My 5k to Couch Training Program

Whew!  I'm back from a whirlwind vacation and...wow...yeah.  That was a crazy week.  I always feel the need to detox a little after a vacation because of the inevitable road food, stress, and wear and tear of traveling.  You know how it is.  But this time, the detox is more like shock therapy, because life changed a lot for me while I was gone.

Before we left, I laid out my workout clothes for the morning after our return. I always do this so no matter how late it is, my first workout back isn't hijacked just because I was too pooped to prepare for it.  It feels great to know that when I get home, my real life can pick up right where I left off.  But this time, those clothes stayed where I left them. Thanks to too much activity, stress, and fun on my vacation, I'm on an exercise hiatus for a few weeks.  My husband is referring to it as my "5k to Couch," program.  He's right: I need to spend some time on the couch!  And yes, it is driving me crazy.

You know I like to live in that high-energy zone where I am always challenging myself, pushing my fitness limits, and training for something new. In wellness-speak, this happy zone is called, "flow."  Flow is when your challenges are equal to your ability to manage them.  In other words, it's that place where you feel like everything is good: you're challenged, but not overwhelmed. You're managing life, but not bored. You're in flow!  As a wellness coach, I help people achieve and manage flow, and I also do things to keep myself in flow.  Since I've gotten pregnant, my workouts have changed a lot, but the challenge has remained equal to my ability, so I've stayed in this happy flowy place.

Now that I've been *ahem* advised to slow down, I'm faced with a truly scary proposition: no exercise. I haven't been told I can't exercise at all, but I need to stay off my feet for a while and take it easy. It's scary for me to think about not being active; it's my lifeblood. But, I obviously have bigger fish to fry for the next 11 weeks. I have to deal.

I was pretty down about it and could feel myself atrophying just at the thought of a sedentary lifestyle. I'd been in such a euphoric state of flow and I didn't want to let go of it.That's when a wonderful friend (and wellness coach buddy) helped me realize that really, I'm just entering a new type of flow. The challenge...well, it might be a little above my ability. LOL  Truly resting?  Wow, that's new for me. The only time I have actually acheived it is by doctor mandate.  But, I love a challenge.  So, I've spent a lot of today embracing this new flow. It was weird to sleep in this morning, and I didn't go swim at lunch.  But, baby is way more important.

The 5k to Couch training program is in effect, and so far I am an A+ student! :)

Being active is a big part of holistic health, but there are times when our emotional, mental, spiritual, and nutritional health take the front seat. For the next 11 weeks (OMG JUST 11 WEEKS?!?!?) I'll be flowing in a new direction.

Are you in flow?  What does flow mean to you?  Let me know, and as always, get out there and get healthy!

Pulling the Weeds

It's Spring! Or at least we're pretending it's Spring! And if your yard is anything like mine, it's pretty trashed.  Winter ran amok in my backyard and while some plants have survived the pillaging, most of it looks overwhelmingly bad.  I actually ventured outside yesterday and looked at my "garden" in the harsh sunlight of day, and decided to just embrace the clover lifestyle.  Maybe I can even find a four-leafed one in time for St. Patrick's Day.

I need to pull some weeds. I don't want to, but I worked hard on that garden last year and if I want it to be something that makes me proud again, I need to get my butt out there, suck it up, and do it.

Naturally, I saw an immediate parallel to wellness.  Our wellness can be like a garden at times.  We have to cultivate it, tend to it regularly, and if we are consistent in our attention, we get to appreciate the beauty of it.  But, we also have to pull the weeds.

My biggest weed right now is my left Achilles Tendon and the overuse injury that flares up when I go running.  I've rested it, iced it, strengthened my calves, avoided hills, changed my shoes...and finally decided to just pull the weed altogether and cross-train.  I've reduced my running and incorporated other forms of exercise, like biking and swimming, to replace the cardio.  Running was a weed that was keeping my wellness from going into full bloom.  Hopefully when it comes back, it will be in the form of something that is welcome to stay a while!

Are there weeds in your wellness garden that need to be pulled? Maybe some bad habits you picked up over the winter...or a nagging seed of doubt that you can pull off the next level of intensity in your workouts? It's time to pull the weeds, toss them out, and start fresh for spring!

Good day!

The Mind Slip that Blew My Mind

The strangest things have been happening this week. Strange, wonderful, destiny-type things that have really thrown me for a loop and made me take stock of what this year really has in store for my wellness, inside and out.  And just so you know, it's a whole bunch of fantastic.

And the strangest just happened - for the third time this week, I accidentally typed the word, "love" instead of what I meant to type.  And as someone who thinks everything is a sign of wonderful things to come, this has even me a little freaked out.

Although, it shouldn't be that unexpected. I've been putting my consistency, data, accountability, and intention into hyper mode lately to bring some revolutionary changes in not only my fitness but my life in general. So why am I surprised when it works? 

I've been exercising and eating well consistently.
I've been recording my wellness data.
I've been implementing challenging, new forms of accountability.
And I've been very intentionally looking for, creating, and sending positive energy.

It's been landing on my doorstep in droves, and apparently all of his happy mumbo-jumbo is even working its way into my subconscience. Love is finally pouring from my fingertips.

Here's the lesson in all of this: create an environment where wellness success can grow, and it will. Are you creating an environment for success?  Here are a few ways to tell:

1. Do you surround yourself with positive people who encourage you to achieve your wellness goals?
2. Do you practice positive self-talk to yourself? Your brain and your body listen and learn quickly, so be nice!
3. Do you make the choices necessary to yeild positive outcomes? Health is a choice.
4. Do you work consistently, with intention, use accountability, and respond to data relative to your goals?

If your answers are yes, buckle your seatbelt. Congratulations! You're about to have an awesome weekend.

And if they are no...what's the hold up?

Fitness: It Just Has to Be

Any given day you can find stories of amazing people doing incredible things in the name of fitness.  My Twitter feed each day is filled with people posting euphoric updates about their grueling workouts and cheering each other on to achieve more. It can be inspirational as all get-out and I love it!

It can also be intimidating.  I mean, sometimes exercise isn't amazing. Sometimes the workout is just a means to an end: calories burned, body mobilized. We all live for those days when we feel like an Olympian, but sometimes fitness just IS. I think that's okay.

We have so much pressure in our lives to do more, be more, and achieve more.  We don't just run, we train for a marathon!  We don't just lose weight, we reclaim the body of our youth!  And sometimes, on the quest to achieve these amazing things, we forget that fitness doesn't have to be amazing. It just has to be.

You don't have to run a marathon.  Just run.
You don't have to have the body of a supermodel. Just slim down and maintain it.
You don't have to be amazing. You just have to be healthy.

It's not a cop-out, and I am not giving you an excuse to slack off.  It's just a reminder - fitness doesn't have to be a mind-blowingly awesome endorphinpalooza of achievement every single day. So chillax. But!

You do have to get exercise every day.
You do have to eat clean and healthy every day.
You do have to take accountability for your health every single day.

Some of those days will have you feeling like a superhero - those are great beyond words!  Some days will just be what you do because you're a healthy person.

And if you can do those things in this hyperactive world, that's pretty amazing.

What's not in my suitcase

So yesterday I packed up my suitcase for 2011. I'm ready to go!  I've got all of my positive people, influences, data, and energy that I'll need next year. But there are some things that didn't make the cut.  Here's what I am leaving behind in 2010:

1. Competitiveness. I am competitive, and not always in a good way.  I want (and sometimes need) to feel like I am the best at everything, and if I suspect that someone is taking my title from me, I get stressed out and anxious.  There are times when being competitive has served me well and helped me achieve goals I wasn't sure I would reach, but I've felt this year like being so focused on being the absolute best has been a detriment to me. I've learned that sharing the spotlight is fun, and I've been warmed by the glow of others. It was weird at first but over time I've gotten more comfortable. I want to leave the nasty side of my competitive spirit in 2010.

2. Jealousy. When you compete, you're constantly sizing up the competition. And when they're better than you, well, jealousy is not far behind.  But I loathe feeling jealous and I want to stop. The intense feelings of happiness that I've experienced this year by taking a back seat has convinced me that there is no more room for jealousy in my suitcase. It's out.

3. Negative self-talk. Body image haunts so many women, and I'm one of them. It's hard sometimes to look in the mirror, see my imperfections, and not feel driven to change them.  But I'm learning that if I want my body to be a partner with me in wellness, I need to be nicer to it. I would never say to a friend what I have said to myself; why would my body want to work with me if I treat it like garbage?  So I am going to leave negative self-talk in 2010.

4. Doubt. I did things in 2010 that I wasn't sure I could do...and they were easy. I did my first triathlon, and I completed my first half-marathon.  Looking back, it seems silly to have doubted that I could achieve those things. I don't see a need for doubt in 2011.

I grew up in 2010. It was an amazing year of growth and the emotional transformation has been immense.  Saying goodbye to these things that used to be part of each day isn't just a symbolic exercise for me...it's a tear-jerking realization that as I snap closed my 2011 suitcase, I truly have everything I need and nothing - NOTHING - can stop me.

Goodbye 2010.  You were awesome.

But I have to go.

Sometimes: A Confession

There's something I need to tell you.  Brace yourself, it may come as a shock. Are you sitting down?  Here goes:

I'm not perfect.

I know.  I know!  I was just as surprised as you!  But here's the thing - sometimes I just don't feel like doing the healthy thing.  And I am here to confess it to you today. 

Sometimes I don't feel like getting out of bed and going to the gym.  Sometimes I walk part of my run because I just don't wanna. I run harder the next day.

Sometimes I have a serious craving for a big greasy cheeseburger. And some of those times I get one.  

Sometimes I ask my husband to make me a chocolate martini even though they are loaded with sugar and I don't really have the calories for it.  And I eat the Hershey kiss he puts in the bottom.  And I put it in my food log even though I don't want to.

Sometimes I slack off at the gym and don't work as hard as I can.  I work harder the next day instead.

Probably four nights out of the week, my husband, son, and I eat completely different things for dinner and I don't care one bit even though there are probably hundreds of child psychologists  who will tell me I am ruining my family.  Sometimes we just don't want to eat the same thing and I don't see why we should have to.

I bribe my child with trips to get "ice cream" (shhhh, it's actually fro-yo) and sometimes I don't put fruit on mine. Sometimes I put little pieces of cheesecake. Scandal!

I feel better telling you this because sometimes I get worried that all of the people who think I never do unhealthy things really do think I never do unhealthy things. But I do.  Granted, my diversions from wellness are pretty pathetic in the grand scheme of things, but still.  They're my diversions.


Don't judge my diversions! LOL


And during this time of year, it's easy to let the sometimes things turn into the usual things and eventually turn into the way you've always done it.  


Look, I know its harder to be healthy during the holidays. I get that.  But I don't care!  It's still important!  


So let's make a deal: we don't have to be perfect. Gasp!  I can't believe I typed that!

You're not off the hook to be healthy just because it's National Goof-off Month! We don't have to be perfect, but we do have to still make progress.  
Because sometimes, it's amazing what you can do when you try.

Back Among the Living!

So things are finally starting to get back to normal.  I went to the gym yesterday and did a righteous upper-body workout that my GoWearFit loved (one great thing about my trainer is that he keeps me MOVING during weights! Love that!), did some cardio on the elliptical, and then proceeded to sleep for 14 hours.  It was really nice, and I needed it.

Then today I got up and ran three miles, which felt nice.  I'm still kind of sinus-y but whaddya gonna do?  Sinuses happen, folks.  And they will not be ignored.

My biggest focus right now, wellness-wise, is nutrition.  I've been craving leafy greens lately, so I'm stocking up on spinach and I may try making some kale chips some upcoming weekend.  I'm also cooking up some vegetable soup and incorporating more peppers into my diet. I just love how I feel when I am fueled with clean, fresh, natural veggies.  Nothing beats it!

Otherwise, just training. I want to enjoy the holidays (OMG is it already the holidays?!?) stress-free and in a healthy, fit, sinus-infection-free body.  For that to happen I need to get some rest, keep a balanced and sane training schedule, and eat clean, yo.  I've got a couple of races over the next two months that will be fun, no real challenges or anything monumental.  And just FYI in case you know me in real life, I will also be very non-committal when it comes to doing things for you. 

It's not you, it's me. 

The rest of the year is about getting back to my set point and just enjoying life there for a while.  Won't you join me? :)

And hey, check it out!  I'm a featured blogger over at The Gracious Pantry!  Thanks Tiffany for linking to me; I am loving all of your new fall recipes!

Good day all, be healthy!

A Little Perspective for Thursday

Liposuction and diet pills.

Just sayin'.

A little perspective for your workout today.

:)

The Clutter-Free Workout

Like most people, one of the big reasons I like to exercise is to clear my head.  People talk at me all day long and to be honest, I love you guys but sometimes it just plum wears me out.  So I center myself through exercise. 

And I throw stuff out.

Way back in the day, my husband proposed marriage by saying he wanted to have "a garage full of junk" with me.  Well, mission accomplished.  Over the 13 years of our marriage we have done our patriotic duty of accumulating lots of STUFF.   We have a small house.  I like my small house.  All of the stuff?  Not so much. 

So for the past couple of years, I have done periodic PMS-fueled closet purges, bringing carloads of stuff to Goodwill or leaving it out for neighborhood dumpster divers.  It feels amazing.  The less stuff I have, the happier I am.  

This is me after decluttering.
Except I wouldn't have the
scarf-thing because I would
have decluttered it.

And, as it turns out, my workouts are better as a result.

I've started noticing a pattern: whenever I declutter, the next week's workouts are absolutely exhilerating.  I'm sure there are other bigger-picture things going on at the same time that contribute to it but I have decided that this is the reason and it's my blog so get over it.  My runs are better, I am more flexible, I lift heavier, and I am faster.

I am happier.  Instead of focusing on stuff, I am focusing on life.

The clutter-free life is leading to clutter-free workouts.  Clutter-free workouts lead to a happier me.  I am totally in favor of that.

But don't worry, the hubs still has his garage full of junk.  It's called the Man Cave.  The Man Cave makes a happier husband. A happier husband means I can train more.  Me training more makes me happy.  Everyone wins. :)

Want to declutter your life to declutter your workouts?  Check out these tips. 

Just don't print it out. :)

Highly Successful Snackers

I was recently reminded of this article about the Seven Habits of Highly Successful Snackers when I was asked what food to pack for a day of walking around in the city. As usual, my clean eating criteria was put into effect:

1. It must be clean and natural.

2. It must be portable.

3. It must be functional.

I'll be honest: I like to chew. I'm like a cow. I've talked about the CHEW FACTOR before - my theory that any "diet" that doesn't allow you to chew frequently is destined for failure, based solely on my own personal experiences of being very close to commiting a violent crime because it had been four hours since my last meal and I was getting ornery. Don't stand between me and my snacks. I will cut you.

My own lunchbag this morning, complete with all
of my fuel for the day. Well, until 5:00 anyway. :)

Anyway, it just so happens that my penchant for chewing is just fine because frequent fueling is important for metabolic processes, blood sugar regulation, and just general well-being.  But it's easy for me to pack on the pounds if I am not smart about what I am munching on.  Luckily by following some common-sense rules of science, I can easily chew my way through the day without needing to wear stretchy pants at the end of it.


Check out these simple tips and remember to apply my rules to them when you pack your bag: Is it natural? Is it portable? Is it functional? 

Good day!

When Clean Eating Attacks

"Food is fuel, food is fuel, food is fuel..."

My friend robotically chanted this to me a couple of weeks ago, her eyes closed and head bobbing methodically as if she were trying to convince herself that she believed it.  Instantly, I knew what had happened.  We were on a business trip.  In a hotel.  It's bound to happen eventually.

The clean and healthy food she had so carefully packed had somehow been compromised, and she had to eat it anyway, because food was fuel and she needed to fuel and she wasn't going to divert from her nutrition plan.

So that makes me the solitary person in the back of the theatre slowly clapping my hands. 

Atta girl!! 

An example of a Happy Place, though not mine.

Her downfall?  The old ice-bucket-as-refrigerator trick.  I've done it myself.  Lacking an actual ice chest or fridge, you're forced to wrap your food in plastic, cocoon it in a bed of ice, and hope it resembles something edible in the morning when you need to fuel (eat) again.  Sometimes you get lucky and your egg whites or yogurt or oatmeal still resemble food. Other times, you find yourself in the same place Lisa was: your own personal episode of Hotel Room Fear Factor.  Close your eyes, hold your nose, go to your happy place, and swallow it before you can think anymore about it.

You're fueled.  Yes it was gross and hopefully we won't need to do that again but the mission has been completed:  body nourished, all systems go.

What do you do when something you've prepared to eat turns out gross?  You eat it anyway because food is fuel.  I learned that lesson when I carefully crafted a salad that sounded like a good idea at the time but actually turned out to be a pretty unfortunate combination of flavors.  But I sucked it up and ate it anyway because food is fuel, not companionship or reward or validation of anything other than the fact that we are human beings that require calories to live. 

Harsh?  Yeah, it's a little extreme and I totally understand if you think I am crazy.  But I was so proud of Lisa that day.  I don't want her to eat disgusting things, but I love that she was able to look at that disgusting thing and get over any feeling she had of entitlement to a hot, delicious breakfast and just see food as fuel.  I am a big fan of hot delicious breakfasts.  But I've also eaten cold oatmeal out of a water-logged tupperware while chanting that familiar mantra, "food is fuel. Food is fuel.  Food is fuel..."  And then I got over it and went on with my day because food is fuel.  Have I mentioned that food is fuel?  I did? Just checking.

To all the fuelers: keep fighting the food fight!

Good day!

How to beat perfectionism? Get Diabetes!

Today I read this article about the impacts of perfectionism on your health.  As expected, it started off with the hypothesis that the increased levels of stress felt by people who strive for perfection eventually led to high blood pressure, increased resting heart rate, and untimely death.

But there is a silver lining: diabetes.  Apparently, like most things, perfectionism can be good and bad.  The good kind is when you strive for perfection in something like managing a disease.  Obviously if you have doctor's orders to stick to a diet and exercise regimen to improve your health, and you do so impeccably, then your well-being will increase and you will be rewarded for your perfection.  In a study explained by the article, specifically people with diabetes experienced a higher degree of health when they got picky about their lives.  Yay anal diabetics!

And then there is the bad kind.  You know, the kind that does lead to high blood pressure, increased resting heart rate, and untimely death.  Luckily, there is also another silver lining - depending on the source of expectations for perfection, perfectionists will fare differently.  It turns out that perfectionists who self-impose expectations of perfection (like mio), experience a lower level of self-loathing than people who feel that society expects them to be perfect or who expect other people to be perfect. 

I haven't done the research on this, but I think a lower level of self-loathing would be preferable in this particular situation, so I'll take it.

As a perfectionist who strives for 100% awesomeness every day in my nutrition and exercise habits, this is great news.  Not only can I keep on being a nut, I can do so with the confidence that as long as everyone else keeps expecting me to screw up, my self-worth and well-being will continue to rise.  Now if only I could get diabetes, I could really make things happen.

The Plan: DO THINGS

Last week I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Southwest Airlines founder, Herb Kelleher:

"We have a strategic plan. It's called doing things."

And as one of the only airlines out there actually still doing okay (as least in the category of not pissing off all of your customers, which seems to be the strategic plan of other airlines), I think he knows what he is talking about. 

And that quote reminded me of this picture, which I love. 

And THAT reminded ME to remind YOU that while sitting around and thinking about your goals is great as a visualization tool, only getting up and doing things is going to make them happen.

A reminder from me to you: do things today.  Preferably in the direction of having super-hero arms. :)

Good day!

Can she do it? YES SHE CAN! But she might not.

Warning: I am going to get all self-righteous-motivational-speaker on you.

Removing the word, "can't," from my vocabulary has been one of the most revealing things I've done for my personal wellness.  It's a cliched motivational-poster-type thing to say, but a really helpful thing to do.  I mean, when you really pay attention to the number of times you say you can't do something, it starts to take a toll on your self-esteem, doesn't it? Some people go through their entire day belittling themselves with reminders of all the things they are unable to do.  That must suck!

They can't eat healthy, they can't exercise, they can't get places on time, they can't do

wah wah wah. 

Yeah, get over it.  I'm busy too.  What they're really saying is, "I won't."  It could be, "I haven't yet," or "I don't want to," or "I didn't," but rarely is, "I can't," a true statement. To be clear, I am referring to things not bound by the laws of physics. :)

I hear it in the gym all the time and it just pisses me off.  Erika can tell you first-hand about when she told me she couldn't run.   How sad it must be to go through every day feeling like a miserable failure!  So I started challenging myself to really stop saying it and be more honest about what I was really saying.  After a while, I started applying that rule to my life outside of the gym, too.  At work, at home, and in relationships with people, I found that when I stopped short of saying I couldn't do something and honestly admitted that I just plain didn't want to, I had not done it yet, or I wasn't going to, I was a lot happier.  Maybe I am imagining things but I think the people I communicate with are happier too. :)

I often hear people say they can't live without sugar, can't wake up earlier to exercise, can't run or jump or whatever, and believe me there have been times when I have believed that about myself.  But I know we can, we just don't want to. And that's okay as long as we realize that some of our goals will not be fully realized until we do. 

Listen to yourself over the next few days.  How often do you catch yourself saying you can't?  What are you really saying?