Carla Pavan

I have been asked to make my first motivational guest speaker appearance since my failure to qualify for the 2010 Olympic Games.
I think it is a very positive thing for me as: 1) apparently people still want to hear what I have to say and 2) although I feel closure from the Olympics, I now have to sit down and put that into words .. and still come out with a message and a story that people want to hear and will find motivational..
I knew this point would come and have tried to write this speech before but always, always struggled to do justice to my experience and journey on paper…
Hopefully this time, the words will come..
Wish me luck!

We visited Glenbow Provincial Park yesterday — the first visit of what I know will be MANY. It was great and I actually jogged for half an hour. This is huge effort/cardio for me! Also, trip #4 with our chariot. This may not sound super impressive but we were under another 8″ of snow all of last week and it’s still too muddy to take it down our driveway! It’ll make it’s 5th outing at our first outdoor soccer practice tomorrow night — am looking forward to it
There is a good chance when you check out my site that there will be a couple of posts from one day and then not any for another week or so… this is because I am always thinking about something I’d like to blog but have to actually have the chance to sit down and write them Baby is happily sucking on her hand right now so I am taking the opportunity to type madly

Soccer is a large part of my get in shape quickly plan for training this summer. Our first practice was last night. I play with a great group of women who are so much fun that I am quickly reminded of the many reasons (besides fitness!) that I love to play. It was also the first evening that baby and daddy were home alone together. With mostly evening practices/games, it is likely the first of many so 3 cheers that all went well!
With feet that are not fleet (yet) and reactions and timing quite out of sync, I am glad to have the first practice in the back pocket and excited for the progression to come.
Onward and upward!

So, we bought our baby chariot. I LOVE this thing! Seriously, the only thing that could possible make it better is a little motor to pull me when I start to tire but then those are the moments when I have the ‘opportunity’ to work on my mental toughness — ‘I can do it. Just 2 more telephone poles. RUN!!’ Mike and I had two great trips with it and baby over the Easter weekend. It’s like freedom from the house on 3 wheels - go chariot go! I had talked about putting an odometer on it as we really plan to put a lot of miles on it, instead perhaps we’ll log outings instead — Freedom Ride 3 coming up this afternoon
Hope you are well!

So I am feeling pretty good about how my return to training is going. I know that I am still very out of shape but after 30mins on the bike downstairs this morning and another hour of core work (only because my mother in law was here to watch baby) I feel like things are coming along. Then hubby suggests we go for a short bike ride while we have a sitter — half an hour later I have watched him school me multiple times up every single hill. I did win the downhills but this is when we truly see that mass and gravity are great friends So, I’m of two thoughts - it is important for me to feel like I am making progress and that my fitness will come back, it is also important for me to see how far I have to go - no room or time for complacency. Ahhh perspective…or is that AGGHH perspective!
Ride on!