Kirsty Smith

Busy bee

I am nervously typing this today as I prepare for my Cantoo Cook Off! I decided to fundraise at work. I was very anxious but have been completely suprised and overwhelmed by the support. I intended it to be a business unit bake sale but it has turned into a campus wide event. I have people baking from across my business from executives to graduates and many who I have never met but believe in the cause! My email has gone viral and many business units have read my story, which I was pretty shy to share. I am blown away. This afternoon I found out that a prominent executive is going to judge the bake sale which is absolutely fantastic!! The event is tomorrow, so wish me luck!! Oh and for those interested here is the email I sent:

'Some of you may already know that I have been training for a Sprint Triathlon with CanToo. CanToo fundraises money for cancer research. The way it works is that I fundraise $2250 and they provide me with 12 weeks training towards my first triathlon.

It was very important to me to do my first triathlon with them as I too am a cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in 2006 with papillary thyroid cancer which had spread to the lymph nodes. I was living in South Africa at the time and underwent my surgery and radiation treatment over there. For 7 years after I had 3-6 monthly check ups and finally in 2013 I was given the all clear!

I know many people have similar stories and I know many others whose story didn’t end so well. I have friends and family members who have lost their fight to cancer. This is why it is so important to me to raise the $2250 and race a sprint triathlon. So far I have raised just shy of $1000. I would really appreciate your help getting to my target!!'

I'm back

I havent written for awhile. Apart from all the doctors and hospital visits, not being able to get around or exercise had really got me down. So I have been spending the last few weeks focusing on sleep, eating well, catching up with people and very very easy exercise.

Highlights:

1. I got back on my bike!! First time since the accident. A nice little ride along the Cooks River
2. I joined a swim squad! So hard and so challenging but so good to be able to exercise, even if it is the sport I love least!
3. I swam a race!!! I kid you not, I actually swam in a race and didnt come last! A big change since highschool!! I swam 1km North Bondi Classic!! Shout out to Meric who helped me get across the line.
4. I've locked in my goal event!! Byron Bay Triathlon 7 May!! I am on!

So please keep supporting me - it may be a long road but hey I will get there!! Please keep the donations coming!!

Kurnell Trial Tri

Got my butt out of bed at 4.45am on Saturday and didn't even need to as I can't train yet!!!

How's that for commitment? Timekeeper for all the amazing and talented Cantoo-ers who did their trial triathlon practice run ready for the Tri on Feb 7.

Gutted but not over!

It has been a little while since my last blog post and I have been so stoked with my progress. I have improved so much in my swimming which is my hardest leg, with much help from CanToo and my brother. I have also been running the fastest I have ever been with some pushing from Bruce!!

However all this has changed in the blink of an eye. Last Monday I was cycling in Centennial Park when I was hit by a car. Although the whole experience was pretty full on with police, ambulance, hospital etc I thought I had come out of it ok - no broken bones, not much grazing, only two bumps to the head a couple of impressive haematomas and a really painful groin injury.

I spent most of my week off resting, reading books and watching Netflix. However this was my only week off, and I was really ready to ramp up my training. I actually got quite depressed and down. It was gorgeous weather and I was pretty much housebound. I had made a plan to do an pretty impressive training load. I only got through day one when I had the accident. I also missed out on a lot of social events and fun training with my CanToo team. All of this really started to get me down.

A week later and my groin is still in pain, which means I am limited to swimming which I have managed with a pull buoy to make sure I am not using my hips/legs.

At this stage I don't know if I will be well enough to compete in the triathlon I have been training for, which again is very disappointing. However, a friend of mine pointed out that I am now an athlete and this is not the time to quit but to change my goals. So I have now set two goals:

1. To listen to my body and rest and try and get well enough to compete in the Kurnell Tri with Cantoo on the 7 Feb

2. If not well enough, to aim for the 5th in the series on the 20 March to compete.

I am still hoping I will be able to achieve one of these.

I just want to shout out to Karlie who has kept me fed and entertained, Margie for picking me up for some swimming sessions, Fran for looking after Speedy (who looks like she has got off lightly with no real damage), Sam and Jane for coming to visit, Wayne for his cycling advice and support and Ryan for just putting up with my general whinging!

End of Week 3 - Quarter of the way there!!!

Hi all

It has been a while since I last wrote. To be honest it has been a bit of a challenge to try and keep my life in order. Juggling work, friends and training has been tricky. Particularly when I am so disorganised!! I haven't done too badly. I have only lost one pair of goggle so far. And have developed this annoying habit of starting swimming with my goggles ON TOP of my head!!!

I have been making some great friendships and looking forward to the summer weather. Brunch on Saturdays are my highlight.

So for some updates!

SWIM:

Swimming is still the thorn in my side! I want to shout out to Ian and Trent who have done some swim sessions with me! It has really helped me stay motivated!

I can confidently swim about 170m ocean water. Still a long way to go!! I think its the breathing I need to get sorted out! If I combine breast stroke I can easily swim 1km!!

CYCLE:

Cycling has taken a little while. Living in the inner city makes it hard to get out and practice outside of set training. I was pretty proud on Saturday, I rode from Clovelly to Surry Hills on the road!! Thanks Karlie for being patient with me! I also have cycled to Sat morning and Wed night training, trying to get my hours up.

I also want to shout out to Joe who gave me a tour of the bike racks, showers and lockers at Qantas HQ. I am attempting my first ride to work tomorrow! Fingers crossed. I think to improve I really need to find someone to do some weekend rides with me! Maybe I need to get a wind trainer sooner than I thought!

RUN:

My running has been interesting - its my best and my most limiting. I am quite quick with sprint training but tire quickly. I also have struggled with really tight hammies and calves after training for the other sports. I guess its just finding the balance. Last week I had the best track session ever!! I actually ran the fastest pace I have ever done for 3.8km. It really helped running with people who pushed me and the coaches were awesome at motivating me! I feel this will be my strongest leg. We have time trials this week. I will let you know how I go!

ALERT:

Oh yeah and I might have actually registered for the Noosa Tri! Shhhh! Yes, it is an OLYMPIC triathlon. :)

PHOTO: Me looking very serious before swim drills (WITH my goggles on!)

The end of Week One!

Well what a week!

SWIM

I began the week with swim training. Sounds easy right? I can comfortable swim 50m and maybe 100m but not sure after that. I mean it has been three years since I used to swim with Trent!! That three year gap also meant that my swimsuit had grown somewhat smaller??!!??

So my coach, John splits the group up; those of you that can swim over 200m on the right and those that can swim 200m on the left. Ummm....what about those that can maybe swim 100m??? I deflated somewhat as I realised how far I really had to improve to complete this tri. After a lot of panting and swallowing water I got to the end of the training session and realised that the swim leg was definitely going to be my weakest link.

RUN

The next training session was sprint training. That was a little bit easier and built my confidence up a little bit. Sprinting had always been a strength of mine! Although I have to admit it has been awhile since I have sprinted or done any track work. First year uni actually! My body definitely protested! Its not what it used to be and I was sore in muscles I didn’t even realise existed!

CYCLE

The third session was cycling. I haven’t got my bike shoes yet so I pedaled over to the session at Centennial Park in my sneakers. Now I have to tell you I have a fear of braking on a bike. You see I had a bit of an accident on a bike a few years back. Well quite a few years back (I was 16). I was riding down my local culdesac, well pelting down would be more accurate, when I needed to slam on my brakes. Now I am right handed so I naturally squeezed hard on the right brake lever and you guessed it went flying over the handle bars. I actually flipped the bike and me!! And ate bitumen hard!! What I didn’t realise til this week is that my poor little bro also witnessed this awful event!! As you can imagine he was a little surprised and worried that I was training to do a tri that included cycling! I have spent a lot of time this week reassuring my bro and my dad that I will not stack it on my bike!!

I completed my bike training comfortably with no issues and was feeling a little chuffed and proud. I needed to get to Clovelly for our next training session; the open water session. Jess was very kind to offer to drive me and my bike. After helping me dismantle my bike for the car she asked me if I realised that my front brake was not clipped in!!??? Oh crap. Well that was one way to stop me pelting over the handlebars again!!

OPEN WATER SWIM

I have to admit I was absolutely dreading this session. It was swimming, in the cold and the rain. Sound enticing? And unlike Queensland the water is ridiculously cold. So I sucked it up and ran into the water and the cold water took my breath away! I was determined though to get through it, I splashed and floundered and panted through the session. I looked forward to the run in and out of the water, as that was when my dignity returned somewhat!

We finished the session with a swim off the concrete wall into the beach. It was a long swim!! I tried to listen to the advice from my brother and I tried to calm my self down and look down and just take it easy. Those of you that know Clovelly know how beautiful and vivid the ocean life is. I saw all sorts of fish. After a while though, that wasn’t enough to distract me from the burning in my lungs. I started to flounder again and gasp for breath. So much so that Fran swam over to see if I was all right! I assured her I was ok, dignity gone and continued to bravely splash about. It was a long and hard swim for me but I was determined to do it. I finally arrived at the beach and dragged myself up to the others completely spent, gasping for air and ready to drop. But I felt great!! I had done it! I have swum a good 150-200m. I was on the way! I casually asked the others how far we had swum. They started arguing over whether it was 50m or 70m!!!! I died inside. 70m? I only have to get to 750m??!!! Well I guess I can only improve right!?

On the whole though it has been a wonderful week. I have met some great people with some very incredible and inspiring stories. As I sit here and type, every muscle in my body is aching and I am feeling pretty tired. Now I must sign off to go and put my cleats on my bike shoes (yes, I am slowly but surely becoming a triathlete).

An hour on the Sunny Coast for a beer with Dad!

So I am almost ready to start training for my tri!

Many thanks to Wayne Baatjes who has been helping me desperately look for a bike. Finally on Friday we found the winner! And she is beautiful.

I know its a bit greedy but I really wanted my bike to have Shimano 105 gears (I know I am already sounding all bike-techy), but I couldn't justify spending alot when I don't even know if I will enjoy triathlons! What to do!? Jakob came to the rescue; a 15 year old boy on the Sunshine Coast who has been doing tris for 3 years at school and outgrown his bike.

Many thanks to dad and Rego for going to check out the bike and buying it for me! Then the dilemma was getting the bike down here. Of course I left it to the last minute. Dad informed me it would take 1-2 weeks with Australia Post to which I replied 'this can't happen; I need it for training on Saturday!'.

Long story short, I popped up on Jetstar to the Sunny Coast for an hour, Dad and John drove to the airport with my bike. I had time for a quick beer with them and then popped back on the plane with my bike back to Sydney!

Once I unpacked her I was so excited to ride her, only to realise I had no bike tools, and no clue what bits went where!!! So I looked at it in pieces all night and called in a mobile bike mechanic to put her back together. That was a lesson and a half; saddle size, saddle height, aero bars, tri bars, bike computers, changing tyres and tubes, brake cables, cleat pedals, flat pedals, gears and so on and so on!!! I have no idea what I have got myself in for in the next 13 weeks!!!

What an adventure and I haven't even started training yet! Oh, and say hello to Speedy. I know, not a very original name; but does it sound cooler when I say I named her after Thea from Arrow?

I'm training for a Sprint Triathlon with Can Too!

I am training for an event with Can Too, a health promotion organisation that engages and inspires individuals and the community to achieve personal health, wellbeing and altruistic goals.
 
Beginners and experienced athletes alike are given professional coaching as part of a team to run or swim in endurance events- including 10km, half-marathon and marathon runs; as well as ocean swims and triathlons.
 
In return, I am raising valuable funds that go towards innovation in the prevention, care and control of cancer. In 2014, our Can Too community has supported 19 early career researchers through Cure Cancer Australia.

Thank you for supporting me!
 
‘It’s so much fun and I can’t believe I’m going to achieve this goal that I never thought possible. A great program and team support is making it possible. You Can Too!’