On Not Settling for just OK

March 17, 2013 by Emily Segal 2 Comments

As those of you who follow me on Facebook already know, I finished my last Half Marathon on Friday, in a race where sadly, one young man lost his life, and many others were hospitalized for heat related injuries. A few posts ago, I predicted people were going to get hurt if the forecast was correct and I described how we runners were being encouraged by local coaches to change our pre-race prep and our plans for the race to just run a relaxed pace, watching ourselves and those around us all the time, for signs of heat stroke. The race organizers postponed the full marathon to next week on a changed course off the main streets. They were unable to postpone all the races scheduled because of Obama’s visit to Israel next week. But moving the full marathon assured that no one would be out in the heat too long and enabled them to move all the other races up an hour. The first half marathon heat began at 5:45am. I was in the 6:00am group.

I ran the course from 6am – 8:40am and although the heat was rising quickly in the last hour or so, it was really not THAT hot. And I am someone who is totally sensitive to the heat! There were a couple of problems from my perspective: First of all, they ran out of electrolyte drink very early on. I’d actually love to know how many of the sickened were suffering from hyponatremia rather than dehydration. I had electrolytes in my pocket so I felt comfortable guzzling back large amounts of water. I also didn’t feel like there were enough water stations. Yes, they were every 2 kms, but they were manned by kids – hot and suffering volunteer kids – and there were times I had to actually stop running and ask to be poured a cup or two of water! Finally, we were promised sprayers with hoses and by my count there were only TWO. I could have used 50!! At every water stop, I took 4 cups: drank 3 and poured the 4th over my head. Oh yeah, and there was no food, or at least none by the time I rolled through. Again, I had my own supplies, but if I had been depending on what had been promised, I would have been in big trouble!

Despite these rather minor criticisms - and I know plenty of other runners who do not share my opinion or experience – I don’t think you can lay blame on anyone for the tragedies. I don’t know what happened to those people so how can I say? The man who died was apparently the epitome of fitness and health and nearly 20 years younger than me. How can you explain such a thing? I was running with 50-70 year olds and we were plodding along just fine. I did not see a single person weave, trip, or show any signs of distress where I was at the back of the pack. I was also, for the first time in my life, completely willing to take a DNF (did not finish) if I started to feel unwell.

As you can see from above, my finish time was 2:40 – a far cry from that 2:15 I had been training for!! But I must tell you that this is by far my proudest finish of all the races I have run! I am proud mainly because I got SO many emails and texts from people who said they ran on Friday because they had been inspired by me. I mean, does it get any better than that?! But I’m also proud because despite the string of very valid reasons to drop out of this race over the last few months, not only did I stick with it, but for the VERY FIRST TIME, spent the entire race thinking “I’m OK ! I can totally do this!” I wasn’t worried or wondering. I wasn’t gasping for air or feeling at all hopeless. Other than blisters and toenail trouble, I felt absolutely no pain! I was tired when I crossed the finish line, but I actually forgot to stop running for a minute until someone said “You can stop now.”

Lastly, I am proud because my husband went from non-runner to successful half marathoner who finished a few minutes before me. When I flew into his sweaty dazed arms in the finish corral, he said “I did it! YOU inspired me and I did this!”

shucks ya’ll

You know what I am going to miss the most by not competing in long-distance races anymore? Being an inspiration for people, yes, but I will endeavor to do that in different ways now. Yes, the high of accomplishment and the bragging rights too. But more than that, is the energy of a group of committed people who are out there pushing their physical limits because they want something MORE than the ordinary in life.

There were 35,000 people out there running on Friday. That is 35,000 people willing to put in the training, say no to months of desserts, get out of warm beds on cold days when everyone else is snoozing cozily on, run in rain, get splattered with mud, skip the late night drinks with friends, lose our toenails, (sacrifice our Achilles in the case of my training partner!), stay committed, stay on track. We all have our own reasons for being out there, but I believe we all share the desire for something more. Something greater.

I gave myself one day off. One. Then last night, I sat down with my calendar and my journal and mapped out my next goal. I hope I always have this desire to grow, to better myself, and to make the most of what G-d gave me. I hope I never settle for just OK.

I hope you won’t either. It doesn’t have to be running – it can be any area in which you choose to push the envelope and to stop accepting “good enough”. You will get a calendar, make a plan, check off your day by day goals, and before you know it, be standing at the pinnacle of your achievement, knowing that every single drop of blood, sweat and tears was worth it. Amen.

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Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Running, Tel Aviv Half Marathon, Tel Aviv Marathon Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Goals, Nutrition for Athletic Performance, Running, Self-Improvement, Tel Aviv Marathon, Vegan Athlete

Running the Houston Marathon Vegan Style

February 17, 2013 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Today’s guest post is by Triumph Wellness reader and vegan runner, Kanishka deSilva. I want to thank Kanishka for writing this post for us and congratulate him on his vegan marathon finish!

As soon as the gun went off, the rain started. I knew it was not going to be a day for a PR (personal record)! I was among the 12,000 marathoners and 13,000 half marathoners who had trained hard to achieve a personal goal and the time has come to execute it. The weather on January 13, 2013 in Houston, Texas was wet, cold and windy. The wind was gusting at 15 to 25 mph. The Cold Front bringing arctic cold air slammed into Houston around 6.30 am on race day just before the 7.00 am start time. Despite this nasty weather and the challenges I faced over the next few hours, I am proud to say that I completed the full marathon that day in a time of 4:24:29!!

I started running about 10 years ago. As years went by, I needed a goal to keep me motivated and continue running. I did 5K’s and 10K’s for a couple of years. During this time I was a non-vegan and ate a typical meat centered diet. I love nature, wildlife and the environment. As an environmentalist, I participated in local environmental causes and supported national organizations such as WWF, Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund. As I read about what causes harm to the environment, I realized that raising meat is one of the worst environmental offenders! So I started to cut back on meat consumption. I also started to realize the effect of red meat on my health and the benefit of eating vegetables. I slowly removed meat, poultry, and finally dairy from my diet and became a vegan in 2009. I was still running and competing in 5K’s and 10K’s.

Each year in January, the local TV station provides live coverage of the Houston Marathon. When I watched the coverage, I wished that I was at the starting line ready to run rather than watching it from the comfort of the living room couch. But running 26.2 miles was a huge jump from your typical 10K. In 2011, I joined a running club that was formed at my work place and started to run with some co-workers. We had folks who were Ultra Marathoners and some who couldn’t even run 1/2 mile. Each week we added miles and our training runs extended to 5 miles. A few times we did two laps and I was able to finish 10 miles! It was an awesome feeling to complete a 10 mile run and I knew that I was ready to do a 1/2 marathon. My fellow runners urged me to register for a local 1/2 marathon in March 2011. My goal was to finish the 13.1 miles. I finished in 2:10:16 at a pace of 9:56 min/mile.

By this time I was a total vegan and my vegan lifestyle certainly didn’t stop me from finishing a half marathon in good time. So I set my sight on the next goal, the Houston marathon. During the training for the full marathon I read about Scott Jurek, one of the top ultra marathoners in the US who is also a vegan. Jurek writes about running, veganism and how to get proper nutrition when you are a vegan runner. He was an inspiration for me as I prepared for my event.

In 2012, the runners in our club were running hard and fast in July-August, the worst times to run in Houston. Some days the temperature would be 95F with 98% humidity in the evening and we would still go out and run. My times were slowly improving and I PR’d most of my races in 2012. I PR’d the 5K, 10K and the half Marathon distances in 2012. I shaved off 15 minutes from my first 1/2 marathon and finished in 1:55 at a pace of 8:49 min/mile. My vegan lifestyle was definitely helping as I was running faster despite getting older.

On January 13th my big day arrived and with it, that horrible winter storm! As the marathoners started off, the atmosphere was electrifying and my adrenaline was in full swing. I was not used to running in a rain poncho (rain coat) and it took me some time to adjust to it. At 5K, I was running at 8:52 min/mile pace and realized that I was going too fast. I slowed down and was still making good time. At 15K, the weather was taking a toll. My pace has decreased to 8:56 min/mile and the cold windy rain was still coming down in bursts. My fingers were numb and I could not even reach into my pouch to get my energy gels! At the half way mark (13.1 miles), my pace has dropped to 9:06 min/mile. I was really slowing down and if I ran slower than this my finish time would be over 4 hours. At 30K, my pace was 9:28 min/mile! I resigned to the fact that my goal of finishing below 4 hours was over. A few miles after the 30K my legs started to hurt. The muscles were screaming for oxygen and energy and I had to slow down and walk as my legs refused to run.

At this point my goal was just to finish and forget about getting a PR! I think I lost interest in the race when I knew that I would not be breaking the 4 hour mark. The mind does play an important role in racing! If the mind is not fully engaged with your goal, things starts to fall apart. I believe training the mind to keep your goal in the radar is as important as training your body to finish 26.2 miles. As I was so tired and exhausted, I slowed down considerably and added a some walking to give my legs a break. As we headed back to downtown, the rain had ceased and the crowd was getting larger. I grabbed some oranges that folks were handing out and that gave me a little boost. As I got closer to the finish line, I gathered up the last few grams of energy and pushed on. My wife was there to cheer me and I put on a brave face for the camera. As I crossed the finished line, I was overcome with mixed emotions. Happy to finish the marathon but dejected that I could not achieve my goal.

The hardest part was walking back to the car to get home!

The weather affected everyone who braved it and ran that day. None of the top finishers in the full and the half marathon established records or PR’s. The local newspaper mentioned that only 40% of the marathon runners started the race. The normal dropout rate is about 10%. Out of the 60% who started, 98% completed. Which is really good. I guess only the die hard runners were at the start line. I am still trying to figure out what I could have done differently that would have changed the outcome. During the last two months of training, I had started to change my diet based on Dr Fuhrman’s Nutritarian program. I feel that I may have not consumed adequate calories as my weight went down by about 4 pounds during the last month before the race. Maybe I should have increased my long run from 20 miles to 22 miles and increased my calorie intake to compensate for the change in the diet? I will take notes of all these issues and adjust my training plan for next year.

Personally, completing the Marathon was a great achievement for me and the most physically demanding event that I have done.

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Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Growth, Positive Thinking, Running, Triumph Race Club, vegan Tagged With: Achievement, Goals, Nutrition for Athletic Performance, Race Club, Running, Team Triumph Race Club, Vegan Athlete, vegan diet benefits

Mind Monkey Warning: T-minus 5 weeks

February 12, 2013 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Sorry for the unintended blog break there! When you are in the health or fitness industry, January is a busy, busy month. In a major “be careful what you wish for” kinda way, I decided to up-level my business and was literally slammed with new inquiries! Hey, I’m not complaining!

Now I am settled in with a new crop of wonderful clients who, with my support and guidance, are well on the way to fulfilling their dreams and desires, yay! And I can get back to a more regular writing schedule.

So I am 5 weeks out from the Tel Aviv Half Marathon of 2013. What I want to write about today, is my struggle to increase my speed, set a personal record finish time, and the monkeys that are getting in my way. If you remember, I had decided that since I have already run this distance several times, I would work on my speed to keep things interesting. Turns out it’s much harder than I thought it would be!

This is a re-cap of my racing “career” for perspective:

2005: Westchester County Half Marathon ~ This was my first attempt at a long distance race and my goal was just to finish it no matter what. Finish time: 2:23:56

2006: Yonkers Half Marathon ~ I came into this race under-prepared and over-confident. The race itself was a nightmare of pain for me. Finish time: 2:35:39

2011: Tel Aviv Half Marathon ~A return to long distance running after several years off as I adjusted to life in a new country. My goal was just to finish. Finish time: 2:36:11

2012: Tel Aviv Full Marathon ~ Decided to double my distance and go for 42.2 kms in honor of my 45th birthday. My goal was to finish before the 6 hour cut off. Finish time: 5:44

2013: Tel Aviv Half Marathon Goal Finish Time 2:15.

The difference between my last two finish times in 2011 and 2006 and my goal for this year is about 21 minutes. Spread that 21 minutes out over 21 kms of running and it’s basically running one minute faster per kilometer.

THAT SOUNDS SO EASY!!!

What’s one minute faster? When I was in the planning stages I felt that was totally doable. Here in the trenches, I can tell you it feels like the fight of a lifetime for me!! When I am out there running and trying to maintain my desired race pace, I feel like I am pushing against a 40lb sled! And really, this is still a pretty slow pace for most people. The average half marathon pace for women is 2:12. That is a demoralizing thought.

There are very real issues that impact speed such as age and weight (both have increased over the years!) but truly I think I am up against a mental block. The bottom line is that it plain hurts to run faster! And it is scary. I feel like I could trip and sprawl more easily. I feel like my heart might explode or that I won’t be able to go the distance. And the biggie, behind almost every fear: What if I fail?

So that brings me back to the beginning of the post and the January influx of new people excited to start on a new path to health and fitness. At first, it’s exciting! It seems doable. We are pumped up to get started!

Then a few days pass, or weeks or months, and we get tired of watching our calories, planning and journaling our food. Surely we can skip the workout, just today. We look over a month of “work” and see that we have lost a tiny fraction of the weight we need to lose. It starts to feel impossible. And hard. And scary. Besides, our friends are giving us flack for not being able to eat out with them, and drink, and stay up late. They’re right, who wants to live such a strictly disciplined life anyway?

WARNING:

The fact is, we DO want to achieve something here! If we listen to all the monkey chatter about “I can’t”, “It’s too hard”, “It’s not that important anyway” we will never get what we want.

NEVER

The reason working with a health coach is so valuable, is because you have someone reminding you of this and calling you back when you start to party with the monkeys.

In lieu of personal health coaching, I give you Bruno Mars and some muppets to say what I would say to you. And what I say to myself every. single. day:

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Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Running, Tel Aviv Half Marathon Tagged With: Achievement, Anti-Ick Techniques, Exercise, February slump, Goals, goals forgotten by February, Running, Self-Improvement, Tel Aviv Marathon, weight loss

Redefine Hard

January 24, 2013 by Emily Segal Leave a Comment

On a typical morning, I wake up, walk the dog, feed everyone breakfast, pack lunches, and get the kids off to school. Then I put on my running clothes…

…and spend the next 30 – 60 minutes whining to my husband about why I do not want to go running!

My husband, observing this phenomenon in me for years, and now experiencing it for himself while training for his first Half Marathon, has sagely noted:

The training is not the hard part. Getting out the door to DO the training is what is really hard!

Often when a client first comes to see me for weight loss or diet change, he or she holds the belief that “Weight Loss is Hard”. This belief has probably formed during past attempts where it either felt hard to diet or to maintain the weight lost.

Now imagine for a minute how much motivation and excitement to get started you feel when you think “Weight Loss is Hard.”

Ugh, not very much, right?

So we re-frame the belief that “weight loss is hard” by listing all the things about being overweight and food addicted that are hard:

Finding clothes to wear that you feel good in each day
Clothes shopping (nothing you want looks good on you)
Being without food for several hours (start to get crave-y and hypoglyecmic)
Having heartburn
Having a stomach ache
Taking medications for diet-caused illnesses
Being out of breath
Feeling insecure or even ashamed
Walking in to a room and assessing if you are the biggest person there
Being tired
Feeling depressed
Worrying about your own health
Worrying about passing these food problems on to your kids

I know that not every overweight person feels these things. These are things my clients say or things I experienced myself when I was overweight.

When we re-frame the question “What is Hard?” we can now see that being overweight and food addicted is really pretty hard! Look at that list! Is it just possible that, in comparison, sticking to a healthy food plan might not be so hard after all?

As for we exercisers, what is the re-frame we do to get us out that door? Personally, I think about the things that would be hard in my life if I did NOT workout:

feeling depressed
achy muscles
low energy
muddy thinking
flabby legs
being out of breath
setting a poor example for my kids
and the one that gets me most right now, 8 weeks from my race day: failing and/or suffering in front of thousands of people.

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It’s all in the re-frame!

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Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Running, weight loss Tagged With: Achievement, Dieting vs Lifestyle, Exercise, Goals, Obesity, Overweight, Running, Self-Improvement, Sugar Addiction, weight loss

T-minus 10: How to Run a Different Race

January 6, 2013 by Emily Segal 4 Comments

Remember how last year while training for my first marathon, I latched on to Kelli Clarkson’s song, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger?

Well, this year there’s a new sheriff in town and she says:

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So, I am in my 12th week of training with 10 weeks to go until race day. As you know, I also made the conscious decision to have a different experience with running and racing this year. To accomplish that, I changed my training plan and I changed my training fuel. I don’t even feel like the same person right now, so I think it is working!

This year I am training with a personalized version of Hal Higdon’s Intermediate runner program. The biggest change in this plan has been the kind of speed-work the plan entails. Instead of just running intervals on speed days (short sprints or “fartleks”), this plan uses Tempo Runs. Tempo Training is a gradual process of training your body to be able to sustain a faster speed for longer periods of time, rather than explosive sprints which never helped me get any faster. You can read more about Tempo Training HERE.

(Incidentally, for those who didn’t see when I posted it on Facebook, the link above led me to this fascinating video on how to blow the perfect Snot Rocket while running. For that bit of edification, click HERE. Good stuff.)

Since incorporating Tempo Training I have actually seen my pace slowly improve. It took awhile for me to see any differences but I was persistent and this week I really turned a corner and cut off some serious time at the 5K distance.

Not only has my performance improved, but the shape of my body is changing as well. In the past, I tended to grow some pretty big quadriceps muscles when training for these distances events. This year has literally been a pain in the @ss with most of my new muscle growth in my hamstrings and butt. Why the difference? I have been ATTACKING hills this year. I used to kind of avoid them and we all say how Tel Aviv is a flat course. But it’s not really flat – ask anyone who has run it! There are some looooooong slow inclines that are killer and what about those two crazy hills on HaYarkon at the end?! (If you are thinking “what hills” imagine turning south on HaYarkon from Nordau. Oh yeah, that hill. Oh and what is this on the other side of the tunnel coming up to the Sheraton? It’s a nasty friggin hill at the very end of the race, baby).

Another thing I have changed this year is my nutrition. Back in November I committed to an Eat to Live challenge over on Dr Furhman’s website. I had a kind of wobbly start with being totally compliant, but once I got going, weight started coming down and energy started coming up. Becoming a Nutritarian is changing not only my physical shape, but my mental approach to how and why I feed myself, and undoubtedly it will change the way I coach others as well. I’m sure I will be writing much more about this.

It is crystal clear to me that on the days I eat to meet my nutritional needs and no more, I have great workouts, and days when I eat (or drink) for entertainment, distraction, or mere habit, my body gives me sub-par performance. I didn’t even realize I was getting sub-par performance before upgrading my nutrition! I thought I was doing pretty well. But yo-ho, there is a whole other level up here!!! And I don’t want sub-par anymore and not just in terms of running and working out.

So that expression about doing what you’ve always done and getting what you’ve always got? Completely true.

Luckily, the opposite is true as well.

Training song of the week, Vertigo by U2. This song is like a brick on my gas pedal!

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Growth, Inspiration, Running, vegan, vegan challenge, weight loss Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Goals, Nutrition for Athletic Performance, Running, Self-Improvement, Vegan Athlete, vegan diet benefits, weight loss

The Frightening New Normal

November 11, 2012 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

We live in a world where the following things are considered “normal”:

Eating everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING … but in “moderation”, of course

Allowing our kids to eat sugar and junk food every day because they are doing so “in moderation” and because not doing so is not “normal”

Spending day after day completely sedentary, moving from house to car to office then back to house

Hiring people to do all manual labor around our homes from cooking to cleaning to gardening to childcare

“Relaxing” at the end of our long day by watching mindless television or chatting with our equally exhausted and equally “normal” mindset cyber-friends

Believing that despite our hired help, our cars to take us everywhere, households full of time saving equipment like dish washers and washing machines, and the hours spent on passive screen-based entertainment, that we don’t have time to cook healthy meals or get any exercise

Taking all kinds of pills to alleviate illnesses and symptoms brought on entirely from doing all of the above

Having to take more pills to alleviate the side effects caused by the first pills

Undergoing surgeries where a doctor cuts our bodies open with knives and saws (um hello, SAWS, yes they do!) to fix the problem the pills didn’t fix

Feeling this physical and mental decline is all an inevitable part of the aging process

Feeling hopeless to change anything

The other day on Facebook, someone posted one of those quote boxes that said “Adulthood: If you’re not tired, you’re not doing it right.” and a whole string of people said “Amen to that!” People, I would like to add, who are at least 20 years younger than my remarkably UN-tired self.

WHA????

I feel so bad for these people. I feel so sad that people just stumble through life exhausted and drained, not ever imagining the kind of energy and health they could have if they just chose it. I sometimes feel like I am living in a world that is the exact enactment of the films Wall-E and Idiocracy! The future has arrived indeed.

Folks, please, please, PLEASE wake up! Please make the connection between HOW you live your life and the way you FEEL living your life! Stop waving your white flag of defeat before even stepping onto the battlefield!

My thoughts:

I don’t think that most of us can live in this modern food obsessed, food-abundant world and NOT worry about what we eat and how much. Very few people have the ability to stop when they are full and only eat when truly hungry. Some can, but judging by the “obesity crisis” most can’t. I can’t. I have tried it and it got me obese, sick and miserable. I pledge everyday to not ever go back to that dark place. Read the fascinating Myth of Moderation HERE.

Kill yourself in the gym? Give me a break! I don’t “kill” myself in the gym. I kill myself when I am NOT in the gym. Our bodies need to move, lift heavy things, stretch, jump and climb. If those actions are not part of your natural life (ie you sit at a computer all day) then you need to work them in somehow. Working out is what keeps us alive, strong, supple, and mentally well-balanced. Being sedentary is what is a death sentence. How have we gotten that so backwards?

F*&k Normal! “Normal” these days is synonymous with diseases like cancer, being overweight and or under-strong, and complaining of how tiring life is. People hobble along like sheep following the crowd, accepting that cancer is normal, stiff bodies are normal, being tired and overwhelmed by life is normal. They believe that making time to cook healthy food is some weirdo fringe behavior and that rolling up to the drive-through window is “normal eating”.

People say to me “I let my kids eat junk food because I want them to “feel normal about food.” When did junk food become normal food? When did cooking healthy food become bizarre and extreme??

Every day I wake up and say “I can be better. I can do better. I can feel better. I can be happier.” Eating healthy, exercising, having a purpose, a dream, and the energy to pursue it – those are the rungs on the ladder I will keep climbing.

”Normal” is going to kill you – escape while you can!

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Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Rants, weight loss Tagged With: Dieting vs Lifestyle, Exercise, Getting Kids to Eat Healthy, Goals, Self-Improvement, weight loss

The Things We Think And Do Not Say

August 15, 2012 by Emily Segal 5 Comments

Today is my 46th birthday. Forty-six is a lot of dang-nabbity years!

I started this first day of my 47th year with my favorite Spinning class. You know, Spinning is the magical wormhole into the endorphin dimension. You can keep your “E”, your 50 Shades of Grey and your 70% fair trade chcolate. Just throw me a spin bike, some awesome music, an Israeli to yell at me, and I’m deep into the happy zone.

Then, on my walk home from Spinning, I was thinking about Jerry Maguire.

It all started yesterday when, fueled by temperatures that topped 180 Kelvin, and some free radicalized estrogen/progesterone circulating in my boiling blood, I wrote a really long and very passionate blog post on parental culpability and responsibility for overweight children. Luckily, before I hit the “publish” button, I decided to send the post to a friend endowed with good taste and common sense. The subject line of my email to her read “Is this too bitchy and negative?” To which she basically answered “Um, yes.”

I decided to shelve the post for the time being and as I logged it into my Drafts folder, I saw a looooong string of posts I have written and not published. And I thought to myself, “Ah, these are the things we think and do not say.”

Which led me back to the movie, in which Jerry, fueled by some bad pizza, sits down and pours his heart out into a rambling and scathing Manifesto on his company’s policies. He has, he tells us “Lost the ability to bullshit”.

OK, so I am SO far past that point, I am not even in the dang bull pasture anymore! There is not a bone of bullshit left in my being. The trick though, is how to SAY things in a way that people can HEAR and not just run screaming from me with their hands over their ears. Which is of course what happens to Jerry. No one wants to hear his manifesto because it makes them feel guilty. He shines a big ole flashlight on everyone’s lack of integrity and they don’t like it one bit.

Well, it’s MY birthday and MY blog and the “things I think and do not say” are freeking CHOKING ME. So here goes… duck and cover dears:

Stop waiting for “the right time”. There is no right time. There is only Now and The-Hell-of-Putting-it-Off-For-One-More-Day time. Do you have any idea how many emails I get from people who write “I just love your philosophy Emily. One day I am going to work with you when I am ready.” ? Yeah, yeah, one day aint nevah gonna get here honey. One, five, ten years are going to pass and you are going to be fatter, more out of shape, sicker, and turning things around is going to be even harder. Now. Today. Just Begin. GO.

Ouch! Ooo, hurts so good. You still with me?

Stop waiting for the time when you will “FEEL” like making changes. You are never going to feel like doing it, trust me. If I did what I felt like every day I would pretty much live on a regime of cookies and couch-sitting. Been there, done that, fun while it lasted, nearly killed me. I don’t ever feel like going to the gym. I generally don’t feel like running until I am several kms into it. I certainly never woke up and said “I feel like running 42 kms today!” I do NOT prefer lettuce to chocolate. I do what I have to do to get what I want to get. Boom.

If you haven’t already listened to this @ss-kicking motivational talk by Mel Robbins, do so now and wake up fresh and tingly: Mel Robbins in the WISH Summit HERE.

Know your addictions. Don’t even try to negotiate with things you cannot control. You will lose over and over again. Eliminate, don’t Moderate. Life is so much more peaceful when you are not constantly trying to battle those cravings and will-power struggles.

Stop wondering if it’s worth it. Did you ever notice that those people who say “I would rather eat what I want even if it means living a shorter life, than moderating myself and exercising” pretty much never say that anymore once they are really sick? That’s because most of us don’t go straight from main-lining cheeseburgers and milkshakes to peacefully dead in one day. First we get sick. And being sick is really, really awful. Being sick and feeling regret is even worse.

On the other hand, being in shape and having tons of energy? Not too shabby! It’s worth it. Like, totally.

Last one, hang in there…

Stop blaming. Your life = your responsibility. Your family isn’t derailing you. Society isn’t making it hard for you. Your husband isn’t sabotaging your efforts. Your busy schedule isn’t dooming you to failure. YOU are letting those things happen! You. You. You. The people who succeed at healthy behavior change are the ones who figure out a way to do it despite their challenges. They go to bed earlier so that they can get up earlier and pack their healthy meals. Instead of sacking out in front of the tv, they chop their veggies in advance so that healthy options will be ready when hunger hits. They plan in advance. They keep track. They LIVE ON PURPOSE, not just at the whim of the day-to-day.

All those other people and things that you believe are obstacles in your path? They are not the ones who will have to live in your body when you feel like crap, are burning with heartburn, bloated with gas, struggling to breath at the top of the stairs, recovering from bypass surgery, suffering through dialysis or chemotherapy. You will be alone. You already are.

Please read this illuminating article from Tom Venuto, The Weight Maintenance Predictors: 13 Behaviors and Attitudes that Keep Fat Off Forever HERE and let me just say in advance, I told you so.

OK I’m done. You survived.

I am not going to send this post by rational, calm editor friend today. This is going out into the world to become the things I THOUGHT and SAID.

C’mon, you know I had you at hello… (email subscribers click the post title to enjoy the musical accompaniment)

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Rants, Running Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Goals, Running, Self-Improvement, weight loss

Team Triumph: Corrie is Triumphant!

June 27, 2012 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

Great news patient readers! We are officially saved from my recent blog apathy by a Guest Blog, yay! Here is my friend Corrie with her Half Marathon Race Report:

Hello everyone! My name is Corrie and I blog over at www.blurbcolumn.blogspot.com. I have known Emily virtually for about 6 years now and have always found her to be an inspirational, giving and loving person. Last year when Emily organized Team Triumph I agreed to participate and immediately signed up for the Helvetia Half Marathon on June 9, 2012. I had participated in the Helvetia 10k in June of 2006 (running) and in June of 2009 (walking with friends) but had never done the half. I ran a half marathon in July of 2006 in Seattle, but it has been about that long since I have done any serious running.

I originally planned to run the Helvetia Half as I had over half a year to prepare.

And then life happened.

I started with good intentions in January by getting outside in the good weather and spending time on my feet. Then Winter Term at school started in full swing (I am a full-time student at the moment). I was taking 5 classes. The weather was still frequently dark, cold and miserable. I was studying all the time. I still tried to get outside to spend some time training, even working up to 1 minute walk/jog intervals at one point. But as the term wore on I realized that I was not going to be able to put forth the time necessary to train to run 13.1 miles the way I thought I should.

I seriously considered just quitting and not doing the event, even though I had already signed up and paid my entry fee.

And then I remembered Team Triumph. I had made a commitment to do an event. I had told all of my blog readers about it, told Facebook about it, put it on Twitter and had invited a bunch of friends to do it with me! I couldn’t quit! But, it was apparent that I wasn’t going to be able to run it.

I could walk it though. I could easily already walk 6-7 miles without too much difficulty, so there was already a base level of distance there. All I needed to do was increase my distance. I wasn’t doing it for speed. All I wanted was to finish in less than four hours.

Spring Term started and I was only taking four classes. They were still fairly work heavy, but I made a commitment and I found time during my week to get in at least one long walk. Some weeks I did two or three, but I felt that if I got at least one long walk in per week I would be ready. As the race crept closer I increased my distance in earnest. 7+, 8+ and 10+ miles…then a taper week with a short hour long walk then…RACE DAY!

I walked 13.1 miles in just shy of 4 hours (3:52 something) with my friends Kelsey, Ann and Shorey (Corrie is #98 in the middle). We had a great time together, laughing and motivating people around us. Anytime we saw someone walking alone we cheered them on, especially older people. We had one group of girls tell us they hoped we would be back next year because we were cracking them up! The scenery was gorgeous and the weather was perfect! Slightly overcast with sun breaks and only two drops of rain at mile 12.

The race itself went very smoothly. We kept to a decent pace, and kept each other motivated. My stomach was a little wonky first thing in the morning so I didn’t eat much more than some peanut butter. I took some advil just before the start. Then we were off! The first few miles were easy and nice. Around mile 4 we started up the hills, which honestly were nothing compared to what I had trained on, so I was good there. I ate some cheese and drank some water around that point. Sometime after mile 7 we all started to feel a bit weak and tired and realized we hadn’t had any food in a while. We downed some clif shot gel (surprisingly tasty!) and within moments were perky and energetic again. Amazing what a little fuel can do! I also took a couple more advil at this point to keep the swelling in my knees down. We noted different parts of our bodies “talking to us” at various points, one time it would be a hip or a foot then later some other body part, but luckily nothing to slow us down or keep us from finishing. Around mile 10 we came across a girl who was really hurting. She said she hadn’t laced her shoes up tight enough early on and her socks had rubbed the balls of her feet raw. She looked miserable. I offered her some of my advil and she looked at me like I was an angel! Hey… sometimes we are in the right place at the right time. She was super thankful and I was happy to be able to help. We saw her at the finish and she thanked me again. I was just glad she made it! We kept trucking along and before you know it we were at mile 12 and then 13 and then we entered the stadium where the finish was at! I told Shorey and Ann that we had to jog to the finish! We could do it!

We ran through the stadium and crossed the finish line together! Woohooo!! My friend Kelsey had already finished and was waiting for us. We got our finisher medals, took some pictures and then went to get some much needed food!!

We did it! YAY!

Ann was staying in a great hotel with a lovely jacuzzi, so after the race we went there and toasted each other and our own success with a glass of champagne and a soak in the jacuzzi. It was a great way to end the event and certainly helped with the sore muscles!

I feel grateful to Emily for encouraging me to do another half marathon. I am so proud of myself and my friends. My body was sore Sunday, but I wasn’t in pain. I had a lovely massage and chiropractic adjustment Monday and was back to feeling great!

Thank you Emily for organizing Team Triumph. I can now say:

I am Triumphant!

(You sure are Corrie! I am SO proud of you for honoring this commitment even though life got in the way. In my book, that makes the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. I’ve got more to say on that soon, I promise…)

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Inspiration, Running, Triumph Race Club Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Goals, Running, Self-Improvement, Team Triumph Race Club

Goal Report: One Month In

May 24, 2012 by Emily Segal 1 Comment

On April 22, 2012, I wrote this post outlining my next goal to lose weight and shape up in preparation for running my next marathon in April 2013. I promised I would keep you all updated at least once a month, for better or for worse. So here goes:

It’s been a rocky month. I have not blogged much because of that whole “If You Can’t Say Anything Nice Don’t Say Anything At All” thing.

In a nutshell,

We are moving in 4 weeks but still don’t know where to yet. Yeah, crazy stressful. It’s a long story.

My coach is kicking my @ss to the end of the galaxy and back. And by “@ss”, I really mean my brain – easy to confuse the two. I feel like every molecule of brain matter is being rearranged. She has this really soft, gentle, quiet voice but she comes out with things like “The Wall doesn’t even exist. You just created it to give yourself a reason to have to struggle. You are already standing on the other side.” Well, that’s like 45 years of struggle that apparently existed nowhere but in my own mind. After our sessions I do a lot of just laying down on the floor in a stupor, not sure if I should laugh or cry.

I took my family completely off cow’s milk. I will write an entire post about this, but basically I reached a very painful tipping point and that was that. It’s all positive and all good, but a major shift none-the-less. I will explain it all soon and you will see what I’m talking about.

So that’s the Life As Roller-Coaster Stuff that’s been going on. In terms of my goals to lose weight and get in great shape:

I’m down 4 lbs (2 kg) in 1 month. Slow and steady wins the race, don’t it.

I had to scale down the 2000+ calories per day I was eating during marathon training back to 1400-1500 calories per day for normal activity. That was REALLY hard but I did it slowly, slowly, coming down just a little bit each day. Despite the gradual decline in calories, I was physically hungry and emotionally struggling with the deficit. I finally feel I am here in daily deficit range and more or less comfortable.

I put my back out again like the day after I set my goals. It’s like magic the way that happens, no? So also here I had to do some baby steps with my workouts. But I have kept at it – sometimes only 30 minutes each day – but never quitting. Now I can do 10 full push-ups (don’t laugh), I can kick up into a handstand without using the wall to support me the entire time, I can do a 90-second wall-sit, and a 60-second plank. You never realize how slow 60 seconds can go until you’re holding a plank.

Gluten. Ugh. As much as I REALLY did not want to have to eliminate gluten, I clearly cannot eat it if I want to feel good and not be doubled over with stomach pain. I haven’t figured this entirely out yet and seriously hope it is only temporary somehow, but yeah, I have pulled it from my diet for now. One day I glumly typed “gluten-free vegan” into google, thinking I was the only poor sap in the world who would have to not only not eat any animal products, but also not get to eat bread and pasta and crackers, and found tons of books and websites for people just like me. That was kind of comforting. A trip to the health food store for some gluten free bread, pasta and crackers also made me feel better (and drained my bank account, wtf?). I’ll live.

So that’s where we’re at over here. I have all kinds of juicy posts waiting in the wings. I just need to stay positive enough to write them!

Filed Under: Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, vegan Tagged With: Achievement, Exercise, Getting Kids to Eat Healthy, Gluten-Free Vegan, Goals, Self-Improvement, Vegan Athlete

Ruth Ran Jerusalem! Half Marathon Race Report

May 10, 2012 by Emily Segal Leave a Comment

Back in November 2011, I received an email from Ruth that said:

Hi Emily,

I discovered your blog this morning through your interview on Cooking Manager.com, and I have barely left it all day.

I have recently started running (less than a month ago) and I would like to join Team Triumph. My current goal is the Jerusalem 10K, while my husband runs the full marathon.

Thanks for all your inspiring posts!

What followed for Ruth and I, was a Facebook friendship of mutual interest and running support. And only 4 months after sending me that email, Ruth ran, not the 10K, but the Half Marathon (21K)!! WOW!!

Here is her story:

I took up running at the start of November 2011, and decided that I would run one of the races in Jerusalem on Marathon Day, 16 March, 2012.

My initial aim was to run the 10K race without taking any walking breaks. So, not following any particular plan, I started running. The first time I went out, I ran (I say ran) about a mile. I ran until I ran out of breath, then walked until it came back, then ran again, as long as I could manage. A little like the couch-to-5k program, but I ran/walked in accordance with how I felt rather than what the stopwatch said.

I ran in this fashion 3 times per week, and I surprised myself incredibly by the speed at which I improved. I increased the distance I was running, by about 1- 1.5km per long run Friday. Before a month had passed, I was running up a kilometre hill with an average 6% elevation!!!

The Jerusalem municipality organised a few free “warm up” races in the months leading up to marathon day, which I signed up for. I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for them for a few reasons: I only ever run alone, I run when I want and I run where I want. I thought these races would give me some experience running with other people, on a set course, and at a set time. The first of these 2 warm-up races was at the end of January, with a 5k and a 10k course. As I had worked up to about 8km for a long run, I decided to jump in at the deep end and go for the 10km course. I ran most of the way, keeping pace with a few other runners of the same approximate speed as myself. As we got towards the end, they all ended up ahead of me, but turning back into the Jerusalem Botanical gardens, I gave it a last burst of speed. Expecting to finish any second, I hadn’t realized that I had a kilometre to sprint through the botanical gardens before the finish line. That was a challenge!

By then, I’d conquered my initial goal of running a 10km race. So I did what you’d expect any crazy person to do, and signed up for the Jerusalem Half Marathon. I followed Hal Higdon’s beginner’s program (which I’d already been following for the previous few weeks, in case I made the decision I ultimately did.

I followed my training program to the letter, and the rest of my training was uneventful.

Race day finally arrived. The weather was pretty dreadful. It had been raining heavily all night and Gan Sacher was a mud bath. Throughout the race, the rain was on, off, heavy, light, there was a strong wind blowing throughout, and it hailed at times too.

But most of the time I didn’t notice the weather. The hills were not as steep as my local hills (the name of my neighborhood literally translates to “hills”, and not without reason!) Despite the weather, people were out lining the streets to encourage us runners. You could feel the love! There’s also something very special about running through Jerusalem’s Old City with hundreds of other people!

I felt fabulous until after the 20km mark, when my legs decided they’d had enough, and I had to walk most of my last km. My initial plan had been to give it all I had for the last 500m, but all I had left wasn’t very much, so I revised to giving it my all for the last 100m. That worked.

My aim was to finish vertical, which I did. I had hoped to finish in 2:45-2:50, but ended up with a 2:27 time which I’m overjoyed with. Just makes it more of a challenge to beat next time!