Tag Archives: motivation

Boston Marathon 2013: A Letter To The Runners

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***EDIT: The following post was written and posted the morning before the tragic Boston Marathon bombing. My heart goes out to all those affected, and to all of those whose lives were turned upside down for one senseless act of violence. Stay Strong, Boston.***

 

Today is one of the best days of the year in Boston; Marathon Monday. Instead of a normal blog post, I’ve taken today to write a letter to all of the runners who will be pounding the pavement today:

marathon

Dear Marathon Runners,

Do you know what you’re about to do? You’re about to run. 26.2 miles.

From Hopkinton to Boylston St, through Framingham, Wellesley, Newton, and Brookline, among other towns in between. Past throngs of screaming students from Wellesley College, BC, BU, and the 30something other colleges in the Boston Area (because of course all of the colleges have this day off, it’s “Patriots Day”). Up Heartbreak Hill, where you’ll want to just crawl your way to the top (or alternatively, curl up in the fetal position and cry… both are acceptable). You’ll run through some quieter areas, but for the most part the crowds will be so loud and excited that, for better or worse, you’ll hardly be able to hear yourself think. You’re about to run.

You’re about to join the exclusive club of people who have run Boston. BOSTON. The world’s oldest annual marathon, and one that is the pinnacle of many runners’ careers. Runners from all over the US and all over the world dream of running in this race, and here you are. You are HERE. You are about to run.  You are becoming a part of history; a part of a century-old tradition, and this is happening NOW.

And I’ll be somewhere in Mile 25 eating handing out Swedish Fish to those who need a little glucose kick (and maybe throwing back a mimosa or two). And for that, that makes you better than me (for today). You have trained your butt off, you have logged countless miles throughout a long, cold winter in order to get ready for today. You have dedicated your weekends to long runs and your social life has taken a back seat to the pavement. For that, I applaud you. Whether you’re an elite, a weekend warrior, a war veteran, running for a charity or simply to put a check check-mark on your bucket list, know that today you are amazing.

As much as I joke on this blog about how much I hate running, I have the utmost respect for all of you. The reality of the situation is, I couldn’t do what you’re doing today. The time, the commitment, the training sessions, the final event; I know it’s not in the cards for me. But you’re about to complete one of the most incredible tasks of your lives. I applaud you for everything that has brought you to this moment, and I will continue my applause all day, from the sidelines, because not everyone has a marathon in them. YOU do.

You are strong, you are determined. You may be fast, you may be slow, but all that matters is that you’re here, and you’re about to run.

And to my friends Kristen, Steph, and Corey who are running today, this message goes out to you three especially. Good luck on the course, have fun, and most importantly, keep an eye out for me at Mile 25. I’ll give you Swedish Fish. And maybe a mimosa if you ask politely. ;)

You can also check out my Marathon Monday post from last year if you’d like, complete with some thoughts about the inspirational men and women who run this race every year. Enjoy! Happy Marathon Monday everyone! 

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The Year In Review

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Well, it’s that time of year again isn’t it?

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That time when people look back on the year that has just passed and take stock of their life then vs. now.

Basically, there are two categories of people at the end of December. There are those who had set goals in January and reached them, and then there are those who set goals or resolutions and failed miserably to achieve them (usually within the first couple months of the year). I suppose there are also those who don’t set any goals at all, so they find another way to measure the year they’ve just had (or they don’t take measure at all), but that’s neither here nor there.

Looking back, I realize that I set a few lofty goals for myself back in January, one of which that was realistically beyond my reach. But I did accomplish two out of three, and although I didn’t quite reach the third, I tried my damnedest to. I will say this: even though I didn’t accomplish everything I set out to, I’m very proud of the goals that I did reach, and it only makes me hungrier to keep working towards those other goals in the future.

Since most of you didn’t know I existed way back in January, you can go back and read my original New Years goals post here, or you can just stay right here and I’ll give you the quick version. The following are the goals I set for myself at New Years 2012, followed by a few words about how I fared, when I completed it, or what went wrong if I didn’t.

Goal 1: Complete my MS in Nutrition.

Outcome: DONEZO! I completed my coursework last spring and graduated in April from my Master’s program. It felt amazing to be done after 2 years of grad school combined with working full time, and it was something that I had set my sights on long before I started.

Goal 2: Take (and pass) the CSCS exam from the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association).

Outcome: BOOM. Crushed it! I took this on December 1st and found out 2 weeks later that I had passed. A lot of people have asked me why I took this exam; was I trying to get a new job? And the answer is no, I was just trying to make myself better. So I did. And I will continue to. So there.

Goal 3: Back squat 200 pounds

Outcome: Womp womp. My PR on my back squat this year stalled at 155, and I haven’t even hit that in a while. I’ve been down around 135, and I have a sneaking suspicion what the culprit is.

What went wrong: I added in a decent amount of conditioning work throughout this year; daily bike rides to and from work, as well as stadium runs 1-2 times per week. Although conditioning is great, if you’re training strictly for strength gains, it can zap your progress. I’m still working out the right balance for me, and we’ll revisit this when I tell you guys about my new goals for this coming year!

Not too shabby, huh? And even seeing that one of them wasn’t even close to being met, this doesn’t discourage me in the least. As I said above, it only makes me want to work harder to achieve that 200 lb back squat in the future. I know now that it was unrealistic goal, but at this point it doesn’t matter. What does matter is the process and the work that I have to keep putting into it to one day reach this goal. Maybe it will be in 2013 (although probably not), but I will get there.

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I think that this is an important process for everyone to go through even if you don’t believe in setting New Years Resolutions. If you have any goals at all, it’s essential to go back and revisit them every once in a while with an objective eye. That way, you can either see what you need to work harder on, or you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Of course at that point, it’s time for some new goals to work towards. Because as I’ve learned very well in my line of work, if you’re not looking forward, working towards a goal, you’re just staying the same at best. And I truly believe that no matter who you are, no matter how good you are at something, there’s always room to Be Better. 

What about you? How do you measure up to the goals you set last year?  Which accomplishment over the past year are you most proud of?

I’ll be back on Monday with my new goals for 2013 and some new ideas about the blog. Until then, have a great weekend everyone, and enjoy the last few days of 2012!

Motivation Monday: What’s Your Intention

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I see you. You walk into the gym and hop on your stationary bike to warm up.  You stare at the clock on the display until it reads 10:00. There. Warm-up done. You meander into the weight room, set up your equipment, grab your dumbbells, or hop on a machine. You go through the motions, lift-release, contract-relax, like a pre-programmed weight-lifting robot. Or maybe you don’t even go into the weight room because it makes you anxious, nervous, or you think it’s just for guys.  So you go ahead with the same workout you’ve been doing, for months,  years maybe.  Maybe you’re making progress, maybe you’re not.

STOP IT.

I don’t know…I thought maybe an angry lion would scare you straight.

I see you, and I know what causes this. You’re bored. You’re unmotivated. You’re uninspired. Maybe you’re feeling a little lazy (it happens to the best of us). Maybe you’ve hit a plateau in your training and you just can’t push past a certain weight on your squat. Maybe you just need something new to reenergize your workouts, to get your muscles firing in a little bit of a different pattern. Maybe you just need to figure out where your inspiration lies or why the heck you’re doing this in the first place.

I think we all lose ourselves in the gym at some point in our workout/training careers.  Whether you’re a beginner or are someone who is more comfortable in the weight room than anywhere else, at some point you’ll probably hit a wall.  As most of you know, I spent very little time in the weight room over the past two weeks because I hit that wall. I was unmotivated, tired, and just needed a little bit of time to recover both my muscles and my mindset.
A Lazy Lion[Source]

Angry lion loses motivation —-> Lazy lion napping in a tree

How can you get out of this rut? Think about two things:

1) What are you doing this for? 

2) Are you actually working toward your goals? 

First things first, you have to figure out why you’re in the gym in the first place.  Are you trying to lose weight? Be healthier for your children? Look hot in your new jeans (and/or out of your new jeans)? Whatever your reason, be honest with yourself. Most of us do workout for aesthetic reasons just as much as for health reasons, and it’s ok to admit it. I spend a lot of time in the weight room because I want to be healthy and strong, but a lot of my motivation also comes from wanting my shoulders to look like this:

Hello, deltoids!

Secondly, you have to evaluate whether your fitness routine is actually getting you closer to those goals that you have set. (Here’s a hint: If you’ve been doing the same routine for the past 3 years and haven’t seen any progress, it’s probably not working.) So you want to have jacked shoulders and glutes that you could bounce a quarter off of? Riding the elliptical probably isn’t helping you any. You want to be able to run a 5k in under 30 minutes? Those bicep curls probably aren’t doing the trick.

Here’s an example: I set a goal a while ago that I wanted to be able to do 5 unassisted chin-ups. At the time I could only do 2-3. Guess how many I can do now? 5. I can also do 5 parallel grip pull-ups and can consistently perform 1 unassisted pull-up. I didn’t reach that goal just because I’m lucky, I reached that goal because I changed my upper body work over the summer to maximize strength increases in the muscles that would help me to my pull-up goals. Had I just kept up with the same type of upper body work that I had been doing for the entire year prior, most likely I would still be stuck at 3 chin-ups, 3 months later.

The most important part of training is working towards your goals, but first you need to be honest with yourself and crystal clear about what those goals are. If you’ve been stuck in a rut or have hit a plateau with your fitness routine, maybe it’s time to step back and reevaluate where you’re headed and why.  Not sure whether you’re doing this or not? Try this:

Sit down with a pen and paper. (That’s right, we’re going old school).

On one side of the paper, write down your fitness goals. On the other side, write down something you’re doing in your routine that has helped you to make progress toward reaching that goal. If you can’t come up with something for each goal, it’s time to change things up a little bit. If you stare at that paper, and realize that everything you’re doing is not getting you anywhere in terms of your fitness potential, figure out what changes need to be made, and then, here’s the kicker: make those changes. Easy enough, right? Now get to it.

if you want something youve never had

Is your fitness routine actively helping you reach your goals? Have you ever hit a training plateau or a rut and how did you get out of it? When was the last time you switched things up in your fitness routine?

Turning Failure Into Success

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Last week was basically one big Fail.

I wasn’t sleeping well. I was continuously dehydrated (my own fault for not keeping up with my H2O intake when I get busy at work), I was craving sugar like Cray-Cray (Hello, symptoms of sleep deprivation!) and I had an Epic Fail in the weight room on Tuesday.

I went in for a heavy squat day, did my warm up sets, and then went ahead with my work sets. That’s when my body started to cry. I have been stuck at 145 for at least a month (probably more like 6 weeks by now?) but had been able to complete 3×5 at 145 for each of my last couple of heavy squat days. Last week, however, was a different story. I got to rep #3 on my first set and hit failure.

BOOM.

Ok, Not quite that bad, but you get the idea.

That was just the beginning. Once I realized that my squats were going to be totally craptastic for the day, I lowered the weight and proceeded with a lower weight, low volume leg day. It wasn’t scheduled to be a de-load week (this week was), but the way I was feeling, I knew I had to listen to my body and give myself some slack. I kept the rest of the week pretty very low volume, but still felt tired, sluggish, and unmotivated. Friday’s leg day was one that would normally be super light, even on a de-load week, but I ended up being sore from it through Sunday.

Not only was I tired, sluggish, and unmotivated, but my hamstring flared up again as well. It hasn’t gone back to 100% since I first started feeling it, but last week it got a little bit more angry than it had been lately.

My body was in fail mode. However, I wasn’t my usual moronic self who would just push through because I wasn’t “scheduled” for a de-load, and I actually listened to my screaming, pleading body. Looking back, I probably should have just stayed away from the gym totally, but hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it? And I can’t change that now anyway.

But you know what? My light week did WONDERS. I came into the gym this Monday, following a glorious 9 hours of sleep Sunday night, and hit 150×3 on my back squats. WOOP!

Moral of the story is: I was able to turn my failed lift one week into a new PR in the next. The combination of sleep, stress reduction, and general rest is a powerful thing, especially if you find yourself in a rut or having a generally sub-par workout.  After giving myself the time off that my body so clearly required, I have been sleeping much better this week, my workouts have felt much better, and I’m not the irritable B*tch who showed up towards the tail end of last week.

To this I say: Success!

*Note: I was reading an old issue of Shape magazine this morning, where Molly Sims was talking about working out for 30 days straight. It made me want to cry just thinking about it… Give your body a break, people!

Have you ever had to change your de-load week or rest days because of outside stress? Do you take de-load weeks or scheduled time off from working out? Do you notice how much stress or sleep deprivation can effect your workouts?

Happy Friday, Happy People!

What’s Your Motivation?

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Today I want to talk a little bit about finding your motivation; what is it that drives you to eat healthfully and work out? Is it purely for vanity, is it for health reasons? Maybe its a mixture of the two, maybe it’s something else entirely. I recently overheard a couple of conversations while at the gym which made me stop and think a little bit about this. The two conversations are so drastically different that it got me thinking about the goals that we all have for ourselves, and are there some that will help to drive more intrinsic motivation than others?

Motivation...

First, the conversation that left me a little bit bewildered. While I was torturing myself foam rolling one day post-workout, there were a couple of girls sitting next to me pretending to do an ab workout. (You know the type, 5 crunches, then stop and talk for a while, than maybe a few more crunches… Really beneficial, obviously). Their conversation went something like this:

Girl 1: Why can’t I lose weight?

Girl 2: I don’t know. Probably those french fries we ate last night. What if we just ate salads for a week?

Girl 1: Yeah, how much weight do you think we could lose if we JUST ate salad for a week?

Girl 2: Probably like 10 pounds, we should try it next week.

Obviously there was more said than this, but this was the general gist of what they were saying. They were talking about legitimately only eating salad (raw veggies, no dressing) for an entire week. Every meal. Every day.

How successful do you think they would be at this? If I had to bet, I’d say they’d both be off of the salad wagon within a day. Not only that, but even if they did last a week, they’d be so devoid of nutrients and most likely ridiculously starving, that their bodies would put the weight back on in a flash once they started eating normally again.

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Now, I don’t really care if these girls want to go on a raw veggie diet, because honestly, it’s none of my business. But what I am interested in is the motivation behind all of this. If their motivation were to be healthier, this plan would never be on the table. Missing out on vital nutrients, doing this for a one-week period, only focusing on how much weight could be lost in that time period: it all screams vanity (and some serious miseducation about nutrition).  The question is, is pure vanity alone enough motivation to stay disciplined on an ultra-strict diet such as this one? Is it enough to motivate people to continue with diet plans or is there something else we need to stay motivated for the long run?

Motivation !!!! Motivation !!!!

Moving on to the second conversation I overheard. (I know what you’re thinking — and No, I do not make a habit of eavesdropping… but I can’t help it if my iPod battery died and your conversation is the only thing I can hear besides my own breathing). This conversation was also between two females, but this one left me with an entirely different feeling. You’ll see why:

Girl 1(While lifting weights): I wish I could lift like you do, my arms are wobbly because they’re not strong enough yet.

Girl 2 (Also lifting weights): I started out lifting 12.5 pounds, and now I’m lifting 22.5! You’ll get there, you’ll get stronger.

Girl 1: Yeah, I guess so.

Girl 2: I love being strong! It feels so great. Since I’ve been lifting weights my family asks me to help them carry heavy things instead of the boys. I feel like if I were to get attacked I could protect myself. I just love knowing that I can take care of myself and that my family can depend on me to help out when they need me.

WHAT?!?! I know it seems like I made this conversation up, but I promise you I actually overheard this. I seriously wanted to give this girl a hug. It was one of the best things I’ve heard in the gym in a long time, and she went on for a few minutes about how much better she feels in general now that she is stronger than she used to be.

Motivation!

Clearly, this girl had motivation that went far beyond vanity. Sure, she probably likes the way she looks a little bit more since she’s been working out, but it’s the other things that seem to really push her: Being able to help her family, being able to protect herself.

If I had to place all of my life savings (which, lets face it, isn’t that impressive) on one pair of these girls on which will be healthier one month from now (heck, even one year from now), I would, without a doubt, place all of my money on the girl who is motivated by far more than vanity.

Granted, I’m pretty positive that all of us are motivated by vanity at some point, but I really do feel like there has to be more than that. Maybe you want to be strong so that you can run around with your children, maybe you want to be healthy so that you can still run around with your children years from now. Maybe you want to be strong so that you can be independent and not rely on others to do things for you; Maybe you want to be healthy so that you are able to do things like hike mountains, go kayaking, or learn how to surf.

Whatever your motivation is, even if vanity is part of it (and be honest, because if you say vanity has nothing to do with why you work out, I’m calling you a liar), keep it in mind as you go about your daily life. Yes, the motivation provided by vanity may be all you need to stop yourself from reaching for that afternoon treat, but finding what it’ll take for you to really work hard toward reaching your goals is what will help you in the long run.

What motivates you to eat healthy? To get regular workouts in? Do you think that vanity is enough to sustain a long term health-living plan? Or do you need something more to help you through the inevitable challenges that can be presented when trying to live healthfully?