05/29

TRX Summit 2013: San Diego

Hey Guys! Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend! I’ve been in San Diego (and am still here) for the annual TRX Summit – think of it as a really physical work retreat. In years past we’ve gone to different cities, but this year’s took place in SD, which is very exciting for me as I lived here for 4 years not too long ago. Our Summits are always a blast and we, the Master Instructors, love getting together to learn, laugh, and sweat. Each summit has a workout that involves some sort of local cultural element, (when we were in Thailand, we took a hardcore 90 minute Muay Thai class at Tiger Muay Thai in the middle of the jungle) so in San Diego, we were led through a two hour SEAL Team training experience.  Since the creator of the company was a Navy SEAL, he thought it’d be great to enlist a couple of his old SEAL buddies to take us through a log training workout. Yeah… great.

 I almost died. 
And this experience solidified 
why I will never join any military branch ever …
But it was sort of fun… in a 
“fun to talk about now that it’s OVER and I didn’t die” 
kind of way.  
Here are some photos.

First command: go dive in the water, then cover yourself completely in sand. 
You have 30 seconds. 
Go. 

Here are some 300+ lb logs… pick ’em up, press ’em up, squat with ’em. 
(this went on for about an hour or so) 

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Filed Under: San Diego, Summit, TRX
05/13

Lululemon Ambassador Summit: Video

I started to put the next couple days’ photos up
for the next post and was thinking of making a video instead.
So I did.
Music: Slumber
Artist: Needtobreathe
Thanks again to everybody at Lululemon
for an amazing event. We gained so much on this trip
and all of us are grateful!
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Filed Under: Ambassador Summit, lululemon, Summit, video
05/08

Lululemon Ambassador Summit Day 1

I have SO many photos to go through from the Lululemon Ambassador Summit I attended two weeks ago… so I’ve decided to break it down into parts. There were 110 of us from all over North America and the UK coming to the event. We were all traveling on the same day and trying to use the Facebook group page to see where everybody was coming from. The day of, we found out that about 20 of us were all connecting in Chicago to Vancouver.

Sweet gathering of Lulu peeps in the terminal! 
(Some peeps were off grabbing food before our 4 hour flight)

Once we got to Vancouver and through customs, off we went for a quick visit to Lulu headquarters and then onto the two huge tour buses that were taking us up to Whistler for the weekend. You should have seen the taxi line taking us all over to headquarters!

Bus time! 
 Now I know (or at least I’d heard) Vancouver has the same weather as Seattle and it rains a WHOLE lot, but the weather gods were definitely hookin’ us up with some sweet sunshine that week! Hello, scenery! There wasn’t a person on the bus who wasn’t crawling to the windows trying to catch the views on their iphone cameras. 
I was a little jealous of the climbers as we drove through Squamish…
We had to just enough time on the bus to try to locate our roomies (via our matching keychains and quotes) and get to know the fellow ambassadors. My girl, Aleah and I were practically caught up on each other’s life stories by the time the two-hour drive to Whistler was complete.
My roomie, Lara! 
 It was an awesome scene as we pulled up at the Four Seasons! An entire crew of Lulu staff was there dressed in sombreros and welcoming us with a cheering party. We were ecstatic to come into our rooms to find bottles of wine, fresh produce, and Lulu gear! 
Lululemon had rented out the ENTIRE Four Seasons hotel for our event that weekend and had basically taken over the place.  There were bits of Lulu everywhere you looked. I have no idea how long it took them to set up, but you could tell they put so much thought and effort into it. This was kind of setting the scene for how the week was going to go. 
A stool and hammock made from recycled yoga mats and straps! 

All the main rooms were transformed to make it feel like home. 
Reading area was the Library. Restaurant was the Kitchen
Meeting room was the Family Room, etc. 
Loved it! 

We had about an hour to get ready and head down to the “Kitchen” to have our Get To Know You Dinner and settle into the week. There were awesome introductions from the staff that had put everything together, as well as from the Lululemon CEO, Christine Day. It was great to hear some inspiring stories as well as hear about the now infamous “see-through” pants dilemma they had a couple months ago. It’s great to see though how they handle the rigors of a growing company while still trying to stick to the mission statement that they had from the very beginning. Inspiring to say the least…

We knew we were in for a pretty kickass couple of days! 

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Filed Under: Ambassador Summit, Canada, lululemon, Summit, Vancouver, Whistler
04/22

Lulu Ambassador Summit 2013!

Whistler, here I come! 
As a Lululemon Ambassador for the Louisville store, 
I was beyond thrilled to receive an invitation to the 
Ambassador Summit in Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. 
I’d always heard about the infamous lulu summit
from other ambassadors I know in the fitness industry,
but now I get to GO! 
So I’m headed out to Vancouver (literally in the air right now)
to catch a bus with a bunch of other ambassadors (from all over the globe) 
up to Whistler! 

Extra fun: 
They sent us a cute note and really cute keychain! 
This keychain also doubles as our way to find our roomies for the weekend! 
There are about 100 of us going, so when we get there, 
we have find to the ambassador that has the matching keychain and quote. 

LOVE it. 
Can’t wait to tell you guys all about it when I’m back. 
Have a great week! : ) 
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Filed Under: Canada, lululemon, Summit, Vancouver, Whistler
10/08

Greece: Part 4 Climbing!

After the 3-day Summit, we were a little exhausted
but getting a little more onto Greece time
(maybe not digestive schedule-ly, but sleep schedule-ly).
Work time, check. Play time, commence.
It was time for the climbing portion of the trip
and on to the island of Kalymnos!!
Figure out our bearings… and GO!
The Grand Grotta
an OK view,  I guess… ; )
chillin’ with a local…
and hoping he doesn’t raid the backpacks for lunch
while I’m belaying
He tried, but I blocked.
Sunset at the end of the first day at Poets Wall
Please disregard the dirt, sweat, and chalk on my entire face. Thanks.
Finding the perfect area at Afternoon Wall.
A welcome shady spot for the afternoon sun and heat!
I was saying, “ooh”.
NOT giving a kiss/duck face.
Parts 1, 2, 3
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Filed Under: Greece, rock climbing, Summit, travel
10/04

Greece: Pt. 3!

Because the creator of the TRX was a Navy S.E.A.L, and his experiences there led him to create the Suspension Trainer, day 2 of the Summit involved a Navy S.E.A.L “Experience”… (which basically had us all scared shitless)
We had no idea how Randy was going to try to kill us… Swim to the buoys and back with our hand tied behind our backs?! Tread water for an hour with no hands and weights on our waists?! Endure sub-zero water temps for a long ass time?!  We’ve heard the stories. We know (or think we know) what shit goes down in S.E.A.L training. We’re dead, for SURE. But it wasn’t bad at all!  More team building/problem solving stuff, just in a physically active setting. It ended up being REALLY fun.
Except for when people couldn’t count… and we had to do
a shit ton of pushups and leg kicks:
Running, diving in the water, rolling in the sand = good times, great fun!
The team run up the hill carrying small boulders was hard, but not impossible.
And heading up that same hill with at least two feet off the ground at all times wasn’t
as bad either… but probably because I got carried half the time.
; )
But we all did it!
We completed the challenges with our teams. And had a damn fine view at the top of the hill as our reward.
All photos by Frank Addelia
And here’s a quick video Frankie put together that gives you a peek of how we rolled:
(because it’s a Facebook video and impossible to resize, it’s really wide, so make your screen as big as possible if you can’t see the whole thing!)
“TR….X!”
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Filed Under: Greece, Summit, travel, TRX
10/03

Greece: Pt. 2!

For those of you that are just arriving: I’m a Master Trainer for TRX. (Which means I teach the training courses for other personal trainers and group instructors that want to teach classes using the TRX Suspension Trainer and Rip Trainer.) There are several master trainers all over the globe and once a year, we all get together for the Summit, a 3 day event for learning, playing, bonding. It’s the ish. Last year’s Summit was in Thailand. This year’s was in Mykonos, Greece. Darn…
moving on:
So after we all got settled, acquainted with the European instructors,
and sloshed reunited with the ones we already knew…
Summit started!
We woke up early for our first Rip Trainer workout
on the beach
(as every morning at Summit starts)
Yawn…
OK, now we’re awake
I love Europe.
And the Portuguese-ians
; )
We have a tradition of rushing the water
as soon as the workout’s done.
I obviously didn’t take my camera with me for that,
but got a shot of Kari, taking a shot of me, taking a shot of her
afterwards.
; )
Oh, the Germans and their sense of humor…
: )
end of Day 2…
Part 1 here.
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Filed Under: Greece, Summit, travel, TRX
10/02

Greece: Pt 1

OK, OK. I’m back! And I’m somewhat rested.
Here’s the trip recap (in parts):Toronto –> Athens airport party!
There were 6 of us on the same long flight which was a

TOTAL upgrade from last year’s summit, in Thailand.
(Flying alone for over 23 hrs SUCKS.)
This was only 9.5 hrs, and with friends is way more fun.
Or as my brother would say, “it was more better.” ; )

Our gate number… and us acting like 12 year olds:

We made it!

I think this is going to be ok:

The view from the pool:

The view from the room.
Yes, that’s the Aegean Sea.
FROM THE BED
Big. Huge. Score.

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Filed Under: Greece, Summit, travel, TRX
09/24

Out Of Office Reply

I’m in Mykonos, Greece. 
It’s the bomb. 
And this isn’t even the photo from the hotel’s website or anything. 
I took it with my iPhone. 
It’s that amazingly beautiful here. 
We’ve had a couple 10+ hr days, are exhausted, and
I’m jetlagged like a mofo if that makes you hate me less… ? 
; ) 
Happy Monday! 
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Filed Under: Greece, Summit, travel, TRX
03/08

Don’t Forget To Play!

Remember when you were a kid?
Photobucket
When your day wasn’t hectic. 
You didn’t have to work,
 pick up kids, make dinner, 
do homework, answer emails,
do laundry, etc. 
When’s the last time you went outside and played?
Make sure you take time each day to play… even if only for 15/20 minutes. 
Let loose, act like a kid! 
Kids only get about 15-30 minutes a day for recess when they’re young, but they still burst out of the school doors, run, jump, and scream for a little bit, then go back inside and focus. Do you ever wonder why you’re dead right after lunch and don’t know how you’re going to get through those last few hours at work? It’s because you haven’t had a chance to get some energy out! You SIT for hours and read/type/write. Your body is craving movement! Your mind needs a break! So find something fun to do, even if you don’t have that much time. 
It’ll help. 
Promise! 
At the Summit last weekend, we had 45 minutes before we all had to get ready for our group dinner. We could have laid around and watched tv (if we’d had tvs) but instead, a huge group of us ran to the hill, grabbed tubes, and hurled ourselves downhill OVER AND OVER again until we had to go inside to get ready. 
REAL. GOOD. FUN
So don’t forget to hit the reset button and have some fun now and then… 
*photo by Leighann Novotny
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Filed Under: Colorado, kids, play, snow day, Summit, TRX
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