Author Archives: Danelle Kabush

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About Danelle Kabush

I am certified mental performance consultant, a mom of two, avid athlete and lover of the outdoors

My favourite mommy fuel – Pancakes!

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Breakfast is definitely my favourite meal, and growing up I always looked forward to pancakes on the weekend – pancakes with maple syrup, pancakes with fruit and yoghurt on top, crepes with nutella and banana rolled up inside are all so yummy!

In both pregnancies pancakes were what I craved most in the first few nauseated months. And maybe that is why 3 year old Zoe is also a pancake lover now! Thirteen month old Nico has also started enjoying bites of them as well. We make pancakes together in the morning at least 2-3 times per week. Sadly my husband, J-F is not a pancake fan so luckily I’ve produced some kids who are sharing my favourite food!

I love mornings with the kids and the few mornings per week that no one has to rush out the door to be somewhere usually involves making pancakes. They are also great for an on the go snack when you’re in a hurry. Grab a pancake and slap some almond butter on top or roll a pancake up with jam and put in in your back pocket for a ride. I often make a double batch and freeze a bunch for the mornings that Zoe begs for pancakes and I don’t have time to make them. Maybe I’ll shove some in my back pocket to keep me fueled through the Furious 3 stage race that starts tomorrow!

Here are the two tasty recipes we use the most:

Whole Wheat Hotcakes from the Rebar Modern Food Book, also an amazing restaurant in Victoria, B.C.

1 egg, 1.5 cups buttermilk, 1 tbsp melted butter or vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup unbleached flour, 4 tbsp wheat germ, 1 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt….you know the drill, mix wet, mix dry, combine and cook!

Oatmeal Pancakes from Healthy Mum, Happy Baby (a great book about eating well while breastfeeding with lots of fast, easy, healthy and delicious recipes). These pancakes are extra filling and will keep you feeling full for awhile!

Combine 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 cup 1% milk and 1 tbsp packed brown sugar and let sit 5 minutes. Whisk in 1 large egg and 1/4 canola oil. In separate bowl combine 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp salt. Combine with wet. Cook for about 1.5-2 minutes then flip and cook for 30-60 seconds longer.

What do getting back in shape after baby and LTAD stages have in common?

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The Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) stages were created by Canadian Sport for Life as a guide, to quote the website, for “an individual’s experience in sport and physical activity from infancy through all phases of adulthood”.

Getting your body back in shape after having a baby can feel like you are starting at square one again, and literally like taking baby steps all over again as far as fitness is concerned! As with exercising during pregnancy (the subject of future posts) I’ve been asked quite often about getting back in shape after childbirth. When I think back to my fitness progression in the year after giving birth I can relate it well to the seven LTAD stages, which are below with a Postpartum spin and a rough timeline for each. Of course, the timeline is very approximate and very individual depending on the birth experience, the baby and number of older children you have, your pregnancy training, and how determined you are to get to or back to a certain fitness level!

1 – 2: Active Start and FUNdamentals (0-3 months postpartum): This is the go with the flow stage. You are adjusting to life with a newborn and really going by feel. Any physical activity is short and for fun such as social walks with baby, yoga, some core work when you feel ready, a light spin on the bike, with no structured training, just something as often as you can that makes you feel good and gives you a little time to yourself!

3. Learning to Train Again (3-6 months postpartum) : If all goes well, at this stage a slightly more structured approach can be taken. You may start making weekly training goals, make a training schedule, or sign up for a regular class. With the ligaments that were loosened during childbirth getting tight again impact exercise such as running can start to feel more comfortable, especially if doing any intervals or speed work.

4. Training to Train (6-9 months postpartum): After both of my children it wasn’t until about the 6 month mark that I felt more normal again, and feeling strong and “normal” in my core again, especially while running. So at this stage I felt good to go as far as following a regular training program again. If competing at all, races can be a good gauge of progress but may be viewed more as “training races” in this time frame depending on your goals. Many moms can get frustrated if they haven’t lost the baby weight by this point but I would emphasize here the importance of focusing on how much better and stronger you feel after exercising consistently again. Weight loss may plateau at times but as long as you are feeling fitter and fitter and make the time to workout consistently while eating healthy the weight will take care of itself eventually!

5. Training to Compete (9-12 months postpartum): Now it is go time! Depending on your progress, you may be able to drop the “I just had a baby” excuse for performance. By this stage after both of my children I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight or lower (thanks to breastfeeding!) and previous benchmarks as far as interval times in training and tests on the bike. If you’ve worked hard you can feel as fit as ever and ready to tackle any training or race challenges you’d like to set for yourself around the 12 month postpartum mark!

6. Training to Win (12 months postpartum +): While obviously not every mom’s goal is to go out and win races after having children, I look at interpreting the Training to Win phase as the time during which you can set more challenging goals for fitness or competition, whatever that may be personally for you! Raise your personal bar a little! For me, that began with training and competing at the same level I was prior to children, and then working on improving that level over time – before my advancing age starts to slow me down that is, ha!

7. Active for Life: Congratulations! If you’ve made it this far, have managed to stay fit during pregnancy and after a child or two, you’ve made it through one of the biggest obstacles in life to staying fit and will have no problem making physical activity a priority for in the coming years!

Pros of being an Athlete Mom # 2: No time for pre-race jitters to hit you!

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“Wow, I’m suddenly on the start line – how did I get here so fast?” or “Oh, I’m racing, time to get going!” have been all too common thoughts since I’ve been racing with kids in tow. While I’ve never considered myself an overly nervous racer or very prone to pre-race jitters, the any waves of nervous butterflies I used to feel on race morning have almost been nonexistent since I first came back to racing 6 months after Zoe was born. Not that butterflies are bad – they are getting your body “UP” and ready to race, I just haven’t been able to pay them much attention anymore!

I think part of the reason is that having little ones like I do doesn’t give me the time to sit around and ponder what the race means or think about what competitors I will be up against – I rarely have time to even bother looking up the start list before a race! If I think about the reasons why being a mom is a great cure for race jitters, I can relate it to some of the things I try and teach athletes about mental performance such as:

1. Staying focused on what is in your control. When I think about the day before a race and the morning of a race these days I’m so busy getting my equipment ready on top of feeding and organizing my family, that race weekends allow no time to dwell on anything outside of my control like the weather, the competitors, what could go wrong, any doubts over my readiness to race etc. So I just stay focused on my race before and after the gun goes off.

2. Having a routine to follow. Race routines with kids have taken some trial and error. For one Xterra race in 2009 that JF and Zoe traveled with me to I was the last one to set up my transition and barely made it to the swim start line on time! It was scary, and now my pre-race routine checklist always allows for as much time as possible to get everything done and get in a decent warm-up which is always a plus, ha! Following a routine I know works will allow me to focus my best once the race begins. Of course, “mom race routines” have to be flexible and add some “go with the flow” room too!

3. Keeping emotions in check. Like most athletes I know I start to get a little edgy as a race approaches. And my family will be the first to notice me getting a little more impatient for example as a race approaches. However, kids remind me not to take myself or my races too seriously, they keep bringing me back to the present moment, and keep me laughing right up until it is time to focus on the race – and for me that is when the warm-up starts! And since I find that little daily joys with kids by far trump the emotional highs and lows of competitive sport, they keep my perspective in check too!

4. Staying in the here and now. As related to all of the above, children are amazing teachers at how to live in the present! They don’t care if I have a race in an hour – they are hungry now! Or need a diaper change now! Or just want some mommy attention now! They can have a temper tantrum one minute and being showering you with hugs and kisses the next, they don’t hold grudges or worry about what will come tomorrow. They teach me to enjoy every moment before, during, and after a race. During the race I can focus 100% and it is my time to do so. Before and after the race I can allow myself focus 100% on everything else!

Overall, although bringing my family to races can definitely take my stress level up in a negative direction at times, most of the time they are a positive distraction in the sense that they keep me busy enough to stay focused on just one thing at a time, and in the present moment, a practice that is also a positive for racing, to focus on taking it lap by lap, or section by section, until voila, I’m across the finish line and back to being a mom again!

Xterra Vernon Race Report

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Xterra Vernon was a new race on the rapidly expanding Xterra race schedule in Canada. Of all the great Xterra race venues I’ve been to in the last seven years, this one is now high on my list of favourite race venues! Just 20 minutes from downtown Vernon (located in the Okanagan Valley in B.C.), the race took place at Ellison Provincial Park.

Down the hill from a great campground and fun playground area for kids, the transition was picturesque, set up amongst the pine trees next to a picnic area which was steps away from the beautiful beach swim start in a secluded bay on Lake Okanagan (see pic of Zoe playing on the beach).

The Swim: The swim was 2 laps of 750m with a short beach run in between. The water was a pretty ideal 16-17 degrees Celsius and once I was warmed up, the temperature was race-perfect in my Orca 3.8 wetsuit. I got off to an aggressive start and focused on staying on feet in the lead pack. Halfway through the first lap, a bit of a gap opened up between the swimmer in front of me and the three leaders, so I was left chasing down a 30 second gap to the lead pack on the second swim lap. Overall it was a good swim for me and I felt I kept up a good arm turnover throughout. I exited in the water in 4th place overall

The Bike: After exiting transition, the bike portion began with a good 5 minutes plus of pavement climbing – enough time to wrench my gloves on, get a gel in, and get some blood flowing in my legs before hitting the dirt. The trails were truly single track in a mountain bike park across the road from the campground. It was twisty and fun with occasional rock gardens and log piles to navigate, as well as short power climbs and a few fun sustained descents. In my opinion it was an ideal Xterra course, technically challenging enough for the experienced rider to try and go fast, while still being very ride-able for a beginner. With a few changes in position on the bike, I came into transition in 5th overall.

The Run: I headed out onto the run side by side, with whom I later learned was Sean, one of my running teammates at the University of Victoria a mere 18 years ago! You never know who you’ll run into at races! And wow, was the run tough – like the bike it began with a good climb and when we hit the dirt it felt like a scramble up some rocks to a ridge. If you looked left at the top it was a breath taking view of the Lake Okanagan before turning right into a rare piece of rolling single track through the woods before crossing the road again and doing a loop up a long climb before descending down switchbacks and all the way back down again before repeating it all over again! I crossed paths with my Coach, Cal a few times throughout the figure eight style loop as he was ripping his way to first place about 10 minutes ahead of me. I pushed the pace as best I could and made up two places on the run before hitting the finishing shoot in 3rd place overall 2 hours and 34 minutes later.

We were also honoured to have the celebrity race announcer, Steve King, at this race so the spectators were well entertained with racer’s backgrounds and events info during the entire race. Afterwards, I enjoyed just hanging out dipping my legs in the lake and playing at the water’s edge with Zoe and Nico while J-F got in another ride on the fun bike course.

Overall, it was fun weekend road tripping “race-cation” with the family. Although a one and a three year old definitely tested our patience a few times over the 6 hours of drive time it took both ways (not something we do very often!), the amazing rocky mountain scenery, fun overnight visit we had with the Hewitt family in Vernon, post-race night stopover at a friend’s “Slice of Heaven” on Mara lake, and the wonder and amazement Zoe had on her face when we stopped for a tour of the Enchanted Forest just east of Revelstoke on the way home all added to the fun!

Traveling to Races with Kids

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Last night we packed up our car almost to the max with two bikes on top, the double chariot in the back behind the kids with gear and bags everywhere in between. After a pit stop for dinner in Canmore and another one along the side of the highway for Nico to puke everywhere on top of me (ugh! carsickness or a random bug I’m not sure) we made it halfway to my next race venue and it is funny to think how much more orgnaization it has taken over the years to get to races as I’ve changed sports and now added kids to the fun!

My pre-race checklist sure has expanded since I began competing as a runner in junior high! I will always love the simplicity of running. All you need to remember is your shoes, and running gear which is so easy to pack  anywhere! Although on one memorable occasion at one cross-country race in University I did actually forget my race spikes and ran the entire 5 km with my feet swimming in larger spikes borrowed from a male teammate.

When I got into mountain bike racing after finishing my undergrad degree, I was a little overwhelmed with all the new things I had to learn on top of just staying my bike and “keeping the rubber side down” as they say. I suddenly had to learn how to maintain a bike. Although I’m still not a very good mechanic I at least know the basics pretty well like fixing a flat, changing a tire, fixing a chain, and how to keep my bike clean so it was ready to go for race day! And then there is the gear to remember: helmet, glasses, gloves, extra tubes, tires for changing trail conditions, bike pump, CO2’s for race day, gels, and bottles for race day. Plus good race preparation involves riding the course and learning all the technical sections for race day, not just a short run with few strides like before my track races, ha!

Doing Xterras and triathlons the gear list increased again to include swim gear, run gear, and “transition gear”, things you want to have on hand in the transition area between swim to bike and bike to run during the race like a towel, extra food and drink. And when you add babies and kids into race plan the usual mommy checklist has to be added as well!

As with any new venture I started by making an actual list which eventually turned into just a mental checklist and now with much practice with all of the above checklists I’d like to say I’m able to remember most things automatically! Over the past 3 years traveling to many races with kids, most of them being on the plane and few pieces of gear have made things a little easier when packing the kids such as:

1. The Chariot Carrier is great for getting around on rough ground at a race venue. Believe it or not, the single chariot can even be checked at the gate when boarding a plane. Or if you prefer you can pack it in a travel bag and check it. My double chariot when packed in the travel box is almost as big as my bike but it gets checked for free because it is a “stroller”! Otherwise, any stroller in which a little one can nap it works great!

2. The Ergo baby carrier is great for carrying a little one around at a race, on your front as a baby, and on your back up to 3 years old it is still very comfortable! JF has done some good cheering running around with Zoe or Nico on his front or on his back this way!

3. When I had to start paying for Zoe’s seat on the plane when she turned two years old I discovered a great gadget for wheeling her carseat to the gate called a go go babyz. It is a set of wheels that hooks on to the back of most carseats and easily unhooks to store in the overhead bins once on the plane. It is great for 2-3 year olds + who don’t stay in their seat on the plane very well.  By bringing the carseat they stay put easier, and it makes it way easier if you have second little one on your lap!

Its still fun to see the looks we get at the airport when showing up with a bike box, the double chariot travel bag, a couple of car seats, and suitcases – I could probably write another entire post on airplane adventures with kids, ha!

Pros of Being an Athlete Mom #1: Procrastination, what is that?!

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When I compare my life as an athlete before and after having children it is easy to focus on the disadvantages like less time to train, less than ideal recovery, and difficult travel logistics. But there have also been many positives, and I would even say advantages, so this is my first installment of the pros of being an athlete mom – no time to procrastinate!

In my pre-kid days of being an athlete, I could find plenty of reasons to delay getting out the door to do an important workout – I could hit the snooze button one more time, wait for the weather to warm up , sit out a thunderstorm, surf the web a little longer, have one more snack so I won’t bonk…and the list goes on.

Wasting any time putting off training has been a thing of the past since becoming a mom. When my kids were newborns I’d sometimes seize a moment to do a little yoga or core while they napped or of course seize the moment to also nap when needed! When Zoe was a baby I remember one particular winter day where I even managed to get a 2h30 trainer ride in one day while she took an unusual marathon nap – bonus!

Now that I depend on others for help the majority of the time in order to get my training done, I have to be super organized when I know I can only get training done between X amount of time during the day or it won’t happen at all! If my babysitter is coming I have to have bags packed, and gear all ready to go before she even arrives so no dilly dallying even getting ready anymore! When I’m committed to get out and do my training at a particular time each day, its starts off my training in a better mindset – “just go out and do it now!” – no time to even complain or feel sorry for myself if its going to be a tough day at the training office! When I know it is now or never I don’t procrastinate because if I do I will loose valuable training time and even the ability to complete the workout properly. Another plus is that I don’t take the ability to go out and train for granted anymore. Having the time to workout each day is a privilege and a treat these days so I also feel more committed to getting the most I can out of it as well!

And on a related note, I rarely even procrastinate going to bed anymore! I don’t know if my alarm clock’s name will be Zoe or Nico in the morning. I also don’t know if my alarm will go off at 7:00am or 8:45am so better get to bed at a good time just in case!

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in awhile

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I just finished a great read called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. In the first chapter she lists her personal, “Secrets of Adulthood”, one of which is the title of this post. It stuck out to me as a good motto that applies to many aspects of being a mom and trying to keep in shape.

Sometimes one of the biggest challenges to getting things done when you’re a mom, is not having large chunks of time to do things, especially with little ones. Take keeping your house clean for example. It would take me at least 3-4 hours or more to get my entire house clean in one go. I rarely have or want to take a chunk of time like that to clean. A mom friend of mine and I talked about how the best way to keep house cleanliness under control is to do a little bit every day. So one day I might get a bathroom cleaned, another day I might get time to vacuum. If I do a little bit of cleaning every day I feel like I can stay on top of the dust bunnies that keep hatching! I also liked Gretchen’s goal to do an “evening tidy up” every night no matter what. It is very satisfying to wake up to a clean kitchen by taking the time to get it clean before bed every night! When Zoe was first born I’d often go several days at once without cleaning up the kitchen – not a pretty site! And of course, not everything can be done every day but it is important to recognize a few key things that will make your life just a little bit happier! Some things I strive to do daily include eating fruits and veggies, flossing teeth, reading to my kids, laughing, picking up toys and clothes off the floor, stretching, and getting outside to name a few…

Similarly, by committing to exercise every day you’ll get many more benefits than if you’re just a weekend warrior. I’m working on applying this rule to core workouts and physio exercises. I’m lucky to remember to do core work more than once a week, but even just getting down on the floor for 5 minutes a day of exercises I’d be way farther ahead than I am now!

Finally, I’m trying to follow this motto in writing this blog. I’ve had many ideas of things to write about related to motherhood, mental performance, training, competing etc floating around in my head for some time. I’ve tried taking notes in a book but the books always eventually get stolen by Zoe and turned into coloring books. So I’ve finally had the AHA moment to get my ideas down and categorizing my random thoughts through a blog. And here I am on post number 6, and plan to write a little bit each day until I run out of “Deep Thoughts by Danelle” which I don’t think will be anytime soon….ha ha….

Returning to racing easier after baby number two?!

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Wow, does a year ever fly by! While out riding my bike and dodging thunderstorms yesterday I was thinking about the fact that just a year ago, Nico was one month old and I was just starting to train again. And when I compare getting my body back into shape after childbirth, to my great surprise I found it much easier the second time around and looking back these are the reasons why:

1. I won the baby sleep lottery! My firstborn, Zoe, often woke up and liked to play for an hour of more a few times per night until at least 3-4 months old and regularly woke up in the hour of 6:00am well past the age of one. On the otherhand, by about 10 days old, Nico was sleeping through the night other than waking up to nurse and go right back to sleep which he still does. He also has rarely woken up for the day before 7:30am so I have been able to wake up most days feeling reasonably rested and ready to go!

2. I was committed to get back in shape fast! While pregnant with Zoe I was unsure of whether I would feel like racing again after she was born. I signed with my current team, the LUNA Pro team, a month or so after she was born, and that motivated me to get going. While pregnant with Nico I had already signed a contract with LUNA to race the second half of the season starting in August after he was born in May! But you don’t have to be on professional team to set some comeback goals to get yourself going. I’ve talked to several moms who’ve told me they set goals while pregnant to for example, to run at 10k at 4 months PP, run a marathon at 6 months PP, or complete an Ironman at 12 months PP etc.

3. I’ve been there, done that! Having your first baby is a major live changing event! It is exciting and overwhelming at the same time with so much to learn about yourself and taking care of a baby. Like anything new we try in life, once we’ve been through something once, we’re much better prepared the second time- for example, in sport I often think of an athlete returning to his or her second Olympics way better prepared about what to expect because they’ve been through the crazy excitement of it all once already. With Nico I’ve been more relaxed, and have been able to get in much more “guilt-free training” knowing he is well taken care of – it has also helped that Nico also took a bottle since 4 weeks old and Zoe never did. Having already traveled to countless races with Zoe, the extra organization of having two versus one to travel with has been less of a jump. Who knows, maybe it would be even easier again after three kids. Since I don’t plan on finding out, maybe some other moms would know?? HA!

How do you organize your week to get exercise/training in with kids?

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Its Monday today, what I usually consider the first day of the week. But maybe the wall calendar set up of starting the week with Sunday really is a better idea in order to plan the Monday to Friday part! Whether you’re at home full-time with your kids, work full time or are somewhere in between like myself, making time for yourself to get a workout in can always be a challenge! Although your ideal schedule likely varies depending on the age of your kids and what else they’ve got going on, this is what has helped me get my training in and still be a happy mom at the end of the day:

1. Make a training plan. Make a plan for at least one week of details planned out in advance of what your workout will be each day. I sit down with my coach once a month and we plan all my workouts and races for the next 4-6 weeks at a time. Once I have my training plan I can figure out my babysitting needs, work schedule, and family plans around it. When you have a plan down in writing you’re more likely to stick to it and make it happen – the where, when, how, with whom etc part.

2. What time of day works best for you? Although I aspire to be an early riser in order to workout and do it on occasion, since my kids rarely wake up earlier than 8:00 each morning, I take that time to get my much needed sleep as well. I’m lucky enough to have a fabulous babysitter for a few half days a week to work or train, and a great training group, Critical Speed, to meet up with in the evenings if needed – personally it is also important to have a few “social” training sessions each week if I can. All that said, motivation definitely drops as the day progresses so some advice posted by Barbara Edelston Peterson on our facebook page, “Athlete Moms” might make more sense to more of us:

“My advise all of us Moms, is to do whatever it takes for the VERY early morning workout session. Once the day gets rolling, there are endless obstacles. Waking up burns whether it’s 5:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m., so make it EARLY enough to do the workout you love/need before anyone awakens. It’s the best feeling, it fuels so many parts of YOU and the family, and once it’s accomplished, you’ve got the whole day ahead of you with clarity and less stress. There’s probably time for another outlet at the end of the day, that may include the kids. Where there’s a will, there’s a way – and something may have to ‘go’ – so you can ‘go!'”

3. Indulge in some outside help.  If you’re like me you may not be lucky enough to have some grandparents around the corner, and you don’t want to be playing tag team with your husband every night in order to get your workout(s) done.. The next best alternative is to invest in a babysitter to either get some workouts done during the day (if your schedule allows) or even to let you and your husband get out together for an evening “training date’ as we call it or even separately at the same time on the weekend to allow more family time together. In Calgary, where I live there are many recreation centres that offer daycare while you workout. I’ve used it often to get in a swim or cross-training workout at the gym. An even cheaper option is finding a girlfriend to trade childcare with. And of course, if all else fails just pull out your trusted Chariot for a run or a ride!

4. Have frozen meals in the freezer. All too often I fall short of my nutritious cooking goals. I rarely think about dinner plans before my husband comes in the door at night – lucky for me he does like to share the cooking. But in my occasional “lets get organized bursts” I’ll cook up double portions of a few of my favourite meals like my mom’s spaghetti sauce over a few days and fill the freezer. Great on busy days when there is no time to cook!

The toughest challenge of training is that it needs to be done almost every day to be effective, and usually in some sort of systematic order if you are preparing for a race – I always joke that you can’t cram for a race and say, hey I’ll just put in a few 8h days of training this week and then put my feet up the rest of the week!

I would love to hear any other great tips from moms that help you consistently get workouts in week after week?

Three Cheers for Fathers!

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Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads, Daddy’s, Pops and Papas out there!

I would not be able to train and compete at this stage in my life on top of working and being a mom without such a supportive “Papa” to Zoe and Nico. “Pops” as we most often affectionately call him hardly complains on the days he comes home from work, and I head straight out the door for a workout! My first season back racing after Zoe was born, he and Zoe traveled with me to every single Xterra race in the U.S. series. I loved having them with me at the races and we continue to make race trips a family affair whenever we can!

My own dad has also been a tremendous influence on my participation in running, mountain biking, and now Xterra/Triathlon racing. When my brother, Geoff and I first joined the track club in elementary school my whole family got into running and we would go for weekend runs together along with our border collie dogs. From running to mountain biking to swimming, my dad has taken an equal interest in following the race scene and participating along side me. He is even competing in a three-day mountain bike stage race called the Furious 3 with me and my husband in a few weeks at the tender age of 67!