist escapades this weekend.   He's gone for the entire week and won't be back until late this Saturday.   So, I'm going to play tourist without him.  But I won't be going solo.  Nope.  It's my birthday on Friday so a few of my girlfriends are flying in from Toronto for a long weekend and we're road tripping to Clearwater Beach.  WOOOHOOO!  Nothing like a beach weekend with your gal pals to celebrate another trip around the sun.   I can pretty much guarantee that the only thing that will get a work out will be my dancing shoes.   Dancing counts as cardio right?  Ha.

And in other BIG NEWS, I'm finally getting ready to launch my website!!!!  We're getting so close and I'm SUPER EXCITED.   For now,  you can check out my Facebook page and you can get a sneak preview of my logo there.  WHEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ok ok, that's enough squealing.   Let's get to how this last week of training went down shall we?

Monday:   57km bike + 5km run G and I met up with my friend Deirdre and her hubby Jonathan as well as our friends Ruth and Keith for some TT intervals, followed by a run off the bike.  We drove out to Silver Lake in Leesburg and proceeded to create perfect circles in Strava, ha ha.

We did a really good warm up (3 laps) then hammered one lap all out so Jonathan could get the Strava KOM (he AVERAGED 48.5 kph.  BEAST!).  Then we did a couple more easy laps and did a one lap TT.  Then another couple of easy laps and then a 3 lap TT.   Given that it's only February and I haven't really put in a lot of high intensity interval work on my TT bike just yet, I'm SUPER happy with how that all went down.  To see those speeds this early makes me happy.  My normalized power (NP) for this part of the workout was 192W and my 20 minute power average was 215W.   My average watts per kg for each lap of the 3 lap TT were, 3.70, 3.60 and 3.86 respectively.   I'm pretty pleased with that and hope to improve on that over the next few months.

By the time we finished riding it was 12:30 and it was scorching hot.  But I had said I wanted to do a brick so G and I laced up.  He took off like a shot.  I shuffled out of the parking lot, legs and knees hurting.   I wanted to stop.  I figured it would probably take about 1km before I felt ok.  Sure enough just past the 1km mark, everything stopped hurting and I got into a groove.  I caught G and proceeded to bang out a 23 minute 5km.  Not even remotely close to what I used to be able to run off the bike but, you've gotta start somewhere.  It wasn't pretty that's for sure but I was pleased with the effort.

Target acquired!  

Tuesday:  Swim 2377m + 60 minute strength workout.  I knew I was going to need some serious recovery time after that workout so I skipped the Centre Hill ride.  I swam and went to the gym with Dee.

Wednesday:  This was supposed to be a big ride day with Dee but Mother Nature decided to pour rain for most of the day so we didn't ride.  I figured I'd switch things around and run but I missed my window of opportunity to get out.  And I really wasn't feeling that great so nothing happened.

Thursday:  22.5km bike. I hardly slept on Wednesday night so I missed my morning swim.  I was still pretty sore from the gym on Tuesday so I had figured I'd do an easy ride vs. doing the Centre Hill ride.  I got up and ate breakfast but felt so crappy I went back to bed (thank you "Aunt Flo")  It was raining in the morning and then cleared up around lunch so I went out at that point.   Not the best idea, I still wasn't feeling awesome.  But at least I got outside.

Friday:   8km run.  I slept much better Thursday night and had big plans for Friday but we ended up cleaning the house in the morning, then going to see another rental place that we might book for next year.  By the time that was done it was just past 11 so G and I laced up our shoes and went out for a run.  It was 32 degrees celsius.  I was a big sweaty mess by the time we finished.  But I was glad we did something.

Saturday:  77.5km ride with the Cycling Hub group in some crazy dense fog.  We climbed Sugarloaf Mountain again this week.  My legs were definitely feeling these last few weeks of bike time.

Sunday:  76.9km ride with Epic Cycles + a 5.8km easy run off the bike.  I love that there are two different group rides we can choose from!   The Epic Cycles group is a big one. They have a race team so there were some very speedy guys leading the front of the pack.   But the point of this ride was to put in some base miles so it was a nice easy pace.

Swim:  2377m ( I really need to work on improving this, ha ha ha)

Bike:  234km

Run:  18km

Total time:  12h 13 minutes

This week will be a very nice scale back week.  I had a deep tissue massage yesterday and I'm actually quite sore so I will be taking to the pool today which means I should be able to get 3 swims in this week!  I will have a nice 3 day break from training which should have me rested and ready to tackle another big week.

How was your week of training?  It's been a while but I'm linking up with Tricia and Holly for their weekly wrap!  Head on over and check out some of the other posts!

"It's Monday, don't forget to be awesome!"

Coach PK  

Winding Down and Starting Up

The day that I never thought would come, finally came yesterday.   It was my last official day as a full time employee.  As I posted on Instagram this morning, today is the first day of the rest of my life.  It seems surreal.  I don't think it will really hit me until the new year when everyone goes back to work. THAT will be when the reality hits me.  For now, I'm distracted with Christmas plans and recovering from G's 50th birthday dinner last night (6 people, 5 bottles of Prosecco = one groggy morning after).   I will be keeping this space online as my personal space so expect to see the usual race reports and gear reviews.  I'll be launching a separate website that will be strictly for my coaching business.  I don't have a timeline for that yet but it will be later in the new year.  Keep your eyes peeled for that!

I've been logging miles on the road thanks to my trusty running pal.  I don't normally have a problem getting out and getting it done on my own but having someone to run with makes it much more fun.  I'm up to 13km and tomorrow I'm going to tackle 15km.   I have no hamstring pain any more (yay!).  My knees still bother me from time to time but I think that's just going to be the story of my life from now on.  That's part of aging that I have to learn to accept.  

I've slowly gotten back into the gym and am starting to feel stronger.   What I've been neglecting is the bike.  I finally hit my 5,000km for the year mark last week.  I'm still riding but I'm not logging any more than 50-75km per week right now and most of it is base mileage.  I'll start to build that back up after Christmas so I'm ready to hit the road when we get to Florida at the end of January.  Speaking of which, can I just say after all the snow we've had, that trip can't come soon enough!  I'm going to have two whole months of sunshine and no snow!  WOOHOOOO!

I was going to recap 2016 but I'll save that for post Christmas along with a sneak peek into 2017 plans.   Until then, this is Coach PK, wishing you all a very Happy Holiday!  xo

Changes are A-Coming: Part One

I've had this post written and sitting in my drafts folder for a while, waiting for the right time to be published.   The cat is out of the bag with the appropriate people so here goes:

I did something really scary a couple of weeks ago.    Something I thought I'd never do.

I quit my job.

I finally decided it was time to pull the plug on my almost 20 years as a stills producer.  Realistically it was a long time coming.  I had grown disenchanted with the ad world years ago.  I think had I been anywhere else other than Westside, I would have thrown in the towel ages ago.  But the people I work with are pretty freaking amazing so this decision wasn't taken lightly.

This year has tested me on many levels, especially professionally.  It's been incredibly busy, which translates to much more stress.  I've found as I've gotten older, I don't seem to handle stress as well as I used to.   Remove running from the equation and that's a recipe for a very unhappy lady.   I've had more sleepless nights than I care to admit, I've made more checklists and reminders over the course of this year than I think I ever have in all my years of producing.   Mondays became a day that I stopped looking forward to.  That's when you know it's time for a change.

If you had said to me the beginning of the year that we'd sell our Forever Home and I'd quit my job, I would have said you were crazy.  But, that's exactly what's happened.  Oh the times, they are - a - changing'.   Downsizing has put us in a much better position financially and lifestyle wise so that was part of what spurred me to make the change.

Nothing like hitting mid-life and finally having the courage to say "Enough".  It's time to do something different.  It's time to take a chance on doing something I love.   I will be at Westside until the end of the year.   So as of January 1st, I will be opening up my coaching roster to more people (more info to come!).   I will also work on getting my personal training certificate.    I also want to do some volunteer work.   I feel like the possibilities are endless and I want to be able to explore as many of them as possible.

Here's to taking chances and making changes.

Here We Go: 2016 Goals + Weekly Wrap Up

Four days in to 2016 and I'm LOVING this year so far.   I was going to wait to publish this post but things have been moving along so smoothly I decided to hell with it, let's put this out on the interwebs now.  I hope I don't jinx myself!!

Normally I have a few goals every year.  I think the reason I classified last year as "meh" is because I wasn't really excited about any of my goals.  I put them out there because I felt like I needed something to shoot for, something to keep me accountable.  I didn't feel really challenged or genuinely excited by last year's goals.   They were enough to keep me motivated but they didn't fire me up enough to get me really focused and excited.  I felt like I went through the motions of training last year.  With the exception of my rides with Morning Glory of course.   This year things will be different.  This year, I'm going all in.

For once I don't have several goals.  I have one:  Crack the top 5 in my AG at the 70.3 distance at Mont Tremblant.  I was 10th at Luxembourg 70.3 with a 5:09 in a super strong European field.  Last year I landed in 11th at Eagleman 70.3 with a 5:26.   Obviously a lot of this depends on my competition so I have to be ready to crank out at least a sub 5:15 70.3, based on last year's results.

I knew that this was not going to be an easy task and that I'd have to bring my A++ game in all 3 disciplines, but especially the bike given the hills on the Tremblant course.  So I've joined forces with superstar triathlete and road cyclist, Paolina Allan and she will be putting me through my paces this
year.

Suffice to say I'm SUPER EXCITED.

Which brings me to my last week of workouts.  I slacked off a fair bit over the last couple of weeks, especially with my swimming and strength work.  I got back into the pool yesterday and will be getting back into my swim routine this week.   Good thing because my bathing suit was starting to get  a bit too snug!

Monday:  60 minute ride, 5km run

Tuesday:  20 minutes of physio work & core

Wednesday: 5.1km run, 55 minute ride

Thursday:  5.47km run

Friday:  5.8km run

Saturday:  75 minute ride including a 5 minute + a 20 minute TT to determine my FTP.  Holy smokes was that ever hard.  My FTP has gone down a little bit from where it was in April of 2014.  I was at 216, now I'm at 209.  I'm a-ok with that as I know that's going to change pretty quickly.

Sunday:  3300m swim + 6.2km run

Total time:  7h 59 minutes.  Not bad for a "slacker" week.  I am chomping at the bit to get back into a routine.  The holidays were not kind to my waistline.  But that's ok, I expect that over the Christmas holidays.  Now it's time to get back to business with my workouts and my food.

Speaking of food / nutrition, keep your eyes peeled on Instagram for an exciting contest I'll be running tomorrow!

How were your holidays?  Did you go out for New Year's or stay in?  We went out for dinner and then came home at watched Jessica Jones, then tuned in to Dick Clark's NYE Celebration, watched the ball drop and then went to bed.  It was a much quieter evening than previous years and I was a-ok with that.  

What are your 2016 goals?

Better than Expected: 2015 Year In Review

How is it almost the end of the year already?  This year absolutely FLEW by.  To be honest I'm happy to see the end of this year.  It wasn't awesome, but it wasn't horrible either - It was just kinda "meh".  It wasn't a HECK YEAH kind of year like some of my previous years (2013 in particular) I did get to race a fair bit this year but I never raced at 100%.  There was always some kind of niggle or pain somewhere in my body.  My knees, my hips, my back.  I didn't have many races where I felt really amazing.  I fixed my knee problems only to have some sciatic and SI joint issues crop up.  Those plagued me for the first half of the season.  By August I started to feel better and when I raced Toronto Island, I think that was when I felt as close to 100% as possible.  Ironically, I led that race from start to finish.

I had 3 goals at the start of this season:

1) Break 20 minutes for a 5km.  Didn't happen.  Changing my gait resulted in other weird issues with my SI joint and speedwork became very uncomfortable for me.  So I didn't do it.  I matched my 5km P.R at the Frosty 5km this year and that was without much in the way of any speedwork.  I'm chalking that up to my new running gait.  I was actually using my glutes so I had more power.  It ended up resulting in other issues with my sciatic nerve so speed work fell to the wayside.

2)  Race another 70.3:  G and I made a last minute decision to race Eagleman in June.  We signed up 9 weeks out.  My longest run at that point was 10km so it gave me push to start building my run mileage up.  It was the hardest race I've ever done.  It was so disgustingly hot, it was all about survival.  It was also my first non wetsuit swim, which I made through without freaking out.  I ended up 11th in my AG which I was pleased with given my ad hoc training plan. 

3) Take the 40-44 year old AG title in the Recharge With Milk Series for the 3rd Year in a row:  Nailed it.  I had some tough competition this year with some of the speedier girls that aged up.  My bike became the stronger leg for me vs. my run which was a nice thing to see.  Next year I'm in a brand new AG so I'll have new ladies to chase! 

I ended up doing 11 races this year which is way more than I expected to do.  And given my injury issues, I did quite well so I honestly can't complain about my results.

The somewhat dissatisfying part of this year was that I never really felt "on".  There was almost always something that felt off or not right.  Perhaps not having a coach was also part of the problem.  Normally I'm fairly confident in my abilities but this year every race I went into I took a "we'll see" approach.  That feeling really starts to wear on you after a while and you begin to doubt your abilities.  Taking the time off running after Scotia was exactly what I needed.  In retrospect I probably should have taken more time off and used that time to fix my bike fits.  I do think that has been a major contributor to my knee issues.  I was actually feeling pretty good after Scotia but once I got inside and started riding on the trainer, my knee issues resurfaced.  I've since had a very comprehensive bike fit on my road bike and will do the same on my tri bike in February.  Thankfully my knees no longer hurt off the bike.  A positive that I'm hanging on to right now!

While my running may have taken a bit of a back seat this year, my cycling did not as evidenced by my miles logged on Strava.  I've ridden almost 4700km this year and run only 975km.   I joined Morning  Glory cycling club and worked hard at becoming a better cyclist.  I still have a ways to go but can honestly say I've improved in leaps and bounds compared to last year.  And not just speed wise, but skill and confidence wise as well.  I'm looking forward to another year of chasing those fast guys around High Park.

Got the Yellow Jersey award on my first ride with MGCC

This year was definitely more low key than 2014 (i.e no big crazy trip), but we still did a bit of traveling.  We went to the Dominican in February, Maryland in June, Newfoundland in August and Mont Tremblant in September.  We were out in Newfoundland for a wedding and it was amazing.  Neither G nor I had ever been out to Newfoundland so that was a nice little adventure.

Cape Spear, Newfoundland

Cape Spear, Newfoundland

Whale watching in NFLD

Riding in Mont Tremblant

The best part of this year has to be the growth of my coaching business.   I got my NCCP Triathlon coaching certification in January and I coached my first triathlon client to an AG win in her first 70.3 and then on to the 70.3 world championships.  I had a full roster of runners all year long, many of whom will be continuing with me in 2016 along with some new folks.  I can't wait to see what my crew of athletes can do in 2016.   I am honoured and thankful that people have come to me to help them achieve their goals.

As for my 2016, well, that remains to be seen.  Once again I'm in rehab mode so who knows.  Yes, I have races I've registered for and yes, I have goals but I will leave all of that for another post.

I would be remiss if I didn't give a huge thank you to people that have helped me get through this year and have given me some pretty awesome opportunities.

My rehab crew:  Dr. Kris Sheppard at the Runner's Academy for showing me how to run.  My chiropractor Dr. Peter Lejkowski for making things right, even though it wasn't always pleasant.  My pal and RMT, David Lamy for keeping me limber.

Michelle Clarke and Barb Mitchell (a.k.a The Mizuno Fairy) for giving me the opportunity to be a Run Bird and to do my first ever video.   Being a Run Bird was one of the highlights of my year.  Hanging out with great women and supporting other women in their achievements = so much amazing.

The Mizuno Run Birds at the Toronto Women's 8km

Burnbrae Farms for sponsoring me into two races this year.  One of which I actually won some prize money at!  

My friends and co-workers at Westside.  I work with a fantastic crew of people who are always so supportive of everything I do outside of the studio and for that I am eternally grateful.

A massive thanks to all of YOU who read along and follow me on social media.  I have met so many awesome people because of blogging and social media.  Following your stories is inspiring and encouraging.

And of course, my amazing husband Gary (a.k.a "G").  I have no words to express how lucky I am to have someone so supportive and encouraging.  Someone who believes in me more than I believe in myself.  He is my voice of reason and my rock.  Love you to the moon and back.

That's a wrap for 2015.  Bring on 2016!

How was your year?  Any big plans for 2016?

Thankful

Happy Monday.  Today is Canadian Thanksgiving so it's a holiday.  We had our family gathering yesterday at my sister in law's place.  My parents & brother came in from Guelph and Tracy (G's sister) invited one of her co-workers & her husband so it was a pretty packed house, which is just the way it should be.  The weather was beautiful so we spent some time sitting outside.  Dinner itself was short (but oh so tasty) because the Jays game was going to be starting and the Kennedy - Frank household is a baseball household so everyone wanted to watch the game.  After dinner we all piled into the basement.  As I sat there and surveyed the room amid the chatter, I smiled and thought to myself "I'm pretty darn lucky". 

I have been guilty of moving through life without "stopping to smell the roses", especially as of late.  Yesterday made me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for, even when I think that I don't. 

I'm thankful that our families all get along and like to hang out with each other. 

I'm thankful that I live in a country where freedom of expression is ok and actually encouraged.  

I'm thankful for the athletes that have entrusted me to coach them over the last several years. 

I'm thankful for having a wonderful husband who is supportive and encourages all my crazy ideas.

I'm thankful for all of my friends, new and old, near and far.

I'm thankful for my health and my ability to be active. 

And I'm thankful for all of you that continue to read my thoughts and ramblings.  Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday Five: 5 Things in 5 Years - Dreams, Wishes & Goals

After posting yesterday about my 2016 plans, I saw that this weeks Friday Five topic was "Five Things I'll be Doing 5 Years from Now".   Which is ironic because lately I've been thinking a lot about the future and my various goals and dreams.  So I'm hopping on the Friday Five bandwagon and playing along with Courtney, Cynthia and Mar.

Five years from now it will be 2020.  Which sounds so crazy.  I will be 49 years old, which sounds even crazier.  G will be almost 55!!!  WOW.  We're OLD, ha ha.  I really love our life now and I hope it doesn't change TOO much but there are some things that I'd like to see happen. Some of them will take a lot of hard work, some of them will take a giant leap of faith and some will cost money.  But, that's life, right? 

1.  TRIATHLON:   Every year, I always have some kind of goal or game plan in terms of my running and triathlon season.  Sometime in the next couple of years, I want to crack the top 5 in my AG at the 70.3 distance.  And I want to get a spot and actually GO to the 70.3 World Championships.  I could have taken a spot in Luxembourg but the goal at that point in time was for G and I to qualify together and go together.  He didn't end up racing so I didn't end up taking the spot.   My running goals may have to be revisited as I am getting older but I'd still love to break 20 minutes for a 5km, hit 1:25 for a half marathon and break 3:15 for a marathon.  I've got to lose 6s on my 5km time, 2 minutes and 12s for my half marathon time and 1 minute and 3s for my marathon time, ha ha. 

2.  LIVING:   G and I have lived in Toronto all of our lives.  G's job with GE (General Electric) has him working in the U.S. a couple of times a month.  All of his teams are in the U.S. but we live in Toronto.  He works from home when he's not traveling.  We had the opportunity to move to Chicago but opted not to because it wasn't necessarily *that* different from Toronto.  We've both decided that if we're going to leave Toronto, it's going to be for somewhere a bit more temperate.  We could both do without the brutal Canadian winter.  When the right opportunity comes along, we'll definitely take it.

3.  LEARNING:   As a running and triathlon coach, I think the best way I can serve my athletes is by continuing to learn.  There are a few things I'd like to get under my belt over the next few years.  1) my CanFitPro certification and 2) I'd love to take the Human Foundations course with Naudi Aguilar from Functional Patterns.  

4.  TRAVEL:  We don't have kids, so it's fairly easy for us to travel and it's something both of us like to do.   Since I've gotten over my fear of flying, my desire to travel and explore has skyrocketed, especially after last years European Adventure.  I'd love to go back to Europe again.  Ideally for another race but if not, that's perfectly ok too.  I'd also love to explore a few more tropical places like St. Lucia, Barbados and Antigua.

Nice, France

Bassano del Grappa, Italy

5.  COACHING:   Right now, I limit the number of athletes I coach simply because I have a full time job which can be quite busy and I want to make sure each athlete gets a good amount of attention.  When it's busy I hardly have time for myself let alone other people.  I'd love to be able to expand my roster of athletes knowing that I could look after each and every one of them properly.   Essentially that would mean quitting my full time job as a producer and leaving my "second family" that I've been with for the last 15 years.  Not an easy thing - but change is never easy.  The other issue, obviously, is money.  Even if I took on 20 athletes, that still wouldn't bring in enough money to pay the bills, so I'd have to look at taking on a part time job.  But that might not be a bad thing.

So many things to think about.....

Do you have your goals mapped out or do you go with the flow and see where life takes you?

Head on over to the link up and check out the other posts!  

Blindsided

There must be something about this first week of January that does something to my immune system.  This week last year, just as I started my #Mingsanity training, I got sick.  It was my sinuses.  This year, the same thing happened, only it was way worse.  I actually had a sinus infection which completely knocked me off my feet.  I'm still not 100% but I'm definitely feeling better.  I'm on antibiotics which have definitely helped.  Unfortunately they don't agree with my stomach but what can you do.

Of course, this kept me sidelined for most of the week.  I was out of the pool for almost two weeks and I took 10 days off running.  I ran New Year's Day and that was the start of my decline.  Not the best way to kick off the new year.   I started to feel better on Thursday so I slowly got back into the swing of things.  I had been itching to run so despite the frigid temperatures on Saturday, I went out and ran 10km, which is the longest run I've done in almost 3 months.  It seems so weird to say that.  I've gone from a marathoner to someone who can barely eke out 10km without being sore the next day, ha ha.  Oh well.  It's my new reality right now and that's ok.  Usually my quads would be sore but this time around it was my glutes and hamstrings.  Which proves that I am actually using these muscles.  That, my friends, is huge. 

You know it's cold when the mask comes out.

You know it's REALLY cold when Lake Ontario freezes.

I know I"m not totally 100% because I can't really push things.  Easy aerobic efforts are about all I can do without feeling completely exhausted.  I know this because yesterday's ride was a hard one and I had to have a nap afterwards I was so wiped out.  And my Garmin told me that I worked maybe a little too hard so I'm going to back things off this week and just go easy. 

This is how my last week unfolded:

Monday:  OFF
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday:  35 minute easy ride
Friday: 2000m swim
Saturday:  10km run + 20 minutes core & upper body
Sunday:  1h 35 minute computrainer ride.

Total time:  4h 43 minutes. 

I'm looking forward to getting back into the gym this week.  We booked a trip to Punta Cana in February so it's time to get this body of mine into bikini shape.  That means dedicated gym time as well as cleaning up my diet.  I spent Saturday afternoon and a few hours on Sunday meal planning and prepping like a boss.  I've got a weeks worth of good healthy food so there's no need for take out which is something we've been guilty of a little too often these last couple of weeks.  No more.

There are a few exciting things happening this week.  Wednesday night I have an MRI scheduled for my left knee.  It was supposed to be January 30th but they bumped me up.  YAY!  My knees are almost 100% but I still have a bit of lingering pain in my left one upon extension.  My sports doc humored me and scheduled this so we could see if there are any other issues, other than simple maltracking of the patella. 

The other exciting thing is my NCCP Triathlon coaching course is this weekend!  I'm pretty darn excited about that.  I'm looking forward to learning a whole lot more about the sport that I love.

How was your week?  Who else is running away somewhere hot?  

2015: The Year Of...?

2014 was supposed to be my #YearOfBigThings and even though I didn't hit all my goals, it was still a pretty awesome year. 

As I mentioned in my 2014 recap, I didn't really have any solid plans for 2015.  That is slowly changing.  My running is coming around.  The knee pain is subsiding and my legs are starting to feel better.  So much so that I actually registered for my first race of 2015:  The Frosty 5km.  I had told G last year that I wasn't going to run any early season long distance races in 2015.  My body needed a break from the high mileage.  My plan was to race short distance for the early part of the year and I'm sticking to that plan. 

I'm going to continue working on my bike and my swim.  I've been bumped up a lane in the pool so I'm back with my old speedy group.   Earlier this week I started laying out the ground work for a training plan to get me back on the bike on a regular basis.  Things are starting to come around.  I'm starting to feel like I've turned the corner so I'm going to lay down my athletic goals for 2015.

1.  Break 20 minutes for a 5km.  My current 5km P.R. is 20:07 and that was off the bike at Toronto Island in August this year.  I know I have a sub 20 5km in me.  I'm not sure where or when I'll aim for this but it will happen this year. 

2.  Do another 70.3.  Again, not sure where or when but it's going to happen.

3.  Reclaim my AG title in the Recharge with Milk Triathlon series for the third year in a row.  I'll be 44 next year (!!!) so I'll be at the top end of the 40-44 y/o AG.  I'm going to have to up my game big time this year as I'm sure a whole slew of younger fast ladies are aging up.  I've got my work cut out for me for sure.

Other Goals:

I've never done a vision board but I've started gathering images and I plan on spending a large part of tomorrow putting things down on paper.  Literally.

In addition to my athletic goals, I have a few other things I want to work on for 2015.

4.  Learn more.  Specifically in regards to coaching / health and wellness.  I feel like this is a path that needs more exploring.  It's a huge part of my life and it's something I'm very passionate about.

5.  Give more.  I get so wrapped up in work, training and racing that it's hard to find time to do this.  Whether this means volunteering at a race or elsewhere, it's something that I need to do more of.

6.  Work on cultivating my friendships.  I have met so many amazing people through blogging and triathlon and we see each other during race season and sometimes we train together but when it comes to just hanging out, that doesn't happen often.  Sometimes it's too easy to say I'm tired or I'm busy.  Friendships, like marriages, require some give and take and effort to make them work.  I find that when I take the time to get together with people, I'm a much happier person.   I may be tired or busy going into it but afterwards, I'm always in a better mood.

For once I can actually say I'm looking forward to the "unknown".  I don't have much planned and normally that would kind of a freak a planner like me out, but I've slowly become ok with this.  It's kind of liberating to not be too committed to anything.   I don't know why but Monty Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different" keeps running through my head.  Perhaps that's what 2015 will be all about.  Who knows.  One thing I do know is that I'm up for the adventure.

Wishing you all a healthy & happy 2015! 

2014: The Year of the Real Deal

A while back I hinted at a big adventure for 2014.  Well folks, the pieces are all falling into place.  The final piece to the puzzle was put in place this morning and quite frankly, I'm so freaking excited I can't even bear it.  Next year is going to be EPIC.  Why?  Because G and I just signed up for this:

Yes folks, that's a 70.3.  And yes, it's in Luxembourg.   We are off to race in Europe once again.  Why Europe?  Well, why not I guess.  It came about on my suggestion that we take a nice trip to Italy in the summer to celebrate 10 years of marriage.  G said that would be great.   A couple of months later G says, I'd like to do a 70.3 next year.  In Europe.  Ok, not really my idea of a nice romantic holiday but the more I thought about it, the more excited I got.  After all, this is what we love to do together.  Yes, I'm a bit apprehensive about doing a longer distance race.  Especially the swim.  BUT, I have to remind myself that this is a half Ironman.  I made it through 2 full Ironman races in one piece, I know I can get through this.  That being said, I am never happy to "just get through" something.  That is not in my nature.  I am a competitor and I want to go out and race it.  With my early season race card filling up and my lofty goal for Boston, I didn't think I could hammer out a training plan that had me peak for Boston, while still getting a good deal of cycling in and then peak for Luxembourg a short two months later.  I needed help.

Enter my friend and colleague Tom Nesbitt.  He mentioned to me that Real Deal Racing was putting together a multi-sport team and he had talked me up big time to one of the owners.  A few weeks later, I happened to meet said owner (Mike Mandel) and talked to him briefly about coaching.  I was just starting to do some research on coaches.  I am definitely someone who follows her gut and I immediately liked Mike.  But I also feel I have to investigate every avenue so that's what I did.  But I came right back to the guys at Real Deal.   I wanted to have my FTP test done so I contacted Mike and said I'd like to go ahead with that at least and that I'd like to talk to them about coaching.  So the night of my test was also like an interview.  They had to make sure I wasn't nuts and that we were going to be a good fit as a team.  By the end of that test, I was completely sold.  Both Mike and Ming are great guys and I'm so excited to be working with them this year.  I have complete faith that they will help me get to where I want to be and it's nice to know that they are excited to be working with me as well.  To quote Mike: We are taken by your passion and excited by your past results and considerable potential.   To say I'm pumped would be an understatement.  

The other big change for 2014 is that I will no longer be racing for Team Running Free.  I am now a part of the Real Deal Multi Sport team.  It's a small but mighty roster of talented athletes and I am honored to be one of them! 

2014 is definitely going to be the year of the Real Deal.  Booya!