The Triathlon

I did it!

I'm officially a triathlete now, and completely addicted. The triathlon is such a fun event, and it's so exciting to be able to look forward to a different activity (instead of just more running). I seriously cannot wait for my next one. Unfortunately that will have to wait until spring, when the season starts again, but oh well...gives me more time to train for the next step up...the Olympic distance triathlon.

So here's how my sprint distance triathlon went on this past Sunday:

Worst part of the whole event: waiting for it to start. So it started super late. The olympic swimmers went out at around 9:15 (an hour late) and we had to wait until ALL the swimmers were back from their swim. So we (the sprinters) went out at around 10:15. Its not that I mind waiting, I really didn't care that it was late, but it was freezing out! It was only about 8 degrees, and I only had sweatpants, sweatshirt and my bathing suit on, so I was literally shivering for about an hour. This freaked me out, because I thought the water would be cold, and I thought I would get hypothermia when I was biking (wet hair+cold air=no good). But fortunately the water was SO warm and I was able to kill the swim (and it had warmed up by the time I got out of the water...or I just got warmer haha).

Once the chill was gone, I felt great. Swim was great (my best part of the event actually). My first transition was pretty slow, but I had no expectations for it, just wanted to try and follow all the rules and get my shoes tied properly...which I did!

The bike ride was definitely hard. It's known to be a hilly course, and the two times I've done it before were hard, but I survived :) I pretty much just kept a smile on my face and said hello to everyone that passed me (and there were several). I really enjoyed myself. It was so surreal because I was trying to really soak it all in, I wanted to make sure I remember my first triathlon. And the bike ride was kind of my time to sit back and try and process all the thoughts going through my head.

Second transition was a breeze...although the little jog from where we had to get off the bike, to where we dropped our bikes off was brutal on my legs, they truly felt like bricks at that point. Once I stashed my bike and helmet I was off on the run. I wasn't able to keep up the same pace as I have before in previous brick workouts, but I never had done the full distances in my workouts before so I wasn't disappointed at all with myself. In fact, I was super proud of myself. I was actually able to pass 5 people (2 who I specifically remember passing me in the bike) so that was amazing. Not that I was being competitive at all, it was just a nice confidence boost!

Once the run was over, I shoved some food in my face and got a drive home. I needed a shower and a nap badly! Overall, it was one of the most fun and amazing events Ive done. Pictures to come!

One job. Many goals.

Yeah, Im pretty excited to be working one job, and one job only! Since August 18th Ive been working two jobs, and that was actually my last day off. Not only have I worked EVERY day since then, Ive also run two races (10km and a half marathon) and continued to train for my triathlon (which is this weekend!!). The coolest part about this whole experience, is that Im not burnt out at all! I was smart about getting as much sleep as possible, fitting in exercise and taking advantage of my down time. I was lucky because my half marathon was right in the middle, so my taper week was the first week of working 2 jobs, and then the week following a half marathon I generally take it pretty easy with running.

Anyways, Im ready to start this next chapter in my life, the LULU chapter :) so far Im beyond loving working there, even though I havent even technically started (I've just been working inventory and doing training) but Im ready to get my butt on the floor and start educating and putting people in the most amazing clothing ever!

One of the perks of working at lululemon athletica is that they provide 2 free yoga classes per week to their full time educators, and 1 a week to part timers. This. is. amazing. Not only do I now get to try out all the different studios and classes around the city, I get to continuosly meet and workout with so many amazing people. I've been pretty overwhelmed by the oppurtunities that have been provided for me, and I know that if I put as much effort as possible into this job, the possibilities it opens up to me will be endless and amazing. Dont worry though, I haven't forgotten about med school. That is still my goal, no question.

I think Im gonna do a goal post tomorrow. Maybe not with my goals (well actually, Ill definitely include some of my goals, but I have about a million right now) but more so about the importance of them. lululemon is a huge-ly goal oriented company and its something that, when the seed is placed in your head, its something you cannot stop thinking about. I literally have though about my daily/weekly/monthly/yearly etc goals everyday since I started working there! I have a few written out here and there, but I plan soon, on doing some serious goal-setting, and I look forward to it. I have one very un-lululemon like goal that Ill share right now. Something that lululemon encourages people to do is make SMART goals (specific, measurable, authentic, realistic and timely) and this one is neither specific, measurable or timely but I think its something more of a  personal mission statement that I can use to live each and everyday by:


I will finish every day, week, month, year, and my whole life with a feeling of accomplishment. I will not look back on my past wondering where my time went. I will be proud of my successes and learn from my failures. I will not have any regrets.

Writing that out feel's amazing. I could definitely finish this post up with talks about my workouts of this week, but I'm not going to, I'm just going to relish in the awesome-ness of that statement.