In my case, I am lucky enough to have a great support team,
starting with my family. Sami and I are both triathletes, and if you think that
having a full time job, training and having kids on top of it is time
consuming, try when you have to shuffle workouts between the two spouses to make
sure we both get our training in and the kids’ schedule is not affected. Our
kids are at an age when they are starting to enjoy playing sports which adds
more to our already busy plate, but we make it work. Some people think is crazy
that we both are in this hectic world of triathlon but we wouldn’t have it any
other way.
If you have met me and my family you know there is a fifth
person in it, my sister Raquel. She is not only my only sister here, but my
best friend and someone I would trust my own life with. When Sami and I are in
need of help with the kids she is always there. No wonder she is my kids’
favorite aunt, sorry yes I said it, but you can’t be too surprise knowing she
sees them almost as much as me and hubby do.
Raquel and the kids
In addition to a strong family, I have my friends. Some of
them closer than others, I have to admit I don’t get to see many of them as
often as I would like to, but between training, the kids, the house… it never
ends. So, if you haven’t heard from me or haven’t seen me in a while I apologize,
I keep saying once the kids get a bit older it will get easier, although I hear
that is not the case.
First triathlon St Anthony's 2009 w Stace & Jen
As we all know this sport is an expensive hobby, if you are
not part of the world of triathlon just take my word, between race entries,
accessories, travel, bikes, etc… the list never ends and the deeper you get
into the sport the more you spend. So when you get an opportunity to work with
a sponsor is a GREAT thing…
My main sponsor and team is PT Solutions, this is my second
year racing for them. Dale, Steve and everybody else on the team make sure that
all their athletes are set for race day. It is great to get to know people who
shares your same interest. In addition, coming race day the more blue and
yellow out there the better, it just makes it that much fun.
PT Solutions partnered with Muscle Milk last year, which means lots of yummy post and pre race nutrition. They have some great flavors, I have to admit I am a bit of a plane Jane and like my vanilla shakes, but there is a wide variety of flavors and all of them with the same great benefits, if you don’t believe me ask Chrissie Wellington, I hear she swears by it ;)
This year I also got sponsorship from Kswiss. If you haven’t
tried their shoes you should, they are famous for having the perfect shoe for
each race distance. I am planning on using my K-Onas for IMFL unless they come
out with something better before November. If you are in the look for a new pair of shoes
PT Sports (who happened to be another of our sponsors) just happens to have a widespread
variety, and if Kswiss is not your thing there have plenty of other brands, I
am sure they have what you are looking for!
If you follow me on Twitter or FB you have seen my thousand
posts about how much I like to be around positive people. I truly believe
motivation is contagious, that is why I love to read race reports, blogs and
anything that might give me a boost. If you are a positive person I want to be
in YOUR team. This world of multisport can be very lonely at times, but at the
end of day you realize that you have a whole community behind you. I might not
swim, bike or run with other people (ok, as of recently I do swim with a group,
but you know what I mean) but I sure think of everybody I know of when trying
to push through my training. How bad can your day be next to someone who is
battling cancer, or someone who has just been diagnosed a diseases? We all make
our choices of what to celebrate and what to duel on, I choose to celebrate the
things I have (not talking about physical things) and what I am capable off, being
out there doing what I like is just one of them, dueling takes up way too much
energy that I need for training J.
Carmen... It's Monika. I've been following your blog. I love reading it. You're so honest and inspiring. Good luck with IM FL training! I think Kona is calling your name :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Monika! Lots of work to be done before November, but I appreciate the confidence! hope your training is going well!!
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