My friend Lynn Masters Athlete of the Year!

I’ve got lots of talented friends and it’s always a joy to be able to write a bit about some of them particularly when they get acknowledged for their accomplishments. 

This time I get to share the news that my friend Lynn Rodgers has been selected as Burlington Female Masters Athlete of the Year.  I’ve been swimming BMSC with Lynn for a few years, we compete in some of the same events, we both like breaststroke, I usually take the 50m, Lynn the 200m and the 100 can be anyones game and a good race.  It’s great to have competitive friends, they push you and you can high five & hug after win or lose.  Lynn has also gotten into open water swimming and really excelled.  She won the LOST race in 2011 and in 2012 she went to Key West and won the Female Masters division of the 20k.  Over the years I’ve come to know and like her family too, husband Kevin, daughter Mia and son Cameron.  They are a great bunch I'm happy to call friends.


Congrats Lynn on the Masters Swimmer of the Year award!  








http://www.insidehalton.com/sports-story/3833552-burlington-sport-alliance-announces-2013-award-winners/

Bill catches me

Bill turns 40 and catches up to me...

 

I don't think he ever thought I'd get him a bike for his birthday.  Hope you enjoy the ride to old age together with me...

Love Mel

My little one does the Mom's day fun run

My 5 year old Dahlia started saying she wanted to do a race.  And after the 1^st LOST swimming Board meeting, Joanne gave me flyer for a Mother’s Day fun run that the IronDames were putting on.  Dahlia saw the flyer and was sold.  She took the flyer to kindergarten to show her teachers and class mates the race she was going to do.   She could hardly wait, finally the race was here, it was brutally cold for mid-May, we had to dig out the hats and mitts, and huddle together before the race.  Finally we start, she is running a good steady strong pace not too fast.  We make the turn-around she starts passing some who are fading, I’m wondering if she can keep it going til the end, then it hits “the wall” and she starts to complain her back hurts, “there’s the finish can you make it?  Do you want to walk a bit”  She doesn’t answer, she keeps going, but she starts to cry.  She pushed herself along and crossed the line crying and I feel like everyone is looking at me like I’m this awful parent who pushed their kid to do something painful, I honestly was not, this was something she showed the initial interest in, I would have gladly walked if she said she wanted to… 
And I only wish everyone saw her just a few minutes after the race was over and she said this was the best day ever!  I really find this raw emotions interesting, I’ve felt like crying at times in races, I sometime wonder when we feel pain what it is that makes us want to stop the finish line keeps us moving til we are there and then how after that we can say that was awesome, when is the next one?
Dahlia is a doll, who is really passionate, this will likely make her a good athlete one day, she already displayed determination and ability.

P.S. The chocolate medal only lasted long enough to show dad.

the devil made me do it

I rarely talk about religion, I’m an atheist. 
But there are times when unexplainable things happen, and when people do things that defy logic, it can be possible to believe that something has possessed that person.  I’ve witnessed and experienced this sort of possession and it least when it comes from athletic competitors no one really gets hurt except for maybe that individual. 
I had signed up for the Mississauga Marathon taking place the 1^st weekend in May, I had been doing lots of training, but I knew I had a problem with my hamstring/hip/glute, which I was trying to ignore and train through and of course it all blew up on me, so that I really was unable to run after the Around the Bay 30k at the end of March.  This injury hurt me even while I swam, so swimming for recovery wasn’t even really working for me.  Anyways I hate dropping a race I’ve signed up for, but I knew the marathon was not an option, at least I could listen to that much logic.  Then one day at swim practice, my friend Stacy said she was going to do the half with my massage therapist, Julie to pace her for 2 hours.  That seemed possible??? – well not really, but it seemed desirable…  I went and picked up my race kit the day before still undecided, I get my race number 666, a number associated with the devil, so I’m claiming the devil possessed me into doing the half.  Well 2 hours wasn’t possible.  And I finished a half for the 1^st time in over 2 hours.  Sometimes something possesses us to do unexplainable illogical things like run a half marathon with an injury, at least that’s the worst the devil “made” me do…

 

And yes I felt like hell afterwards.

Coaching

Coaching has become one of things I really enjoy spending my time doing.  It is a way to give back to the sport that has really been such an important part of my life.  I love sharing my love of swimming and fitness with the kids.  I love seeing them develop the skills to get them across the pool and seeing them set goals and improve.  They all have different little personalities and I enjoy trying to find ways to motivate them and help them learn the strokes.  They make me smile even when I'm losing my voice.  I have confused people by saying "my kids have a swim meet"...
It is also very special to me to be coaching for the team I grew up swimming for.  It's a long standing club with a history of excellent swimmers and coaches.  And I feel great pride and responsibility being at the ground level, work with the future so to speak.  And this year I've just got a great feeling about the future for the club.  The novice families are great and enthusiastic, case in point, today I held an early morning special practice, just to get in some extra dive practice off blocks.  With just a few days notice, I asked families it they would be interested in heading to the University pool on a Saturday morning for a 1/2 hour of diving, this would be over 1 hour before the regular novice Saturday am swim in another pool in the other end of town so they would be getting out of one pool and then heading to another.  I didn't know that families would think it worth the while, so said I needed 5 kids to say they were interest in order to make it a go... well I was overwhelmed with "we're in" responses.  I ended up with 20 kids and feeling like an 1/2 hour was not nearly long enough.   And just to make it a classic special practice, I was emphasizing throwing oneself off the blocks and found myself off balance and in the pool, much to the kids laughter!
I've also had the excitement of having my first novice swimmer making a Regional time.  It is quite an awesome achievement!  I can't take any credit, this 10 year old is in my once a week swim program, so just has some natural talent.
Anyways to sum it up, the future for HAC looks bright and I'm thrilled to be involved.

HAPPY EARTH DAY

It spans mountains and oceans, surpasses borders, it unites us because it makes no judgement about one way of life over another, it is powerful yet delicate and giving, it is harmonious, natural and beautiful, it is EARTH!

Respect, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

!

Boston marathon bombings

I wasn't there, but many of my friends were.  Thankfully none of them were hurt physically.  Emotionally, that may be a different story, but it is this which makes us stronger.
The emotions I felt as I learned of events and as I had an opportunity to reflect are difficult to put into words, there was fear and then relief for my friends, there was anger, exasperation and sadness, there was concern about the future of events like this, which in my opinion are important to humanity.  As I learned of the death of a child (a spectator), it rattled me to think of my own children who have been supporters in similar events; I never specifically worried about something like that before, but I know you can't live in a bubble (or put one around your children) and something bad could happen anywhere. We can't let evil win, we can't give up doing things we love because of fear. 
For a little over a year, I've been quietly thinking about attempting to qualify for this race, this tragic event will not stop me, and it may even inspire me to get er done.  
Peace!

some friends in Boston

1st swim meet in awhile = fun times (but not very fast times lol)

Good Friday, an unusual day to participate in your 1st swim meet in awhile, but that's where I found myself and a great group of team mates!

It was Masters Provincial Championships and my first meet in 2 years.  I was slightly nervous about this,,, people seemed a little shocked when I told them this, but it's true; I've had some swimming 'ups and downs' in the last 2 year and sprinting in a pool felt oddly unusual and intimidating.  But this is where the power of team can come in and help out even in an individual sport.  It was really my friends/team mates who drew me in, to giving it a go.

But my fears, unfortunately didn't inspire me to train harder or more often in the pool.  The meet remained a secondary "goal" as I was focusing more on my running; with about 60% of my workouts being running, 30% swimming and 10% spinning.  And Around the Bay 30k road race was just 5 days before the swim meet.  I had high hopes for ATB; but due mainly to some leg issues leading up to the run, I was mildly disappointed with my run of 2:53 ~ well off (15 minutes) my best ATB time, which I had hoped was going to be beat this year.  My leg was still causing me some pain on swim competition day.

So you might think my fears, my lack of swim focus/training, and the short recovery time after the 30k run, would mean I'd enter just a couple events, but I maxed out my events on the 1 day (of the 3 day meet) that I attended.  6 individual events and 2 relays.

orange cap (me)

It started with 50 Breast, I managed to do it in 40.5 seconds and came 3rd.
Then 50 Back, a very unusual event for me (I normally never do it, but I was picking 6 on this day and the 6th event was either 50 back, 200 back or 200 fly, so you may understand), officially the results say 38 seconds, but I'm pretty sure this is wrong.  Our coach and the lane timer got me at 41 which seems much more likely.  38 is going to be a very hard time for me to ever beat as a PB, I'll put a star beside that one LOL.  38 got me 4th, but so would 41, as 5 came in at 45 seconds, so I don't feel too badly about this time I don't really believe is right.
Then 100 IM, it felt okay until the free leg (key word leg ~ OMG I was feeling my legs, and not in the way that means they were working for me) 1:24.11 ouch! for 6th (sadly though 1:23 (still a few seconds slower then my typical 100IM) would have got me 3rd...)
The next event of the morning was the relay, and this is the fun part!  The team portion really adds something to my regular "individual" events.  This relay was the medley, Caroline was in for back, Sandra breast, Denyse fly and I brought it home with free and a fairly reasonable time of 31.4 and 3rd place.  BMSC's other relay team of Petra, Sarah, Colleen and Lynn took 1st.  Yeah team!
Then I had my own individual 50 Free with a 32.08, oh how I wanted under 32. (4th)
The rest was going to get conceivably harder, my events were getting longer and I was getting worn out:
200 Breast 3:24 (5th) and 400 free 6:13 (11th) ~ definitely tired!
And one more relay, mixed free, with Wade, me, Denyse and Remi, I only managed a 32.2 on this one and we only managed 6th.

TEAM

I was spent, but the shower felt wonderful.  In fact getting out of my swimsuit felt wonderful (squeezing into Cadence's racing suit for a whole day is not comfy ~ and I will never wear it for anything 400m or more again)

Well BMSC (our team) came 2nd overall, we had significantly less swimmers then 1st (the host team) and we even had fewer swimmers then the 3rd place team.  Someone did the math and points per swimmer we were in fact first.  So we all went out for a celebratory team dinner and fun!  And when we are tired and a wee bit waterlogged, we get kind of silly!  But that's another story that is probably best left unwritten :)

will run for beer

The other weekend I got to take part in a pub run with the Oakville runner guys, it was really fun!

As you can tell from the pictures!  (stolen from Rob's blog: LOST blog) 

And I love the little insert in his blog "And speaking of fun and “training”… take our second annual Pub Run last weekend for example.  As I pointed out to Melanie prior to the “race”, when she was concerned if she could keep up with this group of very speedy runners: “well, it is quite a serious and highly competitive race… and (we) run at a torrid pace… so I’m not sure it is really fit for a girl”… but given that she can knock’em back with the best of the boys and is probably in better shape than me right now… we let her run too!  ;-)" 

I did manage to keep up on the running and the drinking.  It was funny each stop the group seemed rowdier.  

Mix 2 things you enjoy, add friends, and you are bound to have a good day!

Cheers, Melanie

We just ate in the dining room, for the 1st time in 4 years

Totally crazy, we just ate dinner in the dining room.

Huh???  You may be wondering why that's crazy.  But in our house for approx. 4 years, our dining room was not used for dining in, instead it's been used for working-out.  It's been our home gym since we started training for our 1st ironman, which we did in 2009.  We bought a treadmill and a computrainer, so that as working parents we'd be able to train whenever it fit our busy schedules.  And a gym it's been until just the other weekend.  Dahlia, who just turned 5 the other day, does not remember ever having a real dining room.

Unfortunately our basement ceiling is low, so the dining room was really the only option in our house, but after all these years, we miss having a dining room.  But, since Bill has rarely used the treadmill in the last few years (having more opportunities to get it done outside), we determined that, short me would be able to run on the treadmill in the basement despite the low ceiling and Bill didn't need it.  Hence we decided to move it downstairs.

And the other weekend when I'm in the middle of icing Dahlia's birthday cake, Bill decided it was moving time.  I took an icing break and we took a long time just getting it through the dining room door into the hall.  It is long, wide, and very heavy!  After various discussion on how to proceed and with a few bangs in the wall we made it down to the landing.  This was extremely difficult and at one point Bill was somewhat trapped between the wall and the treadmill at the bottom of the landing.  This was scary.  And then we couldn't figure out how we could get it the rest of the way down, safely!  And I had to finish icing the cake, the party was starting in not too long.  So we left a treadmill in the stairwell.  Bill called his brother-in-law and he and our nephew came over and eventually they got it down to the basement.

Okay so there is one other sort of funny story, yeah I think the treadmill got slightly broken during the move. I tried running on it yesterday and usually like to run at a small incline (2).  So I hit the incline button 2xs while I'm running (2 hits means it goes up to the 2nd level, 3 hits = 3rd level etc) but this time it just keeps going,  I am of course getting pretty close to the ceiling.  I hit down button, it stops going up, but doesn't go down.  It currently looks like I'll be running at an incline indefinitely!

Carpets got steamed cleaned in the dining room (thanks mom-in-law) and the table and chairs got set up and today we ate diner in the dining room.  It was extra delicious! 

Of course Santa loves swimming too

HAC had a fun holiday party! With 50 kids in the water and a few parents, we divided into 6 teams and had relays and games.  We didn't quite get to all of these, but those we did do worked quite well.  I found it helpful to have a parent on deck with each team.  The parents had the following list of games, and could easily explain the game to the teams:

HAC NOVICE HOLIDAY PARTY

Human tree decorating – (all start on one side) One person (the tree) swims across pool, puts shirt on and stands on deck. Starting when shirt is on, the rest of team, 2 at a time, swim across and pick something to decorate the human tree with, as soon as the 2 are back in the water, the next 2 can start swimming across while the previous 2 swim back. Repeat until the 1st team has used all their decorations. Then all teams have to stop decorating. Judges pick the best decorated human tree.


Christmas song puzzler – (all start on one side) as a team all swim across the pool, work together to figure out the Christmas song puzzler, when correct, repeat (4 puzzles) The 4 puzzles were (see answers below, hints were given):

1. Eight P.M. to Six A.M. without Noise
2. Desire a Pair of Incisors on December 25
3. Homo Sapien of Crystallized Vapor
4. Fantasia of a Colorless December 25
   

Soggy Santa relay – (half team on one side, half on other) put on Santa hat and beard, swim across pool, take hat and beard off, pass to next person & repeat until everyone has had a turn

Sleigh ride - (half team on one side, half on other) pair up, each pair takes turns swimming across the pool, one member of the pair is the sleigh and gets pulled across the pool by the other member of the pair by holding their leg (first person is swimming with their arms; second person is kicking- aka partner pull) 

Gift giving relay - (half team on one side, half on other) swim across pool with gift bag, trying to keep gift dry, give gift to next person & repeat until everyone has had a turn. Time teams. Wring the gifts out into a bucket and measure. For each cm deep with water in bucket = + 1 second to the time.


Candy cane lane - swim across the pool riding the biggest candycanes ever (pool noodles), pass the candycane to the next person & repeat


Holiday cook off - (half team on one side, half on other) wearing over mitt, hold spoon and push bowl across the pool, touching bowl with only the spoon & repeat


Snowball toss - in shallow end, line each team, with half of team on one side of black lane line & other half on other side & face each other. Pass the (snow) ball, back and forth up the line, don't skip anyone


Ornament exchange - line teams up in shallow end. Put ornament under the first persons chin, with no hands exchange the ornament to next person under their chin, repeat


Merry Christmas Marco Polo – pick someone to be "it" with eyes closed they say "Merry" then everyone must say "Christmas", "it" tries to tag someone by listening to sounds only (eyes stay closed)

We ended the event out of the water, with a potluck of treats. 

Happy holidays!! 


Answers to Christmas song puzzler:

1. Silent night
2. All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth
3. Frosty the snowman
4. Dreaming of a white Christmas
   

you don't necessarily choose when opportunity knocks

It always seems so busy trying to get ready for vacation.  Add both Bill & I doing Ironman and travelling with the kids, made it even more so.  We have one bike box, so had to borrow the 2nd one (thanks Al); we (& the purse) certainly felt the airline luggage restrictions (& charges).  Transporting all 4 of us, luggage and bike boxes to the airport also took extra preparation as we needed a big enough vehicle...
The weekend before we left was the 1st novice meet of the year, as novice co-ordinator this year it meant some new tasks for me to take care of and the next meet to get ready for was the day after we arrived home.  I needed to have the workouts planned and sent to the coaches covering me etc.  It was also the HAC banquet the weekend before we left and then Dahlia's birthday was the week after we got back.  I managed to throw together 2 little parties for Dahlia, one with family (thanks to my parents for letting me use their house) and one for friends (her 1st friend party, we had it at an indoor playground).
And then of course there is Christmas!  It would come fast after our holidays... One weekend there were 5 parties to take part in -> can you say partied out? (I never thought I would, but I did!)

Add to all this, I make a pretty significant decision, to change employers.  The Friday before we leave for Mexico, a client offers me a job.  Packing and thinking about my future (I was bound to leave something important at home).  I had my 1st job interview in approx 15 years that weekend.  And the day we were about to leave I handed in my resignation.  After the trip, I went back to the office for 1 last day; the whole office took me out for lunch and we even had cake!  It was a bit sad, but at the same time I'm super excited!

Sometimes opportunity knocks when you least expect it or are ready for it...

Cozumel vacation ~ pictures say it all

Cozumel, Mexico - November 2012 -
This was my first all inclusive vacation, and the verdict is still out, there was some good and some not so good.  10 days is too long for all inclusive I think.  I need more variety and to not feel like going out is "wasting" money.  At the same time buffet meals are great when you have someone like Dahlia, who you never really know what her tastes are going to be that day until the wrong thing has been order...  and having a bar that is like your own home, well that is pretty sweet.  But even though I'm not sold on all inclusive vacations I think you will see we had a wonderful time.

Fun flight over -
Our flight over was filled with people for the race, it was probably the flight with the lowest bodyfat % per passenger ever...  The problem was that with so many Ironman racers there was an unusual amount of oversized luggage (bikes).  The plane was delayed for 1/2 an hour as they tried to repack and then there was  panic in the air as the rumor went through the plane that numerous bikes were not onboard.  When we arrived, there was more confusion as they sorted out what was missing, and I believe this and being understaffed to handle it caused the longest check through custom I have ever been through.  We were lucky though and both our bikes made it.

The resort -
It was a nice resort, but we did find the room small for the 4 of us and 2 bikes.  Thankfully there was fun to be had outside of our room.
There were 4 pools to enjoy.

Welcome to Cozumel!
Cadence checks out one of the pools the evening we arrive

Dahlia enjoyed the waterslide/kids pool the most:

(don't tell but Cadence might have enjoyed it too)











There was a playground:

We played ping-pong:

A clown made us balloon things:

Bill, his dad Ross and brother-in-law Gord tried snorkling on site while Dahlia and I paddled on a banana boat:

a little rough

grandpa

Bill snorkling

Iguanas hung-out right outside our door:

We relaxed in our hammock or in beach chairs:

The beach and water was beautiful, sunrise, mid-day or sunset:

We also did a couple daytrips off the resort:
we did a pre-race bike ride around the bottom of the Island:

a trip into town:

we went on an amazing snorkling tour:

and we interacted with dolphins: