New Year, New You!

I'm pretty excited for 2014!  I just feels like it's going to be a great year!  I'm not saying that because 2013 wasn't great... 2013 held many awesome adventures!  I have zero complaints.  I mean sure there were things that happened that I wish didn't.  Like my husbands car breaking down two times in 1 month (might I add it's still broken...) costing us almost $4000... yep, I'd take that back if I could! But I am a firm believer that each day, each event that takes place in our lives is shaping and molding us into the person we are supposed to be!  No regrets!

So why do people get excited about the New Year?  I mean, it really is just a date on a calendar... right!?!

You and I both know that the new year means new beginnings.  A fresh start.  The slate is wiped clean and the possibilities are endless.

But I'm not a fan of resolutions. 

The definition of  resolution is:

res·o·lu·tion

ˌrezəˈlo͞oSHən/

noun

noun: resolution; plural noun: resolutions

1.

a firm decision to do or not to do something.

 

 Do you know what that sounds like to me?  It sounds like me saying "I think I'll start flossing this year" but not making any steps towards making that happen.  

Here is the definition for goal:

 

goal (ɡəʊl) n

1. the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

 

Ooh, I like that!!!  The RESULT towards your effort.  So not only am I saying I want to do something, but I am putting results behind it.  

 

So moving into 2014 what are some of your goals? 

 

 

Here are a few of mine:

 

1. Get Crossfit Certified - SOOOO excited because this is happening on January 18th.  Goal 1 almost accomplished!

 

2.  Complete 2 Olympic Triathlons and I want to beat my time from last year.  My first step towards accomplishing this is that I have already signed up for 2 this summer!  BAM!

3. I would like to hike at least 3 14ers this summer, if not more!

4. I would like to keep growing this personal training/coaching business that has started to blossom.  I'm not quite sure where it's going to take me, but I'm excited to see!

5. And not fitness related, but I want to get out of debt.  We accumulated some debt due to the car issue I was talking about and in order for me to be able to sleep at night I need to get that taken care of!

So what are some of your goals, and HOW are you going to accomplish them?  

Can I get on my soap box for 1 minute?  Okay, here I go (you've been warned!).  Coming off of Christmas, and all the Christmas parties and junk food and baking and pure FUN 1 of our first thoughts is always that we want to get healthier in the new year.  Okay, so that's great for like 3 weeks.  Gyms are more packed (my husband's gym was so busy he couldn't believe it), you buy a few more fruits and veggies, but then by February (some of you hold off till March) you go back to the same ole same ole.  

WHY!?!

Because you have set an unrealistic goal (or resolution if you will) that is unattainable.  To be healthier.  Well what does that mean?  You want to lose weight?  You want to exercise more?  Maybe eat better.  You just want to have more energy.  Those are all great things, but even I am starting to get overwhelmed just thinking about them.

You see, it's a whole lot easier to say "get healthy" because we have not put any parameters or guidelines on how we are going to do that.  So then, when it doesn't happen we don't really think of ourselves as failures (because who wants to think of themselves that way), and we move right back into our old habits.

Just imagine with me, for 1 minute, that this year is going to be different!  This year, 2014, is YOUR year.  You aren't going to set any "resolution" that isn't attainable.  In fact, your going to meet your goals, and set new ones!  You are going to set realistic expectations for yourself in achieving those goals.  Then you are going to reward yourself with an awesome trip to the Bahamas and take me with you!!!!  

Sorry, all that imagining got me carried away!

So first step, writing down those goals.  Don't start too big.  We don't need to get overwhelmed right away.  Once you have your goals written down, then you have to write down steps you are going to take to meet that goal.  

You see, we make it so dang difficult.  Yes, it takes hard work!  Yes, you have to give up some things!  I am going to have to give up a whole lot of things in order to pay off this debt, but I'm willing to do it!  

 

No one ever promised that the journey would be easy.  But come on really... have you ever appreciated anything that you had just been handed?  Sure it can be nice, but do you value it like you would if you worked hard for it?  

Let me just say, real quick, that I do not think fitness is the number 1 most important thing in the world.  Yes, it is very important to me and I put a lot of effort into it.  However, I do believe, that in order to do all that we want to do, and be the best that we can be, we need to live healthy lives (body, mind and spirit).  You NEED all three!  

So I'm going to finish this blog post with a facebook status I recently wrote on my Simply Healthy facebook page.  

As we start this 2014 year I know what you all are thinking. Same thing you are thinking this time every year. It's time to get serious and lose those Christmas pounds I've gained, or those 2013 pounds that were gained.

I'm here to tell you, this is your year! No more wishing you could do it! You CAN do it! Just take it one day at a time... one pound at a time. Life will absolutely get in the way. You can guarantee that. But if you are prepared for that in the beginning then you've already overcome half the battle!

I believe in YOU! I believe that you can do anything you set your mind to! I believe that there is no goal that is unmeasurable. Yes, it will take time and effort. But believe we when I say the time and effort are part of what makes this process so sweet. You don't want to skip it. Trust me! You will be molded and shaped during this and you'll come out a new person on the other side.

Don't let fear stop you. The only failure is not trying. As long as you are giving it your all you have already seen success! Most importantly don't go on this journey alone. Enlist friends, find a bootcamp, find a gym, start a challenge, start a blog, be transparent (eekkk!). We all struggle, we all fall down... But we can never stop getting back up again!

This is YOUR year! Go out and live it!

The Control Food Can Have Over Your Life!

I recently confirmed something in my own heart that I have known for a while... and of course I must share it.

It's not super profound.

And you probably already know it.

 Food, good or bad, can control your life. 


I told you it wasn't profound. 


But here's how I came to this conclusion...


You see, I've been nagging requesting for some time now that my husband do the Paleo Whole30 with me.  I've been eating Paleo (not exclusively) for almost a year now.  By not exclusively I mean that I really try to reserve my carbs for early in the day, and I make Paleo meals at night.  I have a weird stomach and it tends to be sensitive to a lot of things.  I feel the best when I am eating Paleo, so at this point that is my number 1 reason for trying to eat this way.

The Whole30 is just 30 days of strictly paleo. And by strict I mean strict. Zero carbs, zero sugars of ANY KIND!  I'm not going to get into what we couldn't eat but if you are interested you can check out this website: The Whole30 Program.

So I've been eating really good for a couple years now.  Very clean, but enjoying treats every now and then. I thought the Whole30 sounded like a great idea and would be very easy for me.  I will be completely honest with you... by day 7 I wanted to buy and eat a whole gallon of ice cream!  All of a sudden I had no idea why in the world I was doing this! Seth on the other hand was doing amazingly well.  I pretty much felt like I turned into the cookie monster... hashtag num num num num num (hahaha, couldn't help myself!). 

So I went from a healthy, 80/20 (80% good foods, 20% not so good foods) way of living, to a very restricted certain foods are bad, and I'm bad if I eat them kind of living.

Okay, here it is.  Plain and Simple.  While what I was trying to do was good, eat clean and eat mindfully, I was letting it control me.  It wasn't really so much about being healthy anymore (although, I didn't really lose that completely) but I started to feel bad if I wanted to eat certain things. Or I would make myself feel guilty. 

I lost my whole reason behind why I eat healthy in the first place. 

You have to decide for yourself the WHY.  Why do you eat the way you do?

Is it out of habit?  Is it to drown out a bigger issue?  Maybe it's an addiction (which I truly believe we have all suffered from!).  Maybe you eat for performance, or to be lean?  Do enough of us eat just to be healthy?

I have to ask myself why am I devouring this piece of cake right now (I'm not really eating cake right now, but all this talk of cake and cookies is making me hungry!).  Am I eating it because I've been eating a whole lot more sweets lately and my brain is telling me that I want sweets, or is it because I just had a killer week of working out and eating clean, and I'm at my sisters friends wedding and I just want a darn piece of cake for goodness sake. 

See the difference? 

What's your why?

My why sometimes gets cloudy.  I want to be healthy first and foremost.  But sometimes I get side tracked and start thinking that I need to look like a fitness model and then I get in my crazy mode in which I'm never satisfied with the way I look.  That's when I have to pull myself back down to reality and remember my why is to feed my body with the best foods I can so I can perform the way I want to.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you I think Paleo is bad or tell you I think you should eat strictly Paleo.  I will tell you I think that carbs should be eaten in moderation and at certain times of the day.  I also think most people do not consume enough protein in one day.  Beyond that you have to decide what foods are best for YOUR body.  Like I said, my stomach just doesn't like certain foods and that is my real reason for staying away from a lot of foods. 

But maybe you aren't like me and you have a rock solid stomach, and you can eat whatever you want (I'm secretly hating you right now!).  In the end you still have to decide your why behind how and what you eat. 

If you are struggling to lose weight right now you might have to remind yourself of the why more often.  You might even need to remind yourself before each meal.  Why am I choosing to have a salad instead of a double bacon cheese burger?  Oh, that's right I have chosen to fill my insides with good things because I'm tried of feeling like crap all the time.  I'm tired of looking in the mirror and hating what I see (am I touching home a little). 

It's time to stop letting food control us! 

Okay, so here's the encouragement.  Because I can't let a blog like this be written without some encouragement (it's what I do!). 

You CAN overcome this!  Each day is a new day, and you can only take it one step at a time.  Sometimes it feels like 1 step forward and 2 back.  But guess what, your not dead yet.  Don't quit.  I wrote a blog not too long ago where I said as long as you have breath in you don't quit!  When the Going get tough.... Quit

I leave with a song by Mandisa.  Side note:  I've decided Mandisa and I could be best friends. :) 

 Stay Simply Healthy everyone!

~Heather

When The Going Get Tough.... Quit!

When The Going Get Tough.... Quit!

Yep, you heard me right....  Just quit.

Because that's what everyone expects don't they?

How many times in life does something get really, really difficult and instead of sticking to it through the end we just quit.

Am I hitting home a little?????

The world convinces us that we have too much on our plate. That we deserve to be happy... and we should do anything possible to create that happiness (even if that means indulging on some things a little too often!)

After all, our comfort and happiness is more important than the alternative.... right!?!


If you feel like you have been hit in the head with a bag of warm hammers this message is for you. Don’t give up. Just don’t. Not while you have a breath of air in your lungs. Everyone quits. Everyone blows it. Most people give up. Cry if you need to but please understand that you are not helpless.

There WILL be bad days... hard days... and even harder days.  You can be sure of that.  There will be days when you want to quit SO badly.  You will start to forget the whole reason you started this journey. 

Maybe it was to lose weight? 

To feel better about yourself? 

To do something that you didn't think you could do? 

Maybe you are doing it for loved ones? 

But now, all those reasons have escaped your brain because it's gotten a little hard.  But I want you to pull way down deep and think about this question for a minute.

WHY!?!

Why are you trying to lose weight?  Why are you trying to get healthy?  What is your motivation? 

Is it so that you can fit in at the gym?  Is it because all your other friends are doing it so it seemed like a good idea?  Or maybe it's just because you wanted to be healthy and live a long life for all the loved ones you have in your life.

Okay, so you have the reason in your brain right? 

Chew on it for a little bit. 

Digest it.  

Own it!

Because until it becomes apart of who you are, when it does get hard, you WILL quit.  And I KNOW you are not a quitter! 

So, it's a choice.  It's a daily choice.  Every day for the rest of your life you will have to make this choice.  Yes, that does seem a little cumbersome doesn't it.  But doesn't making the choice to not be healthy seem just as hard!?!

The most important thing you need to know is that it doesn’t matter!   You don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest or the best. “Your only objective is to keep going.”

I want to jump through this screen right now and hug you and cry with you and say no, life isn't fair.  In fact it sucks a lot of the time. 

It sucks that every time you are going to start your diet you get sick. 

It sucks that you never get time to yourself and when you do working out is not top of your list (all you want to do is take a break!). 

It sucks that your husband is always gone and while you are thankful he works so hard putting food on the table, you are worn out. 

It sucks!  I agree with you!

Now we've gotten that out!  We've cried, we've agreed that life sometimes sucks, and now we are going to move on. 

We aren't going to live in our self pity any longer. 

We aren't going to wake up every day and say poor me.  But instead we are going to say Thank you God I still have breath in my lungs! 

I don't know about you, but this life is short, and I don't want to live each day with regrets, with negativity, with self pity.  I want to use this body, the ONLY body that I've been given, as a vessel to do the work that God has called me to do.  I don't want to be healthy to fit in.  I don't want to be healthy to look like everyone else.  I don't want to be healthy so that I can complete the triathlons that I love so dearly.  I want to be healthy so that each and every day I can say "God, use me and my abilities to further your kingdom." 

Please dig deep today and decide which direction you are going to take.  It's never too late.  If you still have breath in your lungs then I am talking to you!!

1 life. 

1 Choice. 

Choose wisely!

My deepest love to you all!  Stay Simply Healthy everyone!

~Heather

Pre-Race Day Jitters!

If you've ever done a "first" race before you understand the jitters it can bring. 

The first time doing anything can be a little nerve wrecking right!?  I remember my first race and how I was nervous just about the unknown.  Oh how glad I am to now have dozens of races under my belt.  However, that doesn't always stop my nerves!  Today it's a good nervous.  It's just enough to get me all pumped up but not enough to keep me in the bathroom all day (haha!). 

You see, tomorrow I will be embarking on yet another adventure on my Ironman journey!  It's really just the second step, but I'm moving in the right direction.  Tomorrow I will be doing an Olympic Triathlon.  Just having the word Olympic in there sounds impressive doesn't it?  No, I am not trying to qualify to be in the Olympics.  I may have the heart, but I'm really not that good!

So an Olympic Tri is double the distance of a Sprint Tri.  Sprint's are all I've done up till now.  I'm pretty excited about putting another notch on my racing belt. 

Olympic Distance:
1 Mile Swim
24 Mile Bike (this varies depending on the course)
6.2 mile run (10K)

So this week I've really taken it easy on working out.  Which, as you might suspect is very hard for me.  I like to push myself, I like to sweat and I like to do it everyday!  :)  It's been kind of nice to be honest.  Not having that pressure of working out.  None the less, it's been weird!  I just want to make sure I have a fresh body and a fresh mind tomorrow.

Speaking of your mind... so much of training and racing is mental (well working out in general).  I can guarantee you (and I mean this wholeheartedly) that EVERY SINGLE PERSON I know could do a Sprint Tri.  If you can will your mind to do it, you can do it.  Now I'm not saying there isn't something to training.  There is.  It would be foolish of me to not train and show up on race day saying "But my mind said I could do it".  Now we don't want injuries or anything... But I have seen first hand the power of the mind.

I've said it before, and I don't want to beat a dead horse (where did that saying come from anyways!?!) but if you have already convinced yourself you can't do something, you can't.  You might as well give up before you even try. 

Now I'm not saying there aren't going to be discouraging days.  There absolutely will be.  I have had many training days that just don't feel right, or I'm not up to par.  But those days keep me going and shooting for the really good days.  The good days may seem few and far between when you first start out.  Then as you get your mind focused, and your nutrition in line your good days start becoming more and more frequent.  Then when you do have those bad days, it just makes you mad and you want to try harder instead of give up!

I feel like sometimes I'm a broken record.  Saying the same thing to the same people.  But I hope not.  I hope someone new is reading this for the first time and for the first time in a long time you are finally convinced that you CAN do it (start exercising, run your first race, run your first marathon or triathlon).  I may not know you personally, but I do already know you can do it. 

So I'm headed out on a light run to calm my nerves!  I can do this... I can do this... I can do this!  :)

I pretty much just want to encourage you to continue to pursue your dreams.  Don't let your mind tell you that you can't do something.  You absolutely can!

The Journey Is the Reward

We are all on a journey.  We can't predict this journey.  Although we can set our own course, we must be prepared for it to change.

While we really don't know what is going to happen on this journey, there are two things you can be sure of...

1. Your journey will not look like anyone else's.

2. Your journey can (and probably will) change along the way.

I decided 5 years ago that someday I would do the Ironman.  Someday really felt like a million years away at that time.  And in the grand scheme of things, and all that life has thrown me, a million years is a pretty accurate description. 

But here I am, at 30, feeling like it's closer than ever!  When I say close, I still mean probably 2 years away.  But I've got a date set and I am finally working towards my goals of getting to that 140.6 mile distance than I ever have before!

This got me thinking... After it's all said and done this goal will have taken me 7 years of my short 30 year life to accomplish.  Wow, that's an incredibly long time.  But you know what???  I could not have rushed it or I would have missed out on this journey of reaching that goal. 

I definitely am a goal setter.  I function best when I have set these goals.  I think some of that is my competitive nature in that I feel accomplished when I have set a goal and complete it.  Because of my natural desire to challenge myself I have learned to enjoy the journey of reaching my goals.  I think you could ask any runner that half the "fun" of training (any distance race) is the journey to get there.  How much less sweet would my first marathon have been if I had rushed through training and just showed up on race day?  Well for one that would have totally sucked and I probably would have died (literally! haha!).  But I would have missed those hours of training, and learning about my body and my nutrition. 

You see we live in a world that is all about instant gratification.  We want what we want and we want it NOW!  I am totally like that.  Ask my husband.  When I decide something I want to do it that very second.  It is so very hard to wait.  Sometimes I don't think I'm very good at being patient! However, patience is the most powerful weapon that I can carry with me in my journey of life.

When you set a goal to lose weight you don't want it taking months, we want the weight off right now.  If you are impatient and wish time to fly by, it's likely that you will struggle with reaching goals. Accumulation of hard work leads to great performances. Life, work, sports...even if you work hard but are impatient you will find yourself trying to take short-cuts or too many risks to try to progress too quickly.

When people want results yesterday, it's no surprise that something that can be accomplished quickly is much more fulfilling than something that takes time to achieve. 

Some progress is better than no progress. But if you have a goal and don't see extreme results in a week or two, how long will it take you to forget your goal and move on to another method to see if "that way" will be faster. Bouncing around from attempt after attempt is nothing more than feeling defeated by a challenge without realizing your true potential to achieve success.

There are no short cuts in life.  I've learned that over the 5 years it's taken me to get to the place I am. I would not go back and choose to skip it for anything. I love the journey!  Despite that it sometimes can get sticky and slow I have learned the true value of patience.  Hard work in both sport and life will pay off but you can't expect results tomorrow if you haven't put in the time to learn lessons, to overcome obstacles, to feel defeat and perhaps, become someone who you never imagined you could be.

So that's where I am at!  Anticipating the journey of the Ironman!  I don't want to rush it!  I don't know if it will be the only one I do, or if I'll be crazy enough to do more.  So rather than rush the next 2 years I'm going to be patient with my progress, learn all that I can, pick myself up when I fall down, and hopefully I will be able to encourage others along the way to be patient in their journey.

The Journey really is the reward!

No Expectations, No Disappointments!

I just completed my 6th Sprint Triathlon.

I did tell myself that I wasn't going to be so competitive at this race.  For one, I've never done this course, and two sometimes I tend to be so competitive and have such high expectations for myself that I am not ever happy with my results.

I did that to myself at last years Tri for the Cure. Even though I beat my time (well by 1 second) I was not happy with that.  So I will continually work on being pleased with every outcome as long as I know that I have tried my hardest!

So I raced on Sunday with no expectations, and had the time of my life!

In life there are two sets of people (ah shoot, there are probably WAY more but I'm only going to reference these two).  First there are people who are always making excuses.  Too tired, too much to do, conditions are not perfect... you get the idea. 

Then there are people who won't let excuses stop them.  Those same people have the same bad days as the first group, the same amount of stuff to get done, the same non-perfect conditions.  It's just that they have told themselves from the beginning that they WILL do it.  They WILL succeed, no matter the cost. 

Conditions were far from perfect on Sunday.  Rain and cold do not make for an awesome race.  My bike squeaked the whole ride, and my back tire was getting flat (so a few bikers told me along the way).  The hills were hard... VERY hard.  But no excuses.  I trained, I raced and I'm proud of myself.  I did not beat any personal record.  In fact it will probably be the slowest tri I've ever done.  But I walked in with no expectations and I walk out with no disappointments!

So, I bet you are curious how I finished (or not!)  :)  For those of you who care, here it is.

198 Overall out of 260 - Eh, not that great!  But in my defense there were some really fast guys out there!
67th Female - That's a little better I guess!  Unless there were only 70 women!  hahaha!
11th Age group  - Darn 11th.  I seem to always come in 11th place!  Come on top 10!

Swim - 18:10 - For the life of me I can't beat 18 minutes! 
T1 - 3 minutes.  So I chose not to have help with my wet suit.  Mistake!  When in doubt, ask for help!  I could not get my wet suit off and it added a ton of time!
Bike - 1:04:55 - Almost embarrassed by this!  You can clearly tell what I spend the least amount of time on.  Now, it was uphill most of the way.  But I was hoping for closer to 45 min.  Oh well!
T2 - 0:54 - I had to take my jacket off so it added some time.
Run - 25:31 with a pace of 8:14.  I'm pretty happy with that!  Seeing as 3/4 of the first mile was all uphill.  My goal is to get in that 24 minute range someday!

While I may not even be close to being first, I sure do have the passion and the drive to do it.  I can't help but first thank my body for staying strong and allowing me to push it to the max all the time, and I thank the Lord for allowing me to do something I love so much.  I won't ever take it for granted!

Now enough dillydallying!  I have some hardcore training I need to be doing to be ready for my Olympic tri in 4 weeks!  This is where the passion and the drive come into play because I can't even tell you how nervous I am to do this! 

Stay Simply Healthy everyone!

My Journey to an Ironman

So, I'm doing my typical browsing on facebook and I click on a fitness link.

Looks interesting enough and I can't get enough of this kind of stuff.

I start reading and my heart starts pounding out of my chest.

No joke, but every time I read something like this I get excited and nervous and even tearful.  And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is something I HAVE to do.

An Ironman!

I have not always had this huge love for fitness, nor the desire to do triathlons.  It just started with 1 mile...

1 horrible mile I might add.

Thought I was going to throw up after that first mile.

Glad I didn't quit right then.  I would have missed this incredible journey of health and fitness that I have been on.

Then one day, after I went on a short run (I was still building my mileage at that point) I decided I felt good enough to go on a bike ride too. 

So I did.

That's when I got the crazy idea to do a Tri.  I'm not going to lie... There were a few people who laughed at me!

My first Tri was equally as awful as my first run.  I came down with some type of the flu the night before.  I ended up throwing up a few times and my fever broke sometime in the night.  I had trained so hard for this that there was no way I couldn't NOT complete it.  But I was a hot mess!

It's amazing what you can make your body do when you have the determination.  It was the worst/best race ever and I have done 4 more Tri's since that awful day (1 more will be added to that number in a couple weeks!)  :)

So while the Ironman is still years away (I'm hoping to do one in 2015!) I've decided I want to document my journey from Sprint Tri, to Olympic Tri, to Half Ironman and then on to the Ironman.

Sprint - .5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run
Olympic - 1.5 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
Half Ironman - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Ironman - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run


This documented journey really is more for myself than anyone else.  To remember all the ups and downs (because there will be plenty of those).  But in the process I hope it helps and inspires you to dream big and go for those dreams!  Because every accomplishments starts with the decision to try!