Ch-Ch-Changes!!! Moving on to bigger better times!!

So excited to announce my new website and company in the beautiful resort town of Whistler, BC Canada!!!  Home to Ironman Canada Whistler.  You can follow me and visit my website at     www.perseverancemultisport.com

Smile Train Team Empower Update!

 I'm back on my blog to update everyone on my fundraising efforts for the Smile Train Team Empower !!

After riding for 8 hours yesterday, you would think I would be sore and not moving very far.. Today I have more energy than I have felt in months.  There is a skip in my gait and a grin nobody could wipe off my face!!  Yesterday's Spinathon fundraising event for the Smile Train Team was absolutely amazing! There are so many amazing people in this community and in my life that have helped me, help more than 24!! children receive an amazing surgery that will change their lives forever!

 Last Saturday while I was out putting in the last longest run before I present my money at Ironman Arizona in Tempe, I had some time to brain storm an idea to give it one last push to reach my minimum goal of 20 surgeries. ($5,000).  I wanted to make it big and I wanted to do something that would push myself in some sort of exercise limit to go the distance for the kids that wait for years before they receive the repairs to their cleft lip and palate issues.

It was a little late for me to be planning such a big event with only 6 days notice for Simon's Cycles, my parents, and asking for donations from grocery stores, etc.  BUT! I cannot express in words how amazing our community was in pulling it all together and I thank you all from the bottom of my big Ironman Triathlon heart!!!

 

  The day started off with a beauty of a west coast storm that came crashing in through the night bringing high wind and sideways rain.  Both my mom and I were up early texting 'sad' faces to each other as we had a sick feeling in our stomachs as to what the weather could bring for a turnout on such a nasty weather day.  As we arrived at Simon's Cycles, Simon and Patti were there to meet us with rain coats on and we all took a deep breath, put big smiles on our faces, and set up the tent, tables, food, and my bike and then hoped for the best.

 9:00 came so fast and I jumped on my bike and started to spin away as my parents John and Connie began the set up of all the fixings for the BBQ.  We had muffins donated from Tim Horton's. Our coffee Urn was donated from All In One Party Shop, and our amazing BBQ grill was donated from Relay Rentals.  The BIGGEST donation in food was from my mom, Connie, who made the 400 cookies we served to anyone we could get to eat a cookie!! They were amazing!!  People stayed and chatted to us and drank coffee and ate cookies for over an hour sometimes! Thanks mom!!

The grilling was done by my dad, John, and the 'cook supervisor' was overseeing the grilling by my oldest son Jordan who helped make the food serving a success! Thank you so much mom, dad, and Jordan! There would be no way my event would have been as successful without your amazing support of my triathlon endeavours!

Finally, I want to thank Simon, Patti, Craig, and the crew from Simon's Cycles that have been so amazing to me by supporting my triathlon career and now my fundraising career!  A lot of the money that was raised for the Smile Train Team would not have been possible without the endless support of Simon and the staff selling my jewelry in the shop and allowing me to take over the store for my Spinathon yesterday!  

I started the day at $3, 995 raised and ended the day with a whopping $6,047!!!!!

Thank you to everyone that donated! You are so amazing!  My Ironman Arizona race will be in honour of all my supporters and I will be racing with the biggest smile on my face EVER!!!

  

Help me reach my goal of giving 20 children the gift of a smile!!!

http://support.smiletrain.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=3354762&pg=personal&fr_id=1090

I started racing triathlon in 2003 in my first sprint distance race and gradually worked my way up to the Ironman level racing. This past August, I completed my 7th Ironman Canada race! My goal one day is to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. 

I am a mother of three very hungry, healthy, busy teen boys. A Wife to a helicopter pilot and my most amazing support and sponsor of my triathlon lifestyle! I have always felt that my training and racing could be used as a platform for something bigger than just my own selfish goals in sport. When I saw the opportunity to join The Ironman Arizona Smile Train Team, I knew it would be a perfect fit for me to raise awareness and funds for children all over the world that need our help. 

I work part time as a nurse in maternity and in a private oral surgery clinic. In my profession, I have cared for children born with cleft lip and cleft palate issues and I know, first hand, the struggles they deal with right from the start.

In Canada, we have an amazing health care system, that provides our children with the necessary surgeries and support they need for a healthy, beautiful smile. In countries, all over the world, millions of children do not receive the same first class care and they need our help in supplying doctors, nurses, and the funds necessary to provide that first class service to them so they too can also enjoy a healthy beautiful smile.

Please help me in reaching my fundraising goal to provide at least 20 children with the opportunity to have their cleft lip or palate repaired and give them a healthy beautiful smile and future!  

Thank you to everyone and your incredible support!

I look forward to racing Ironman Arizona in support of the Smile Train Team!

Cheers, Audrey

 

Oh that 'multi sport athlete' feeling again!!...

There is just no words to describe how I am feeling right now! One of the biggest milestones yet for me was getting back on the bike! And... I finally did it! I have to say, there were a lot of feelings swarming around that moment. The surgery that I had directly affected those most precious parts down there and my surgeon told me that getting back on the saddle again may be the last thing I will want to do for a very, very, long time! Much to my surprise it went a lot better than I expected. (the saddle part that is) The part that was so hard was my tolerance to the actual activity itself! I cannot tell you how hard that was. I have not felt that "out of shape" on the bike in years. Very humbling to say the least. Just spinning to warm up the CompuTrainer felt like the end of a 6 hour ride. Once I set the computer, I inserted some seated and standing low cadence work for around 20 minutes and then called it done at 45 minutes!! My legs were shaking, my sugars were in my boots, but I WAS SWEATING AGAIN!!.. Boy, do I have some work to do!! It was again, another 'bitter sweet' moment. I can only go up from here, and that is a beautiful thing! At least I know I can tolerate the general discomfort of the saddle again. Just need to work on that endurance again.

The next part of my day consisted of a fantastic snow shoe up at Mt. Washington with my Mom and Aunt Dianne! We only covered around 4 km, but the snow was lovely and we completely enjoyed every moment. I know a lot of people are getting really sick of the snow, but the last time I was up on the snow shoes was just over a year ago when I raced the Yeti 10km snowshoe race. Another humbling experience for me. I did that 10km race in 1:21. Today, we covered 4km in just over the same amount of time. Granted we were stopping for 'photo ops', but still... I would not say it was easy that's for sure. I was feeling it by the end of the day. Another 'hurts so good moment'.

This is Hana, my amazing run partner. She has NEVER been so happy to be also getting out to run her hind off. The poor girl has been having sympathy post op surgery laziness too and is ready to get the running going again!! She is having a hard time going at the snails pace that I have right now and keeps looking at me like "come on, let's get this going already"!!!! Soon, my friend, soon!

Setbacks, Sunshine, Support and Six Weeks Post Surgery!!...

"If you set a goal for yourself and you are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, improve your performance, or just finish the race. It's up to you"

~Dave Scott, U.S. Triathlete

My road to recovery hit another speed bump last Friday (over a week ago) when a post op infection set in to my incision!! Not sure if it was going to the public pool that instigated the whole process, or if there was something brewing in there that was beyond my control... I cannot dwell on that or wonder "what if" because it does not make the situation any better. When I saw my surgeon on Thursday he seemed genuinely surprised that an infection had set in 5 weeks after surgery. Something he does not normally see. The other interesting issue that he noted was my slow metabolism of the suture material that he used... He said normally the sutures that were still there should have been gone 3 weeks ago!! He said I was having an "atypical response to suture material, and should make note of this for future surgeries"... Anyhow, this speed bump had me down and out on the sofa again!! I am so looking forward to the days when I am using the sofa for a nap after a 6 hour ride or 2 hour run!!! I am also looking forward to the day when I can stop taking all the antibiotics, stool softeners, pain medications, etc.!!!

Now that the antibiotics were working their magic, and I had given my body another week of recovery on the sofa, I was able to get back outside again and attempt some sort of exercise to start moving this body (with my surgeons approval of course)!! On Friday, I walked 9.3km in 1.5 hours. I tried my "jogging legs" out and attempted some "power pole repeats". I was able to pick up the pace to a light jog for 20 seconds, running power pole to power pole. It was a very weird feeling attempting that first repeat. I had that same feeling that you get when you are about to tackle something scary, like jumping off a cliff into the ocean. I was so afraid that "something" might happen... Thankfully, the repeats went so smoothly and felt so good, I was able to insert 10 times 20 second repeats every other set of power poles with the biggest smile on my face!!! It was definitely not stellar, but it was something!! So on Sunday, Shawn (he was so supportive and encouraging), Hana (our pace setter dog), and I set out for another walk in the slightly sunny skies. My goal for my walk this time was to hit the 3km mark under 30 minutes and I did that with 3 minutes to spare. Then I wanted to hit the 9.3km mark under 1.5 hours and I did that too with 3 minutes to spare!! Whoot! Whoot!! We ended up going 10.44km in 1:37!! I was able to insert some more "power pole repeats" and actually some of the repeats were more like 2-3 minute jogs. At the end of my walk, my legs felt like I had just completed a marathon. It was that "hurt so good" kind of feeling.


Today marks 6 weeks post op!! I am going to give myself a few more days before I get in that pool again, making sure that there is no way of picking up any more bugs to bring this girl down again!! The sun is shinning super bright and Hana is sitting at my feet, desperate to run her legs too.

Happy Monday!!!!!!

Progress!

Well.... It wasn't stellar, but I met and exceeded my goal for my first walk this week (4.5 weeks post op)!!! That was one of the hardest walks "mentally" for me in a very long time. My belly was full of fire and I could feel every nerve ending in my body just screaming to feel the burn again!! As soon as we started out onto the Seal Bay trails, my instincts were to start running!!!... And I couldn't!! So hard to hold myself back. In the Ironman training season, sometimes I come to these trails to do my long runs (like 2 hours plus!!) My mom and I ventured out in the freezing rain, that would eventually turn to snow and get this.... Drum roll.... I walked 3 km in 38 minutes!!! Seriously slow, but it was something.

Then I was off to see my Chinese Medicine Doctor!! She had me all needled up for over an hour of pure bliss. She always checks my tongue first for a variety of symptoms. Apparently in Chinese Medicine we show everything about our health on our tongues. Today my tongue was revealing that I was "stagnant"!! Ha Ha!! Oh, and my eyes were puffy and I looked very tired. So, I received the extra attention and was told to go home and drink my Chinese herbs in my tea and put my feet up for the rest of the day! Sounded fantastic to me, and I won't argue with that order.

Yesterday I made it back to the pool again for my longest session yet. 40 minutes of swimming and I was done. Maybe that is why I looked "stagnant" today. Swim yesterday and a walk today. Could also have something to do with the weather!! It has been grey, storming, and raining since we arrived back home January 1st!! No wonder I look grey!

Here's hoping for sunnier skies and tomorrow I will head back to the pool to try and add on another 5 minutes!!

Have a great day!

Baby steps!

In my happy place again!!

Well... I did it!! I saw my surgeon this week and he gave me two big thumbs up to return to the pool again. But... I would have some restrictions. "No kicking, no flip turns, just pull ONLY, and push off easy". I was all smiles and I felt like a little kid that was just told they could open the biggest present they had ever seen!!

Now, I needed to keep my enthusiasm in check... Baby steps!! At least I am able to do something. It is definitely better than nothing!! I want to make sure I do not screw up any of the surgery.

I swam three times this week!! It may not have been as far or as fast as I usually swim, but I was in there doing it, and that made me very happy! I was able to get in 1500m in 30 minutes each time. Each week now, slowly, I will build up to a little more time and distance. Still will be a few more weeks before I test the running and the biking. It seems like it is an eternity away, but really in the big picture, it is peanuts!!

Remember that 1.5 km walk I did? Well, my goal tomorrow will be, "to beat my distance and time that I did last time"!! I might even get another swim in tomorrow too. Whoot, Whoot!! I will keep you posted on my progress.

"If you believe, you will achieve"!!

Have a great Monday!!