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Diamond Women’s Active Triathlon Festival – Sat 13 May 2017

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We’re all about encouraging fun and participation in the sport of triathlon. Join our BEXI team where the atmosphere is a celebration of taking on a personal challenge, focusing on participation not competition!

Training Philosophy

Our 12-week training plans are built around six key features:

Balance – equal number of workouts in all three disciplines so that you get stronger in each discipline and weaker in none
Variation – diversity of workout types, which will enable you to get fitter faster by challenging your body in a variety of different ways
Three Phases – base phase (moderate intensity); build phase (high-intensity) and peak phase (race-specific)
Step Cycles – four week blocks in which each week is incrementally more challenging – every fourth week is a recovery week
Rest Day – incorporates one scheduled rest day per week
Simulation Race –  provides valuable experience in areas of transition, race nutrition and dealing with race discomfort
Training Program

Our programs are provided via Training Peaks – this allows us to provide individual plans that are built around your lifestyle. You will be able to log your workouts and analyse your performance data as you complete each session. We can then analyse your training data and progress your training accordingly. Our aim is to progress you gradually, so that you train safely and without injury.

Training sessions will consist of 3 x coached group sessions per week* and 3 x individual training sessions:

Monday

05.45-06.45am
Dee Why
Tuesday

06.00-07.00am
Narrabeen
Wednesday

09.30-10.30am
Dee Why
Thursday

05.45-06.45am
Dee Why
Friday
Saturday

15.00-16.30pm
Terry Hills
Sunday
Bike Turbo*
(Mon or Weds)
 Run* Rest Day Swim* Own Run Own Bike  Own Swim
 Rest Day Bike Turbo*
(Mon or Weds)		 Bike Outdoor*
(4 x coached sessions during the 12-week program)

“I loved the team spirit – training and competing together! I now have the bug to do better and take on further distances.”  Michelle Nicholas 

What is included?
  • 12-week training program delivered on Training Peaks
  • 3 x face-to-face coached group sessions per week, across the 12-weeks (swim, bike and run)
  • 4 x outdoor bike/brick/simulation sessions – to develop bike skills and confidence on the road
  • Analysis and feedback on training data
  • Mental skills and strategies
  • Race nutrition and recovery
  • Race tactics and guidance
  • Race weekend logistics
  • Motivational support
  • Access to private online forum
  • Membership of a supportive, like-minded Community
What is excluded?
  • Race entry fee
  • BEXI Tri-Suit (optional) – orders must be placed by 18 Feb 2017
What equipment do I require | all your FAQs?

Click here for the list of detailed requirements and FAQs

What is cost?
  • 12-week program, includes 40 x coached sessions – only $520 
  • Total cost can be split into monthly instalments (3 x $178/pm)

“If someone told me that I would compete in a triathlon, I would have said they were dreaming.  Achieving the impossible is totally possible by believing and doing it.”  Monique Manse

Join our BEXI Team and take on an amazing challenge in 2017!

Programs to support your goals

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Schools go back next week, which is a perfect reason to jump-for-joy.

Our daily routines are out of sync and we’re all desperate for some kind of normality to resume.

To help get things back on track and to support you in planning your goals for 2017, we’ve summarised our training programs on offer.  Each program is built on the foundation of our motto:

BEGIN WHERE YOU ARE. Use what you have. Do what you can. 

 5km-FIT
A gentle and supportive learn-to-run program – starts from a low fitness base and builds you up to running 5km.

5km-FITTER [NEW!]
Progressing from our learn-to-run program, our 5km-FITTER program builds on your speed, strength and endurance.

RUN-FIT
For those running 4-5km regularly, our Run-FIT program focuses on building muscular strength, speed and mindset.

RACE-FIT
If you’ve ever wanted to train for a half-marathon | marathon | ultra-marathon – we have an exciting 2017 race calendar.

TRI-FIT
Stepping up from single discipline to multi-discipline triathlete – we have triathlon programs for beginner and improver levels.

SWIM-FIT
A gentle and supportive swim program aimed at beginners who are looking to build  confidence and technique in the open water.

YOU-FIT
Customised online training programs to support you train for a personal goal – from 10km | marathons | triathlons.

Look forward to supporting your health & fitness goals in 2017.

~ Debbie & the Beauty of Exercise Team x

Embrace all the good in your life

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I had the privilege of cheering a friend at the recent Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Mooloolaba a couple of weekends ago.  The atmosphere was amazing! There were athletes from all walks of life, from countries all around the world.

As a world championship race, these age-group athletes would have had to earn a slot at a qualifying event. It’s a huge achievement just making it to the world champs! The key thing that really struck me about this event, was the variety of athletes. There were young & old athletes, small & large athletes, able-bodied & paraplegic athletes. It was truly inspiring watching all these athletes pursue their dream.

One of the biggest inspiration for me that weekend was watching a paraplegic athlete embrace his goal. This guy rolled his wheelchair to the beach, where the race officials carried him to the start and placed him in the water. When he finished his swim, the race officials carried him to his bike (see above pic), where he focused on getting on his bike and continuing with the bike course, followed by the run course in his wheelchair.

It was truly very humbling. He never complained.  He just embraced the atmosphere and all the support from those along the course. At the end of the race, a supporter walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder and said, “Well done mate, you were truly awesome!”

As able-bodied athletes, we often take our situation for granted. We complain about the mundane — “I’m injured, I can’t train… I’m overweight, I can’t run… I can’t cycle, I’m too scared… I am busy, I can’t commit.”

We are all guilty of taking things for granted — however, it just requires a little reminder from time-to-time, to appreciate what we have. Just watch the Paralympics at Rio – swimmers with no limbs, runners with no eyesight, table-tennis players with no arms. It is truly very humbling.

So my message today – pause for a moment to appreciate all the good in your life. Your health, your family, your environment, the opportunities you have, the choices you have… the support you have.

Learn to appreciate what you have… before time makes you appreciate what you had.

A huge congratulations to all those athletes who competed in Mooloolaba — the oldest being 87years old! Truly amazing!

Also a massive ‘Good Luck’ shout to all our BEXI athletes taking part in the Blackmores Running Festival this weekend.  Embrace all the good in your life and make the most of it.

 

Debbie Solms
Feeling Grateful

My Happy Blog!

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Today I felt like writing a happy blog. Simply because I am filled with an immense amount of happiness based on what our BEXI team has achieved over the past few months. Also… because there’s a special something to celebrate.

Firstly, to share some of my happy-beans:

  • Our Tri-FIT team achieving their first sprint triathlon;
  • Our Race-FIT teams achieving their half-marathon and marathon goals in Canberra, Sydney & Great Ocean Road;
  • One very special team member who ‘quietly’ achieved her first half-marathon on her own;
  • Others for stepping out of their comfort zones to complete their first 5km parkrun, endurance trail run, and organised cycle ride;
  • Others for teaming up to support each other in ocean swims, bike rides and training runs.
I love how our BEXI community responds to every call that excites their spirit!

Secondly, a very important happy-bean that fills me with so much pride. Our community is made up of very special people and we want to celebrate these very special people. We have therefore introduced a special prize to recognise these people… and are pleased to announce our ‘BEXI Ambassador Award’. This award goes out to one truly exceptional member who lives and breathes our BEXI values. She|he goes beyond their call of duty to inspire, motivate and support others. Each year we will select one member, who will receive one full year’s free training with us.

We are therefore incredibly thrilled to announce of first BEXI Ambassador for 2016 (click to reveal). Huge congratulations to our very deserving BEXI member!

I’m totally honoured to have been a part of your successful achievements and look forward to sharing many more in the months ahead.

Best wishes,
Debbie x

What’s up next?

 

MS Walk & Fun Run – Sun 5 June

 

Team BEXI are committed to supporting our chosen charity, Multiple Sclerosis. We will be teaming up with our families and friends to take part in the 5km|10km walk or fun run on Sun 5 June.  We’d love you to join MS Fun Run Team – or if you can’t make it, please donate towards this very worthwhile charity.

Achieving the Impossible

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Last Saturday our Tri-FIT team embarked on the final stage of their 12-week triathlon training journey – the Diamond Women’s Active Festival in Penrith.  The conditions were almost perfect – apart from the smokey air from the back-burning. Nervously the girls entered transition to set up their bikes… then it was race briefing… and next, the long walk to the swim start…

One of our team member’s captured the journey beautifully…

If someone would have told me I would compete in a triathlon a few years ago, I would have smiled and told them that they were dreaming. I guess I am in their dreams now, as I officially did my first Sprint Triathlon (750m swim, 20 km bike and 5km run) last Saturday, 7th May 2016.

It started 12 weeks ago as I wanted to learn to swim the real Ozzie freestyle, and enjoy running and cycling with a team. From learning to bubble in the ocean pool, to doing a few 50m laps in the early days, to doing 750m in the race, was a beautiful and challenging journey. Not to forget our interval training in the dark, early mornings – to conquering hills on the bike without understanding how the gears actually work (and I am Dutch!).

I had been hesitant to commit and register for the sprint distance, as I doubted my ability. But with the support from my amazing team mates and coaches who believed, inspired and motivated me – I was encouraged to sign up for the big one (the sprint), instead of the shorter option.

And yes everybody was right. It was more than possible and they were not dreaming – I was dreaming.  Achieving the impossible is just possible by just believing and doing it.

Plus keep on smiling!

 

Monique Manse
Sprint Triathlete
May 2016

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Exercise and the F-word

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On Tuesday morning I found myself engrossed in a conversation on ABC 702 between Wendy Harmer and Martha Lourey-Bird (Exercise Scientist), discussing family fitness (conversation here.)

So many families are embracing sedentary lifestyles these days – watching TV, playing computer games, glued to their iPhone’s – which is causing heaps of health and social issues.

It was great to hear Martha’s views about the importance involving kids when it comes to choosing activities and how to focus on the positives when it comes to exercise.

For kids/teenagers who are wired to their screens, a great idea is to head to the park and play some touch footie, cricket, soccer, hockey, netball, etc. Or another suggestion, which I thought was awesome, was to get them involved in training for an event with you. Make it a joint challenge – enter a charity event, fun run, parkrun. Not only will this give them a sense of purpose, but the training will stretch over a number of weeks, which will enable them to get into a routine.

Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate

The benefits of training as a family are vast – physical health, mental health and also bonding the family. If you have traditionally chosen a sedentary option over the weekend (i.e. watch sport on TV), why not make a small change and try something active – take the dog for a walk, ride your bikes around the lake, meet friends in the park for a walk. Setting positive lifestyle patterns is so important.

Our values at Beauty of Exercise is always FUN! Whatever we do, we make sure to have fun. If it’s getting up in the dark, running up hills, chasing our buddies around the lake – it’s all fun! And the key thing with having fun is to surround yourself with like-minded people to have fun with.

So, the moral of the F-word — always keep it FUN! And remember, your children become what you are… so be what you want them to be.

Debbie2
~ Beauty of Exercise

Australian Running Festival 2016

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Our first coached program of the 2016 season is the Australian Running Festival in Canberra on 9th-10th April 2016.  We love this race – Canberra offers cooler temps, autumnal colours, iconic buildings, great atmosphere and an awesome course.

 

We’ve planned three training programs for this event:

Distance Program Duration # Coached Sessions Starts
42km | 50km 16 weeks 32 sessions 19 December 2015
21km 12 weeks 24 sessions 16 January 2016
10km 10 weeks 20 sessions 30 January 2016

Training

Our programs are prepared in blocks and provided via Training Peaks. This allows us to provide individual plans that best suits your needs and goals, as well as giving us the feedback and analysis tools we need. You will be able to log your workouts, analyse your pace, heart rate, power and other useful performance data.

Each program will be based on 3 x quality runs per week and 2 x cross-training sessions. We will meet twice p/week to train as a team – endurance run (Sat) and interval training (Tue). The additional tempo run will be done at a time that is convenient to you.  All our training is done in a friendly, supportive and encouraging environment.

What is included?

  • Periodised training plan based on your distance (10-16 weeks)
  • Face-to-face coached group session for two quality runs (endurance run and intervals)
  • Analysis and feedback on training data
  • Goal setting
  • Mental skills and strategies
  • Race nutrition and recovery
  • Race tactics and guidance
  • Race weekend logistics
  • Motivational support
  • Access to private Facebook page
  • Membership of a like-minded Community
  • Discounted BEXI race singlet

What is excluded?

  • Race entry fee
  • Travel, accommodation and meals

What is cost?

Program Cost
10km Race-FIT $300
21km Race-FIT $340
42-50km Race-FIT $370
Race-FIT participants can upgrade to our Unlimited 2 Term package to benefit from additional discounts.
Total cost can be split into 2-3 x monthly instalments.

Register today – I can and I will! 

Canberra Marathon

New York, New York!

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A few weeks ago one of our BEXI Runners, Michelle Savage and hubby Matt, headed to the ‘concrete jungle where dreams are made of’…. and achieved a dream-come-true.  Michelle shares her experience below:

One year ago my husband Matt asked me if I would run the New York Marathon with him. I said “what the hell are you thinking?” Then the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give it a go (well really I just wanted a trip to NY). So we entered the race in early 2015 and had 8 months to train for it.

I should also mention, at the same time of registering, we started renovations to our house, moved 3 times and changed our kids school! What were we thinking?!

Once in our new house, I stumbled across Beauty of Exercise. Once I told Debbie what my goal was, I was soon armed with a training program and surrounded by the most supportive people I have ever met. I have never experienced this before – it was absolutely amazing! 8 months later, we were on a plane to New York.

Race day arrives, I am calm and ready to do this marathon-thing. We arrived at the start at 7am, however our wave was only due to head off at 11am. I spent the time watching people from all over the world (good thing I love people-watching). Running attracts a great sense of camaraderie!

11am, time to throw the jumpers off and we are off. The first 21km were breezy and comfortable. Locals cheering us on, bands playing loud music, people dancing, police and security on every corner. I hit the 25-30 km mark and started to feel the fatigue. Dizzy, sore, tired, weak – so I started to walk/run and stop at every drink station. Matt stayed with me the whole time – he kept saying we are doing this together till the end! That kept me going.

We reached Central Park with 3-4km to go. This felt like an eternity! Jogging and walking quite strangely – until I see the finish-line. With one last final surge, I pick up the pace and head across the finish line – 6hr 5min.

We did it! It was over… and hard to understand what we just did. It wasn’t until the next morning that the reality set in.

The atmosphere in NY the day after was so special – people having breakfast in café’s, wearing their medals, limping, smiling, laughing. A truly amazing sense of camaraderie!

I never thought of ever running a marathon, but now I can look back and cherish the experience!  Thank you to all my BEXI buddies for making me feel special and supporting my journey. I hope some of you get go to New York and share in this experience — it is worth every penny. Thank you so much!

Michelle Savage
Marathon Runner

There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York…

Congratulations Michelle and Matt – an absolutely awesome experience! You will always cherish that first marathon.

Debbie Solms
Run Coach | Personal Trainer

In the Pink

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Last Sunday one of our favourite Beauty of Exercise (BEXI) members, Liza Dukino, faced her fears and took part in her first ever triathlon – the Pinkie Triathlon. We are all so proud of what Liza achieved – from being anxious in the water, to having an immense fear on the bike (having had a bad stack). Liza has filled so many of us with inspiration and admiration. Below is a heartfelt story about Liza’s journey to the start-line and the actual race day – enjoy the read…

When you are part of a group like BEXI an injury can leave you isolated and lonely… if you let it!
In November last year an MRI showed a 50% tear of my plantar fascia and the advice was to stop. Stop meant no more training for Coastrek with the BEXI Trekkers and no more running. This was tough to deal with, with a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out), I couldn’t imagine not being around all my BEXI mates. And bigger than that I was afraid of stopping and going back to who I was before I found my healthy lifestyle focus.

I needed a new focus something that I could do that wouldn’t exasperate my injury and would still allow me to be part of the community. I had always enjoyed swimming and I had bought a 2nd hand road bike earlier in the year that was gathering dust in the garage… they became my new focus. But what to work towards?

I had joined the BEXI triathletes at the Port Stephens Triathlon event that year, just tackling the swim leg for the fabulous Helen. Seeing the team tackle and conquer the swim, cycle and run all with a smile on their faces and celebrating their achievements that evening lit a little fire in my belly… that was something I wanted to achieve.

So I joined the well time new Swim-FIT program with the lovely Sue Bennett and joined the Run-FIT crew on a Tuesday morning with a special tailored Liza-FIT program on the bike. A few rides on closed paths gave me the confidence to join the BEXI cycle girls on my first ride to Church Point – almost 20km and I was stoked. My confidence crew on the bike the more I joined my buddies Cass and Katja on our regular rides and my swimming was improving as I learned about my stoke and bilateral breathing.

Now, it was time to give all this effort a focus… the Ultra course of the Pinkie Triathlon. The plan was to do the whole thing myself, just do the run on the day and deal with the consequences of the injury to the foot afterwards but I had been finally started to see an improvement. Finally, I was learning to listen to my body and decided 2 of the 3 legs was a much better option. Super Coach (SC) Debbie, a constant source of advice and support jumped at the chance of joining me to finish the tri off with the run.

Along came race day and off we went, my run coach and my swim coach by my side on the trek out to Parramatta Park, I was pooing my pants I was so nervous. Waiting for the briefing to start I see 3 figures in the distance, all decked out in orange. My first thought is ‘WOW!’ – we need to get those feather boas and hats for the BEXI support crew for the Australian Running Festival in Canberra next month’. My next thought was -‘Oh s*#t’… that’s Lisa, Cass and Kris! These 3 amazing BEXI friends had taken time away from their families on a Sunday morning to come and support me. I welled up. I was so touched and overwhelmed by the support of those girls there on the day and all the positive support from those who couldn’t be there.

So with my BEXI friends cheering by the side of the pool I jumped into my first triathlon, maybe my second if you count Port Stephens but this time I was adding on another leg. The event was tough but the whole time I had a smile on my face because I was there, I was actually doing it! I tagged SC and off she went, blitzing all the other runners and I joined her for the last 50m and we ran through the finish together. Phew it was done, now where is that champagne?

So my advice in all of this is, never let an injury let you feel isolated and lonely because there is a fabulous BEXI community around you that will train with you and support you in whatever goal it is you set out to achieve.

Liza Dukino
BEXI Triathlete, March 2015

 

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