We asked one of our superstar members of the Specialized-lululemon cycling team to share with us what is going through her mind at the beginning of yet-another busy season of racing. Meet Gillian Carleton, a track cyclist from Victoria B.C. who we think is just the cat's pyjamas (she also has the best hair ever!)

the road ahead: an action-packed 2013

As I write this, I'm packing (yet again) for a race. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 2013 race season, and I'm more than a bit anxious about it. After such an exciting year filled with so many new experiences, thousands of international travel miles, and a fair amount of (good) stress, I feel like I'm being dragged kicking and screaming out the end of this off-season. Just one more week, please!

To be fair, my schedule has been picking up already for a month now. Just last week I returned to B.C. after a very successful first training camp in sunny Portugal with my new team, Specialized-lululemon. As 2013 will be my first professional road season and I'm coming into the whole thing as a bit of a novice, I admit I was quite nervous to start training with my new teammates, most of whom I had never met before! However, my fears were quickly laid to rest by the end of the first day. There's a reason that Specialized-lululemon is the most successful women's team in the world - the staff, riders, and sponsors are hand-picked from the best, and they all bring something unique and important to the table. I am so incredibly excited to contribute to that tradition of excellence in the next year.

However, with excellence comes expectations. both internal and external. I am so proud of what I've accomplished in my short career, but I'm well aware that the bar has been raised for next year, and the next four years. Hence my desire for a just a few more days away from it all, a desire that I'm sure is shared by many.

This year, it is my personal goal to acknowledge these feelings; acknowledge and accept that I am human and that it is normal to feel nervous about things that matter.

By end of day tomorrow, after 100+ laps at breakneck speed on the velodrome, any anxiety I may have inwardly harboured will be gone. I'm a professional athlete, and in my heart there is really nothing I love more than competition....and honestly, there's no head space left for self-doubt anyway when I'm pushing myself harder than ever before.

What are the little things you try to achieve that accompany the big goals you are accomplishing? Is it appreciating the little moments? Embracing failure? Share with us what small things you concentrate on while climbing your proverbial "goal mountains".

Remember being 17 and confused about who you were and what life was all about? Cyclist Loren Rowney does. We caught up with her at Specialized-lululemon's recent training camp in Portugal to ask her about how she got to where she is today:

watch the video

more from this series

- Ryan Leier
- Lisa Brooking
- Mary Beth Larue

A small team from our Store Support Centre in Vancouver went and met the Specialized-lululemon women’s cycling team in Portugal for their pre-season training camp. Santa Monica-based yoga ambassador Mary Beth LaRue came along with the purpose of sharing a daily practice with these high performance athletes. Mary Beth shares her experience here.

My first morning teaching the specialized-lululemon cycling team, I was a bit nervous.

Who was I, Mary Beth LaRue, to be teaching these superhero-like athletes? What if they hated yoga? What if the practice was too early?

I couldn't have been more wrong.

These past ten days have taught me many things, both about myself and others, but the most profound has been the power of "showing up" and by showing up, I don't necessarily mean just rolling into class and sitting on your mat but showing up in a way that inspires those around you and continually reveals your commitment to bettering yourself.

Class was at 7 a.m. and the athletes were tired. The room was a little small. And yet there was not one single audible complaint from any of them.

Healthy. Strong. Committed. Vibrant. Open.

These weren't exactly the words that came to my mind when I thought of pro athletes. Sure, I anticipated that they would be strong, healthy and very committed…but totally down to practice crow pose in light rain? I didn't see that coming.

The Specialized-lululemon team are a unique bunch. There was no sizing each other up, as we females sometimes do; instead there was a sense of playfulness and joy, both on the mat and on the bike.

my yoga vs. your yoga

If you wish to define "yoga" as a series of poses then yes, there's a difference between my practice and the person on the mat next to me. Instead, what if you (just try it on for a moment and see if it fits) saw yoga as a framework for staying fully present. I am certainly no cyclist, but I know how it feels to be "in it" - fully connected to your breath and fully present. It's a beautiful thing.

Later in the week, we all completed a quiz - a series of questions that highlights your strengths with the idea that you work on what you're brilliant at 80 percent of the time, and what's hard for you/what you aren't naturally gifted at the other 20. My strengths? Connector first, followed by teacher.

Of course.

What I love about yoga - teaching it, practicing it, writing about it - is how often I get to connect to others. Pretty quickly here in Portugal, I recognized that we were all made of the same stuff.

Health. Strength. Commitment. Vibrancy. Openness.

And whether that came out singing "Gangster's Paradise" during karaoke (yes, that happened!) or laughing our way through crow pose in the rain, we approached every step of the way with an open heart.

I'm not going to end this with a "I really hope their season goes well" because that's already in the bag. These women blow "successful" right out of the water.

Healthy. Strong. Committed. Vibrant. Open.

They have already made it. They know what being a part of a team means in the most intimate sense of the word and they operate wins and losses with grace and grounded-ness.

I am leaving inspired. I am heading back to Venice Beach with more confidence in my inner superhero than I came with.

If you're ever in Santa Monica and want to check out one of Mary Beth's classes, take a peek here...and while you're on her site, be sure to read her personal blog. We love it!