If Everyone is an Athlete; considerations for “everyone” moving towards a new year.

There is something I, we, believe here at Athlete On Fire. The idea that EVERYONE is an athlete.  Bring us your lazy, your overweight, your elite, your depressed and broken, your everyday and fairly normal, your adaptive, and please, bring us the non-believers.  The ones that do not believe that everyone is an athlete because of their own definition and the ones that do not believe because they don’t believe that they could ever be.

If we are all athletes, then, what should we be asking of ourselves.

There are really two parts to this.

  1. How do we want our bodies to serve us?
  2. How do we want our minds to serve us?

As athletes.  No, as people, these are the only resources we truly have.  The third some would argue is our soul but I am of the mind that if we take care of as much of the conscious as we can, the subconscious, or soul, ends up being pretty well taken care of.  I am writing this based on how I try to see things so although my exercise science is fairly sound ( I can refer to text and research), my thoughts on the things we can’t see are simply that, thoughts.  Take ’em or leave ’em.

 

Now for the things we can and should take care of as athletes.

How do we want our bodies to serve us?

This is a question I ask myself when working with and training athletes that pay for guidance.

Okay, this is a runner that wants to PR in the 5k.  She needs to knock off a minute from her time.  She needs to get faster, duh.  How can we prep her body to serve this goal?  Insert training plan and 15 years of experience and a M.S. in the field and boom, we serve that body.

What if you don’t have a specific goal?  

  • Does your body need to look good?
  • Does it need to feel good?
  • Does it need to get you somewhere on foot in the mountains?
  • Does it need to bend and twist and pick up your kids?
  • Does it need to be ready for a Spartan Race?
  • Does it need to be strong?

There is no right answer and as you go through the seasons of your life these needs will change.  It’s important to be honest on how you want your body to serve you.  If you think you want to run 30 miles but you find yourself lifting heavy on a whim, you’re likely to get hurt.

The challenge:

Start to decide how you want your body to serve you for the next 13 months.  Take the whole month of December to really think about it so you don’t default to “look good” and “weight loss” come January.  Find meaning in how you use this gift (our body) we all have and lastly, make sure it lines up with the second thing we ask of ourselves…

How do we want our minds to serve us?

I’d say this is fairly simple.  We should want our minds to serve us as the most positive influencer in the world.  If we can find a way to make what we think our best source of inspiration, motivation, compassion, and love (of ourselves and of others) then we truly don’t need much else.  And no, this isn’t easy but it is a muscle we can train.

A good example. We have a project called Becoming Ultra.  It is all about coaching a couple ultra running first timers in 6 months to their first ultra, usually 50 miles.  We have world class ultra runners coaching them on the show and every season we cover the training of your mind.

There are a few themes:

  • Plan your thoughts when certain things happen.
  • Find a positive mantra
  • Be flexible

If you can plan what you will think about before it happens and make sure that thing is positive then you are ensuring that a default negative thought won’t be allowed to creep in.  Those negatives ones are notorious on 15 hour runs.

If you have a simple one or two word mantra to fall back on it serves a similar function except it is more proactive. You are deciding to think positive things all the time instead of just when it gets tough.

The concept of flexibility is that nothing can really shake you.  My family recently lost my dad.  We weren’t flexible to this idea of loss and it has hurt that much more.  And you probably shouldn’t be flexible when it comes to love but when it comes to the mind of an athlete, realizing that failure and success, pain and suffering, joy and despair, can all come from somewhere different and often unexpectedly.  Be open to rapid change when it comes to your mind and your physical feats.

The Challenge:

Decide how you want your mind to serve you.  If it serves you well, your body will follow.  Yogi Berra had it right when he said…

Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.

What are you going to ask of your body and mind in 2017, for the rest of your life?  Continue to update what you ask of it often.  Good coaches and trainers have the uncanny to ask this of their athletes all the time.  You should be the foremost expert on yourself from now on!

The last time I saw him he told me I was his best friend. He always did.

Scott Jones, M.S. is the founder of Athlete On Fire.  While sitting on the river bank the days after losing his dad he noticed that the river never stopped and it never would.  So, if that is going to flow no matter what we face in life, let’s get clear about what we have and what we should ask of ourselves.  It inspired this article.  He trains and coaches athletes in Colorado and on the internets.

The Toughest Game

My dad….

is gone.

But life is a game and we are all athletes.  He taught me this.  Let me tell you about the toughest game I ever played.

Pregame

I can trick myself often enough living in Colorado (he lived in West Virginia) to make myself feel like he is still here.  But, he isn’t.  At least not in the same way he was for the first 38 years of my life and for the entire 62 of his.  As of this article, it has been 46 days since we lost him.  I was there that day, that moment (more on that in a bit).
 
At least once a day I grab for my phone to call him.  I don’t grab the phone in denial, which is one of the 5 “stages” of grief (more on that in a bit as well), but as a habit.  I literally talked to the guy every day or at least pretty dang close.  Athletes are habitual creatures and if if this one sticks, I am cool with it because it at the least gets me to stop and think about him.
 
I can write about the man but I wanted to share what the first month and a half has been like and a few things that I never knew would matter but really did in hindsight.

Scouting Report:

  1. I believe in God but I can understand why people don’t.  To me, you either do or you don’t.  I think my dad is in heaven.  I think I will see him again, somehow.  This may frame my grief a bit.
  2. I have a demented sense of humor and can provide more sources than most humans to this fact.  Examples will ruin this heartfelt post immediately.
  3. I believe that everyone is an athlete.  Different levels, yes. But all ages and through all stages of life, it is the founding principle of Athlete On Fire.

First Quarter

I had to come back up the page to add this sentence.  I didn’t know where I would go with this but I think I just needed to write it all down. At least as much of the day as I could.  My goal in starting was to share what grieving has been like so as to help others potentially.  I didn’t have room for this story but I will write about it soon.
 
Before we can grieve in the case of losing someone, we have to lose them.  Guarding and allowing negatives thoughts about the potential outcome is normal, just as it is for athletes competing.  It’s doubt at an outcome.  We can’t let those emotions control us.  It is why I am blindly optimistic about everything because I believe that it ain’t over until it’s over.  Something else my dad taught me.
 
I left my dad and mom’s side to head back to Colorado to see my family after a week of sitting in a hospital while my dad fought against the sepsis that overtook his body.  I went home because he was getting better, I knew when I got back we would be able to talk, even if it was in the hospital for a long recovery.  It was a Wednesday morning.  By Thursday I was back on a plane, driving through the night, to say goodbye.  Okay, the story of the toughest game of my life and then back to grieving.
 

At the gym…

I was home for a day.  Dad was getting better.  This dude could fight.  He beat cancer, had heart surgery, and more ailments than you could imagine.  He needed a kidney and my mom put him through dialysis every other day.  He’s tough.  The day after I got home I got news he was getting stronger and they would extubate him, or take the tube out so he could breath on his own.  The day was full of texts and nothing negative.  I decided I needed to go work with some of my clients.  I am an entrepreneur and the stress of not working is a real thing.  Cash was dwindling.  Anyway, I was sitting at the office in the gym catching up on emails and other stuff with my online biz and my mom called.

 

beeeeeeeepppppppppppppppppp

 

Second Quarter

 

“They were re-intubating him and when they did he went into cardiac arrest.  They did CPR and revived him and we are waiting to hear how he is doing.” My mom told me.
 
I knew. Right then.  My gut, whatever.
 
I knew but I couldn’t allow myself to know.  I am sure my dad did this with his cancer that the doctor told him would take his life in 3 months.  “I know what they are saying but I have bigger plans” thinking.
 
Also, when I was at the hospital only a few hours earlier the docs had said his heart was too weak for CPR and they would not administer.  That was the rational part of my brain remembering important details.  No matter, I broke down.  In the gym. Five minutes before my client* was to walk in.

 

*my clients are referred to as clients but I have worked with most of them a minimum of 5 years. They are really good, really close friends.

 

So, on cue, she walks in.  On time for once too, what the hell(this is exaggerated for effect).  I was already frantically looking for flights for that night.
 
It was 5pm.  No luck.
 
She asked what I needed and I just said I needed some fresh air so we were going to go for a walk.  I had to text one more friend who could always find flights.  I texted her.  Then, we headed out the door. When we got outside the friend I wrote was standing there putting boxes in her car from the UPS store.  She hadn’t seen the text yet.  Wow.  She hugged me after I told her what was up and she told me to keep my phone close.  I walked for 25 minutes and then headed home. One stop, to grab a bottle of wine, it was Lauren and my ninth anniversary.  The phone rang on the way home and my friend found a flight that left in 90 minutes. Wow.  She(they) took care of the flight.  Really?  I don’t really deserve friends this good.
 
I got home and Lauren and I left the house quickly. I already had a bag packed to go as I was going to mentor at a trail running camp in Texas the next day. Weird.  I was on the plane by 7:15 and the drive was 40 minutes.   I’ll always feel indebted to my friends who found the flight.
 
I sat down and ordered a coke.  Oh yeah, I bought a little Jack Daniels mini when I got the wine.  I don’t really drink much more than beer but it was my dad’s favorite drink when he did drink.  Seemed appropriate. I actually bought the TV service on the plane because I knew a distraction would be nice.  The second I turned it on I saw someone wearing a “DEFWU” shirt.  My dad’s college intramural team name and fantasy football name.  I used it in my college intramural teams too.  WEIRD.  I even took a pic.

 

 

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DEFWU: Don’t Even F With Us.


 
beeeeeeeeppppppppppppppppppppppp
 

Third Quarter

Didn’t sleep. Watched some goofy movie with a lil dude and a big dude. The Rock and Kevin Hart I think. It was just dumb enough to keep me entertained. I only lost it once for about 10 seconds. I wasn’t trying to hold back to be tough, I had lots of travel left and wanted to be focused.  I am an athlete you know.
 
I got to Baltimore at 1:30, in rental car and on my way at 2:00, am. I’d be driving 3.5 hours to Morgantown, WV.  The second I got in the car I knew silence was NOT my friend.  I called a good friend who actually got me started in podcasting (he has a beast show).  He lost his father at a really young age and I was pretty self aware that I didn’t want to make a deal of what I was going through.  Just wanted to hang out.  He was awesome.  I am lucky.  I have at least 15 friends I could have called and they all would have answered. Beyond lucky.  My mom, sis, or uncle called in a few times to check on me. The stress I heard was palpable.  I knew.
 
My friend talked to me for a good 2 hrs.  Then I called the next.  He answered.  We talked for 25 and I found out later that when I clicked over to talk to my uncle again, he passed out…haha.  It was 4:30 in the morning. On to the next friend.  I was moving from friends that would answer because it was too late(west coast) to friends that would answer because it was too early(east coast).  The conversations were great.  My last buddy is a high school hoops coach so it was cool to hear about his upcoming team.  His style of fundamentals and discipline mirror my dad’s coaching mantras. These three friends knew what I needed.  They knew silence was rough and even though they were tired they kept it going. WOW.
 
So I am getting into the city limits and my uncle calls, one last time.
 
Uncle: “Are you close?”
 
Me: “Yep about 8 minutes.”
 
Uncle: “Okay be safe.”
 
Me: “I’m fine, wired.  Hey, I have this theory… My mom and doll (sister) want me to be safe so they aren’t telling me everything.  Just answer… Is he gone?”
 
My uncle(dad’s brother) was standing in the room with my mom, dad, sister, and mom’s brother at the time.
 
Uncle: heavy sigh “yeah”
 
Me: “Love you, see you in a few.”
 
I knew. Really knew.
 
Surreal.
 
bbbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
 

Fourth Quarter

 
I parked.  I put my headphones in and listened like a player heading into an arena.  That’s what it felt like.   I was honest to God treating this like a big game.  It’s all I knew/know.  A Lumineers song played.
 
The lyrics

“It’s better to feel pain, than nothing at all
The opposite of love’s indifference.”

Well, they nailed that one for this moment.
 
Although it’s probably some love lost song.  Appropriate.
 
I went to the restroom. Long night on the road.  I took a picture of myself as the last of me with a living dad.  A living best friend. I don’t know why I did that although I think it is probably somewhat normal which is a stretch for me in most anything.
 

2016-10-07-05-32-02

I was stalling at the hospital. I don’t take many selfies. This was just proof to me that I lived in the same world my dad did, for a little longer.  I had been up for more than 50 hours in a row twice in a week.


 
I walked to the elevator I had used for a good week for his initial hospitalization.  Then I took a video for the same reason.  I hesitate to share this but what the hell.
 

 

Out the elevator….pause.  Take the headphones out.  Turn off phone and store them in coat.  How in the heck am I still self conscious?  My dad taught me this and I think it’s one of my better qualities.
 
Walk through the waiting room.  People sleeping. People staring the ICU waiting room stare.  , Sanitizer my hands and walk through the door and down the hall.  Turn to see him in bed.  My mom sitting by him on his left.  My uncles, both Steves, standing. My sister behind my mom.
 

Timeout

 
Now I am grateful for this game analogy.  I haven’t had any problem writing until now. I’m shaking a bit either from this freezing new gym I am working with athletes out of or because of what I am writing. It doesn’t matter. Ok I’m good.
 

Time in

 
I had never seen my dad’s brother cry.  They are tight as brothers go and I have more happy memories just with those two than you can imagine. They were both really good athletes.   My mom’s brother had turned around and drove all the back a few hours when dad’s health declined.
 
My mom rushed to me and told me he was…..damn, I’m out of timeouts.
 
She told me he was waiting for me.  That the drugs were keeping him alive.  From that call in the gym until now was 8 hrs.  My sister and mom and uncles waited 8 hrs for me to get there. Knowing.  I love them for that.  She told me I could talk to him.  There were hugs and crying and all that before and after and during and my timeline won’t be exact.  I put my hand through his hair like he did when I was a kid. Like I do with my boys.  I talked to him and don’t remember for how long or mostly what about.
 
I know told him…

  • he was my hero
  • I loved him
  • I would never see him as weak
  • I was proud to be his son
  • Thanks for showing me how to love
  • I hoped I’d be half a man and dad as him

He looked fine. Really. He wasn’t bloated. No tube in his throat anymore.  (I had done CPR on a man on a hike in Colorado who had passed on the mountain with one of my best friends and two others.  He was bloated. That’s what death looked like.)  My dad just looked like he was sleeping.
 

I backed away. Cried.  I looked at my sister and asked if it was weird to take a picture holding his hand.  She assured me that her and my mom had already and I should.
 

The last time I'd ever touch my dad. He was known for big hugs and lots of love.

The last time I’d ever touch my dad. He was known for big hugs and lots of love.

 

The last 100..

My mom asked if I was okay to let him go.  I said yes against every fiber of myself.  She told the nurses.  They would take the drugs off and let it happen.  My mom is a nurse.  She knew the drill it seemed.  So is my dad’s brother.  We all knew the drill I guess at this point.
 
She kissed and held and hugged and talked some more. My sis and I held each other and her, and him.  My uncles were around the foot of the bed I think.
 
My dad is obsessed with numbers, dates, times.  He would have practice at 2:03 and would plan time to the second.  The heart rate on the annoying beeping machine said 100 bpm. All the other vitals were turned off or I just didn’t notice.
 
90
 
I don’t remember what I was thinking
 
77
 
I was literally thinking about the basketball games we would play in the driveway. He would count down and I would shoot the game winner.  Dang I wish I had a ball right now.
 
62
 
Thinking and praying for my mom’s pain. Holding her and my sis tighter. Sometimes too tight.
 
44
 
His heart is actually counting down the last seconds of his life.  Are you effing serious?
 
30
 
I love this man. This family
 
18
 
14
 
10
 
5
 
8
 
Yeah it went up a couple times.  He did NOT want to die.  He would never concede.  EVER.  And this you have to know about him.  He fought for his life every day.  He loved us all too much. He loved life too much.
 
4
 
1

Game Over

 
And I lost right?  We lost.
 
That’s the funny thing.  I mentioned in the first few sentences that I never knew being their to see him like this would be important.  Here is what happened. I don’t know how to explain it.
 
His heart stopped.
 
I saw the second it happened.
 
His face lost it’s color.
 
I KNEW.  
 
But what I felt was LOVE. Overwhelmingly.  I told my mom and sister a hundred times.  “i feel so full of love”
 
And I did.  He won. He filled as many people with love as anyone could. And that’s why it hurts so much.  But, don’t be fooled.  We won this game.
 

Post Game

 
We headed to the holding room to sort out the details. Painstaking stuff like legal crap and all that.  My brother in law, best man at my wedding and I at his, walks in with my nieces.  I squeezed him as tight as I could because I could.
 
A little later we walked into a changed world out the doors of the hospital.  The WVU football field was our first sight. It’s either cruel or beautiful. I choose to believe the latter.
 

This was the first breath of fresh air in the new world our family would live in.

This was the first breath of fresh air in the new world our family would live in.

 

We went back to friends to wait to see the funeral home.
 
They asked if my dad’s remains would fit in a box the size of a brick. We all laughed.
 

The funeral home walls a few hours after. These bricks were memories a life and family was built on. The house goes nowhere no matter what.

The funeral home walls a few hours after. These bricks were memories a life and family was built on. The house goes nowhere no matter what.


 
We left to drive home to my parents place. It’s a 2.5 hour drive.  My uncles went on to their homes far away.  The drive wasn’t real.  Nothing really was.
 
The metaphors were strong this fall day. My dad died on a Friday in the fall. He was a football coach. Who would guide us home?

The metaphors were strong this fall day. My dad died on a Friday in the fall. He was a football coach. Who would guide us home?


 
My mom and I got there first. To their house. They rebuilt it and made the coolest little retirement home on the river in West Virginia you can imagine. Hot tub, big yard, fishing, lots of chilling at the fire pit. All of it hit me there. Ever thing I touched hurt. Every picture I saw hurt even more. I need to ask my mom about this but I felt like a freaking dog getting a smell of everything so he could relax.
 
Except, I was smelling love and it was tearing me up.
 
Jake, BIL, walks in. We all hug and he pours some Jack over ice with a lime. We all agree that is NOT supposed to go down anyones throat.
 
Football is on. Baseball is on. My sister sleeps with my mom. I sit in my dad’s recliner. I drank a big ol glass of JD but it did nothing. I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t want to wake up. I had lost enough big games to know what it would feel like. I wasn’t wrong.
 
Dang I love that guy. I woke up. Made everyone bacon and eggs like he would. Felt mature for the first time in my life and hated it. Felt real pain for the first time in my life and HATED it even more.
 
But I won, we all did. We just have to game plan a little different moving forward and I’ll be damned if I don’t play even harder for the rest of my life.
 
Until he’s counting down for me again.  Up there.
 
It wasn't in vein and it was more real than the air we breath. Their lesson in love is their legacy.

It wasn’t in vein and it was more real than the air we breath. Their lesson in love is their legacy.

 

Authors Note:

This wasn’t easy to write but seemed important. Even if only for me.  I started this to share what I’ve learned about the grieving process as an athlete.  I’ll write that soon enough.  It’s no accident I wrote this the day before Thanksgiving.  I am a grateful dude. Thanks for reading. Today my uncle became a grandfather.  Little boy came into this world as they often do for families in such timely ways. May we all love him!  I love you dad.
 

I have no guilt, no regrets. We did it right. The last time I saw him he told me I was his best friend. He always did.

I have no guilt, no regrets. We did it right. The last time I saw him he told me I was his best friend. He always did.

 

Different and Same

The backstory

Six years ago I met a man and his son.  His son was eleven years old, wiry, and pretty funny. He was a normal kid. He had a prosthetic for his right leg.  He wrestled.  I trained them both together and have for the last 6 years.  They are awesome people.

 

I have worked with clients, and still do, with MS, Cerebral Palsy, one leg, no legs, and many other forms of human that have challenged and excited me.  My default, work them harder (as is necessary and often harder than they ever have) and treat them more like an athlete than they have ever been treated.  It empowers them, challenges me and everyone is happy.  The science of exercise and performance can be artful with a little creativity.  Blake, in this video, was no different.  He is a wrestler so he knows how to work hard but never harder than during sessions with his pops.

 

Earlier this summer they brought up hiking a 14er, one of Colorado’s 57 peaks over 14,000 feet. I had led many groups up one of the beginner peaks and was pumped to put together a training plan for them.  For six week we worked on hills for the up and the downs.

 

Built eccentric strength for the downhill and built on top of his fitness for the ups.
An early morning two days before Blake’s first day of his senior year in high school we hit the trailhead at 7 am.  By 9:15 we had summited.  He killed it.  I videoed a bunch of it and decided that the years of knowing and training him should be put into a short video.  I used what limited editing skills I had and put all my heart into the lyrics and narration.  Below is what came of it.   Hope you enjoy and if you were on the fence, you may now realize that everyone is an athlete, EVERYONE!

Winning the rough days

Goodness. It’s been a while! Things have been shifting over the past month and a half for me! This year, April brought exams, two unexpected injuries, and (after 5 years in London, Ontario) the reality of packing up my life into two big suitcases and moving home (permanently?) to Alberta! It’s both scary and exciting knowing that I won’t be returning to London in the fall, but rather, I’ll be embarking on a new adventure… as a Master’s student at the University of Alberta. (What?!?!)

 

Though I’m so ridiculously fortunate to have a fantastic family and job to return to, I always struggle a little bit when I move home — many of my friends from high school aren’t around anymore, so my summers are typically filled with work, running, and family. It’s honestly so wonderful, but it’s definitely a change of pace! During the school year I like to keep my schedule packed, but when I come home, things slow right down. For the past few summers, running has kept me busy after work, provided an outlet for me to release my extra energy, and given me something to focus on.

 

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My family is the bomb. I’m a hardcore fangirl of my fellow Frissell’s. <3

 

But this year, things are a little different. I’m struggling with a few injuries and adapting to some new stresses. It’s been a real mental challenge not being able to run lately — since that’s my usual release, I’ve got some pent up energy and stress!

 
So to help ward off negativity and frustration, I’ve identified a small list of daily personal goals that, when achieved, keep me feeling my best. These are the tiny things I need to check off each day in order to feel good — when I feel good, I’m more motivated, optimistic, joyful, focused, and more likely to make the choices I know are right for me!

 

 
In order to feel good each day, I need to: 

 

  1. Connect with nature — for me, this might be as simple as a 10 minute walk or watching a rainstorm from our deck. I just need to feel an intentional connection with the natural, outside world.
  2. Take care of my body — this might mean using it and/or resting it. Whether I’m sitting on the couch icing my leg, heading out for a tough workout, or doing some focused breathing before bed, I feel good engaging with and taking care of my body (and indirectly, my mind).
  3. Go to bed a little bit hungry — this one’s pretty specific, but I sleep noticeably better and wake up feeling much more energized when I go to bed with a bit of an empty stomach!
  4. Connect with family/friends — I’m a notorious over-thinker, so it’s crucial for me to get out of my head and connect with people I care about.

 

 

IMG_6079

I get to connect with nature every day at the cemetery. Two years ago I was fortunate enough to meet this little angel, Margo!

 

Super simple tasks, but they make a massive difference in my mental state! Perhaps your list looks similar, or maybe there’s no overlap. I challenge you to notice what your ‘feel good’ list is made up of, and write it down. Even if you’re injured, travelling, sick, or if your day just doesn’t go quite as planned, you can fall back on these simple things and turn even the roughest day into a win.

Today is a couch day

Earlier this week (despite knowing better) I did a workout that was too much for my body at the time.

 

I started thinking:
If I’d done that workout on a day that I was feeling better, it might have been okay.
If I’d gone just a little slower, it might have been okay.
If I’d warmed up a little better, it might have been okay.
Or, if I’d allowed myself some extra time for a more sufficient recovery after that workout, it might have been okay.
If I’d done any of these seemingly small things, who knows — I might have been feeling a lot better than I do now! Or, maybe not.

 

Unfortunately, the damage is done, and there’s nothing I can do to change that!
But I can choose to make smart decisions now.

 

Here’s what that looks like for me: instead of doing the hill workout I’d planned for today, I’m hanging out on the couch with some ice and a not-so-fun minor calf strain. The bright side is, it’s only minor! If I’d decided to push it and do those hills today…. well, that would be a different story! So I’m studying, watching Gilmore Girls, doing some light stretching/core work, and decorating cookies with friends!

 

It was difficult deciding to stay on the couch this morning, since my agenda had a workout in mind — and I find it tough to stray from that!

 

As tempting as it is to use my body, I know that pushing it today means more pain tomorrow. So, after a short pity party, I came to terms with the fact that the couch will be my friend this weekend, and that’s okay! I’ll play it by ear, and hopefully I’ll be doing some cross training in a couple days.

 

I’m by no means an expert at running. It teaches me something new about my body, my limits, and my potential every week! But I think, regardless of your experience with the sport, there’s always that challenge of finding the boundary between progress and injury. To improve, you have to explore your limits and push yourself. But pushing too far can lead to injury and set back.

 

I don’t know the secret to avoiding injury entirely (CLEARLY), but I think a flexible mindset is a massive asset if injury does sneak in! For me, this means understanding that the past is out of my control, but that the choices I make in terms of recovery are entirely in my hands (regardless of what my training schedule had planned for the coming week).

 


Ultimately, we all have to be champions of our own bodies. We have to work with them, and make decisions that are best for them. Sometimes that means challenging our bodies, and sometimes it means resting them. But in either case, what the body needs may not match up with what the mind wants, and that can be challenging!

**The purpose of this post is simply to share my experience with a minor injury — something we all go through at one point or another! Even though these injuries aren’t that a big of a deal, injuries of any kind are hard to ignore and can be really discouraging! My injury is nothing to complain about in the big scheme of things, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t frustrate me — and I think others have been in a similar boat!

STSS 6: Leptin — The Satiety Hormone

 

Leptin is a neat little hormone that tells us when we’ve had enough to eat.

If there’s a hormone for this, why do we often tend to overeat?

Note: While this video focuses on leptin, other players (ie: hormones like orexin and ghrelin) also influence appetite. It’s important to remember that the body is incredibly complex, and there are always a number of factors at play!


It should also be noted that the general process discussed in this video is not as instantaneous as I make it out to be! The amount of leptin released is directly proportional to the amount of body fat that an individual has — and that body fat does not increase instantaneously when you eat 3 mini eggs. On the whole, an individual with more body fat will have higher levels of leptin in their circulation than an individual with less body fat. 

 

Walking on [an excessive amount of] sunshine

I’d like to share a few boring, self-centred facts with you:

 

Fact 1: This past summer, I spent tons of time soaking up the sun. My sister and I spent several weeks wandering around Europe, and I spent the remaining summer months doing maintenance at a cemetery (I know, I know. Dream job, right??).
So yes. Lots of time in the sun.

 

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Sending our love back home from Porto, Portugal!

 

Fact 2: Throughout the summer, I was taking a multivitamin. I’ll admit, I’m not the most consistent person when it comes to taking vitamins, but I was trying to remember to take the recommended dosage of one a day.

 

Fact 3: On occasion, I was also taking a calcium gummy vitamin. As a woman and a runner, I know calcium and vitamin D are of particular importance for keeping my bones healthy. As a person in general, I was pretty excited that these vitamins were tasty gummies (because let’s be real, they’re the best kind), so that was a bonus. Since calcium and vitamin D work in tandem, these calcium vitamins also contained vitamin D. Like I mentioned, I only took these on occasion; the recommended dosage was 2 gummies a day, and I was maybe having 2-3 a week.

 

 
Ohhhhkay Kalli. Enough with the random, insignificant outdoor/vitamin facts. Please get to the point.  

 

 
I’m getting there!
So in what seemed like unrelated news at the time, I ended up getting very sick in July. At first, I thought it might be the flu. The nausea came on quickly — one minute I was driving down the highway, scream singing (You know. The kind of terrible, ridiculously loud singing you do when you’re alone in the car?), and the next, I was crumpled over the wheel due to intensely painful nausea. Seriously. I just wanted to pull over, curl up in a ball, and cry! I spent that night on the bathroom floor, and it was, of course, less than fun. To my relief, this whole episode only lasted about 15 hours, and I was back to my regular self by the morning.

 

I was glad it was over, but I was puzzled. No one around me had been sick, so it didn’t seem likely that it had been the flu. I also had some weird symptoms that I’d never experienced with a flu in the past. Maybe it was food poisoning? I decided that it must have been something I’d eaten and I left it at that.

 

Unfortunately, two weeks later, the exact same thing happened!
Same symptoms, not fun.
So I started to get a little bit worried about this. I must have done something, eaten something, changed something… but I couldn’t think of anything out of place in my diet or routine!

 

As it turns out, I had overdosed on vitamin D.

 

If you’re thinking it seems a little bit weird that simply spending time outside and taking a few vitamins (less than the recommended dose, in fact) would result this, you’re probably right. In this case, there was more going on….

 

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I don’t have a photo of myself working at the cemetery, but this is probably a pretty accurate depiction.

 

On top of the 8+ hours/day spent in the sun and the multivitamin I was taking, I found out that that seemingly harmless gummy vitamin had been recalled that same week. Apparently the gummies had more than 4x the tolerable amount of vitamin D in them.
Not 4x the recommended amount… 4x the tolerable amount!

 

Needless to say, those vitamins met the trash can in a hurry.

 

There’s no big lesson here. It was a fluke and could have happened to anyone. How was I to know that those innocent little gummy vitamins were actually working against me?

 

So why am I writing about this…
Well, first off, it’s just kind of a ridiculous story! I mean, I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t betting that there would be a dark side to a tasty little gummy!

 

If anything, I suppose it serves as a somewhat violent reminder that too much of a good thing might turn into a really bad, not-so-fun thing. As athletes focused on improvement, I think we can easily become obsessed with ‘good things,’ forgetting that moderation is healthy and perfection is… impossible. Overtraining can lead to injury, excessive diet restriction/control can lead to health issues and/or eating disorders, etc. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that too much of the ‘Happy’ vitamin can leave you feeling much less than happy!


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STSS 6: Leptin -- The Satiety Hormone

  Leptin is a neat little hormone that tells us when we’ve had enough to eat. If there’s a hormone for this, why do we often tend to overeat? Note: While this video focuses on leptin, other players (ie: hormones like orexin and ghrelin) also influence appetite. It’s important to remember that the body is […]

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Achilles Pain: Three to do’s, one not to do.

Let’s talk about nagging chronic injuries like achilles pain.

As a lifelong Exercise Physiologist/Trainer/Coach/”whatever you wanna call me” I have helped athletes and recreational athletes alike get over common ailments with basic regimens that are universally prescribed.
 
Often, after they go through physical therapy and they are ready to move on and often as a preventative measure for athletes in redundant sports, like running.
 
In any case, until I experience some of these nagging issues I can never feel 100% confident that the exercises are working.  So, you must understand the joy I had after dealing with ITBS ( iliotibial band syndrome) for 4 months a few years ago and being able to kick it with what I was using to help others kick it for good.  So now, in the spring before running the trails of Colorado will be a weekly occurrence, I have some achilles pain that I need to treat.
 
The main causes are increased load or volume, bio-mechanic (efficient movement)  issues, tight calves and muscles of the lower leg.  There are many other things like glute weakness, ankle mobility, and nutritional deficiencies but let’s deal with what we assume is the issue for this athlete (myself).
 
I get to guinea pig myself for my future clients and so far, it’s working with only three additions and one omission.

Three things I am doing to treat for now:

  1. Heel drops:  From the top of a calf raise on a step or other raised surface (plantar flexion) slowly drop your heels as low as you can.  This mimics and trains the eccentric contraction that may not be as efficient or powerful as needed to support the lower leg, ending in this pain in the achilles.  3 sets of 15-20 per day.  It burns (muscle burn) a bit but feels really good. Excessive pain and you should stop, hopefully obviously.
  2. Manual massage and foam rolling the calves:  Both of these serve to loosen the calf at the belly of the muscle.  This will and should take some of the tension off the achilles.  The foam rolling feels good but I think I am getting the most bang for my buck from manual massage.  Yep, I’m massage my calves and lower legs for 10-15 minutes a day.
  3. Ice:  Especially with obvious inflammation.  Ice over drugs as many of the orals you take could eliminate blood flow to area, not good.  I hate icing but it seems to be helping.

One thing I am dropping for at least a month:

  1. Basketball:  The sport is still fun for me but I am noticing major inflammation from playing.  I have hypothesized it is more from the shoes, they are digging into the achilles, than the movement but I want to back off to make sure.

Notes:

  • As long as it doesn’t get worse, I’ll keep running.  When it worsens, I will back off and cross train.  Usually a decent model if you treat everything to get better in theory the nagging issue should resolve.  It’s worked with many of my clients and my past injuries.  That blood flow is a huge benefit so keep moving.  And, there are plenty of things to omit but basketball is mine for now.
  • Get a legit diagnosis if this is new to you.  These tips are for athletes that are somewhat experienced and typically won’t stop for anything anyway.
  • A little rest now is better than a lot of forced rest later. Be smart and don’t turn it into something bigger.
  • Lastly, as someone with my M.S. in exercise physiology, I always refer outside my scope.  If I don’t know something for fact, it’s time for a real diagnosis from an ortho or PT.  Some of my pals in the industry. Good coaches and trainers work with these pro’s, not in spite of them.  Goes both ways.

What chronic issues have you had?  What worked with your achilles pain?  Let’s talk.  For now, I need to go ice….damnit.

AOF Signature BeanieScott Jones is the founder of Athlete On Fire and still trains a handful of clients one on one in his hometown in Colorado and virtually. Athlete On Fire was founded to inspire 1000’s every hour instead of just one every hour! Reach out, always. scott (at) athleteonfire (dot) com

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Acknowledging the Sneaky Things: A Lesson on the Knee Joint

The body has many sly little processes that it carries out everyday — processes that are crucial to our health, but they don’t draw a lot of attention to themselves. We probably don’t even know they’re happening! To give an example, I’ll share a little knee anatomy lesson from a class I had last semester. Hopefully it might help you to question what silent things could be going on in your body right now, and to better understand the importance of these sneaky, highly specific processes that take place in your body every day!

 

The knee joint is, of course, a very mobile joint. Specifically, it’s a ‘synovial joint’: a type of freely moveable joint contained inside a ‘joint capsule.’ Inside the knee capsule, there are two key components: menisci, and synovial fluid.

 

 

1) You’ve probably heard of the menisci before — these are essentially two pads of cartilage that provide cushioning between your femur (thigh bone) and your tibia (weight-bearing bone in your lower leg). They’re impressive shock absorbers (obviously essential while walking, running, jumping, etc).

 

2) Synovial fluid is a thick fluid with a couple of jobs. It a) lubricates the joint and b) provides nourishment to keep the menisci healthy so they can continue to be the wonderful shock absorbers that they are.

 

photo-1434973539530-5538b4681aac

 

Now that we know the components, here’s the cool part.
When there’s no pressure on the joint, the knee takes a break to replenish itself. The menisci act like sponges, sucking up the synovial fluid for nourishment. But when the joint is forced to take on some stress (like when we stand up), these ‘sponges’ release the synovial fluid into the joint cavity so it can act as a lubricant, rather than a nourishing agent. In the absence of lubrication, there’s friction. Not something we want!

 

Let’s put this into some context. Imagine jumping those well-nourished, but non-lubricated knee joints out of bed and straight into a hard workout. Ouchies! Warming up before a workout gives your knee joint some time to get that fluid moving again so it can properly lubricate the joint. Of course, we don’t see that, and we don’t immediately feel it, so, like so many other processes in our bodies, it’s easy to ignore.

 

 

Challenge: Be kind to your body! Work with it, not against it. Do yourself a favour and do your warm up drills! 

 

Yes, there’s value in having the mental strength to carry out a challenging workout… but there’s equal (or more) value in having the mental strength to back off of a workout/training plan when you know it’s best for your body.

 

 

 

 

STSS 5: Macronutrients & The Role of Glucose

 

Carbs, fats, and proteins. Mmmm!

 

How does your body use the food you consume? How does it take what you eat and turn that into running, jumping, swimming, and thinking?