Please pardon the errors, this was transcribed by a computer… gotta love artificial intelligence!

 

Kevin English: [00:00:00] Think back to when you were a teenager. All the way back to those early days in high school. What were you like? Were you an athlete? A bookworm? Or maybe an outcast? Were you outgoing or shy and withdrawn? There's so much emotional angst that goes along with being a teenager. And we all had our own ways of dealing with that.

My guest this week had her share of anxiety as a teen and credit sports for saving her life. Hello, and welcome to the over 50 health and wellness podcast. I'm your host, Kevin English, a certified nutritionist and personal trainer and founder of the silver edge. Our mission at the silver edge is to inspire men and women in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond the live, their strongest healthiest, most fulfilling lives.

In today's episode, we talk with Sylvie dough. Sylvia is a 50 year old, lifelong fitness enthusiast and coach with a passion for cycling. Join us this week is Sylvie discusses her troubled youth and how she found solace in sanctuary in high school sports and how that early love of physical activity.

Carried her from bodybuilding competitions to competitive cycling. Sylvie shares her fitness journey in her thoughts on staying in peak condition as we age. And now onto today's show.

Hello, my guest this week is Sylvie D'Aoust. Sylvia is passionate about all things cycling and has been at it for 25 years. She holds a level three national cycling performance coaching certification and is the creator and host of the secrets from the saddle podcast. Sylvia, welcome to the show.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:01:39] Oh my God, Kevin. Thank you so much for having me on this podcast.

Kevin English: [00:01:43] Yeah, my pleasure. I'm excited to have you here. And I suppose first things first. I believe you're a recent inductee into the over 50 club. Is that right?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:01:52] That is true. Yes. January 3rd, I turned 50 and about two years ago, I was like, Oh my God, I'm getting to be 50. Like, what am I getting into? You know? And now I'm like, yeah, I'm 50. So I'm really embracing it. Yeah. So you got to embrace it.

Kevin English: [00:02:08] I love it. Absolutely well, happy belated birthday. All right. I want to talk to you about cycling and fitness, but before we dig into all that, let's back up and start at the beginning. What were you like as a child?

Were you an active girl?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:02:19] Oh Kevin. Oh my gosh. Maybe you're not ready for this story, but I started talking about it more and more, but when I was a kid, I was not very happy.

I was very lonely and in our high school, we used to have a lot of intermural, and after school sports. So I made it a point to get in as many sports in school as I could like just to stay after school and not have to go home.

So that's when, like I did everything. I did track, I did cross country, field hockey, volleyball. I was a cheerleader. I did lines for the football team. And I came to realize this, that as a teenager Like I said, I was very lonely.

I was very sad. I can honestly say that sports probably saved me. There was a time when I figure I was 14. I tried to take my life twice and I tried to run away.

When you talk about teenage suicide and attempting it yourself and I, I just always thought about, you know, why I did that. And for me it was just gaining, trying to get the attention of my parents or just like, and, and I'm not talking attention in a bad way.

Like, you know how kids act out, or maybe it was a way of acting out, just like, you know, like, Hey, I'm here, you know, I need your help or I need you to hear me. Like, our household is very You know, there wasn't a lot of communication. There wasn't a lot of love. So I was one of those kids who sought love and attention at different places.

Like I partied, I, you know, like,sex, drugs and rock and roll in the eighties, you know what I mean? And, and I thought like, maybe if I did that, that they would actually like, Oh, you know, You know, is there something wrong? Like how can we, but you know, obviously I wasn't successful. And you know, you think about parents as how busy we are today.

And parents were just as busy back then to just trying to survive. Like we lived on a farm, so my dad was a farmer, and then my mom was a stay at home mom and there was three of us and she was just like taking care of the house and, like she was never, you know, she's always doing stuff and, and but you know, I think like just getting over that and I had a little stint with an eating disorder but didn't last very long, but I think for me I just kinda realized that, you know, I think it's just up to me

to get past these things and to move on and to figure out how I can just be better for me. I was craving discipline. And it's a weird thing to crave, but I think that's a big reason why kids act out these days.

I have three kids, so I know, and I watched them very, very closely because of my personal experience and, and discipline is one of those things, like not harsh discipline, but, you know because they act out they're kind of like, You know, they're, they're trying to get your attention right. When they act out, they're trying to get your attention and discipline sometimes is a funny way of getting your parents' attention and also as gaining respect

from your kids. I don't know if you've taken a look at kids these days, but they're like the bosses of a lot of people's, you know, household. Like parents don't do things because, because their kids don't like it. Right.

The attention from that, the discipline, like my parents never disciplined me. like I said, when I got the vehicle, my license, I was gonna take the car for the weekend.

I drank, I drove, I worked, I did work. And like, I was gone. I was gone all the time and nobody ever said, stop, no, you can't do that. And as soon as I turned 18 and I graduated, I left the house I moved in with my boyfriend. How many people do that? Move in with their Boyfriend, go start working out of high school.

Highly do not recommend it.

And you know anyways, but that's, that's kind of me in, in high school and, you know, like I said, I went back to school when I was 23 and to college and I got a diploma which landed me my job in Ottawa.

So if you want, that's kind of like the whole timeline.

Kevin English: [00:07:07] Yeah, so there's a lot, there there's a lot in that story, right? I mean, it sounded like you were always active, but you were using specifically sports and after-school sports as a way of avoiding home and some pain there, some emotional pain. It sounds like you've mentioned that at one point in that story, you said, I realized it was up to me kind of move on and take care of myself.

Were you aware at that young age why you were doing that with sports?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:07:37] No,

Kevin English: [00:07:37] you cognizant of that? Not so much.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:07:39] no, like it's funny Kevin. Cause like, I think I just like this pandemic sort of like allowed me to sit down and really think about things because as an adult, our childhood molds us who we are, and I will not lie. It's, it's a struggle every day for me, I've been divorced once.

And God thank my husband who's so understanding. And it's a struggle every day to get over, you know, how you grew up, because I think, That's how I was molded. Right. And another thing I'm just like my dad. So if you remember, my dad was always working.

Always gone, doing something, multiple things to make money. And I'm, I am so like that mold and I try not to be like him. Like he was very not present and, you know, The, the non loving, the, you know, he was, he's a great guy. I won't knock my dad. But the thing is that once you realize you've got a whole lot of your parents, Inside you, then you have choices, right?

You can be just like them, or you can try and change and be a little bit like them, but a better person. And, and for your kids. Right. Because I don't want my kids to be like me, down the road. And I just, yeah, I struggle with that every day.

Like it's, there's still things that I need to release. It's unbelievable as much as personal development I do. There's just a lot of things. But you know, I need to personally work on but I do have the drive, like just going back to being when I was in high school, you know, after that episode, I'm like, I know I'm going to be something great.

I've always been the one in control and I think that's what I like. And that's just what drives me forward, you know? I Started I forced myself to be active. Let's just say, and it's a funny way of thinking. Like you're like, yeah, right. Like you're pretty active. And, but I find like I'm a very introverted person.

And if you ever know really busy people, a lot of us will say that we're introverted and we do a lot to pull ourselves out of that introvertness, I don't know if that's a word.

Do you, do you find like, do you come across people who are like, yeah, I'm a real introvert, but like they're super successful and they

Kevin English: [00:10:29] I think there's something to that. I think that that accurately describes a class of people. I would put myself in that same bucket I've got, it sounds like a similar background to yours. Grew up on a farm and

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:10:39] Oh, cool.

Kevin English: [00:10:40] distance. You know, and it's kind of the same thing.

I've had to work through some things to make me who I am today. Right. And I think it's interesting that you said that you used this time during the pandemic. I think we've all had some extra time on our hand, maybe for self-reflection and the opportunity to work on ourselves. But let's kind of go back a little bit.

You talked about, obviously you were active in sports, using sports as a way to cope and maybe not consciously, but subconsciously using that as a way to cope deal with some emotional pain. And then at some point you decided, Hey, I've got to turn my life around, but to get back to school.

So you did that. You came out, I believe that somewhere in that timeframe, you're going to find a passion for cycling. Where does cycling come into your life?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:11:24] I had a bike because before I got my license, I had to bike everywhere. Right. Bike to work. I didn't bike to school, but like I got around with my bike.

And then when I got my car, of course you don't use your bike anymore. And then I bought a real bike. I think I was 19. I was working and I didn't really use it until I left. So, and that whole time, there's a funny thing, Kevin, I was a smoker too. And sometimes I sit there, I'm like, how did I do all of that?

And I used to live in for done. And if you know that area, it's kind of like the sketchy area of your city. It's like the Bronx and New York, maybe not that bad, but and I was sitting there on my porch having a smoke and I was looking around and I saw this guy across the street in his wife beater, and I'm like, Oh, and he was having a smoke too.

And I'm like, Oh my God. I've got to do something with my life, like right now. And I quit smoking. I started swimming. I started running, I decided I was going to go back to school. I was in abusive relationship at that time, so it was perfect. I was get out of town and, and that's when it all kind of started.

I went back to school and I got active again. Just working out. That's when I started working out. And then I went tree-planting for two years in the summer. Yeah.

Kevin English: [00:12:59] Is tree planting, what it sounds like? Okay. Where did you go tree planting?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:13:05] It was funny. Cause like I had a job that fell through for my summer job when I was in college. And my buddy he's like, well, if you ever need a job, you can always come to BC and tree plant with me. So like my job fell through. I'm like, well, I guess I'm going tree planting.

So I flew up there. No clue what the hell I'm doing. And and honestly, like, it was probably the best experience ever. Like you're camping outside all the time. You, you literally work for 12 hours a day. Planting seedlings. And you have quotas and first you have to pay your, your camp fees, which is like 25 bucks.

So you have to plant a certain amount of trees to cover that. That's your food. And then whatever you plant after is what you bring home. So you either fail, like either quit. Or you stick it out. And that's like, you know, a lot of people quit after we, because A, they don't want to live in a tent B, they've never worked that hard in their life and, you know, C, they're like, ah, this, so they end up taking the next bus home.

So I stuck it out. I would say, like, if you can make your kids tree plant, they will be bombproof individuals, humans. and they survive. They're going to be able to do anything, anything

Kevin English: [00:14:28] A great summer job tree

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:14:29] Yeah. you have to plant in the rain in the sun in whatever you have to plant six days a week and you get one day off.

What the cool thing is, is sometimes cause it's in BC, Northern BC, you get flown in with a helicopter and you get dropped in the middle of the Bush and you basically have to work there until they pick you up or you boat in like it was really cool stuff. So it's a very cool culture, these tree planters.

Kevin English: [00:15:00] Okay. All right. So anybody out there who's maybe looking for a new line of work tree-planting yeah. All right. So we've got to, I love the image of you in the bad part of town. Out on the porch with a cigarette, looking across the street. And here's this guy and his wife beater having a smoke and maybe you make eye contact and you think to yourself, what in the world am I doing?

This is not me. This is not who I am. And from that, that, that gets you back to college. Right? You're going back to school. It gets you back involved in some sports or some physical activity. You mentioned that you started working out at this time. I think you mentioned running and swimming as well. Were you also hitting a gym or what did that look like?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:15:41] Yeah. So that was that was the gym in college so basically you hung out with all your, all the kids or all the adults in your, in your program. So they were working out. So I started working out with them And so that's where I started weight training and I didn't get on a bike until I finished school, started working in Ontario in Ottawa. And and that's when I got into ultimate Frisbee and I got a boyfriend and he introduced me to mountain biking and I got a mountain bike. And so that was like 96, 97 around then. and then from mountain biking, met my first husband and my contract ended.

So it was like, Oh my God. What do I do? I went back to school again and I got another career in IT, so. 2000, my ultimate Frisbee carreer finished. Cause I was like, this is too cultish and I loved it, but like, I didn't have a life because I went straight up to a very high level women's traveling team.

And after that season I was like, I need to get out of this. I didn't, wasn't seeing any of my friends and, and so.

Kevin English: [00:17:08] but it was, it sounds like it was a serious part of your life there. If you were on a women's travel team for ultimate Frisbee.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:17:14] Yeah, so I was there for three years. And so I still have good girlfriends that I met back then. It was when I met all these people in Ottawa. And we had a really good time until I went on the competitive team.

And then there wasn't that much fun and partying anymore because it was serious training

Kevin English: [00:17:37] Serious

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:17:38] serious. Yeah. It was serious. And I was like, okay, I'm not into this anymore.

Kevin English: [00:17:47] It sounds like you got introduced to biking by maybe a boyfriend during that time. Did you fall in love with mountain biking right away? I mean, was it love at first sight when you started biking or.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:17:57] Well, you know, it's always tough at the beginning, right? Like mountain biking. Isn't one of those things that you just like, it takes a lot of work. But from there when I finished ultimate in 2000 that's an immediately, when I finished that, I met my first husband and he was a huge mountain biker.

So then it just like took off trail runner, mountain biker, got into adventure racing. And that was like, A highlight, that was fun too. Like just ultimate not just extreme, more extreme sport outside all the time, doing multiple things like paddling and mountain biking and hiking and tracking and, and stuff like that.

That was super cool. So then that's, that's landed me on a bike all the time. And I also started my spinning studio while I was working, you know, full-time for the government. And I started the spinning studio. I'm like, Hey, people are going to join. We need a place to train. Cause there was a huge group of us and a friend of mine had a gym.

He's like, well, if you get the bikes. I'll rent you a space. I'm like, okay. And so that's how it started.

And then I had my first daughter when I was a 32. And if you want to know, I also was doing bodybuilding figure competitions in 2004. So I just threw that in there just to like,

Kevin English: [00:19:27] Okay. Well, let's hold on. Let's back up. I don't want to just breeze over that. You had mentioned that your first stint in college sounds like you've met up with some friends and you started weightlifting. . So, but did you have a coach during this time to get you prepared for bodybuilding or you just kind of said, you know what.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:19:45] Well, yeah, so I didn't just jump into that. That was like, when I had my spinning studio, it was in a gym and one of the trainers in there he's like Sylvie, you should really do this. You should train. So he like, basically broke me down. And if you've ever watched bodybuilding competitions in early 2000, There was not very many women who were on the stage period.

Like, I don't know what it was like in the United States, but for Canada for, you know, it was like predominantly men body builders. There was no physique. There was no bikini. There is none of these categories. It was like figure and bodybuilding.

And then the rest, it was like all men and But my friend, Shane, he was like, Sylvia, you should really do this. You'd be really good. You know, like he just started to break me down. I'm like, Oh, okay.

Like, I'll do this. I want to get rid of this baby fat. You know, like, cause I had my daughter two years before and I'm like, yeah. You know? Okay. Well, whatever. And so he trained me and that's when I really started. I knew a lot about weight training. And so, but that's where I learned about nutrition because he was not a coach that would say, okay, you need to eat this,

and you need to eat that and this, and he just like, no, here's what you need for calories. You figure out whatever it is that you want to eat, but it has to equal that. And then here's the workout. You know and I can honestly say that over six months of training for that. And I was like, man, you know, I'll do it, whatever.

I didn't take it that seriouslly. I'm like I'm learning. Right. And it'll stop him from bugging me. And so I learned a lot because he started it and now I, I use the same formula with my clients because I think it's fairly important for people to figure out what they like to eat. And learn about food in general, because when you go in, you start tracking stuff and you have to say, okay, I'm going to eat 1500 calories today.

What am I going to eat that's going to equal 1500 calories? You start plunking it in. You're like, Hmm. Hmm. I gotta remove that. I gotta, like, I can't eat two cups of that. I can only eat a cup or like, okay, I'm just going to swap that out for, so you, you learn a whole lot. And then after about two months of that, he brought it down to the macros.

So much for protein, carbs and fat. So then you really have to get specific. Okay. Now, like how much is this bagel equal to all these? And so then you kind of really whittle it down to what's going to be working for you. And I thought through that whole process was the best way for me to learn about what is in each food, because then you're like, Oh, lots of sugar in there.

Lots of fats in that. Do you make carbs? And, you know so I thought that was a great, a great example. And at the end I was down to like 118 weight, like 9% body fat. I was chiseled, like right now I'm like 130 and that's kinda like my, my regular weight. And I look at that picture and then I look at other pictures where I'm like similar weight.

But, you know, later competitions I was just healthier looking. But the thing is that I didn't feel like I struggled. Like I wasn't starving in any capacity. But I did eat cookies for the full week afterwards. I have to say,

Kevin English: [00:23:41] Probably a little carb depleted there after all

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:23:43] well, I think it was the fat, I don't know, like,

Kevin English: [00:23:45] maybe the fat. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, well, no, that's very interesting. So it sounds like during that time, during this kind of bodybuilding phase, You almost glossed right over there. You got introduced to a couple of very important things, right?

One would be resistance training or weightlifting, and the second would be nutrition and the importance of obviously total calories, but then the macro nutrients, right? The protein, the carbs, the fat, and how different ratios of those will have a different impact on you both aesthetically and how you look

it sounds like. So that had to be pretty impactful going forward. And it sounds like maybe you use that in your coaching practice today as well. Is that right?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:24:25] Yeah, totally.

Kevin English: [00:24:28] All right. So are you still active? Do you do bodybuilding type things anymore or.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:24:32] yeah. So, Oh yeah. So after that experience, I'm like, Hey, I can use this to train for cycling. And that's basically where I put that in the category of training, because what I would do is I would pick a competition that was like in April or may, which is the beginning of my race season.

I would train for it all winter as I would cycling. And then I would be stronger. I would be leaner and I would compete. And then I just go straight into race season. I was not deprived. I was not malnourished. And the thing is that at that time, Kevin, I hated going into the gym.

I would never go into the gym unless I had a goal, a specific goal, and this was one of those things. And as soon as I was done, I never went to the gym again. And so I trained and I don't even know how many competitions I've done to date, but my last competition was 2017. I actually, I made it to the national stage twice.

Both in bikini and in figure. So as the years progressed, they started adding all these categories like bikini and then figure, and then physique and bodybuilding. So you had more categories and then there was more women, like one category would have 50 women. And then they start breaking them down for height and that's how you would categorize them.

So, you know, like short to tall or short, medium tall. And then the bikini's changed, like big time. I started with a one suit and a bikini. So I had two suits like anyways. But. So it evolved and, you know, and then I changed coaches. I joined different teams and I still used it as a winter way of training to get ready for cycling because cycling was my main thing.

Like bodybuilding was like, yeah, it was like a fun thing. You know, I just train because, I like seeing my body change and I just learned new things from new coaches. And still like, Shane was probably the best introduction to nutrition, the way he made me, instead of getting like a meal plan, like here you eat this.

I'm like, Oh my God, what is that? You know what I mean? Like, and I have to go buy all this. and so those were great experiences. I started racing like road racing my bike in 2005. So I started my studio 2001 to 2001, and I had my own location, 2004. I started a women's race team in 2005.

So masters team with some of my friends, I'm like, Hey, anybody want to learn how to race? We got a coach and we learned how to bike race. Like it was so fun. It was. And then in 2008, I started my women's cycling club cycle fit chicks. So that's where I, like, pulled more people in to surround me

in cycling and that's why I started more coaching and just giving back, like I did like a lot of learning. That's where I got my coaching certificate and I just started passing on a lot of stuff that I learned to my club members. And in all that time, I was bodybuilding, I was figure competition.

Like I was always doing the two things at the same time. But there was one year I hung up my bike. And I didn't cycle, so I think it was 2016 so that I could go in the gym and really see what I could do on the stage, because I was winning.

I was on the podium most of the time for these competitions, I'm like, Hm. Maybe I should just try and see where I can go. And that's where, like, you know, I spent all summer like basically competing. I've competed like four times in summer. If you've ever done that as a figure c mpetitor,o bikini or whatever it is like at the end, you're just, you're fried.

Kevin English: [00:28:51] Yeah. Maybe a lot of people don't understand either that it's not just the working out, but it's the dieting, it's the bulking up and the leaning out. Right. That's just can be to your point. Brutal. It's brutal to do it for a show. But yeah, if you're doing four in a season, that takes a lot to, to prepare for those right.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:29:08] Yeah. You can not be in that kind of preparation for longer than four to six months, max,

Kevin English: [00:29:15] Yeah.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:29:15] you know?

Kevin English: [00:29:16] It's not particularly healthy. Right? A lot of people see those people up on the stage and think that's the beacon of health and, you know, that's the pointy end of the stick. And maybe it's healthy and maybe not so much. Right.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:29:28] And it's true because you, people don't understand until they get into, it's just like training for a marathon. If you go in and you have to run like. 30 miles or 30 kilometers, like, Oh my God. Like every weekend, but it's the same thing. Like you have to be, if you're really serious about competing, there is no drinking,

there is no cheating, you have to dial yourself in because literally Kevin, when it comes to preparation week, it can make or break your stage physique. because it could be maybe you had too much salt. Maybe you had too much water. Maybe you ate this or you ate that and it threw off the timing of your stage performance.

I don't know how many people I know that they didn't dial it in or their body filled in like the day after, you know what I mean? Like, it, it is so precise. It's crazier than any competition like I've ever done. and it's always like a feeling of guilt.

Oh my God, I ate that. You know, like, but you just have to accept that this is what you signed up for and you have to be like this until competition day, and then you can do whatever you want at 11:00 PM at night when you're done that's when you go and drink your face off and you have like a big cheeseburger, you know what I mean?

Kevin English: [00:31:02] Yeah. And the milkshake as well. Yeah. I think a lot of people don't realize that that week that you referenced leading up to it. There's, I mean, you're doing some weird things to your body. You're manipulating, the sodium you're manipulating the carbs. You're obviously manipulating the water, even your hydration and your calories.

So yeah, a lot goes into that. So it sounds like you were kind of using the bodybuilding almost as an excuse to get in the gym. You mentioned, I didn't really like going to the gym, but you needed a motivating reason to be there. Certainly preparing for a show will motivate you to get in the gym, get that done.

But really you were using that weightlifting and bodybuilding to prepare yourself for that bike racing season. You, mentioned that you were doing road racing. Tell us a little bit what is bike road racing. what are the distances and what does that look like?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:31:49] Oh, that's the fun part. because it's outside. So I'm in training, for strength as well as cycling. So if you know anything about bodybuilding, cardio and endurance sports, Do not match with bodybuilding, trying to build bulky, nice muscles, right. Cause endurance, and you can always tell the endurance because the legs are longer and stringier and they're not fuller and bulkier.

So that's, that was one thing that probably never worked again for me, but I didn't really care cause I wasn't really there to like. You know, for that purpose, but if, you know, if you do bodybuilding and sitting on your bike for like five hours a week, you know, we're building an endurance base, they don't really go hand in hand.

And so that's why I took that one year off, but for bike racing, we would set up our calendar the year before. So like November before the season typically the same races fell on the same dates. So as a team, We would decide what races we were going to do. And we had our A races and our B races.

And so B races were kind of you go in and you do different strategies. you're not there to win, you're there to train, and then you're going for the A race, which is what you're training for to try and podium. Now road racing is hard in a women's category because there's very few it's not like a men's stage or immense race where there's four times the amount of men on the start line that there is women.

But so there's different types of race. So there's time trials, which is a timed event. So it's individual out and back or a circle or whatever. So that might be one day. You have a criterium, which so you could race every weekend, somewhere. So you have to travel. So it was a lot of traveling setting up, tearing down warming up, doing your race.

Praying you don't crash. and then there's stage races, which is a weekend long, like four events. So you have a hill climb, a prologue time trial, a criterium, a long race. So that's Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning. So you got those. So then if you want to talk like preparation, then good recovery eating nutrient. So this is where like nutrition really, really, really comes into play. You cannot sit there and, just skimp on eating when you're training, before a race, remember I was saying, I carried on a lot of the things that I was taught from my first coach in 2005 straight through to now.

And it's always worked, and as the leader of the team I would, if we were onsite we would always make sure we two hours before start time, we are sitting at the start line, like, and a lot of times we were the only people there, but it reduced a lot of stress.

We were always well-prepared. And ready. We weren't like, Oh my God, we got a flat, Oh my God. Like, where's my food. Where's the, this where's that, you know, like everybody. And that's how I run my team. Because there's nothing worse than being the person that drives up 20 minutes has to check in. But like never that person.

Um, I dunno if you know, I'm never that person
Kevin English: [00:35:35] Yeah, no, I think that anybody who's done any kind of a race, and certainly when you're talking about triathlons or bike races, now we have equipment and other things it's a little different than just you know, a marathon or half marathon 5k just to, to be prepared. And certainly you don't want to be that person scrambling, trying to

figure things out and check in, et cetera. So you mentioned that you do this as a team. How many are on a team and how do you split work during these, group events?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:36:02] well so I've had anywhere between like five to 10 girls on the team and say anywhere from like four to eight, or maybe the whole team will be at this one event. So not everybody ends up going because you know, different commitments and things like that. As the manager. I would always be preparing the list of things for everyone to make sure that bring.

And there is always a very specific timeline as to how we're going to do things and so there's always a very structured plan. And I like to be structured in these things I guess it worked out well. I had girls stay with me for a number of years, and then the team stopped in 2013, which was kind of a nice thing after eight years because literally I was gone most of the summer and. You know, that is pretty stressful on my husband. Like we had two kids, one summer.

I was pregnant the other summer. I had a baby on my shoulder. I never stopped. The kids were always with me and and we might get back into racing. Like the kids are old enough now they can become little racers. But yeah, it is. And it's very demanding on my husband to be with the kids all the time, like every other weekend.

And so when September rolled around, I didn't go anywhere. You know, even though there's like another cyclocross season or you could say I'm like, I think I would be divorced

if I. Did like everything, even though I really loved it, but anyways, you get to pick

Kevin English: [00:37:44] Right. And I, and I can relate to that. And I think probably a lot of our listeners can too, if you do any kind of endurance event and you're passionate about, I used to do a ton of triathlons and throwing some marathons in there and things. And to your point, I was. Yes. I was gone a lot of weekends doing these races and whatnot, but really it's all consuming because you know, in the mornings I'm up and I'm out and I'm on my bike or I'm running or I'm swimming, but every weekend revolves around,

if it's not a race. Well, I've got my long run. I've got my brick workout. I got this big this. And then of course, when I'm finally finished with that, I gotta to refuel now and I need to take it easy

cause I've worked so hard. Yeah, no, it's not, it's not being present for, you know, at that point in my life or for my wife and my young kids, it's just, my life was revolving around that and I've transitioned away from that.

I no longer do that, but was a season in my life and it, it did take a lot of, a lot of my time, a lot of my resources, a lot of my attention. And, you know, fairly or unfairly, it, did take it away from my family. So there is that kind of push and pull. If, you know, if you're passionate about something that an endurance event that takes so much of your time and energy, that's just kind of the trade-off.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:38:50] You know, that's actually a very good point because it was very important that my husband had his own thing too. And it wasn't just about me. And that's where I think a lot of people fall short because it's all about them. Like, they're this and they're that , we always scheduled who was training when, because the nice thing about that, he

preferred training at night, which is cool. Or, and I was always like an early morning person. And he had his event that he trained for. I had my events, so it was very respectful that we both had our own things and I think for a lot of couples when somebody decides to do big things there has to be a, a compromise, like you can't just start doing something like a iron man, if you've never been active.

And now you're 20 hours away from the home. Yeah, no, like seriously, who do you think you are? This is your, like her husband or wife deserves to have their time. It's not all about you. So you have to figure it out if you're going to do something like that. And I know people can crucify me for saying that, but like, seriously,

Kevin English: [00:40:07] No, that

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:40:08] so many divorces.

Kevin English: [00:40:09] very, very well said. And I was guilty of that. . All of a sudden it was one of my brothers said, Hey dude, we should run a marathon. I'd never run in my life. He bought a book four months to your first marathon or something like that.

And we trained and you know, I ran it with my two brothers. It was amazing. My two brothers said, okay, that's a bucket list one and done. And I was hooked. I was like, Holy moly. Feeling that emotional feeling of finishing that work was just addictive to me. And I just, without thinking, threw myself wholeheartedly into, to that running and, and I didn't stop at that time to consider, just how disruptive that was to my loved ones to my, to my wife and my kids. Right. And so yeah, to your point, that's very, very well said. And certainly people out there need to take that into consideration. If one, spouse or one partner is taking up something big and time consuming, whatever it is, they need to consider their partner.

If they're not, along with that. Right. So my wife was very patient, very supportive through those years. Um, or

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:41:08] You're not divorced.

Kevin English: [00:41:09] Yeah. But no, exactly. I'm no, I'm not divorced. And it's only because she was very, very patient, but she was patient with me and she was also, she brought it to my attention, said, look, you're taking a lot of time for you and you need to consider us.

Yeah. So I was like, Oh, you know, if I, now that I think about it here, you're right there. So

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:41:28] Okay, I'm going away for a week in Cuba. Bye.

Kevin English: [00:41:31] Yeah, well, yeah, right. Oh my goodness. All right, well, Sylvie let's switch a little bit and I want to talk about what you're doing today. Tell me what does a typical workout week look like for you?

What are you doing these days?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:41:46] Oh my gosh, Kevin. Okay. So I have been working really hard to kind of integrate well, I mean, this whole pandemic really threw everybody for a loop. Right. I've been putting out a winter cycling program that's been local here for the last 15 years. So we've always been in studio somewhere.

Because it allows me to continue coaching and helping people improve their cycling skills and form and technique and get faster and stronger, whatever their capacity is.

so obviously I have no location and I had to go online. So this really created a big pivot for me to start creating courses for cyclists. So I was able to do my 16 week online through zoom. It wasn't as well attended as past years because people kind of like the in studio thing, you know, and it is kind of personal.

It is fun to get to know your people. However, it's been equally as fun getting to know people on zoom. So that's been all online and I had to also compete with Swift and Ruby and all these other online cycling platforms, which are super cool, but they don't offer pedal form or skill and technique.

Like a lot of people are sitting on there and like I'm always dropped, or I'm dying on the hills and that's because a lot of people have really no technique or skill in cycling. It's just like learning anything like how to run. there's different forms and skills to becoming a better runner or, how do you get faster?

Well, there's different things you have to do to become faster. I have my online courses that you attend every week and you learn, and it's a peroidized program. So you base build and the strength, power and speed towards March. And then, so I still have people jumping into those.

And then I'm creating a four hour. This is like an intensive one. So if somebody is just wants to get. All the goods in one shot. I've done it in four weeks. So I'm just taking the material and doing it like one module every hour. So pedal form. Hill climbing speed and power and then nutrition.

So that's coming together in, on like a four hour module so I'm just launching that. And then my fitness stuff. So again, I thank the pandemic because I was in the gym, I was working out I'm like I was just like, eh, in a weird, weird place. And then there was no gym and I have a full gym here that I haven't used in like eight years. And I started going online. So again, like I just I'm never going to do this, come downstairs every day and just work out. I've tried that for eight years and just never worked.

So I was like, okay, I'm going to start doing Facebook lives. I'm just going to show up every day at 7:30 in the morning, do a half an hour workout. Cause I don't want to work out any longer than that. And and I've been doing that ever since March. And so from that, I was doing it online on my Facebook page.

And then I moved it to a private page where I have people joining and they get free workouts. Saving lots of money working out for free. and I've also benefited massively. Like, I've think I've seen these gains, right? Like years, you know, like I was like, wow, look up, look at me. You know, because now, you know, as you're saying, moving into the fifties you know, just a couple of years ago, I'm like, well, I have to like the gym.

I have no choice now. Because I need to stay fit and healthy because I'm moving into my fifties. And I know that, muscle, if you're not using it, you know, you started losing your muscle. And I do not want to be a, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but I want to be super fit when I'm 60, 70, and 80, and you have to do that now. And, you know, I have a certain standard for my body and I've never let that waiver. I've had three kids I've had divorced once and I'm important. I'm number one. And that's another thing a lot of ladies don't do is they don't put themselves on a pedestal and you can have everything and still be top of your game,

and married, like, so the thing is that you have to put yourself first. but the thing is that you have to compromise too. Like that doesn't mean like everything revolves around you

Kevin English: [00:46:44] I think you're right that a lot of women and a lot of people in general, miss that. So what you're describing there is self care, right? That if you take care of yourself, first in that self-care sense, you're actually showing up as a better mom, as a better person, as a better wife, as a better worker, all those things, right?

Yes.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:47:02] Happy. And alot of women, I'm just going to talk about women because you just feel guilty. I don't know why you feel guilty because you're letting everybody else do their own thing and you didn't put yourself first. And I have no problem saying that because I mean, my kids

didn't suffer. They're not suffering. They get whatever they want, you know, but I kept what I want to, my husband gets what he wants. And so we're all, you know, we're all happy, we're all healthy. And so that leads me into my next thing with the fitness stuff. So I got my cycling online and I am taking my

fitness to a subscription base, so you can work out with me. And I'm just doing that now. I'm so excited about that. I was like, how do I monetize this? Like, cause like I'm working out and I'm going to continue working out. And how can I help more people because. Like now my Facebook page is growing.

People are adding friends like for doing health challenges and learning about nutrition and, and it's really about giving women a vehicle to Fitness or, workouts, or however you want to look at into their day. And now my girlfriend joined me. She does yoga workouts. So you've got yoga and weight training not weight training,

it's just what I do. Is like a Tabata full body workout. So it's three leg exercises, three upper body and three abs. And sometimes they're combined and it's 50 seconds each. So it's like a hit workout. And it's funny, like my girlfriends who watch me, who work out with me, I'm sitting there huffing and puffing and everybody's watching me.

I'm like, I hope I put it on a good show for you guys. Cause this is really hard. We're good. So I was like funny. So that's what I'm doing. So I have my cycling online and my fitness will soon join it. And I'm super excited about that.

Kevin English: [00:49:11] Obviously this pandemic has, has changed things a lot for consumers and for coaches in the health and fitness space. Right. Where I think most people were very comfortable as a consumer of a fitness product of being in person. And certainly coaches we want to be in front of our clients.

We want to be watching their form and giving real time feedback, but things have changed drastically and I think that more and more people are, if you have a fitness business, if you haven't moved online, you better get busy, quick. a lot of have moved over or to this kind of online training.

And, and it's working for a lot of people and frankly, regardless of what the future holds, many of those people, aren't going back. Right. They're going to stay with this online world. So, yeah. Congratulations to you. It sounds like you're well on your way, I knew that you had the the cycling stuff online.

I didn't realize that you were doing the the more, the hit bootcamp kind of, sort of thing and that's fantastic. So it sounds like you're obviously very active. You got a lot going on now that you're in this over 50 club. What are your thoughts on recovering? How do you recover in maintain all of this crazy activity that you're doing?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:50:23] Right. Kevin, that's such a good question because as you might feel the older you get. The longer you need to recover. And yeah. So all I have to say is that because, right,

Kevin English: [00:50:39] Yeah, no, I think we're, I think everybody listening to this is probably with you on that. Yeah.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:50:44] Like you've, I've been working out for 25 years and I always get that person. They're like, Oh, it always comes so naturally to you. I go, you have no clue. Because I have been investing in myself for 25 years and there isn't a day that doesn't go by that

I don't make sure that I'm eating well. I worked out I'm now really monitoring my sleep more , managing my stress because. I know that that's, what's going to keep my body healthy and my mind healthy. Right. And you know, and also we have to think about relationships too, like with your kids, cause everything is.

You know, everything's everything you have to work at. and lot of people aren't into doing that. There's like, yeah, I just want to you know, hang out and drink wine and eat chips. I'm like, well, then you better love what you see in the mirror everyday because that ain't going to change, you know And I find the people who make a solid commitment to themselves are the ones who come out with the transformation and the understanding that they have just entered a life of health.

It is forever. Like nobody likes to say, Oh my God, forever. Do I have to do that forever? I go, yeah, you have to do that forever. Like it's not like a month thing. Like, and things are going to change. You have to do that forever.

Kevin English: [00:52:16] yeah. That's well said. It's certainly it's a lifestyle, right? Yeah,

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:52:19] and I committed to myself, I know people have things happen to them in their lives. I mean, everybody has a choice to either let it define them or. Make themselves better you know, divorces and fun, depending on how your divorce went, losing a child, isn't fun, death, isn't fun.

But the thing is that you still have a body that you have to maintain. And if you let it go for two years and you add 80 pounds, well, shit, that's gonna take you five years to get off. Healthily, like, do you honestly like that? And that's why I say like, I could be that person, but do I honestly want to have to work that hard to get back to where I was?

No. And that is the strongest reason why I keep doing what I do and also I got kids. I want them to look up to me. I want them to be healthy. I want them to be, my kids are eight and 10. I have the next 10 years of molding them to being amazing human beings.

You know, it's up to me.

Kevin English: [00:53:28] yeah, you're setting an example for them as well. Yep.

100%. You absolutely did. You did answer that question. Yeah. Well, and now it's kind of interesting because we started out talking about recovery, right? And you had this very holistic response, right?

You've the big three nutrition I'm working on my nutrition, my sleep, and my stress. You mentioned that, Hey, now that, you know, as I get older, it takes longer, but you also talked about, the social aspect and having healthy relationships and things of that nature.

So. Absolutely with you a hundred percent on that. Well, Sylvie, as we're kind of wrapping up here, let's take a couple of minutes and talk about your podcast. You have that podcast it's secrets from the saddle. What prompted you to start a podcast and tell us what people might expect in that?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:54:12] So secrets from the saddle podcast. I started that two years ago. Funny enough. And I'm like, you know what? We need a podcast where. We're talking to all kinds of people in cycling, like there's podcasts for you. They're always talk about the professionals and to the pros and that's always some, I don't know somebody who's like, well known in the field, I guess you could say.

and that's where I was like, well, Why don't somebody like me start and I have lots of, I've been in the cycling world for 20 years. So I know a lot of people, and I know a lot of people in different sectors, like the bike shop owners, the cyclists, the newbies, the coaches you I just, don't a lot of people.

I was like, well, wouldn't it be cool if I put something together that kind of, Showcased all aspects of cycling, like anything that has anything to do with cycling. Like it could be a swim year or like the, the chef for a pro-team or like somebody who's cycling for a cause. And, and so that started two years ago, and then I was on a roll and then I went for a holiday. And then I never started again.

Kevin English: [00:55:26] Okay.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:55:28] and then and then I was like, you know what, I really need to pick that up again. Cause that was a was fun.

And and be like, it just, I think it's, there was a need for it and also a way to have people get to know me and then get to know my cycling coaching programs. so that's, kinda how it got it's back rolling again.

Kevin English: [00:55:52] Yeah. you got a lot of channels and you have a lot of content out there. So that being said, where's the best place for people to connect with you?

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:56:00] Hmm. Well My website, Sylvie, doe.ca is where you can find me. And There is a cycling skills. pro.com is where my cycling coaching stuff sits. It's also on my website too. I do a free bike maintenance webinar once a week.

So that's part of that too. I love teaching that stuff.

And and then, you know, now the summer started my cycling clubs. So cycle fit, chicks.ca. So if you're local and you're female, and you're looking for an amazing multilevel club to join from beginner to high level advanced that's the club. And like I said, you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TickTock, Tick Tock's big

right now. I'm all over Tick Tock, YouTube. And that's where you can find my, coaching, my podcasts, my fitness. I have about 400 videos on there.

Kevin English: [00:57:06] Wow. Yeah. And for folks listening, I'll drop all of that into the show notes so that anybody wants to reach out or take advantage of any of those resources, they can go there and certainly reach out to you directly from those channels as

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:57:17] Oh, for sure.

Kevin English: [00:57:19] Well, Sylvie. I want to thank you so much for coming on, spending the time with us, sharing your story with us, your obviously a great inspiration, and you're a great ambassador of healthy aging, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Sylvie_DAoust: [00:57:34] Thank you very much, Kevin. It was an absolute pleasure being here and I'm glad that we connected and we had this time to, to chat and I just love sharing. I hope it helps somebody out there. Cause I'm always open to, to chatting and helping somebody, if they ever have questions or need to chat.