On Friday afternoon, Ethan and I headed over to Glen Dhu Public School to enjoy our annual Christmas party with Tavis and his friends at Glen Dhu Public School. Tavis is one of four students with varying degrees of disabilities in a small class at Glen Dhu PS - Shaun, Jacob and Teresa make up the class. Tavis attended junior kindergarden at Campbell School in Grandview Children's Centre. Since then, he has been at Glen Dhu.
Each one of these children in Tav's class has been helped by Grandview Children's Centre in one way or another over the years. Mr. Howe, Tav's teacher, was gracious enough to let me speak for a few minutes about Ironman Texas and my fundraiser. Even these parents were amazed to hear that there are over 1,000 children on the list waiting for the services offered by Grandview.
Over the years that Tav has been at Glen Dhu, many children have come and gone thru his class. To walk in and see each of these kids struggling every day is a humbling experience. I make it a point to go around and greet each one of the kids and hold their hands - they are so happy and the smiles would melt your heart - and so would the smiles of their parents.
Recently a friend told me I was just amazing because I keep smiling even though I have a special needs child. I am not amazing. I am a mom who smiles because she has a special needs child. Tavis rocks my world everyday. I know every parent of a challenged child feels the same way. I have been blessed with a happy, healthy son and for that I am so grateful.
In June, Tavis' friend, Daniel that he had gone to school with for seven years passed away at 16 years old. How his parent's survived losing their only child is beyond me. I am thinking of them often during this season and wondering how they are getting through their first Xmas without Daniel.
Ethan and I enjoyed our afternoon with Tav's friends. Unfortunately, Glen had to work and could not attend. We watched a slide show of the kids' activities since the start of the school year, ate too many goodies and shared laughs with the other parents and kids.
Lisa
Monday, 19 December 2011
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Wednesday spin draws to a close
Well the fall session of Wednesday night spin is over and what a way to end. The intensity of this session of spin class increased substantially after Coach Paul's trip to Mt. Tremblant. I have been doing Paul's spin classes for years starting back when we used to do them at the Whitby Rec Centre. I am not sure if it is because I am getting older but each session seems to be more difficult than the last. While I never think I will need to be in big gear 12 at a 100 cadence for 2 minutes during a race, I always do what Paul asks me to in spin class. When I look out and see how hard everyone is pushing themselves in spin class and I see the pools of sweat forming under each bike, I know everyone is doing what Paul asks as well. Sometimes it is painful - not just the burning quad muscles - but also having to listen to Paul's jokes, but each week you come back with stronger and stronger legs and this is what is going to get me up the hills in Mt. Tremblant.
Last night my friend Ursula struggled a bit on the bike and asked me why do we keep doing this to ourselves. Not every class can be amazing - there are going to be classes when nothing comes together and these classes can be frustrating. Ursula is an absolute amazon on the bike and her leg strength is formidable. Even someone like Ursula can have a bad night. Its learning to accept that that was just one bad class and putting aside and moving on and I know Ursula will be back with her usual sunny smile and disposition next spin class.
Well I promised Giselle I would shorten my blog because she does not have time to read it.
'Til the next session of Wednesday night spin class,
Lisa
Last night my friend Ursula struggled a bit on the bike and asked me why do we keep doing this to ourselves. Not every class can be amazing - there are going to be classes when nothing comes together and these classes can be frustrating. Ursula is an absolute amazon on the bike and her leg strength is formidable. Even someone like Ursula can have a bad night. Its learning to accept that that was just one bad class and putting aside and moving on and I know Ursula will be back with her usual sunny smile and disposition next spin class.
Well I promised Giselle I would shorten my blog because she does not have time to read it.
'Til the next session of Wednesday night spin class,
Lisa
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Success One Pound at a Time
Just a short note. The scales were kind to me last night. I am down 9 lbs in the last month and my body fat is down 2.2%. I have a habit of becoming fixated on how far I have to go - be it my training or my weight - and my husband keeps reminding me I have to remember how far I have come and to savour each little victory.
Lisa
Lisa
Monday, 12 December 2011
The battle of the bulge
Well tonight is my official weigh in and I find out as well how my body fat is doing. It is a fine balance between what I eat and how much I exercise to get that scale going in the right direction.
In 2009, I went to Christine Charest-Monty about my desire to drop alot of weight before Ironman Lake Placid in July. The only deal I made with Christine was that no matter what I told her about what I had done to by body over the years, she could not hit me. She kept her word but I am sure she wanted to belt me a few times especially when I told her that I had even done Dr. Bernstein.
In my teenage years I became anorexic and my entire adult life has been yo yo dieting. I have tried every diet - Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, the cabbage soup diet, the maple syrup/lemon juice fast, etc. I was always in it for the quick fix. I was born and raised in a rural area where we grew all our own vegetables which my mom canned every year and had an orchard beside out home with apples and pears. To this day, I am not a package food/processed kind of person.
When I went to see Christine in March 2009, I was very frustrated in that I was being very diligent in what I was eating and the scale was not moving. For 2 weeks, I kept a record of everything I ate and handed it in to Chris. It did not take her long to figure out I was starving myself and my body was hanging on to whatever weight it could.
Chris understands the caloric needs of an endurance athlete. It took alot for me to get used to eating when I was not hungry.
Chris provided me with an eating plan. I swear I ate so much I went around with a pouchy "Thanksgiving Day" stomach for two weeks. I was eating non stop and the weight started to fall off. I did my Ironman in July 30 lbs lighter.
I am a total depression eater and the last couple of years have been really hard for me. Kev's battle with cancer and his subsequent death devastated me and I went on binge of either starving myself or eating everything and my weight and health has suffered because of it. I was diagnosed with clinical depression and saw a psychologist for a year to help me to come to terms with learning to live my life without my brother. I am still on anti-depressants. I am also B12 deficient and now have weekly injections. It is really sad the damage I have done to my body over the years (including being an ex smoker) and now I am asking it to do an Ironman.
Recently, I have started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am feeling stronger mentally and physically each day and I am getting my health back on track with the help of Christine and Paul. I am so focused on Ironman Texas and my fundraiser - I have been putting 110% into my workouts. My fundraiser is for my son and in memory of my brother -neither of whom I want to disappoint.
Hopefully tonight that scale will be kind to me. I hope it is kind to my friend Jeff Drinkle as well.
Lisa
In 2009, I went to Christine Charest-Monty about my desire to drop alot of weight before Ironman Lake Placid in July. The only deal I made with Christine was that no matter what I told her about what I had done to by body over the years, she could not hit me. She kept her word but I am sure she wanted to belt me a few times especially when I told her that I had even done Dr. Bernstein.
In my teenage years I became anorexic and my entire adult life has been yo yo dieting. I have tried every diet - Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, the cabbage soup diet, the maple syrup/lemon juice fast, etc. I was always in it for the quick fix. I was born and raised in a rural area where we grew all our own vegetables which my mom canned every year and had an orchard beside out home with apples and pears. To this day, I am not a package food/processed kind of person.
When I went to see Christine in March 2009, I was very frustrated in that I was being very diligent in what I was eating and the scale was not moving. For 2 weeks, I kept a record of everything I ate and handed it in to Chris. It did not take her long to figure out I was starving myself and my body was hanging on to whatever weight it could.
Chris understands the caloric needs of an endurance athlete. It took alot for me to get used to eating when I was not hungry.
Chris provided me with an eating plan. I swear I ate so much I went around with a pouchy "Thanksgiving Day" stomach for two weeks. I was eating non stop and the weight started to fall off. I did my Ironman in July 30 lbs lighter.
I am a total depression eater and the last couple of years have been really hard for me. Kev's battle with cancer and his subsequent death devastated me and I went on binge of either starving myself or eating everything and my weight and health has suffered because of it. I was diagnosed with clinical depression and saw a psychologist for a year to help me to come to terms with learning to live my life without my brother. I am still on anti-depressants. I am also B12 deficient and now have weekly injections. It is really sad the damage I have done to my body over the years (including being an ex smoker) and now I am asking it to do an Ironman.
Recently, I have started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am feeling stronger mentally and physically each day and I am getting my health back on track with the help of Christine and Paul. I am so focused on Ironman Texas and my fundraiser - I have been putting 110% into my workouts. My fundraiser is for my son and in memory of my brother -neither of whom I want to disappoint.
Hopefully tonight that scale will be kind to me. I hope it is kind to my friend Jeff Drinkle as well.
Lisa
Monday, 5 December 2011
My Ironman Family
The day of a triathlon you are on your own, but the road to get there is one filled with the influences of others. This is my triathlon family. Each person is equally as important as the other and together they make up the team that gets me to race day.
First I have my coach, Paul Johnston. Paul and I have been together for 7 years - from my first try-a-tri to my Iroman and of course, he will be travelling to Texas with me in May, 2012. Our relationship has not been without its bumps - I have a tendency to try to accomodate everyone's schedule but my own and this leads to serious complications when Paul has spent time and effort to set up a schedule for me. It has taken me a long time to learn to be selfish when it comes to my training and if you want to do well and achieve your goals, you do have to be selfish, at least for a while.
Three weeks before Ironman Lake Placid 2009 I tore muscles in my left calf and thought my dreams of an ironman were over. Paul did not give up on me. He met me at the pool most every morning and worked with me to keep me strong without stressing the leg. When we had our coach/athlete meeting a few days before the race, I sat on the couch in front of Paul fighting back tears because I was so sure there was no way I could do the race. Paul calmly told me that I could. Every picture of me on race day I had a huge smile on my face because Paul was right. After crossing the finish line and being congratulated by my family and Sue Typert and her family, the first person I looked for was Paul.
Over the years, our relationship has evolved and I know that when that day comes that I am no longer doing triathlons that Paul and I will still be friends. When I lost my beloved brother Kevin, the pain of losing him was almost more than I could bear and each day is still a struggle. Paul got cried on alot over the last two years - I think that is why he wears a waterproof vest. He and Patty made the trip to Brigden to attend my brother's funeral and that in itself meant so much to me. For the past year while I have struggled to come to terms with losing Kevin, Paul has stood by and pushed when I needed it and stepped back when I was at the breaking point. I don't imagine I would have enjoyed the sport or stayed in it as long without Paul.
Next is my nutritionist and friend, Christine Charest-Monty. I have known Christine as long as I have known Paul - they kind of go hand in hand. I went to see Christine about my nutrition in March 2009 before my Ironman. I thought I was fairly savy about my nutrition until Christine told me I was starving myself. Being an ironman herself, she knows what an endurance athlete needs. 5 months later I was eating enough for a family of 5 (or so I thought) and was 43 lbs lighter. In addition to her wealth of knowledge about nutrition, Christine is an amazing friend and she really cares about people.
Also I count as part of my team, Dr. Jason Taylor, my chiropractor. I swear - from this man's hands to god. The year before I started see Jason, I had spent a fortune on physiotherapy for the arthritis in my left hip. The pain had gotten so bad, I had no running on my schedule. Jason treated me 2 times a week for a month and that was the end of the hip pain. I still see Jason once a week for "maintenance".
My massage therapist is Chris Agaton and I see him as well once a month for maintenance. Chris has thumbs of steel and I swear sometimes after a deep tissue massage that I feel worse leaving his office than I did when I went in but he keeps me limber and knot-free.
I also consider those people that I train with to be part of my ironman family because on those long hot rides in the summer, they are the ones that keep you motivated. My friend, Susan Typert, is the best person in the world to train with. She keeps me laughing all the time and never lets me give up. Although I could not talk her into doing Ironman Texas with me, she will be there to cheer me on.
Perhaps the most important person of my ironman team is my husband Glen. No one ever sees Glen until race day because he is at home taking care of Tavis and Ethan. On race day, he stays until the last member of Iron Motivation or the DRTC has crossed the finished line and takes the most amazing photographs. He then makes up disks of the photos and distributes them. More often than not, I don't buy the finisher's photograph because Glen has taken better photos.
Without Glen manning the home front, I would never be able to do triathlons. Some Saturdays I am out the door by 6:00 for my long rides and he and kids don't see me again until late afternoon. He does the laundry, cleans the house, and feeds the kids all so that I can have the time to train. He puts my bike and trainer into the van every Wednesday night and Saturday morning and then takes them out when I get home. He knows of Paul's evil plan to try and kill me at spin class and that I am so wiped out when I get home. He knows how much doing triathlons means to me and he is incredibly supportive. He is an amazing person and I know how fortunate I am to have him.
Well that is my team. Without anyone of them, I would not be able to do triathlons and on race day, I might be alone out there in The Midlands in 38 degree heat in Texas but my team is with me always encouraging me every step of the way.
First I have my coach, Paul Johnston. Paul and I have been together for 7 years - from my first try-a-tri to my Iroman and of course, he will be travelling to Texas with me in May, 2012. Our relationship has not been without its bumps - I have a tendency to try to accomodate everyone's schedule but my own and this leads to serious complications when Paul has spent time and effort to set up a schedule for me. It has taken me a long time to learn to be selfish when it comes to my training and if you want to do well and achieve your goals, you do have to be selfish, at least for a while.
Three weeks before Ironman Lake Placid 2009 I tore muscles in my left calf and thought my dreams of an ironman were over. Paul did not give up on me. He met me at the pool most every morning and worked with me to keep me strong without stressing the leg. When we had our coach/athlete meeting a few days before the race, I sat on the couch in front of Paul fighting back tears because I was so sure there was no way I could do the race. Paul calmly told me that I could. Every picture of me on race day I had a huge smile on my face because Paul was right. After crossing the finish line and being congratulated by my family and Sue Typert and her family, the first person I looked for was Paul.
Over the years, our relationship has evolved and I know that when that day comes that I am no longer doing triathlons that Paul and I will still be friends. When I lost my beloved brother Kevin, the pain of losing him was almost more than I could bear and each day is still a struggle. Paul got cried on alot over the last two years - I think that is why he wears a waterproof vest. He and Patty made the trip to Brigden to attend my brother's funeral and that in itself meant so much to me. For the past year while I have struggled to come to terms with losing Kevin, Paul has stood by and pushed when I needed it and stepped back when I was at the breaking point. I don't imagine I would have enjoyed the sport or stayed in it as long without Paul.
Next is my nutritionist and friend, Christine Charest-Monty. I have known Christine as long as I have known Paul - they kind of go hand in hand. I went to see Christine about my nutrition in March 2009 before my Ironman. I thought I was fairly savy about my nutrition until Christine told me I was starving myself. Being an ironman herself, she knows what an endurance athlete needs. 5 months later I was eating enough for a family of 5 (or so I thought) and was 43 lbs lighter. In addition to her wealth of knowledge about nutrition, Christine is an amazing friend and she really cares about people.
Also I count as part of my team, Dr. Jason Taylor, my chiropractor. I swear - from this man's hands to god. The year before I started see Jason, I had spent a fortune on physiotherapy for the arthritis in my left hip. The pain had gotten so bad, I had no running on my schedule. Jason treated me 2 times a week for a month and that was the end of the hip pain. I still see Jason once a week for "maintenance".
My massage therapist is Chris Agaton and I see him as well once a month for maintenance. Chris has thumbs of steel and I swear sometimes after a deep tissue massage that I feel worse leaving his office than I did when I went in but he keeps me limber and knot-free.
I also consider those people that I train with to be part of my ironman family because on those long hot rides in the summer, they are the ones that keep you motivated. My friend, Susan Typert, is the best person in the world to train with. She keeps me laughing all the time and never lets me give up. Although I could not talk her into doing Ironman Texas with me, she will be there to cheer me on.
Perhaps the most important person of my ironman team is my husband Glen. No one ever sees Glen until race day because he is at home taking care of Tavis and Ethan. On race day, he stays until the last member of Iron Motivation or the DRTC has crossed the finished line and takes the most amazing photographs. He then makes up disks of the photos and distributes them. More often than not, I don't buy the finisher's photograph because Glen has taken better photos.
Without Glen manning the home front, I would never be able to do triathlons. Some Saturdays I am out the door by 6:00 for my long rides and he and kids don't see me again until late afternoon. He does the laundry, cleans the house, and feeds the kids all so that I can have the time to train. He puts my bike and trainer into the van every Wednesday night and Saturday morning and then takes them out when I get home. He knows of Paul's evil plan to try and kill me at spin class and that I am so wiped out when I get home. He knows how much doing triathlons means to me and he is incredibly supportive. He is an amazing person and I know how fortunate I am to have him.
Well that is my team. Without anyone of them, I would not be able to do triathlons and on race day, I might be alone out there in The Midlands in 38 degree heat in Texas but my team is with me always encouraging me every step of the way.
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