Shaping Her Esteem (Not-for-profit) INFO SESSION - Nov 24th, 2-4pm

How time flies by!

It has been just over a month since my last post and I have some explaining to doJ.  First off, I need to give a huge congrats to all the amazing athletes who raced this past week-end at Head of the Charles in Boston (North America’s biggest fall rowing regatta).  The Toronto Sculling Club put together a strong masters women’s 8+ that won confidently (I am pretty darn lucky to have had a chance to row with them when they needed a spare), our Canadian lightweights came 3^rd and 5^th in a competitive field for the lightweight women’s single, Western University won the coxed 4+ event, and more.  Congrats!

I have been keeping busy with my spin classes, but mostly, I have been super busy with work.  This Fall alone I will have traveled to Indianapolis, Miami, Boston and Chicago.  Traveling has really made me appreciate “home”.  I always smile to myself when I am on the plane looking over Toronto – I feel so lucky to live here!  It’s also easier to be comfortable when you are home because you have everything you need at the tips of your fingers, but I’m happy to say that I’ve learned how to keep healthy while surrounded by the temptations of fast food and hotel bars.  When traveling, I make a point to practice what I preach: I dedicate 45 minutes each day to doing the exercises that I include in the Shaping Her Esteem fitness program (the not-for-profit organization I am heading up).  It not only helps me stay active, but it also helps me evaluate the exercises to see which ones work for girls aged 8 to 16 – I get to think like a teenage girl and I won’t lie, it’s pretty funJ.  I also make sure that I always have my Genuine Health proteins+ (protein powder) with me.  This is incredibly useful because I have protein readily available to me anytime and I can have a good recovery after working out.

That said, although I am busy, my passion in starting up Shaping Her Esteem is greater than ever!

I’ve already sent out a save the date for our first fundraiser, scheduled for Sunday January 13^th, 2013 (location and are TBD), but I am now writing to let you know that I will host an info session on Saturday November 24^th from 2-4pm.  If you are interested in attending, please message me and I will send you the details.  At this session I will go over the need for starting up this organization, what we want to achieve in our community, and how you can get involved!

Over the past 4 weeks I had the pleasure of working with my friend Robyn Henry to test out our fitness program at Earl Haig Secondary School.  We led a physical education class made up of 30 girls aged 13-17.  An anonymous questionnaire helped us conclude that 100% of the girls would want to continue with our fitness program, 83% had a more positive outlook on sports, 79% felt that they enjoyed general physical activity more, 75% felt our program boosted their confidence, and the list goes on...

Hopefully I’ll hear from some of you and together we can make a difference right here in our community!

Keep active and stay positiveJ

Life is what you make of it, and I guess I have chosen to make it a busy one, haha.

Although I stopped rowing competitively, I have been rowing here and there each week as a spare for a local women’s 8+ racing at the upcoming “Head of The Charles” (a big race held in Boston every October).  They are a very competitive crew so I have been very lucky to row with them.  Since it’s an 8+ (eight rowers and one coxie), each rower has one oar – the technique used is called “sweeping”, versus the “sculling” technique I did all summer with two oars.  The one oar used is heavier and your hands move somewhat differently...which is why my hands now look like I was burned – skin ripped and blisters as red as cherries, quite attractive if I say so myselfJ. 

Other than that, I am preparing for a lot of work travel in October – I’ll be going to Indianapolis, Miami and then Boston.  This is why I used all of my spare time this month to get things really going with the charity.

SAVE THE DATE: January 13^th, 2013!

On Sunday Jan 13^th, I will be partnering up with my friend’s AMAZING fitness studio called Work It Out Fitness Studios (http://www.workitoutfitness.ca/) to host our very first fundraiser for Shaping Her Esteem (SHE). 

SHE is the charity I will be starting with my amazing team (Carrie, Trang, Lauren, Robyn, Dan, the guidance of MaRS Discovery, and YOU!)J.  It is an organization dedicated to boosting the physical, mental and emotional self esteem of young women (12-20) through physical activity.  We will have two programs that we plan to launch in the early new year, soon after the fundraiser.

Money collected from the fundraiser will go towards covering rent for program space, equipment (medicine balls, bands, etc), and other start-up costs of the after-shcool programs.  Through donations and fundraising, the goal is to make the programs available for FREE to all girls aged 12 to 16.

All girls have the right to feel valued, confident and empowered!  I am hoping you can help me achieve this through Shaping Her EsteemJ.

Every year Work It Out Fitness Studios fundraises for a local charity.  It was a great success last year for "KidSport", and this year we hope to do the same for SHE.  The fundraiser will be SO MUCH FUN: 1 hour of muscle conditioning, followed by a break to socialize and snack, then 1 hour of ZUMBA!!  Robyn, founder and instructor, is very involved with the community - hosting fundraisers as well as running Corporate Wellness programs.  If you have or are looking to start a wellness program at your work, I strongly recommend Work It Out Fitness Studios, just contact Robyn at robyn@workitoutfitness.ca.

Thank you for following and for your amazing ideas/feedback with respect to the charity!  We are doing this together!

Laura

 

 

 

 

Back to "real life"

Time flies by when you’re having fun!

Coming back from Europe has not been a slow adjustment to say the least, but it’s been an exciting one.  I know I probably should have taken it a bit easier, but with no competitive training on my schedule, I found that I had more energy to burn.  I went back to the office (it will be busy this Fall), picked up spinning (which is SUPER fun and hard!), caught up with some family and friends, AND started on my charity.  As you can imagine, this is not the lightest of schedules, so I will be putting the whole “Ironman” training plan on hold for now – add to the bucket listJ.

The charity has been a lot more work than I initially thought, and rightfully so!  There are people out there who start charities for the wrong reasons, and so that’s why I believe there are many steps required to complete before getting a charity registered and approved.  All the extra requirements won’t stop me though because I truly believe in the mission of this charity, even if it means my brain keeps me up until 2am with one idea running after the other:S.  I’m being vague about the mission, but once I have finalized the name and details of the charity with the new Directors, I’ll update the blog and let ya know.  Trust me, we have a lot of milestones and activities coming up, some that you may even want to be a part ofJ.

Aside from the charity and returning back to work (I work with amazing people so it’s not hard to love what I do!), the other highlight of my new life that is activity-based has been my participation in spin classes! OMG!!  Have you done one before?  Below is a picture of the intensity I’ve been doing them at:

This required an average heart rate of 170bpm – and I wasn’t even racing or doing a fitness test.  Seriously, who does that?!  Of course that won’t be the case for every workout, but that’s what I think is so great about spinning.  You can do it all year round, workout in a safe indoor environment, and train at your own intensity level.  Next time I won’t sit beside the spin-junky who brought out the competitive side in me.  “I’ll catch you next time!” – impossible Laura, ha.

Now, although my goals have changed with respect to what I am training for, many of my training habits will remain the same.  Here are some things that I feel really make that difference for me:

-          “activfuel+” sports nutrition by Genuine Health (http://www.genuinehealth.com/activfuel.html): I started adding this flavourful powder in my water before and during training sessions back in London Ontario, and have continued to use it ever since.  It’s available without or with caffeine (it has a natural caffeine source), and the Black Raspberry Lemonade flavour is more natural than the fake flavours you find in competitive sports drinks.  I rely on this to get through my workouts!

-          Compression tights: I have tried a couple of different brands, and from my personal experience (everyone is different) I really like the Sugoi compression line as well as the 2XU calve sleeves.  I find that my legs recover more quickly when I use compression tight after a hard workout or race.

-          Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast...and more breakfastJ.  I have always loved food, and now that I’m not having to hit a certain weight, I can eat as much as I like, well almost haha.  Whether you workout or not, I strongly believe in having a good breakfast.  Breakfast gives you that energy needed to fuel your mind and body for the day ahead.  My daily breakfast consists of a home-made smoothie with “proteins+” (http://www.genuinehealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=proteins%2B).  I have been using the Vanilla flavour and REALLY like it with mango, banana and apple.

-          Mix of cold and hot showers after a hard workout...flush out that lactic acid and force the muscles to activate so that they can recover better.

-          Lemon: A teammate and physio in Bulgaria suggested I put lemon in my water bottle to help with the dryness of the air (I had “cotton mouth” every time we trained/raced).  This was new to me since I was used to humid air.  So I did this and it did wonders for me.  Of course being the nutty person that I am, I took it another level and got lemon flavoured fisher man’s friend.  WOW!  It was strong.  Although it did work, I do warn you: you may cough quite a bit after your event.  But let’s be honest, most of us have a dry chest and cough after racing hard anyways.  Another thing that worked for me here was to put a small piece of an electrolyte candy on my gums.  It helped me salivate during the race so that I wouldn’t get a dry mouth.  This one may also have added benefits if you are doing a long workout.

-          Positive encouragement.  I’ve been criticized before for being too “positive”, and although that bothered me at first, I’ve come to really appreciate and understand how important it is to surround myself with positivity.  I think that if you make an effort to look at the glass half full each time you face a challenge, then you will surprise yourself to find that you have more opportunities in front of you than you may have originally imagined.  Positive encouragement will be a big part of the charity I will be starting.

So there you have it.  I hope one of the habits can serve you well too!  And although my competitive athletic career has come to a close, I’m sure there will be more practices to be acquired;).

Have a great week-end!

 

Closing out the World Championships in Bulgaria

This is a long oneJ….

Whether it was in dance, sport or work, I have always found myself analyzing my performance to determine whether I gave it everything I could.

I can honestly say that at this regatta (the World Championships!!) I gave all of myself!  I felt the worst after the repechage where I think I went beyond my physical capabilities – my mind was forcing me to just keep pumping my legs until the finish line but my body was running on empty.  I had weighed in that morning very light (around 55.4kg) and so after the race I was quite fragile as I couldn’t drink or eat for a few hours – Andrew even said I looked like a skeleton:S Eek! 

However, the B Final race was a different story.  The race took place in the morning, so our crew didn’t have to wait around for a day before weighing-in.  We got to wake up, do what we needed to make weight, and then race (all before 9:30am) – this was perfect for our plan to eat our faces off for the rest of the dayJ.  Not only was this scenario better for my stomach but it also proved to be better for our performance – we went out hard and had just enough left in our tanks to do a solid finish!

Part of what also contributed to our strong race in the final was the fact that we had improved enormously as a crew over the course of the regatta.  Unlike most of the other crews, we were all rookies at the Senior level and so our learning curve was steep.  It’s intimidating to go up against World Cup Champions (Poland) and medalists (Denmark), Olympians (two athletes from the Korean boat were in the Lightweight Women’s 2x in London), and the rest of the experienced field.  As I said before, we were nervous in our heat, but as we got more racing under our belt, we became more confident (in ourselves, in each other and in our training that brought us to Bulgaria).  We deserved to race in this field and that was evident in the Final.  In the repechage we were about 2 seconds back from Sweden, and in our Final we were 0.56 seconds back.  If only there had been 10m more in that raceJ.  The conditions were also quite calm on Saturday, and so there was no change in weather from the B Final to the A Final.  We still would not have medaled, but we definitely would have been competitive in that A Final which is exciting to learn.

(Lindsay, Erin, me and Liz after finishing the 2km race in the B Final)

I’ve really appreciated “living in the present” - you can’t spend your life asking “what if” all the time.  There is a lot to be enjoyed in the here and now!  I was more present in that Final than ever before.  Partially because my mind and body were working as one with my crew, but also because I knew it would be my last race (although funny enough a recruiter from a random university in the US approached me and gave me his card…I’m a wee bit too old for that now, haha!).

I have been in competitive sport since I was 14 (when I did my first triathlon) and I have come to a point where I am truly happy with stopping here.  Of course I’ll ask “what if” (what if I committed to rowing full time, what if I moved to one of the training centers, etc), but the priority for me at this stage of my life is my family, friends and career.  Plus, rowing is in GREAT hands with the lightweight women who are committed to this amazingly beautiful sport!

I’ll definitely find myself competing at local regattas, but I’m really excited for this next chapter of my life where I will try new things…together with my friends and husband.  Spin classes, cross fit…maybe an Ironman?!

I say Ironman because I have set my eyes on a new goal…of course you have Laura! Haha.

Since my early 20’s I’ve wanted to do something at the grassroots in sport, specifically for young girls aged 12 to 16.  My goal would be to start a program as a charity (volunteer based) where the priority would be to build confidence in young girls through sport.  For me, my self image issues started and ended with Triathlon.  Having just read “Life without Limits” by Chrissie Wellington (Ironman multi-World Champion and record holder), I know I’m not the only one who has dealt with this.  Eating disorders are far too prevalent and so hopefully through this program I could catch girls at a young age to help them love themselves first.

This is where Ironman may be coming into the pictureJ.  The sport of triathlon is where I had low self esteem – at the age of 15/16 I was told by coaches that I was fat (I really wasn’t), I had child bearing hips, and that I shouldn’t set unrealistic expectations for myself to be a successful athlete.  I went out to prove them wrong when I set my eyes on the Long Course World Championships.  I made top 3 in my age-group in 2004 and qualified for the 2005 World Championships.  Unfortunately my eating disorder contributed to my failed attempt at completing the race in Denmark.  Through rowing I have learned to truly love myself (inside and out), and so by revisiting triathlon I think I will be demonstrating through action that “failures” can turn into “successes” – it would be more about the journey here and less about the result (although my competitive nature may come into play a bitJ).  I would like to see if I could set this program up as a charity so that I could raise money for it through the Ironman.  Money raised would go towards equipment such as bands, medicine balls, ropes, space etc.  Right now I have a head start with the support of Genuine Health products (pre, during and post workout snacks for the girls to use as fuel and recovery) – thank you Genuine Health!

Stay tuned for more on this.

For now, I’m off to Greece with my husband where I will recover from an amazing journey with rowing.  With no need to weigh in every morning I will truly get a chance to enjoy the treats that Greece has to offer, yum! 

Thank you all for joining me on this amazing ride!!  I truly believe that you can do anything you set your mind to, so hopefully I've helped motivate you to do the same and pursue your dreams.

I’ll post pictures and videos later:)

Some race recaps: heat and repechage

Imagine…

-          your throat feeling as if you took a razor to the inside of it

-          your body feeling so weak that it takes effort to speak, let alone eat a piece of bread

-          you feeling so nauseous that every breath you take makes you want to lean over and hurl

Well, welcome to the finish line of a 2km rowing race!

Yesterday we got our nerves out in our heat, and today we raced.  Both resulted in similar finish times but they were very different conditions and very different performances.

Our heat was the first race we had ever done as a crew.  It was also the first race for all of us at a Senior World Championship, so perhaps nerves got the better of us as we failed to advance straight through to the A Final (top 2 crews) and were put into the repechage.   As you may have learned while watching the Olympic rowing events, a repechage is held for the crews that don’t automatically advance to the A Final after the first round of heats, and so it’s a “second chance” for crews to make it to the A Final.  The remaining crews not advancing would be put into the B Final.

On the international stage crews are ranked, and so there is an A, B, C, D, etc Final.  A final is for ranking the top 6 crews, B final is used for ranking numbers 7 to 12, etc.

Today was quite the race.  I can honestly say that I have never emptied the tank as I did today.  I had absolutely nothing left and I’m not even sure I remember taking the last 10 strokes, ha!  Physically I did, but I was definitely going into another land.  I know I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.  Aside from our crew, I noticed other athletes from other countries demonstrating the same type of discomfort and agony.  Phew, at least we all worked hard and the race wasn’t a walk in the park for anyone!

In this repechage we were in one of the far outside lanes…as we later learned, it happened to be to our disadvantage as the wind was unfavorable and swirly.  But, that’s something you can’t control and it’s just the luck of the draw.  We had the lane and at the end of the day, there are no excuses.  Race with power, strategy, passion, heart, sweat and blood - Checkmark on all of those today!  Yes, there was blood (let’s just say my knuckle doesn’t look too prettyJ).  We led off the start and were top 2 with Australia until around the 1700m mark.  Then came the unexpected wind change and more fun with the water.  As hard as we all pushed, we couldn’t match the crews making their moves on the other side of the course, China and Sweden joined Australia to cross the finish line before us.

We will now have the B Final on Saturday morning around 9am Bulgarian time (that is WAY too early for Canada, so I’ll update you after the race).  We will be racing Sweden, Korea and Japan.

"Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't."

Let's see what Saturday brings:)

Update before race day

Now, I know I said I would try to give you a history lesson, but I have to admit that on our trip to the ruins I got a bit distracted….with shopping.  I do hope to go back to see the ruins and fairly learn about the history, but I have to tell you that I got some pretty wicked deals on shoes!  Shoes are SUPER cheap here and so I purchased many pairs (high heels of course)!  I don’t know why the prices are so good, but I’m not going to complain.  Shopping is great for releasing any stress.  My teammates and I have gone to the mall across the street from our hotel quite a bit, and even paid frequent (daily) visits to the grocery store just to plan what exciting snacks and meals we can eat.

The mall is a bit different than what you would find back home in Canada.  There are flat escalators (like the ones you find at the airport when you don’t feel like walking from terminal to terminal with your luggage), and there’s a café on every single floor.  Cafes are pretty big here in Plovdiv and you can find one on almost every block.  Each have great outdoor seating and probably really good parties at night…soon we’ll get our chance to enjoy the partying after racing!

However, back at the course there is no partying…there’s focus.  It’s interesting to note that although sports can be very different, the environments in which you compete can be very similar.

No matter what, you will most likely find yourself assessing your competition: how strong they look, what equipment they’re using, etc.  For lightweight rowing there’s the added dimensions of also assessing how much you think your competition weighs and how much they may have to sweat down.  But that’s all external and not what the focus will be on race day.  It’s all internal from here on in and tomorrow I’ll have my eyes glued to the back of my teammate sitting in front of me.  Focus.

The race venue is no joke.  The course is just over 2km (the distance of the race) and 7 lanes wide with a beautiful backdrop of mountains and greenery.  Along the course there’s a path that coaches bike down as their athletes are racing.  I’m prepared to hear voices yelling in all different languages during our race tomorrow, but the only one I will be focused on is Liz’s (our bow seat).

Since spectators can’t follow the race from beginning to end, there is a jumbotron (big tv) placed in front of the grand stands for spectators to watch until the crews racing down the course get closer.  The best seats in the house might be those of spectators watching from the eating area under umbrellas from the 1800-2000m mark.  Cheers will be loud at this point as families, friends and rowing fans will be encouraging their crews to cross the finish line first.  Across the grand stands is a long row of flags lining the side of the course – seeing so many countries represented here is exciting and reminds me just how big this event is!  With 991 athletes competing I know that there is bound to be many memorable races:).

Below is the link to the race website for those who want to follow and see our results.  We are racing on Wednesday August 15^th at 6:04pm Bulgarian time (11:04am EST, 8:04am PST).

You can see the schedule and maybe the races here:

http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2012-world-rowing-senior-and-jchampionships

Results will be posted here:

http://wrsjch2012plovdiv.com/

THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT AND LOVE!!!

Until tomorrow

Welcome to Bulgaria

What a week it has been!

Last Sunday we departed Toronto International Airport for Bulgaria.  It was quite a long trip but it is clearly well worth it.  It’s good that we came 10 days before racing as each of us needed some time to adjust to the 7 hour time difference (ahead of Toronto).  At first I thought I wasn’t affected, but then on Day 4 and 5 I felt like a truck ran me over…not once, but over and over and over…and over!  This truck may have even dumped some concrete on my face, ha!

Fortunately that’s all passed and my body has somewhat adjusted.  As a lightweight rower it’s especially important to adjust because you want your body to respond to food and sleep the same way as it does back home.  Losing weight over night is a big deal, so it’s nice when it starts to line up normally.

(Our Quad on the race course: Lindsay, Erin, me and Liz)

We’ve had some really productive sessions on the water this week too.  At this point it’s not so much about gaining speed with fitness, but it’s more about gaining extra milliseconds with improved technique and timing.  Each of us is a perfectionist in our own way, and so it’s nice to know that each of us is committing to making the right changes to improve boat speed.  It will all come together on Wednesday August 15^th when we race in the Heat around 7:40pm (Bulgarian time).

Aside from always learning how to be a more efficient rower, I’ve learned a lot about “team”.  In individual sports you can do your own thing…put headphones in, do your own warm up, race prep, etc.  In a team sport, like crew, there needs to be a balance between doing your own thing and also adapting to what works for the crew.  Whether it was track, cross-country or rowing, I’ve always been about everyone trying to do the same thing in warm-up, visualization, etc.  But this doesn’t always work and I’ve learned that it’s okay that it doesn’t.  Everybody has a different level of “excitedness” (is that a word?!) that they need to be at in order to perform in their Ideal Performance State (IPS).  Where one person may need to be at the top of the chart with a high high high level of excitedness (like me), another may need to be more calm and relaxed before racing to get into their IPS.

IPS is definitely something that I’ve come to get a grasp on recently.  It takes time to get to a point where you know what your IPS is.  Get in some good and bad races, analyze them, and then evaluate what kind of environment needs to be created in order to get you to perform at your best.  For me, I have to add that a pre-race snack can also add to my IPS.  Having that delicious white pita with nutella and banana seems to do it everytime these days.  Sadly enough I think I sometimes dream about itJ.

Now separate to rowing it’s been an emotional (in a good way) week because my mother completed her last chemo session on Wednesday!  She was accompanied by family and friends at the hospital when she got to ring the bell to announce that she was done her chemotherapy treatments!  Of course there will be quite a lot of discomfort felt in the upcoming days as the drugs kick in, but it’s reassuring to know that this will be the last time she has to go through it.  Radiation will begin in September and she’ll be ready to tackle that obstacle with a strong mind and body!  Love you mamaJ.

(My mom and sister with my two adorable nieces)

Today we are going to see the ruins and so I’m sure I will (try) give you a history lesson on Bulgaria when I write next time.  No judging pleaseJ.

Ps.  GOOD LUCK to everyone racing in the Finals this Henley week-end!!!



New to the Genuine Health Ambassador Team

First off, HUGE CONGRATS to our Canadian Men’s 8+ and Women’s 8+ on winning silver at the Olympics!  I have no doubt Canada has more medals coming…

Now, I have to be honest, cutting weight at this level is harder than I originally assumed.  I’ve been a lightweight rower for several years now and I’ve never been as cautious about weight until now.  One reason is the fact that my target for racing will be about 8-10 pounds lighter than what I was this winter.  No big deal.  So because of this and my always-busy schedule (rowing, working, being a wife (it takes workJ), daughter, sister, friend, etc…), I took it upon myself to approach a health company called Genuine Health to see if I could be added to their roster of ambassadors.  Olympians, National Team athletes (Triathlon and Skiing), Personal Trainers and more are already part of the great ambassador team.  Genuine Health (http://shop.genuinehealth.com/).

I’ve seen and experienced how their products improve health and wellbeing in a natural and pure way. 

A colleague of mine who had breast cancer suggested that I have my mom try greens+ when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer.  My mom incorporated greens+ into her diet to strengthen her immune system and boost her vegetable intake.  She was on a mission to get strong and healthy before chemo.  Thanks to her health focus, my mom has stayed strong through 5 of her 6 chemo sessions, and will have her last one this upcoming Wednesday!:)

Soon after, I started to learn more about Genuine Health products for myself – I now have come to love proteins+ and activfuel+.  Below is a killer recipe that includes proteins+.

 * I originally got this delicious Chocolate Black Bean Pudding recipe from Lindsay (our team stroke seat and recipe master!).  I just made some minor tweaks.  And that’s the beauty about it, you can change it as you please and it will always taste amazing!

- 1 can of Black Beans

- 1 cup of Cottage Cheese or Greek Yogurt (or both if you like)

- 4 scoops of Genuine Health’s proteins+ (I use chocolate, yum)

- 1 tbsp Cinnamon

- 2 tbsp of Cocoa Powder

- 4 Dates

- Drizzle of Honey

Mix all of the ingredients in a blender and then put it in the fridge to cool off.  THANK YOU LINDSAY!!!

This is a picture of the Chocolate Black Bean Pudding with home-made granola sprinkled on top and fresh blueberries.

Clearly this is very high in protein, but when you are cutting weight, this is a must!

Now because we’ll be travelling, I won’t be able to take the puddingL.  But I have made up for it by baking these granola bars with proteins+ that can continue to give me that extra energy and boost of protein that I need during travel.  I remember writing about this simple recipe before, but now with the chocolate protein powder, you will experience these treats at a whole new level!

-          2 Ripe Bananas

-          2 Cups of Oatmeal

-          2 scoops of proteins+

-          Anything else you please…I add in dried fruit, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, almonds….

Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

I will continue to be posting about new Genuine Health products I try, and also provide other recipes that you can make easily at homeJ.

Packing and getting ready for take-off…..

Talk soon!

Women in the Canadian Lighweight Quad

First off, I hope everybody is watching the Olympics!  You can’t help but feel motivatedJ.  As I’m a rower, I have to say that a MUST see race is the Women’s Eight (8+).  Canada and the US are known as the top two crews at these Games, and so I have no doubt that Thursday morning’s final will be an incredibly tight and amazing race to watch!  Every inch counts!

As for us here in London, ONTARIO, training is going super well.  I’m really lucky to be training with a group of amazing girls.  I’ll tell you a bit about them – I’ll go from the front of the boat (stroke) to the back (bow):

Erin Snelgrove

She is our energizer bunny.  If she isn't rowing, she is most likely speeding by on her running shows from point A to B, then B to C, back to A, then to C, and so on.  As our stroke seat, she keeps the rhythm of the crew solid and strong.  She has some experience as well on the international stage, having competed last year at the Junior World Championships, and recently at the Under 23 World Championships

Lindsay Sferrazza

Lindsay is our in-house Chef and Recipe Master!  I have learned that eating healthy doesn't need to taste so bland;)  My husband will be forever grateful, haha.  She has been rowing since High School and collected countless club, Henley and CU medals!  With her drive, it is no surprise that she successfully made the switch over to the lightweight rowing and will now be on the World Stage.

Me

The pic below says it all - I'm a little crazy:)  We got our uniforms today so I got a little excited.  I may be wearing all of the clothing still...and it's starting to get a little hot to say the least:S

Liz Fenje

She is our powerhouse!  She can absolutely demolish me in the weight room (but it is awesome to get pushed by her).  As our bow seat, Liz calls the race.  It's one of the hardest positions as she has to call the race all while racing at 150% herself!  No big deal.  We all trust her though.  Her resume stands strong with 3 years on the Under 23 National Team, an IRA win this year with her Stanford crew, and more.

Needless to say, I am humbled and honoured to row and compete with these girls.  We have 5 more training days left until we leave for Bulgaria, and so we will all continue to stay focused and make each stroke count.

ps.  Congrats to Argos and all athletes who competed this past week-end in Welland at RowOntarios.  New champions were crowned.  It'll be exciting to see that strong races will be had at Henley this year.  Good Luck everyone.

Until next time (in Bulgaria!!!!!),

LSM:)

Final selections made!

Since May, the other lightweights and I have been under review by the National Development Coach every day for every workout.  We did unofficial and official seat racing, time trials in the 1x, 2x and 4x, and specific workouts where the coach would be able to see how we perform: looking at our consistency, crew dynamic and weight management.  Because I performed quite well in the first double matrix of seat racing, and my weight has shown to be consistent, I was not included in the final seat racing that took place today.  That said, I still did a solid training session by doing two hard 2km pieces in the single (1x) alongside the other athletes who were either supporting or competing for the final spot in the boat.  They did an amazing job and gave it everything that they could - each are true champions!

At the end of the day, only four athletes were named to the boat and I can finally confirm that I am officially one of those four athletes in the Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls that will be wearing red and white at the Senior World Championships this August in Bulgaria!!!:)

Back in April after the National Development Trials I was over the moon about simply getting invited to try-out and move to London Ontario for this opportunity – a 28 year old, married, full-time corporate world woman (I was definitely scared about entering a new environment).  But the end result of being named to the boat is something I am truly thankful for and will not take for granted – there is still a lot of exciting work to be done before the big event! 

Everyone who came here to London to try-out has so much to be proud of and nobody can take that away from any of usJ.  Many of the athletes have had an incredible impact on me, and although some of them are no longer at the Centre (for now, but watch out they’ll come back!), they continue to motivate me through their determination and ongoing pursuits of their dreams!  Thank you!

It will be an exciting couple of weeks to say the least.  Especially this year since the World Championships will take place right after the Olympic rowing races – during our training we’ll be able to watch Olympians go for Gold in England!  Is there a better way to get pumped up and motivated?  I don’t think so!

Aside from the training and racing, it’ll also be exciting to see (IN PERSON) the athletes I have read about and admired for so long.  One of them is Ursula Grobler from the USA.  Although she is not Canadian, I have a lot of respect for her as an athlete as she currently holds the world record on the rowing machine for 2km (Lightweight Women).  She will be racing in the 1x at the World Championships, and so will many past Olympians and previous World Champions.  Many up and comers will be there as well since the Junior World Championships will also be held in Bulgaria at the same time.  I am so proud of one of the Junior athletes I have been fortunate to train alongside back in my Don Rowing days: Kieran Tierney - Congrats!

Thank you to everyone who has continued to support me on this journey.  It has definitely been a learning experience and I know that the learning doesn’t stop here!

I’m hopeful that my next blog will be to show you the Canadian gear - don't be surprised if I wear them to work for the months to follow World'sJ.

Have a great week-end!

Small things can make a big difference!

The past week gives me reason to write today.  As I previously told you, I’ve been moving around a bit to get in some solid training while the Under-23 team is in Lithuania (They are racing incredibly well by the way!  Check out their races on worldrowing.com and cheer on these amazingly hard working athletes).

So where did rowing take me this week?...Miami? No…Vancouver? No…Welland?  YES!  I bet if you asked most people, they wouldn’t be the first to jump in a bus to go to Welland, but after this week, I would come back in a heartbeat! Of course that’s if my work, friends and husband came with meJ.

Aside from the hundreds to thousands of motorcycles I saw today (they meet every Friday 13^th in a local town), the hardcore gardening I did for my mom (I have an entire new appreciation for it!!), and the several local farmer’s markets I went to, I got to spend this week at my parent’s “farm” (more like a country house in the middle of farm country) with my dad - my mom joined us today after work.  It was amazing as I haven’t spent this much time with my dad in years!  I felt like I was a little girl again – we ran all errands together, had delicious meals and also made a trip to Bulk Barn where I was able to take advantage of his Senior’s DiscountJ.  Below is a picture of a dessert I made for us from a recipe my teammate gave me:

Black bean brownie with black bean cocoa pudding on top, greek yogurt, strawberries, and a drizzle of maple syrup. You can’t feel guilty when you eat BEANS now can you?!

Spending time with my dad this week helped me remember that it’s important to slow down and appreciate the little things in life too.  In Toronto I am always in a rush…rush to rowing, rush to the office, rush back to rowing, rush home to see my husband, rush to put my food together for the next day, rush to bed…I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about!  It’s nice when things slow down a bit, and yes, sometimes it means driving slower too. 

I think this appreciation carried into my rowing this week.  Both my partner and I slowed things down in our 2x (in terms of our stroke rate, not speed don’t worry) and we really focused on moving the boat in the most efficient way possible.  We looked at ourselves and analyzed our movements to make sure that we were making the most of each stroke, together as one.  Small movements have a way of disrupting the set of a boat, and with our focus we have eliminated a lot of these movementsJ.

It is also nice that we had a nice stretch of about 10km to row on without any cross winds or turn arounds.  Below is a video of the National Development Centre where we have been training out of all week.

At the NDC we were fortunate to train with some friendly and speedy rowers.  They also know how to have fun - after some practices on hot days (pretty much EVERY DAY!), they jump into the water to cool off.  Unfortunately if we did that in Lake Fanshawe in London we might grow a third eye:S…not kidding! 

So my advice for anyone reading this before the week-end, is that you remember to appreciate the little things around you – it could be a person, something material, or a moment.

Enjoy!



The value of sportsmanship

It’s been a while, so I am sorry for not writing sooner.  Truthfully, I’ve tried to hold off until July 21^st – the date when the four athletes will be officially named to the quad for the World Championships in Bulgaria.  But after today, I have something I want to sayJ.  After this though, I will continue to try and hold off until July 21^st, ha!

Since some of our under 23 athletes are overseas preparing to race (and kick butt) at the 2012 Under-23 World Championships, I have been continuing to train here in Toronto, London and soon Welland with other athletes so that I can maintain and improve on my fitness. Lucky for me, today there was a local regatta here in London that I was able to compete in.  It’s always good to get racing experience and challenge yourself, even though I felt like crapola again after my 2x race this morning (the heat, heavy training week and lack of electrolytes got the best of me, but fortunately my partner Lindsay and I still won, mind over body I guess).

Competing today put the biggest smile on my face!  Why?  It’s really great to be able to see familiar faces, friends, and coaches.  The rowing community is fantastic, and somehow you find yourself becoming friends with people you race against.  Regardless of the outcome, everyone knows the other is pushing as hard as they can to be their best on that day.  So I think it is incredibly important to have good sportsmanship and be respectful and supportive of yourself, crew, and opponents (yes, opponents). 

I’ve seen this best reflected in a video I saw of the 2008 Ironman World Championships in Kona.  Chrissie Wellington (one of my role models) holds the world record in the Ironman distance, and is just an absolutely humble, modest and inspiring woman, plus she's super fast!

History: I actually went to watch the race in 2003 when my brother competed, and I saw with my own eyes how amazingly supportive of one another the athletes can be. 

Here is the video I am referring to:

This video really hits home for many reasons:

-          With respect to sportsmanship, it has been defined as many things, and one definition says “respect one’s opponent, and treat others the way you’d like to be treated”.  Rebekah Keat does just that when she see’s Chrissie on the side with a blown tire.  In rowing it’s a bit harder to reach over and help others, but attitude alone can make the same kind of impact. 

-          Always be prepared for any scenario when you are competing

-          Never make an excuse if you are held back, dig deeper and fight harder to prove to yourself that you CAN

Here are some pics from today:

Congrats to everyone who raced and gave each stroke their all!