Welcome to Fall!

September 7, 2010 in Canada, Fall, Motivation, Running | Leave a comment

I know many are still lamenting the passing of summer, but fall is a runner’s dream come true. The weather is perfect. The scenery is gorgeous. And all the major races are taking place.

This fall is exciting for me because I have my first marathon in October and I’m planning to register for swimming lessons near the end of September. I’d also like to do some apple picking this fall – something I haven’t done in years but have always loved. And one of my favourite events of the year – Halloween! I’m looking forward to the Toronto Zombie Walk and Saw VII in 3D and the Toronto International Film Festival (Midnight Madness!), as well as throwing leaves at people and carving pumpkins and making soup!

I love walking out on my balcony at dawn these days. It’s so crisp and cool and it smells like new possibilities. Fall is a time for fresh starts. New school year, new friends, new pens and notebooks. Running in the summer can feel sweaty and sluggish. But running in the fall feels like flying. It’s a time for breaking PRs.

Fall is harvest time! Everything is ripening. Fruits, veggies, grains. Food tastes fresh. It’s a time for preserving and planning ahead and preparing for winter. It’s time for reading new books and sharing ideas and long afternoon walks. It’s also a time for self-reflection. Sitting quietly and looking at the trees while sipping on hot apple cider.

Canada is known for it’s breathtaking fall foliage. Trees as far as you can see in brilliant cascades of red and orange and yellow and brown and green. It warms the soul.

I love the feeling of soft, warm clothes against your skin. And cheesy Halloween specials on TV. Costume parties. Labyrinths and mazes in corn fields overlooking apple orchards – places where you can get lost and a little scared. Haunted houses and hayrides!

Hiking. Bonfires. Cinnamon sticks. Wearing layers. Hugging and holding hands. Snuggling! Warm slippers. Soft mittens. Getting lost under huge blankets. Tying them up and wearing them like dresses around your house.

I like walking into thrift stores and trying on hideous turtlenecks just for fun. Laughing at myself in the change room like an idiot. I like hearing leaves crunch every time I take a step. Super long scarves that I can wrap around and around and around… and pumpkin pie! Mmm.

I love the anticipation for Christmas. Guessing when the first snow will fall. Walking outside in your flip flops one morning and realizing, “OMG! There’s frost!” Getting home at the end of the day and discovering you’ve had leaves in your hair for hours. I like digging into my closet and pulling out my favourite pair of jeans. Slipping them on and remembering how awesome they make my ass look.

The days get shorter so you appreciate them more. You get to watch more sunrises. And sunsets. Soups and stews simmer on the stove for hours, gradually intoxicating the air with marvelous scents.

I love the smell of fall. Clean. Fresh. Undisturbed.

Orange. Everywhere!

Yes, my friends. It’s going to be a great season.

Let’s end this week with an inspiring story.

September 2, 2010 in Motivation, Purpose, Success Stories, Weight Loss | 6 comments

Kevin Marimoto is someone that I met online. As soon as I saw his pictures, I knew he was going to be an inspiration. Kevin is very dedicated to his nutritional and fitness goals, but only two years ago he looked like a completely different person. I never would have recognized him.

I’ll let him speak for himself.

KEVIN’S STORY

My name is Kevin. Today I am 39 years old. I am 5’4 and weigh 150 lbs at 17% body fat. But my story begins in 2008 when I first joined the gym and had my first official weigh-in. I weighed 220 lbs with 36% body fat.

I started my weight loss and fitness journey soon after I came home from a 2008 vacation in California. I was going over my vacation pictures and I did not like the person I saw. I saw a man wearing a 3XL shirt that was still too tight on him. My back would hurt just from tying my shoes. I told myself: I need to do this. I need to get healthy.

In August 2008 I signed up at 24 hr fitness club and hired a personal trainer. My first week was brutal, but I lost 9 lbs of water weight. The feeling made me so happy that I kept pushing myself. I took my diet and workouts very seriously.

I started to overcome a lot of obstacles from my past, like trying to train with tendinitis on both ankles from a childhood football injury that has haunted me my whole life. At first I couldn’t walk a mile without my ankles feeling sore. My trainer put me on a low impact cardio and strengthening routine, and now I’m happy to say that I can run on a treadmill for three miles straight at speed of seven.

Another obstacle was my battle with alcoholism. I started to drink heavily in college and beer began to consume my life. Today I am alcohol free because I follow a meal plan and I have learned that my beers were empty calories.

In 2008 I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I refused to wear the mask so that I would be motivated to train very hard and lose weight. That same year I won the Seattle 24 Hour Fitness Biggest Loser Contest, did two walks for MS, and one stair climb up the Columbia Tower for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My next walk is for Alzheimer’s disease.

There have been many days I wake up thinking, “Man I’m not feeling it today. Maybe I should skip the gym…”, but then I remember all the things I have mentioned above.

My basic message is that it’s never too late to start. I was 37 and my goal is to be fit by age 40. I motivate myself every morning by looking at my old fat pictures and telling myself: Never again Kevin.

BEFORE

AFTER

I found THE coolest running club!

September 1, 2010 in Book Reviews, Running, Running Club | 6 comments

I read about it in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Runners. Then I had to go and look it up to see whether there was anything like it in my area. And there is! So now I’m both nervous and excited to try it out. I don’t want to go alone though so if ANYONE in Toronto wants to try it out with me, send me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.

The group is called “Hash House Harriers,” and group members call themselves Hashers. They refer to themselves as “drinkers with a running problem.”

The basic idea is to get together once in a while for some exercise and a beer. According to the Chicken Soup story, this is what they do:

Everyone stood in a circle and they took an empty beer bottle and spun it in the center of the group. It landed on one gentleman who took a large bag filled with flour and started running, leaving large dollops on the ground behind him. We waited a couple of minutes and did the silliest warm-up exercise I’ve ever seen before we took off as a pack and chased down the man with the flour.

Catching up to him first, he thrust the bag in my hand, pointed me in a direction and said, “Go, you’ve got a three-minute head start!”

I stood there with a blank look and told him that I hadn’t a clue what to do. He replied, “Run, and don’t forget to leave flour behind you! You’ve got 2 minutes and 45 seconds!”

And that was it. I bolted into the reeds, frantically dropping flour behind me. There was a hiking path through the wetlands but I don’t really remember using much of it. What I do remember is the thrill of being chased, the freedom of creating my own path and the exhilaration of hearing a dozen whistles blowing with yells of “On-On!” from the other side of a large thicket. Eventually someone caught up to me and I was relieved of my flour burden, once again the hound and not the hare. I was hooked.

The writer, Jeff Hoyt, says that members adopt insane names like Reverend Right Hand and Hunka Hunka. He also says he took one year to travel the world and nine times out of ten, there were Hashers in the towns he visited. Running with them gave him the experience of seeing countries and cities and landscapes through the eyes of a runner:

Forested hills in Switzerland, ancient castle ruins in Germany and Scotland, rice fields in Thailand, rural villages in Cambodia, the barrios of the Philippines. Then later you drink local beer in local bars, surrounded by people who may not always speak your language, but understand the language of a good drink. It was the time of my life and one I’ll never forget.

There’s only one glaring problem: I don’t drink. It’s not a health choice, I just don’t like the taste. Although for this.. I just might consider taking it up.

Time to load up on back to school brain food!

August 31, 2010 in Body Mind, Mental Health, Nutrition | Leave a comment

I’m starting class on Thursday and I’ve been reading about how what I eat directly affects my brain function. Our brains are made up of an impressive network of neurons – 100 million of them – all interconnected to each other and constantly transmitting messages.

The sending and receiving stations in our brain are made of essential fats (omega 3s found in fish and seeds), phospholipids (found in eggs and meats), and amino acids (protein). Our neurotransmitters (the messages that our brains carry) are made up of proteins. Turning a protein into a neurotransmitter requires nutrients such as vitamins and minerals and other amino acids.

The books I’m reading, Patrick Holford’s New Optimum Nutrition for the Mind, describes the gut-brain connection in what I thought was a fascinating quote:

It used to be thought that all our thinking is done by neurons in the brain. Now we know that the digestive system contains 100 million neurons, and produces as many neurotransmitters as the brain. The gut, for example, produces two-thirds of the body’s serotonin, the happy neurotransmitter. So in essence, you’re feeding two brains. Every time you eat something it sends signals to the brain because the gut and the brain are in permanent communication. This is why the right foods can make you happy and the wrong foods can make you feel anxious or depressed.

Holford has come up with the following five essential brain foods:

1. Glucose – fuel for the brain

2. Essential fats – keeps your brain well oiled

3. Phospholipids – memory molecules that boost the brain

4. Amino acids – the brain’s messengers

5. Intelligent nutrients – vitamins and minerals

Out of all these, there are two amino acids that I think will be especially useful for back to school season: tryptophan and phenylalanine.

Tryptophan is used to produce the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is what makes us feel happy. And phenylalanine makes adrenalin and dopamine, which makes us feel motivated. So motivated and happy students are likely to be eating some of the following foods:

  • seafood
  • chicken breast
  • spinach
  • turkey breast
  • tofu
  • kelp
  • asparagus
  • broccoli
  • cauliflower
  • egg
  • swiss chard
  • beans
  • cucumbers
  • apricots
  • celery
  • onions & garlic
  • almonds

A few other random brain facts from Holford:

  • On a sedentary day, our brain can consume up to 40 percent of all the carbohydrates that we eat!
  • Every day we have approximately 6,000 thoughts.
  • If you squeezed out all the water from your brain, a whopping 60 percent of the dry weight would be made up of fat.

I’m actually genuinely excited about going back to school. There are a couple of courses that I’m particularly looking forward to – like a body/mind/spirit course, and Cellular Biology (I have a thing for those science courses). Plus I get to buy new pens and notebooks! I’m not sure exactly why this excites me, but it does every single year.

I’m continuing my special list.

August 30, 2010 in 28 Moments I'm Thankful For, Birthmonth | Leave a comment

The one I started on my birthday of the 28 moments that I was thankful to be alive for. I had no idea it would take me this long, but 28 is apparently a lot of moments.

To read my previous moments, use the category search function on the top left hand side of my blog and select the category “28 Moments I’m Thankful For.”

I have three good ones today.

19. THE BOY

I didn’t get to hang out with a lot of boys growing up. Okay, ANY boys. My dad made sure of that. (Once I had a penpal from China and my dad made me stop writing to him because he was a boy.)

When I was around 17 there was a boy from church who became my dad’s special project. I’m not sure what my dad’s intention was with him, but the boy had come from a rough past and a rough family. I think my dad wanted to fix him.

This boy was exactly my age and really tall and handsome but horribly shy. I had the biggest crush on him.

One summer we rented a cottage for our family and my dad invited this boy. I knew he liked me, but he would never speak to me or even make eye contact. We were both too shy to ever be alone, so we spent the week pretending to ignore each other.

One hot afternoon my parents were busy inside the cottage and there was not much to do. So I sat out on the porch doing nothing and looking out at the water. Out of nowhere, the boy came to sit beside me. Physically, it was the closest we had been all summer.

My dad was watching us through the window. I couldn’t see him but I could feel his eyes glaring at the back of my head disapprovingly. So I said nothing and pretended like it was no big deal. But there was a vibe on the porch.

It wasn’t a nervous or awkward vibe. It was just comfortable and a little secretive. Like we both knew something that nobody else did. Like we sat on the porch like that every afternoon of our lives.

It drove my dad mad. After about 10 minutes he yelled, “Why aren’t you talking??!!”

I just laughed.

20. WHEN GOOGLE CHANGED MY LIFE

I still remember vividly my very first time going online. It was the turning point for everything. I was just never the same afterwards.

Growing up, my dad had one of those old hefty computers with floppy disks that were ACTUALLY floppy. This was back in the days of cassette tapes and questionable fashion choices. There was no Internet of course. If I wanted to load a program, I had to do it the old fashioned way by responding to the blinking green cursor and typing things like RUN and C://

Then one day I was waiting for my stepmom at her work. I saw a computer in the lounge so I went for it. But it was different than the one we had at home and I didn’t know what to do. My mom came by and opened Internet Explorer and took me to Google. She told me that I could type whatever I wanted to search in the box and when I pressed enter, information about that topic would come up.

I couldn’t believe it. INFORMATION?? Just like that??! I was skeptical of course, because I didn’t understand how it would be possible for me to acquire information without referring to a book. But I tried it out.

When I got the first page of hits, my heart nearly stopped. What WAS this incredible device called?? A search engine. I would never forget it.

I started going nuts, typing random words and becoming progressively more amazed with each result. Interestingly, off the top of my head, the words that I search for the most were foods. I searched “milk” for example. And a few other foods that I was interested in eating.

Ten years later I am still fascinated by food. And the Internet.

21. SANDI PATTY

My sister Elizabeth and I were easily entertained as children. We would make up games and we would laugh at stupid things that only we would find funny.

There was a Christian singer that was popular in the 80s named Sandi Patty. Nobody else on the planet found this funny, but for us it was. We lived in Jane/Finch and the only patties I was aware of at the time were the Jamaican beef patties. As in the patties that you buy for 50 cents and eat for lunch because you can’t afford anything else.

Sandi Patty made me think of a patty that had fallen on the floor. And was therefore sandy.

Whenever I heard the name Sandi Patty I would laugh uncontrollably. I don’t know why. I can’t really explain it other than the image of a sandy beef patty on the ground was for some reason hilarious to me.

For years – and I literally mean YEARS after that – my sister would say “Sandi Patty” at random, inappropriate times. I would ALWAYS burst out laughing.

Like I said, I can’t explain it. I have no idea why I’m laughing right now.

This is my last weekend of summer.

August 26, 2010 in Marathon, Purpose, Summer, Triathlon | 3 comments

Next week I’m back at work and on Thursday my classes start. I didn’t get everything done that I was hoping to do over the summer, but I did a lot. I also got in some quality down time and some good beach days. I ran the farthest I’ve ever gone, and I feel confident about the marathon. So I have no complaints. It was a great summer.

Back to school season for me is like my new years. It’s a time for reflection and resolutions and planning and goal setting. By the time winter hits, I like to have a major project in mind and a definite plan of where my training is going. Winter for me is a time of incubation and training so that by the time spring and summer arrive, I’m faster and stronger and ready to race.

So with that in mind, I sat down this morning and assessed where I am at every major point in my life, and where I would like to go in the next year. I made a list.

ACADEMIC/CAREER

By this time next year I should officially be a nutritionist. I’m excited to graduate and start working with clients full time. The clients I have now are great, and the work is interesting but slower than I thought. I think this is because I’m just beginning and I’m always having to go back over my notes to check and double check things.

It’s been a great learning experience and I know I’m going over and beyond what is required by my school, but I also know that when I graduate and start working with paying clients, the transition for me will be easier since I’ve already been treating the people I work with like real clients as opposed to just assignments.

I also got a job offer through someone I met on this blog, which I could begin as soon as I graduate. That pretty much takes all the stress out of leaving school.

ATHLETIC/PHYSICAL

After my marathon in the fall, I will be taking on another project. I want to continue to run marathons and I will train for another one next year, but over the winter I would like to get into a pool as well as other types of cross training in addition to running. I’d like to do some spin classes. And other activities that there is no time for when training for a marathon.

I’m obsessed with triathlons right now. The only real problem is – I don’t exactly know how to swim. I do swim, but I have never formally been taught and I have no endurance. So I want to look into possibly getting some lessons over the winter so that down the road I can compete in a triathlon. There’s a pool within walking distance from my house, so theoretically this should work.

PERSONAL

Having kids should fit in here somewhere. It’s just one point, but it’s definitely enough! It would be the beginning of a whole new stage of life for me, with obvious compromises in the other two categories. But I’ll be excited when that time comes.

So overall it looks like I’ll be much busier in the fall until around Christmas. But everything is looking bright and exciting and I’m pleased with my progress so far.

I plan to spend these last few days the same way I began my summer: running and reading. And like a proper nerd I’m also actually looking forward to going back to school next week.

Not every runner is a marathoner.

August 25, 2010 in Athletic Training, Interval Training, Michael Andrew, Q&A | Leave a comment

The great thing about running is that it’s so universal, and of course not everybody who runs competes in races. Here is a question from Christopher, who runs with a different purpose.

CHRISTOPHER’S QUESTION

I run often, but only as a means to train for soccer and basketball, which I play competitively. I enjoy running and when I started incorporating it into my training, I made some great cardiovascular improvements. However, now when I run I feel as though I am not improving as much as I used to. My runs are getting easier and the benefits are few. Unfortunately, the time I spend running is limited. How can I get back the benefits that I experienced before without having to go on longer runs?

MICHAEL ANDREW’S ANSWER

The running you’re doing now has likely given you a strong aerobic baseline, and has probably provided a good foundation of support when playing soccer and basketball. However, to maximize the benefit of your training it’s time you start adding intervals to your workouts. There are two types of interval workouts I would recommend for you.

The first would be speed intervals that you would add to your running. For example, you may want to try adding 1 minute of high speed running intervals, followed by 4 or 5 minutes of recovery at a slower pace. Repeating such sequences for 30 or 40 minutes will have a greater impact on your cardiovascular system than running at a steady pace for 1 hour.

The second type of interval workout I usually suggest for athletes with similar goal to you is known as high intensity interval training (HIIT). In your case, you need sports-specific drills that develop your skills at – or even beyond – game speed.

For example, I like to get basketball players out on a football field and have them do sprints, change-of-direction and jumping drills similar to what they would do on court. Without a ball in their hands, they can push themselves more than they normally can on a court, thus increasing their speed, quickness, agility, vertical leap and more. Similarly, soccer drills with an imaginary ball can improve overall foot speed that can then be applied at game time. The key is to do these drills in close succession with minimal rest in between.

The combination of these two forms of interval training will develop your cardiovascular strength as well as your speed, agility, vertical leap, etc. But often, the biggest difference I hear from clients is that once they are used to going at a high intensity for long periods in training, fatigue becomes less of an issue in games. At higher levels of competition, where athletic ability is relatively similar across the board, those who train this way are better able to focus their minds and bodies on executing the skills of their particular sport, giving them a greater competitive edge.

Physiologically, the benefits you can expect with this type of interval training include the building of new capillaries, resulting in more efficient circulation. Your ability to take in and transport oxygen to your working muscles will also improve. Your muscles themselves will begin to develop a higher tolerance to the build-up of lactate, and your heart as a muscle would be strengthened.

For athletes who are already well-trained, increasing training volume will often produce few, if any, additional performance improvements. However, interval training is the key to further developing an athlete’s ability and maximizing the body’s physical potential.

Michael Andrew

Triathlete & Personal Trainer

If you have a question for Michael, you can contact him at mkonlinetraining@gmail.com.

What exactly does health look like?

August 24, 2010 in Body Mind, Mental Health, Strength Training | 2 comments

A lot of people imagine athletes or bodybuilders when they think of the perfect image of health. But is that really accurate?

You hear the horror stories of competitive athletes who go to extremes and ultimately do more damage to their bodies than good. And then I look around at some of the people I have come in contact with in my journey as a runner and health junkie, and quite frankly sometimes it’s scary.

There’s a dude on Facebook who used to be a body builder. He was absolutely massive, and I imagine he must have won a few competitions in his time. He is much older now and his body has shriveled up into something half alien and completely weird. But he presents himself as a professional and stalks hot girls online. He actually takes pictures of girls and Photoshops himself INTO them. Some of the pictures look like the girls don’t even realize they’re being photographed. Then he tries to pass off the whole photo as a social experience. Clearly NOT healthy.

Of course, this isn’t the only psycho on Facebook. But when I saw him, I wondered: Was he EVER healthy? This is a man who made a career out of building up his body. And now look at him. Is that what we’re trying to achieve through exercise and training? At the peak of his career when he was at his prime – was he mentally sound? I’m guessing not.

So I don’t think it’s enough. The training, the hours on the treadmill, the weight lifting sessions. They don’t do much to develop a healthy mind. Or a stable personality.

Truly good health is TOTAL health. Not just the physical, but the psychological and mental aspects as well. And to complicate the issue, it is much harder to bring health into these other areas of your life than it is to achieve purely physical health. Your body responds quickly and anybody can manipulate it. But your personality takes a lifetime to perfect. Virtues like patience and compassion. Some people just never get there.

People who are physically fit have a reputation for being stupid. But there’s no reason why it should be this way. Physical exercise actually increases brain function. So let’s be functional. Listen to an audio book while you’re working out. Solve some problems in your head. Imagine a creative story. Do some deep breathing or meditation. Don’t just workout mindlessly.

It’s a challenge of course. But that’s the great thing about exercise – it makes us feel like we can overcome any challenge.

There’s something about the water.

August 23, 2010 in Motivation, Running, Summer | 2 comments

I don’t know what it is. Whenever I’m near a body of water, I feel alive. Like I belong there. It makes me want to run.

This past weekend I was in Cobourg visiting my step-grandparents. They live a few meters away from the beach, and I woke up at the crack of dawn every morning to go running along the sand.

It was actually my first time running on sand, and I found the experience to be difficult but exhilarating. The second morning it rained, and I found myself leaping through pre-mud with soaking feet and sandy calves.

The wind beat up waves that threatened to swallow my toes and presented sights and sounds so spectacular that I was almost sorry to be the only human to witness them. I ran as close to the waterline as I dared, maneuvering through the waves in what must have looked like an athletic dance.

I sprinted most of the beach. I’m not a sprinter but like I said – there’s something about the water…

Avoiding the tides and pushing through the sand forced my body to work in a smooth, coordinated fashion in order to keep my balance. I had to engage my core and pump my arms while keeping a sharp eye out in the semi-darkness. I was so concentrated on my full-body movements that my feet forgot to complain and my mind forgot to tell me that I was tired.

In the early mornings, the Cobourg beach is abandoned. If there is no rain, seagulls gather by the waterline watching for fish. Sometimes they fly alongside me as I run, as if they half expect me to suddenly pull out some bread and toss it. When it rains, the beach is dark and tumultuous and wonderful.

During the day the beach is packed, especially on the weekends. This weekend there was a rib fest, which sounded great in theory. But when I went to check it out the rib security people tried to make me throw out my water bottle. I don’t like people who try to make me throw out my water, nor do I understand why ribs require security. So there was a scuffle, and I kept my damn bottle.

After that it was all a bit of a turnoff. I like ribs, but I have honestly never seen so many cankles and meat gathered all in one place. There were rows upon rows of picnic tables. Heaped on top of them were piles and piles of meat. Tucked below them, a sea of cankles. My stomach turned.

The next day I went to the Cobourg farmer’s market. It was small and pricey, like most markets are, but all my favourite veggies were there. I felt much better.

***

Cobourg is the town where my step-grandmother moved to when she came to Canada from England at age 15. There is history here.

We took a drive through town and I got to see the house that my step-grandfather had built – the house where my step mom was born and raised. I saw the location where her parents met, where they had their first date, and where he would have to pick her up when he was courting her. They both saw the town grow from scratch.

I like history. There is something of great value in places that have significance and meaning. It’s something that I have personally never experienced from my side of the family. I don’t even have the basic facts straight.

The sad reality is that my dad’s stories about our past always change according to his convenience and whatever point he’s trying to make at the time. He tells me one thing, and then with my other sisters he will contradict himself. When confronted he will come up with the wildest justifications that can’t help but bring into question his mental state. So in the end all we’re really left with is a handful of pathetic ramblings from a possibly mentally imbalanced individual.

But Cobourg has real history. A genealogy. Stories that happened in definite places and at definite times. I’m not sure they are stories I can rightfully call my own because I wasn’t born into them. But I wish they were.

I don’t think it’s so much that I want to be my step mother’s real daughter, but more that I don’t want to be related in any way to my dad. I want to know my past. And I probably never will.

I think that’s why I’m so big on the making of memories. Memories like running on the beach at dawn, hopping waves like hurdles. A waterline where I can physically take my kids someday and as they play in the sand I can tell them, “Mommy ran here.”

And they would know that it was true.

I read a quote this week that I loved.

August 19, 2010 in Athletic Training, Michael Andrew, Motivation, Racing, Triathlon | 1 comment

I was in Chapters a few days ago with Emma and I saw that the Chicken Soup for the Soul series has a book out for runners now, with a section on triathlons. In the past, I’ve thought that the entire Chicken Soup thing was a little cheesy, but in all fairness that was before they started writing about running and tris. I couldn’t resist and I bought the book.

I haven’t finished it yet but I can barely put it down. The quote I loved was:

The coach’s main job is 20 percent technical and 80 percent inspirational.

- Franz Stampfl

Stampfl was born in Austria in 1913 and became one of the world’s leading athletic coaches. He became a quadriplegic in 1980 after a car accident, but continued to coach runners. He actually invented interval training. Stampfl died in 1995 but left an incredible legacy for what was know as “scientific” training. He was ahead of his time.

Stampfl’s story isn’t part of Chicken Soup – he’s just a quick quote before an anecdote of a mother who jogs. But his quote made me think a lot about what it would take for me to someday become an amazing trainer. Like Stampfl.

Trainers are mostly educated on the physical body, but the difference between a poor trainer and an amazing one seems to be that trainer’s ability to stimulate not only the physical body, but also the mind and the heart.

So much of an athlete is mind and heart. The body is there only as a means to express the spirit. Like a paintbrush to a painter. Or a piano to a pianist. You can have the best pianos and pain brushes in the world, but in the end it is the soul of an artist that creates the masterpiece.

It’s the same for athletes. Once the body is capable, the heart must be inspired. That’s why books like Chicken Soup are so popular, and for me as a future trainer, they also serve as a form of research.

What swells people with inspiration? What people have done great things? What obstacles have they overcome? What stories can I tell?

People like Stampfl. Like me. Like Michael my running coach. And so many others that read this blog.

It’s an amazing inspiration to see your trainer reach his goals and achieve something that you can’t. You feel proud in a way that a student feels proud of his teacher, even though the student had nothing to do with his teacher’s success. I want to do that for the people I train, the same way that Michael does it for me.

Last weekend Michael completed his third triathlon. He makes it look so easy. I want to follow him into triathlons someday, but by that time he’ll probably have moved on to Ironman competitions.

Great trainers don’t get enough accolades. If you have a trainer who has inspired you, feel free to leave a comment and share it with the world.

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