Like a Bigfoot

Motivation, Mindset, Positivity, Endurance, Adventure, Perseverance, and Possibility

Category: Optimal Human Training (page 2 of 3)

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No Pain Free Way to Achieve Your Goals

February 26, 2016 / / 0 Comments

There is no pain-free way to achieve your goals.

So stop looking for one.  You aren’t going to find it.  Don’t let pain be an excuse.  Let pain be a motivating factor.

My goal is to write every single day.  This could be a paragraph or this could be 2000 words.  I want to develop a routine that promotes writing and to send my writing out to the world.

The last part is particularly difficult for me.

It is painful to hit publish every time I write a blog.

Sharing my thoughts has always been a road block.

The resistance starts.  “You’re not special.  Why would anyone care what you have to say?”

LIMITING BELIEFS: Beliefs that are holding you back.  The resistance to your goals.

Accomplishing goals is a painful process because it is uncomfortable to break free from limiting beliefs.

“You won’t ever be skinny so why even try?”  “You aren’t smart enough to get a master’s degree.”  “You aren’t musically talented enough to play guitar.”  “You’re not good at small talk so you shouldn’t go to the party.”

You have become so used to these beliefs that changing them can seem excruciating.

Luckily, these are ONLY beliefs.  These are not reality.  You can choose to believe them or you can choose to defeat them.  You get to choose what you believe.

Set a routine.  Be consistent towards accomplishing your goal.  Fight the resistance when it rears its ugly head.

Eventually those limiting beliefs start to fade.

And it gets easier and easier to hit…publish.

Thanks for reading.  Happy Friday!  I wish everyone the best of luck and remember to enjoy the journey of accomplishing your goals not just the goal itself.

The Cycle of Failure

February 24, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Change your mind about failure.

Failure is a good thing.  It means you are trying something.  It means you are in the arena fighting rather than spectating.

Failure is the only way to grow something.  Its a cycle; a process.  Try something, fail at it, determine why it failed, try again.

You WILL fail at anything worth learning.  In fact it’s the way; the path to learning something new.

I always tell my students that “Failure is just a First Attempt In Learning.”  That’s all it is.  It’s not bad or something you should feel shame about.  It’s simply a tool to help you accomplish whatever it is that you want to accomplish.

Failure is uncomfortable only because we’ve been raised in an environment that does not promote it.

But you know what else is uncomfortable?  Growth.  Any growth.  Growth is a shaky, awkward, painful process.  Growth is difficult.  Growth takes repeating the failure cycle over and over and over again.  Growth is the opposite of “hacking”, it knows no shortcuts.  It is hard work.  

This is why so many people shy away from growth as they age.  They get comfortable in their habits.  They repeatedly take the EASY PATH.  They stop growing because they stop failing.  They stop failing because they stopped creating opportunities to fail.  They stop creating opportunities to fail because they become complacent.

Do NOT get hung up on the path of complacency; this path of stagnation.  It is a path that will ultimately lead to an unfulfilled life.

Take risks, try something new, purposefully fail.  Accept that personal growth is going to be difficult.  Accept that failures will happen; that obstacles are expected and embraced (another reminder hanging in the front of my classroom- from The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday)

Accept that the cycle of failure is the path towards personal growth.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.  This blog is an attempt at something new for me.  An attempt to overcome certain fears I have about sharing my ideas publicly.  I appreciate each and every one of you!

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Gratitude Journal

February 23, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Wake up, meditate for a few minutes, and then write down three things that you are grateful for to start the day.

It literally takes 3 minutes.  It’s easy to do.  Sometimes I do it in the time it takes to cook my oatmeal.

I started keeping a gratitude journal on January 1st and it has become a habit.

The purpose is to fine tune the brain muscle that looks for ALL the good things around you.  Every single day you are surrounded by positive beautiful interactions, moments that will bring a smile to your face. These moments are easy to miss, but if you are capable of being perceptive to them your life will improve.

The gratitude journal acts as a simple reminder that I am surrounded by wonderful beautiful people, places, blessings, moments EVERY SINGLE DAY.  If I tune into that STORY than I become a more positive happy person.

Don’t fall down the path of constantly tuning into the “life is hard” STORY.  Life is not as stressful and “horrible” as your narrative can make it sometime seem.

Continue reading

Fuel

February 22, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Be aware of the fuel you are putting in your body.

Are you getting enough?  Too much?  The right kind?

Is it the right fuel to help you accomplish your athletic goals?

One thing that has always bugged me was the idea of “you run a bunch so you can eat whatever you want!”

That is completely wrong.  Trust me I’ve tried.  When I run a bunch AND eat like crap my body hurts…badly.  When I run a bunch and eat a clean and healthy diet my body feels damn good!

Right now I’m in the down time between big race #1 and training for big race #2 (the serious training starts in March) and this weekend I let myself gorge on birthday cake, oatmeal cream pies, chips and dip, french fries, and pizza.  At the time it was wonderful and I’m a big proponent in not being unbelievably strict ALL THE TIME (helps keep the sanity).

But, as a result I feel really sluggish this morning.  If I continued down the route of “eat whatever the hell you want” then workouts will be more challenging, I will wake up much more sore, and I will probably get sick a lot easier.

So while I’m training hard it’s actually EASIER to eat healthy because I know my body needs FUEL.

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50k Training: 2 Days Out (The Dream of Pizza)

February 11, 2016 / / 0 Comments

The Holiday Lake 50k is 2 days away!  On Saturday I’m going to be freezing, exhausted, and sore, but more importantly I’m going to meet up with an old friend…Pizza.  The meeting will be brief.  So brief in fact that I will probably not even recall inhaling this beautiful piece of food, but by golly it’s going to taste FANTASTIC!

Three weeks ago I gave up pizza, ON PURPOSE, with the sole purpose of giving myself a reward to look forward to during the race.

My mental plan of attack:

  • Give up something you love 2-3 weeks leading up to a tough event
  •            -For me that’s the three amigos of deliciousness (Pizza, Beer, Cookies)
  • ​Reward yourself after the event

Continue reading

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50k Training: Race Week

February 7, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Race day is fast approaching for the Holiday Lake 50k.  One more week to go.  Training is essentially done and now all I have to do is sit here and TAPER.  This means that you run way way less than normal to rest your legs up for race day.  So my week looks like this:

  • Monday: Light weightlifting, 5 mile trail run, recovery yoga
  • Tuesday: Light weightlifting, 4 mile trail run, recovery yoga
  • Wednesay: Recovery yoga, go for a walk or play around on the slackline
  • Thursday: Gentle yoga, Eat a big bowl of spaghetti
  • Friday:  Rest the legs, light stretching, drive to Appomattox, eat sweet potato and avocado tortillas
  • Saturday: RACE DAY!!! Run 31 miles, eat a whole bunch of pizza and beer

Continue reading

50k Training: Two Weeks Out

February 2, 2016 / / 0 Comments

At this point I’ve started figuring out what works for me when training for these difficult events.  Whether or not its an adventure race, a marathon, or an ultramarathon, I’ve figured out how to successfully handle the last two weeks of pre-race training.

This isn’t going to be about how runners taper (fancy word for “SLOWING DOWN” or “NOT RUNNING AS MUCH”).  Instead these are a lot of mental tricks that help me through the most difficult part of the training plan- NUTRITION Continue reading

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Life Goals

January 20, 2016 / / 0 Comments

I am now 29.  Yesterday was my first birthday where I thought “29 does sound sorta…grown up.”  That thought worried me for about 2 seconds, but then out of the corner of my eye I saw a shiny object and thus went about living my childish existence.

After consuming half a cake, my wife asked me a simple question “what are your goals for year 29?”

I paused, thought about it for a second, and maybe it was the massive amount of sugar from the cake, but I honestly had no answer.  Is this where I’m at now?  Am I a dude with no goals???? That can’t be true!

So I spent the morning writing an answer to this question:

What do you want to do with your life? Continue reading

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How to Survive Your Long Run

January 14, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Whether you are training for a marathon, an Ultra or even something crazy like a obstacle race or adventure race, one day you will glance at your training calendar and spot these dreaded words: LONG RUN.

The long run.  The day of training that simultaneously has the time consumption of race day and none of the excitement.  The absence of good vibes makes this something to power through.  You won’t be out there with hundreds of other racers…you will be alone.  There will be no gunshot (or one of my favorite parts of ultras the announcement of “go whenever the hell you want, it’s going to take you literally HOURS to finish ha ha ha”).  Delicious Aid Station treats and spectators are non-existent.

During your long run YOU have to rely on pure IRON WILL to get your butt out of bed and spend the next few hours punishing yourself…on PURPOSE!! Continue reading

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Copperheads and Changing Seasons

November 6, 2015 / / 0 Comments

This is going to be a quick post today.  I promise I’m working on some serious articles and I have some awesome experiences I want to write about (mancations, meeting personal heroes, adventure races, book reviews and other crazy things), but today I want to do just one thing:

Scare the crap out of my mom.

Since beginning my trail running adventures a few years ago she has been adamant that I will step on a snake, specifically the venomous copperheads.  “Watch out for snakes” is what she tells me every time I mention heading out for a run. I’m pretty sure in her mind I’m hopping over like 50 of these creepy crawlers every single day.  In fact, she bought me a little tag to put on my shoe with my name and phone number on it in case of a snake attack. Continue reading

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