Hi everyone,

Hope you’re all enjoy­ing this beau­ti­ful day, although it feels more like win­ter than spring! Don’t despair, warm weather just around the corner…I can feel it! Soon enough we’ll be back on our bikes, putting all our hard work over the win­ter, to the test. That first ride of the sea­son can be really tough! Fac­ing the wind and hills for the first time after months indoors can def­i­nitely force you to dig deep and work hard.

Speak­ing of work­ing hard, today, I wanted to talk to all of you about build­ing men­tal tough­ness into your work­outs and learn­ing to bat­tle through all the demons when the body wants to quit. Today, dur­ing my spin class, after quite a few quad burn­ing inter­vals, I could see a few rid­ers los­ing their focus and con­se­quently, falling back on their inten­sity. I know it’s dif­fi­cult to keep going with the same energy and vigour when your legs are burn­ing and feel­ing as though there’s noth­ing left but you’d be amazed at how much harder you can push your­self when you tap into a pos­tive mind­set. I always think about how grate­ful I am for my good health and strength and how much I really love to push my body to its lim­its. I try and focus on the process, the here and now, vs. focus­ing on how much longer I have to go until the end. Some­times, I envi­sion myself in a race, and how hard I ned to push to get to the fin­ish line with pride and sat­is­fac­tion. Now I real­ize there are going tobe days when the neg­a­tive voices in your head win out and hey, that hap­pens. Some­times the body just needs its rest and it’s impor­tant to lis­ten to it when you’re just not feel­ing like you have what it takes to get through the work­out with your best effort.

I guess my best piece of advice is to try to approach your work­outs with deter­mi­na­tion, laser focus and above all pos­i­tive energy. Be grate­ful for your good health, embrace your body’s strength and abil­i­ties and above all us, enjoy every sec­ond of it!

Just thought I’d also attach a yummy quinoa salad that I made yes­ter­day. It went really well with my bal­samic grilled chicken.

Have a great night!

Mediter­ranean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups chicken broth

2 bay leaves

I onion, minced

¹⁄₂ cup grape toma­toes, halved

¹⁄₂ cup Eng­lish cucum­ber, diced

¹⁄₄ cup feta cheese, crumbled

¹⁄₄ cup kala­mata olives, halved

¹⁄₄ cup fresh Ital­ian pars­ley, chopped

2 green onions, minced

Dressing:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp honey

2 gar­lic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

salt and pep­per, to taste

In a medium-​sized pot, com­bine quinoa, broth and bay leaves. Place over high heat and bring mix­ture to boil.

Reduce heat to sim­mer, cover, and cook for approx­i­mately 15 – 20 min­utes, or until broth has evaporated.

Remove from heat, let stand 10 min­utes. Fluff with fork and sea­son with salt and pep­per. Let cool.

In a mix­ing bowl, com­bine quinoa with veg­eta­bles, cheese, olives and onions.

Com­bine dress­ing ingre­di­ents and pour over salad. Toss well.

Sea­son with salt and pepper.