triathlon

The award-winning, Edmonton-born athlete will be making her Olympic debut at the London 2012 Games. Here, she shares her top workout tip and diet trick

I've established one crazy goal: complete a triathlon. And I've identified a major impediment to that goal: the fact that I've never learned to swim. The next step is clear as tropical water: learn to swim, woman!

To compete in a triathlon, you need to be able to do three things: swim, bike, and run. But let's face it, if you hope to have fun on race-day, you need not only to be able to do these things, but to do them reasonably well. This is where training comes in: building endurance and skill, over time.

I believe deeply in the principle that practice makes perfect (just ask my kids). But there are occasions when the principle falls flat. Take the piano, for example: you can practice and practice and practice, but if you're consistently hitting the wrong notes, all the practice in the world won't help; in fact, it may actually hinder, as your muscle memory takes on all the wrong notes.

In two months, I will compete in my first triathlon. Flashback eight months: I am a thirty-five-year-old mother of four children, ages nine through two, and after a decade of pregnancies, night feedings, and strolling around town at a toddler's pace, I have only recently started exercising regularly: at a hot yoga studio, two to three times a week.