More Motivation: Finding YOUR Activity!

If Rick and Dick Hoyt don't motivate you.. well you're in the wrong place!

Getting Motivated is more than just looking at your friend and saying “eh I’d like to get in shape.” BOOORRING!!!!  You have to find what WORKS FOR YOU TO HAVE FUN!

It took me a LONG time to find that!  I used to love to play volleyball, that kept me active for a long time, but that’s not really a great activity for my EDS!  Also my scuba diving is awesome, especially diving in New England as it's pretty strenuous.

There are countless activities you can do that get you MOVING!  Take the kids for a ride on the bike (YOU RIDE TOO, don't just stand there and watch them).  There are so many cool trails out there now!  Go for a walk/hike, get a camera, you will be surprised how far you walk without knowing it when you’re interested in the scenery!

There are lots of different activities, please don’t just go to a gym, try it once and say “this sucks.”;because YEA that does suck!   I need the spin class with the loud rock, or to swim with an mp3 player blaring in my ears.  I get on a dreadmill once in a while and want to poke my eyes out!  

Take a bunch of different classes:  spin, aerobics, pilates, yoga, kickboxing, etc. You’ll eventually find something you LOVE.  If time is a problem, classes happen ALL of the time from pre-dawn bootcamps, to late night workouts.  No excuses!

Now me, I’m motivated by sports, friends, or numbers.  I just LOVE triathlons!  Once you're bitten by the bug it's a stupid addiction!   Seriously those of you that keep telling me “I could never do that..” GO WATCH  A RACE! 

You will find:

• People 3x your weight!
• People 3x your age!
• People that have 3-4 more kids than you!
• People that have less money than you!
• People that have one less appendage than you!
• People that are fighting Cancer!
• People that have other disorders that you can’t see!

I know way too many people now that really ‘Can’t’ do it, if your legs work – you certainly can!  I’m soooo slow it's rather funny.    Speed is not a pre-requisite for the sprint triathlons; finishing is!   I can’t even explain what it feels like to finish your first one, or really to watch people finish their first one!! You accomplish something you NEVER thought you could do, and do something most people DON'T!   

 Stop with the excuses and as Nike says “Just Do It.” 

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Getting Some Motivation

Everyone needs some right?  I’ve had so many people tell me that they would love to “do what I do” – (I will be writing MORE on this one)… but one thing that everyone needs to find is their own personal motivation!  Some dig positive reinforcement, some negative! 

Most of you know we lost one of our dogs in May, but before that we had the best example of opposite motivation! Same breed, both super sweet and gentle dogs, but Gemini was very, very, very  responsive to more ‘negative’ reinforcement.  Apollo on the other hand, POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT ONLY!  If you yell at him, he pouts for days.  If you would yell at Gemini, she would basically laugh at you.  If you had a squirt bottle or a can of pennies to ‘startle’ Gemini, she was all ears!  Very different, just like US! Both well behaved, but the path to getting there was sooo different!

It’s taken me a long time to figure out my own motivations.  Last weekend I was reminded of one of them.  I’m sorta negatively reinforced.  One of my relay buddies took a bunch of great pics at the race.  I was horrified at the pictures!  I would post them, however most of you would say “what are you talking about?”  

So here’s the deal, have someone take pictures of you doing some random activity (DO NOT POSE), then look them, closely.  I’m sure you’ll find something you don’t like, chin(s); batwings, bakery in your middle, extra person trying to escape from the arms of the wetsuit…..  You all know what I mean. 

We each find something in ourselves that we want to improve.  No one EVER keeps those pictures, and no friend EVER agrees with us when we say “LOOK AT THIS CRAP.”   I see a much smaller me when I look in the mirror, I don’t see what that camera just captured!   Our friends just say “oh that’s cute” (cute my gigantic butt)!

So, I have this picture;  it’s now stuck in my head.  I also have a pic that I did pose for and  I probably had spanks on, but who cares!  I have them side by side as a reminder of where I DO NOT want to be, and where I want to be!  (now don’t go get a picture from 25 years ago that is unrealistic).  Tape them somewhere that motivates YOU!  Inside of your closet, inside of your medicine cabinet where you brush your teeth, or if you’re brave, the refrigerator! (it won’t motivate you if you don’t see it).

I have a 13.1 magnet on my fridge.  I really want to be able to do a half marathon – it’s there to motivate me to keep moving!  I’ve never done one, but I will eventually.  When I do, I’ll take that magnet off the fridge, put it on my car and get a new one for the fridge (26.2)!

Find out what motivates you and put it IN YOUR FACE!

End The Season with some BLING!

It has been a VERY ROUGH season!  I haven't written that much because it has mostly been negative and I didn't want to bring down the blog!  From my mom's accident to my just absolutely miserable season with my EDS, but let me tell you - yesterday was the way to go out and go out strong! NOT TO MENTION get me all fired up again!

About 2 months ago, Lisa and I started asking Julie (in white) if we would be doing the SheRox Triathlon.  It's VERY late in the season and can be pretty chilly.  Most of us are pretty burnt out by this time, but I am so compelled to do any race that's on Webster lake because I live so close!  I secured a coupon so I started the peer pressure!  We were all swim buddies on Sept 11 and that did us all in; Lisa said "lets do a relay" - so we all said "ok fine."

Truth be told, I hadn't been in the water to swim any distance in about 6 months - and I now had 2 weeks to be ready to race! YIKES!  I immediately renewed my YMCA membership and jumped in the water.  My first swim was NOT what I had hoped!  My time was "ok", but my shoulder was TERRIBLE (see the post New way to Adjust your Shoulder).  It felt like every stroke someone was stabbing me in the back with a knife - AWESOME!  How was I going to do a relay in 2 weeks!?!.

No way I was telling Julie and Lisa!  So the next day I went to the Chiropractor (my deity on Earth).  I saw him about 7x in the next 14 days.  I also saw my Massage Therapist about 5x !  I could not LIVE without those two!  By the time they were done beating the crap out of me, my swim time was 'ok' and the knife was  gone.  

Onto SATURDAY - my diveshop was going out of business and had the last sale, I can't tell you how sad this is, but point for here is that I purchased some additional wetsuits.  Not that I didn't have enough already. (Stay tuned to the Facebook Fatgirl site, I will post a pic there of my wetsuit closet, there are over 25 in there).  The really exciting thing is I got a GREAT deal on one tri-wetsuit for my friend Ericka!

She's so stinking fast in the water anyway, now look out! She's going to win some races! Ericka and I went for a little "TEST DRIVE" of her new wetsuit on Sat, as you should NEVER try something on Race day.  

We noted that they moved transition to a full quarter of a mile AWAY FROM THE BEACH.  That's all I could think about!  Man!  I hate running, and I was sooo excited of doing a RELAY, I could swim and that's it.. but NOOOO they created a quadatholon for us.  1/4 mile of running BAREFOOT through the crappy parking lot -YEA!  I can't tell you the last time I ran anywhere! - Ok, I'll do it though, right? (I'd hate to see me if I got caught up in the wrong crowd, all this damn peer pressure).

So Sunday rolls around, I had planned on riding my bike over to the race but I neglected to plan for the SUN.  No sun until well after 6:30.. so I had to drive.. boo!  I drove over, and subsequently was eaten alive by mosquitoes in the dark!  Late season tri's do have some extra considerations, that's for sure!

I met up with Julie and Lisa, we racked our stuff and sized up the competition.  There were some TINY runners, and some BIG mountain bikes. We thought 'eh ok.'

When it came time for the swim wave, I'm normally REALLY freaked out by being in the last wave, because I would then be THE LAST ATHLETE.. not today!  I knew I would go all out, and I knew I had Julie to bike and Lisa to run!

The course was a triangle, and the last leg of the swim shown here was the longest.  I'm guessing this part was about 1/4 mile (of the 1/2 mile course). I looked behind me and most of my wave (yellow) was there!  I only saw a couple in front of me, which was a first!  Then I saw a bunch blue and green caps FRONT of me so I knew I had to gun it.  They took off 3-6 min ahead of me so I had some hope! SPRINT SPRINT SPRINT! 

Lisa snapped this shot of me coming out of the water.  Man I was out of breath.  I've never "sprinted' in a tri, usually you go 'your pace' so you have energy for the REST of the race.  Then I remembered the RUN.  I was happy to see Lisa there to run with me to the Transition area.  I walked for a very short bit to catch my breath, then  I ran, and yes I RAN.. the whole way.  Those who know me know how crazy that is.. but I wasn't letting my team down!  And in hindsight, holy crap 14 seconds is all that separated first and second place!  

I ran into transition, Julie took the timing chip and off she went.

I wasn't that fast on the swim, I was in the middle of the 'relay' people.  But I'm pretty happy with my swim. Julie on the other hand ROCKED that bike, she was 2nd in the bike!  GO JULIE!   While Julie was out on the bike, Lisa and I looked around, we didn't see any other bikes back yet.  We figured we might have a chance at first place, but we weren't sure.  Then we saw one team come in.. YIKES.. they were just a tiny bit a head of us! 

Now it was Lisa's turn, who by the way has a sore heel from marathon training!  I don't know how she did what she did with a sore foot!  The sisters passed off the timing chip and off went the Rocket Lisa!

Lisa ran her 5K in 24 minutes.. I've been known to run a MILE, maybe two in that time.. She was 2nd in the run.  Wow Lisa, just wow! She crossed the finish line and the first thing out of her mouth is "I CAUGHT HER AND PASSED HER."   - Julie said "what?" - so we had to explain.

Then we waited...

and waited...

and waited...

I can honestly say I've never been around to "wait" for anything, I'm always the one people are WAITING FOR!  Eventually they brought out the individual results.. relays weren't on there.. UGH... so I went in the trailer.  I heard some Elites and some other athletes somewhat bitching "well I could be near the top but, blah blah" - no real excitement, just a matter of fact.

Then the woman actually handed us the paper rather than putting it on the board.  It was like when the 7 year olds went to the next level on "Americas Got Talent" we just screamed.. we won by 14 seconds.. yup 14 seconds.  

 I'm so proud to be a part  of Team LL cool J.

Thanks Lisa & Julie for making my season!