The 2007 Tape

In January I signed up for this "business boot camp" in order to have access to an expert in business building and also be a part of a group of entrepreneurs who are in various stages of building their businesses. It has been GREAT I have made many valuable connections, both in a professional capacity and also I've made some great friends.

One of the things this particular program addresses (and the reason I signed up) is how to get past fears and mistakes that entrepreneurs often make. In other words, anyone who is serious about the program is willing to get inside his or her head and face negative thoughts, beliefs and actions that may be standing in the way and work to shift them.

The program also addresses all of the typical aspects of running a business (marketing, copy, website, getting clients, working with vendors, hiring assistants, etc.) in a way that really resonates with me. So I am busy putting this stuff into practice and moving my business forward.

I was dubious about business coaching at first. SKEPTICAL.

But I also knew that I was not going to get where I wanted to go with my business by myself. Not without some type of coaching/support.

VERY analogous to Silverman!

The program has NOT disappointed. In fact it has over delivered more than I ever could have imagined.

In addition doing my marketing, copy, client work and all of the "practical" aspects of running a business I've been working on shifting non serving beliefs and pushing past fears to build a business writing white papers and more . . . not sure what the more will end up being yet but that's okay! In fact it's exciting!

So, in this process the tape that plays in my head has changed drastically from negative, self flagellating nasty epithets to more supportive, positive, reinforcing "nice" thoughts.

Now, the tape started to change started WAY before I started this business course -- it started with triathlon, it started with Liz's influence and guidance through training. And a lot of the stuff I'm doing now to build my business is analogous to training. When things get hard it really REALLY helps me to look at things in relation to how I train and my business coach/group coach has really responded to this. She often asks me about training in order to better understand where I'm coming from so we can figure out the best way for ME to approach a given situation since MY business is unique.

So during this morning's longish run (1:14) I was surprised and dismayed to hear the old tape playing. Actually, it has been playing in the background all week and making everything harder. We're talking the pre Liz, 2007 tape, saying things like:

You suck

You are so slow

You should be way faster than this by now

You are going to come in D.F.L. in the Utah Half (fer shure)

My 69 year old phenom training partner Tony was with me and was very talkative this morning too. Sometimes during longish hot runs I don't like to talk. Tony understands this about me and is cool with it if I don't say anything for long stretches at a time. That doesn't prevent him from talking though (this is why we get along so well -- I don't ask him to stop talking and he doesn't expect constant conversation from me).

Here's an example:

Tony: Yeah we should go out to lunch later with Glenn and Marge

Stef's Head: WTF! What is he talking about lunch for?? It's early f*cking morning!! This run SUCKS I am so hot and slow.

Tony: Look there's another runner coming toward us on the trail! She has two dogs!

Stef's Head: Yeah she's so much f@cking faster than I am, I should be so much further along by now. Those dogs are nowhere near as cute as my dogs. Why isn't she carrying water?? Am I the only one who drinks like a camel in this damn f@cking desert heat????????

Tony: It's nice out here

Stef's Head: Please make him stop talking! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKE HIM STOP! I want to go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to be D.F.L. in the Utah Half and that is going to suck. I hate training.

Around this time Tony asked me what was in my head. I told him I wasn't saying cause he didn't want to know.

5 seconds later I told him:

Stef: Well Tony I was thinking I'm going to be D.F.L. in the Utah Half.

Tony: I don't think so.

Stef: Well I don't really think so either but sometimes my mind still goes to dark places.

Tony: That's understandable.

Then he said some more stuff about stuff and this all made me feel better. When we had less than a mile till home I felt even better. Then Tony asked me if I wanted to do some pickups/fartleks. I said NO absolutely not.

Five seconds later I said "oh what the f*ck, why not." We had fun racing each other down Wyoming on the way to my house.

Tony is an experienced athlete. He has run multiple marathons, done many many triathlons, and hiked in and out of various canyons and whatnot. So when he asked me what was going on in my head it was because he noticed I was in that dark place.

Tony gets that training sucks sometimes! He doesn't judge. At the same time he is a positive force and I'm sure he wouldn't train with me so much if I was as negative as I was two years ago. That 2007 tape has been playing a lot this week so I'm glad this week is over. :-)

Oh and tomorrow (Monday) is a rest day from training AND a a day off from my business. WOO HOO! This three day weekend arrived just in time for me to recharge.

YAY it's Sunday!

Another week in the books!

Training wise this was a rest week and thank goodness! When I'm getting back on the clean eating wagon, training is harder for me. It takes a lot of energy anyway and there is very little wiggle room when it comes to nutrition! This morning was a 45 minute easy run, the kind of run where Coach says don't bother with the heart rate monitor, just run by feel at a conversational pace. PERFECT. It was warm out and Tony and I "conversed" the whole way. Don't know how many miles. Don't care. :-)

Next week starts another build week toward BAM. Tony is going out of town so I will be on my own. Which is probably good for me. I've become very dependent on Tony to train with so I feel like working out on my own (or maybe with others for an OWS or ride on the weekend) will be good for me.

I'm already thinking ahead to the Utah Half and painting a picture in my head on how I want the race to go. The picture in my head is ambitious! Much more so than my current numbers indicate. Again, don't care. I know myself and absolutely know that I'm capable of executing an awesome race, in 90 degree heat, on a flat course! Naturally, I'm also glad that it's still over two months away, because there is much work to be done!

When I'm out there racing it I will be detached from the outcome, wanting only to give my best in every given moment. If I do that I am happy with the result. Um, yeah. Silverman is the perfect example of that. Silverman will always be on a pedestal in my mind. It was the very tip of the iceberg to a lot of things, bigger and better things! I think I really like the 70.3 distance and my two half irons this year will tell a lot in that regard. :-)

Our new kitchen is taking shape. Glenn is doing all the work himself so it's taking longer (and costing much less) than a typical remodel. When he figured out this morning what we've spent so far the figure is staggeringly low. The other side to that is that Glenn's business is slow right now which gives him the time to work on the kitchen. And we haven't ordered the cabinets yet. LOL! He has assigned me to clean the kitchen (there are tools everywhere) and I decided that blogging is a better option for me right now.

Uh oh. Guess I'd better get to it! We are going to the Lowery Fish Fry in a little while too. I'm looking forward to that! They always have great food there. And beer!!!

8 x 4 Lists (I've Been Tagged)

Molly has tagged me to write four lists of 8 things about myself!

If you haven't checked out Molly's blog, you should! Not only is she training for Ironman, she has two Bearded Collies and a St. Bernard.

I'm training for 2 half irons this year ( Ironman someday), have an Old English Sheepdog and a Gordon Setter and we had a St. Bernard growing up.

So naturally I read Molly's blog as much for the dog stuff as for the training! Molly is seriously cool. We have the same coach. She is racing Ironman 70.3 Boise in a few weeks, a race that I'm thinking about doing next year (detailed report please :-) And a bunch of other cool stuff -- LOL!

So, here goes:

8 things to which I'm looking forward

1. Building a seven figure business! :-)
2. Our remodel being done (new kitchen + new office for ME = totally awesome)
3. Our next sailing vacation (nothing currently planned but it has been too long -- we need another one)
4. My upcoming races for Season 2009!
5. Getting a haircut (it has been way. too. long)
6. Getting back to Clean Eating (I've fallen off the wagon and it feels BAD)
7. Getting a new wardrobe (nothing fits me anymore)
8. My birthday (I'm 41 and loving it -- the 40s are totally rad)

8 things I did yesterday

Caution: this is so riveting that you may want to sit down or something. Relax. Breathe deeply. Okay:

1. Ran with Tony
2. Work stuff :-)
3. Attended a teleclass on How to Get Off the Sugar Rollercoaster
4. Got up
5. Ate breakfast
6. Ate lunch
7. Read some blogs
8. Went to bed

8 things I would like to do

1. Ironman (Don't know when. Definitely not now. I will know when it's time and then I will do it.)
2. Own a huge luxurious apartment in NYC and live there at least part of the year
3. Take a trip to Africa
4. Take a trip back to interior Alaska (I was born there and haven't been back since childhood -- well we went on a sanitized cruise up there three years ago but not to the interior)
5. Write a book
6. Go to the grocery store without disliking it so much
7. Ride on the Concorde
8. Get on What Not to Wear (see also below list)

8 shows I watch

1. Without a Trace
2. The Mentalist
3. Medium
4. Two and a Half Men
5. Scrubs
6. CSI NY
7. Say Yes to the Dress (none of those dresses on there was as perfect as my $99 dress!!!!!)
8. What Not To Wear (Please I really hope someone has been secretly filming me for the past two weeks!)

8 people I tag

1. Calyx
2. Izaac
3. JT
4. Kelly
5. Danielle (even though her comment on my last post made NO SENSE WHATSOEVER -- rofl)
6. Sarah
7. Lisa
8. Chad

Thanks Molly, I had fun with this!!!

On Balance

WELL!

Last week, with the exception of the awesome IronGirl spectating/sherpa experience, was less than stellar for me.

To start, from Wednesday on, I completely fell off the training/clean eating wagon. YUCK! Loss of appetite, limbs that felt heavy, motivation GONE added up to a half a week of missed training. Even the euphoria of IronGirl could not motivate me to train over the weekend. Again, YUCK!

And yet, this is OK with me. Months of attention to details like my business, staying balanced, staying happy, training consistently, has left me with very little desire to get angry over these glitches and almost no desire to beat myself up like I used to.

This morning I started a new week of training which is a clean slate. Sure I felt a little flat, a little like I was recovering from a mild illness, but honestly I didn't care. The point is I was out there, doing my run, in the increasing southern Nevada spring temps. Honestly? I was thinking how this freaking HOT weather we have here will really help me be prepared for the Utah Half!

So yeah I don't like training in the heat. At all. But it sure is nice when a kick ASS thought comes before a more whiny negative thought.

Meanwhile I'm moving forward in my business and our kitchen is being transformed. Seriously. It seems like every time I leave my home office to go out there something has changed. Glenn is a freaking GENIUS.

So, I've concluded that I can totally do it all. As long as "it all" is comprised of moving forward with:

1) things I really truly want and am passionate about (my marriage, triathlon, my business, and assorted "others"),

2) things that I am doing for reasons that feel absolutely 100% right to me and

3) the absolute understanding that I am a continual work in progress and, with 1 and 2 firmly in place, I accept where I am, all the time, in every given moment.

Iron Girl Sherpa and Spectator Report

Yesterday I watched my awesome friend Leslie, a newly crowned triathlete, finish the Iron Girl sprint race out at Lake Las Vegas.

I did not sign up for Iron Girl because, frankly, the race seemed like it had potential to be a giant organizational clusterf**k waiting to happen. The course out there is not my favorite. However, after sherpaing the race for Leslie yesterday my opinion is revised. I observed a pretty darn well run race (there were a few question marks I still have about the course) with over 1000 athletes participating. It looked like fun. So much so I may consider it for next year.

It was very strange getting up at 4:30 am, going to a race site, and not racing. I didn't mind it! Especially since they had coffee there! I picked Leslie up at 5:20am (she lives three blocks from my house) and she was excited! This was her first tri and she seemed well trained and in an excellent frame of mind. Since her husband wouldn't be there until just before the swim start I had offered to sherpa for her because I didn't think she should go to her first tri alone. Even though she was very well prepared and could have totally handled it no problem.

We got there in plenty of time and Leslie got set up in transition. We then went to the beach start over at Mira Lago. Because it's a resort the grass was thick and soft and there were lots of tables and chairs there. Leslie was calm, cool and collected. Here she is starting to think about getting her wetsuit on to warm up:


Here she is pre warm up:



And here she is right before the start. Great Attitude: CHECK! :-)



Leslie's swim wave was the very last to start and one of her concerns leading up to the race was that she would be the last swimmer out of the water. Her concerns were completely unfounded.



She was so far from last out of the water that it was impossible to count the number of girls coming out after her, or the number of bikes still in transition when she got there.

While I think Leslie feels (as many others do) that the swim is probably her weakest leg, on race day, WHEN IT COUNTS, she had no problems getting into her rhythm, no problem sighting and she had an overall great time in the water!

Here she is starting the bike:



She took almost exactly the amount of time she thought to complete the bike and was soon back in transition. Then Leslie did something that made us chuckle. She stopped in one of the porta potties in transition. The following conversation (or an approximation thereof) ensued:

Stef: No Leslie don't do that! Can't you just hold it?

Kym (Leslie's husband): That's going to cost her some time.

Stef: Yeah (exaggerated sigh, checking of watch) . . . .

Kym: We need to document this.

Stef: Yeah! We also need to tease her about this later.

Kym: (nods head in vigorous agreement as he positions the camera and waits)

Here is Leslie right after emerging from the porta pottie. Although her face is conveniently obscured by tree leaves, trust me, it's her!



Here she is waving to her adoring fans as she starts the run. There is a BIG ASS hill at the start of the run that you can't see in this photo. The run overall is difficult. It is typical desert terrain -- dirt trail type surface with some nasty hills thrown in. Hurry Leslie before it gets really blazing hot! :-)



We did not have long to wait at this point. Here is Leslie coming down the big ass hill to the finish:



Leslie had an estimated time spread going into this race and she finished just a couple of minutes over her best estimate. The first thing she said after she crossed the line and hugged Kym was:

That was so f**king fun!

Leslie kicked Iron Girl's ASS! Way to go Leslie! I see many more tris in her future! She did some training with Tony and me to get ready for this race and, as I said (and it bears repeating) she KICKED IT'S ASS!

Overall I would recommend this race after spectating it. While it's pretty hot here now (close to triple digits) the mornings are still nice and if you do the sprint (or if you do the Olympic and hustle to get in in a decent time) you can run the race before it becomes too unbearable out. Yesterday there was a little wind but nothing too bad. The water was calm and the buffet that Iron Girl had for the athletes looked really good! Plus of course it is all women and seems very beginner friendly. I can definitely see why Iron Girl is a popular race!

Changes!

Things are seriously changing around here!

Let's start with training:

I am LEAGUES ahead of where I was last fall! I can tell because Saturday at the Tour de Fire I had the most awesome and fun ride EVER!

Tour de Fire is a group ride sponsored by Pro Cyclery, ridden from Boulder Beach out toward the Valley of Fire. Ride lengths ranged from 20 miles to 138 miles! Fully supported with food at the start and finish line.

I signed up to do the 42 mile ride with Tony, his friend Natalie, and his other friend Jason. Our other good friends Leslie and her husband Kym signed up for the 20 miler. The 42 mile course is the same as the Rage 1/2 Iron course but turns around a few miles sooner. It was actually 46 miles, with the turnaround at mile 23!

This workout was to get in some endurance miles and Coach's only instructions were to fuel smartly and have fun. Well, I always fuel smartly! So, I concentrated on having fun. The weather was nice, the company was awesome and the best part was that I did not push myself hard on this ride. I let myself enjoy it. Because I wasn't worried about time, heart rate or any of that, I was able to let loose and just have fun.

And by doing that I arrived at the finish with a time that was faster than than both long Silverman rides last fall (on the same course)! While I felt like I wasn't pushing very hard yesterday, both Silverman rides I felt stretched pretty thin.

Yup! I am much less intimidated by the hills and much stronger than last year! The hills that ALWAYS give me problems . . . . really didn't. My legs said "we got this, just enjoy the ride!" So, I did!

This week I'm taking the bike in for a tune up. It was starting to shift funny -- nothing too serious but it needs to be in top shape for BAM which is next month already!

House Addition:

We are adding approximately 240 square feet to our home, on the kitchen/laundry room side. This will more than double our kitchen size and create a new home office for ME! The framing is done, doors are in and now Glenn just has to put the roof on. After that it's interior work.

Business:

Starting and running my new business is a lot like training. It takes persistence and consistency to see results. There are breakthroughs along the way, and some days it's very tiring and you wonder . . . . .

I love to write and have no doubt that white papers are the way for me to go. From there, who knows!

If you are interested you can click on Glenn Frank Design to see a sample of my work. I wrote a white paper about remodeling for Glenn's business and am about to launch a marketing campaign for it. The landing page does require an email registration to read the entire paper. Don't worry, no selling of email addresses and no spam!

Till next time, and take care everyone!!

Oh I wrote an article for the latest Swim Las Vegas newsletter!!! When it comes out I will post it here.