Athlete of the Week: Caroline Hudnut
Posted by: curvyfitness on: August 26, 2011
“Don’t be hard on yourself– the whole point of exercising is to feel good and have fun. If you miss a day here or there, it’s not a big deal. Listen to your body and get out another day!” – Caroline Hudnut
The Athlete of the Week series was created to spotlight the amazing people around us who are not only moms, dads, workers and friends but they are superstar athletes as well. Being an athlete does not always mean that they are Olympic level in their sport. It doesn’t even mean that they compete, or that they would beat anyone else if they tried. It means that they have made a commitment to their health by staying active and changing their lifestyle to do so. They inspire me every day, and I hope they inspire you as well.
Every Friday, look for a new installment and a new athlete spotlight. If you’d like to be featured, just email me at curvyandfit@gmail.com!
This week’s Athlete of the Week is Caroline Hudnut, a Colorado girl and lifelong friend of mine, who loves some fine snowfall and just being outside in general! She inspires me by always being up for new experiences. She lived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a few years and is moving back down to the Front Range. She is also competing in her second triathlon tomorrow! Send her lots of luck and love and read her story here:
Age (optional): 24
Personal Mantra:
Just keep swimming (or pedaling/running/fill in the blank) from the movie Finding Nemo. I guess if it’s from a movie, it’s not exactly my personal mantra. Oh well. That’s always what I say to myself when I’m exercising and getting very tired!
What’s your absolute favorite activity/exercise?
What makes you committed to staying active?
I like how it makes me feel. I’m more relaxed, I’m happier, and I’m healthier. I sleep better, I’m kinder to others, and I feel better about myself when I exercise. I also live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, so it’s easy to be committed to staying active because I want to go outside whenever I can to check out the flowers, the animals, the snow… whatever.
To be fair, my life isn’t very busy right now. At the moment, I try to commute to work, which is a 13 miles bike ride each way. I also live about a 10 second walk from great mountain biking and hiking trails. However, in the past when I’ve been busy and lived further away from trails (like in Louisiana!), I schedule it in. I concentrate better and am far more productive if I’ve exercised, so it’s always worth the hour or so that it takes out of my day. Usually, I try to figure out where I’ll be, when I might be free, and what activities are easiest to do at those times and places (yoga? swimming? run? bike ride?) I actually find that I’m more likely to exercise when I’m busy because I can’t dilly-dally all day thinking about what I might do.
Avocados– because they are delicious and creamy and filling! Also, they go with (almost) everything.Thanks Caroline!!
Stay tuned for next Friday’s spotlight on a new Athlete of the Week!
Read about the previous Friday Athletes of the Week, Lance Holter and Reu Smith .
Subscribe to my website over on the sidebar (–>) to be e-mailed as soon as a blog post is published! This is a free service by the way. I know, its fancy.
Love to you!
Sara
Life boot camp; aka yoga teacher training
Posted by: curvyfitness on: August 7, 2011
Apologies for no athlete of the week
last week!
Swamped in yoga teacher training and worrying about my 10k swim that happened this morning. More on that later.
All you need to know is that this training is seriously inspiring. A peaceful escape inside an intense physical and mental (and spiritual) challenge course.
We’re learning about the yoga sutras, yogic diet, yoga anatomy, earth medicine and energy work. We are having philosophical and personal discussions and making best friends within days of coming together. This experience will affect change in my life for years to come. Thank you to those relationships I’m putting on hold in order to be a part of this. Thank you to the universe for bringing me here at this specific time and place and with these amazing people. Thank you.
Love, light, and om,
Sara
Muay Thai Motivator – Athlete of the Week: Reu Smith
Posted by: curvyfitness on: July 29, 2011
“Its amazing how great work is when you have released a little bit of stress and played a little. You never see someone playing with a frown. It’s just not humanly possible.” -Reu Smith
The Athlete of the Week series was created to spotlight the amazing people around us who are not only moms, dads, workers and friends but they are superstar athletes as well. Being an athlete does not always mean that they are Olympic level in their sport. It doesn’t even mean that they compete, or that they would beat anyone else if they tried. It means that they have made a commitment to their health by staying active and changing their lifestyle to do so. They inspire me every day, and I hope they inspire you as well.
Every Friday, look for a new installment and a new athlete spotlight. If you’d like to be featured, just email me at curvyandfit@gmail.com!
This week’s Athlete of the Week is Reu Smith, a swim coach and marketing guru in Fort Collins. He inspires me not only because he gives me great swim workouts and pushes me to work harder in the pool, but because he pushes himself to be a better coach and athlete. He knows how it feels to be both teacher and student, so he coaches all types of athletes in the way that they want to be coached as an individual. He balances his work life and his home life and cares for both his health and his family’s health equally. Here’s Reu’s story:
Age (optional):
33, a young 33.
Personal Mantra (optional):
1. Push, push, push. You’ll never get anywhere unless you push yourself and your closest friends to achieve more, but don’t be an ass about it.
2. Play in everything you do. Even if it’s serious, seriously play.
What’s your absolute favorite activity/exercise?
I love to play, so anything playing related. I recently played tag in the park with a bunch of friends (25 – 60 years old) at a park. It was one of the best workouts and fun times I have had in a long time. Play is so important to stay young. Even as adults, by age not by mental capability, our tendency is to play. I believe a life long playing regime is key to a long healthy life and happy life. Its amazing how great work is when you have released a little bit of stress and played a little. You never see someone playing with a frown. It’s just not humanly possible.
What makes you committed to staying active?
I get fat, and fat is not so becoming of me. Actually when I exercise less I feel like a blob, I hate feeling this way so I generally try to have fun activities. I grew up where my mom would make a lot of the housework a game. I use to hate but secretly love these “games”. As an adult I do a lot of the same things mentally to really keep it interesting. Even if I am swimming I always imagine a ghost opponent in the lane next to me. I usually beat the ghost but sometimes I don’t, that is okay also. We all have our up and down days.
How do you work exercise into your busy life?
Owning a business, being on the board of a few NPO’s, and being the Head Masters Swim Team coach takes a lot of time for non-exercise activities. It seems I am always doing something or being somewhere. I firmly believe that you will make time for what you care about. I know a lot of things can be pushed off but coaching and Muay Thai recharge my batteries for all the other things I do. So it’s a necessity for me to take time in those activities to achieve the best in my work and community volunteering. Plus the mental recharge of letting someone else tell me what to do is nice also. I try to be the athlete that I would want to coach when I am at Muay Thai.
Who inspires you?
My family is a great inspiration to me, parents and girlfriend to be exact. I feel like making them proud inspires their lives. It’s a cyclical relationship. I find a lot comes from not one person’s achievements but from many people’s small achievements that help me become motivated for achievement. I love watching sports on television. I know the dedication and heart they have to have to compete, I love watching the competition of it all and the heart of the athlete to achieve their best, even if that is last place. I really want to see the best brought out in everyone. I love being part of the conduit for their achievement.
Do you have any words of advice for a new fitness enthusiast, regarding sports, exercise, and/or life?
I guess the one thing I didn’t cover above is that passion drives a human. I am a huge fan of Marcus Buckingham’s theology of ‘do what makes you happy’. That will keep you driving to achievement that is consistently attainable.
OK, a little more. Get a coach, be a mentor and surround yourself with people you want to become. You’re not the best at everything, [so] the things you want to become better at, get a coach to help you become the best that you can be. The things that you are great at, teach them to someone else. Legacy when you leave is the only thing that will continue to be passed. Money is great but is a consumable object. Education and experience live forever. I forget who said this but “you are the sum of the six closest people to you”. Be surrounded by people you would want to be around and like what they are doing. I have a lot of friends but my close ones know that they are in a select group that is cherished by me; it is almost more like they are family.
Favorite vegetable and why?
I grew up on a farm as a vegetarian, till I was 12. I pretty much like all veggies. I really like jicama. It’s crunchy and watery; pretty good. All veggies are pretty good overall. It’s a great snack that you don’t have to have ranch with it just to get your veggie intake in for the day. Its fantastic if you Julienne it over a salad.
Muchas Gracias, Reu!!
Stay tuned for next Friday’s spotlight on a new Athlete of the Week!
Read about the previous Friday Athlete of the Week, Lance Holter.
Subscribe to my website over on the sidebar (–>) to be e-mailed as soon as a blog post is published! This is a free service by the way. I know, its fancy.
Love to you!
Sara
Swim Dad Spotlight – Athlete of the Week: Lance Holter
Posted by: curvyfitness on: July 22, 2011
“I want my kids to remember me as a Dad who was always actively involved in what they were doing. I want to show them that you can be an athlete at any age.”
The Athlete of the Week series was created to spotlight the amazing people around us who are not only moms, dads, workers and friends but they are superstar athletes as well. Being an athlete does not always mean that they are Olympic level in their sport. It doesn’t even mean that they compete, or that they would beat anyone else if they tried. It means that they have made a commitment to their health by staying active and changing their lifestyle to do so. They inspire me every day, and I hope they inspire you as well.
Every Friday, look for a new installment and a new athlete spotlight. If you’d like to be featured, just email me at curvyandfit@gmail.com!
This week’s Athlete of the Week is Lance Holter, a dad of two boys who lives in Fort Collins and swims on the master’s swim team. He inspires me by leading his lane at swim practice most every day. He swims with grace and humility, but he knows when to pull out all the stops and go for his goals. He makes others feel great, as he makes sure to say “Good job today!” to his lanemates at the end of practice. Here’s Lance’s story:
Age:
44
Mantra:
The simpler, the better.
What’s your absolute favorite activity/exercise
The activity that gives me the absolute most pleasure is “boarding.” In the winter, there is nothing I like more than bombing down a ski run covered with a foot of fresh powder. In the summer, I achieve that same feeling wakeboarding behind the boat. I’m not outstanding at either activity, but I absolutely love the freedom I feel when I’m doing them. As far as exercise, I swim to stay in good enough shape to do the other activities I enjoy. Sadly, I’m not a big fan of weight lifting, but when I’m in a lifting pattern, it seems to provide the most physical fitness benefits.
What Keeps Me Exercising?
My Dad and my kids keep me exercising, but for very different reasons. My Dad…and his Dad both have serious coronary artery issues. My Dad had quintuple bypass surgery when he was in his early 50’s. He’s never been overweight. He’s never smoked. My Dad’s Dad died of a heart attack at age 63. Knowing my family history, I bust my ass…to keep the blood pumping through my arteries. The other reason I try to stay fit is because I don’t want to miss out on interacting with my kids. I can’t swim as fast as they do, but I swim enough to converse with them on the topic. I don’t ski as fast as my kids, but I can make it through the day with them. I want my kids to remember me as a Dad who was always actively involved in what they were doing. I want to show them that you can be an athlete at any age.
How do you work exercise into your busy life?
I fit exercise into my “busy” life by always doing it first thing in the morning. I’ve been a morning person my entire life, so swimming is a good fit for me. Exercising first thing in the morning is my coffee!
Who inspires you?
Is it cheesy to cite a television show as inspirational? Our entire family watches The Biggest Loser. Each season, I’m totally amazed at the effects intense exercise and controlled diet has on the contestants. Watching them inspires me to continue exercising and to try and eat better. The joy the people experience through their weight loss journey inspires me to stay healthy.
Do you have any words of advice for new fitness enthusiast, regarding sports, exercise, and/or life?
1) Find an exercise partner or a group exercise class. I’m fortunate to have swimming lane mates at the pool. At home, my wife and I exercise together. At one point in my life, I did a lot of running. I always ran alone, and over time, I got really bored with it and stopped.
2) Ease into new activities. I’m seen way too many people start a new exercise routine, go great guns for about a month, and then quit all together.
3) Mix it up. I swim, snowboard, wakeboard, golf, hike, and travel.
4) Routine and discipline. Swimming works for me because it is scheduled. The advice I give my boys is, “Don’t think of swim practice as optional. Don’t let yourself make a decision about whether or not to go.” Too many times, if we give ourselves a decision about whether or not to exercise….we make the wrong choice.
5) Record your exercise. It’s a good way to see that you’re making progress.
6) Schedule some days of “intense” exercise. Do intervals with short rests. Occasionally, some of the exercise you do needs to make your heart race and get you breathing hard.
7) You have to match healthy eating with exercise. Unfortunately, I’m horrible at this. I’m very disciplined with my exercise. I’m the opposite with my eating. Often, it’s not so much what I’m eating, but how much of it I’m eating.
Favorite vegetable and why?
Do potato chips count? I’m going to have to say carrots….but I also like asparagus. I won’t touch cauliflower.
Thank you, Lance!
Stay tuned for next Friday’s spotlight on a new Athlete of the Week!
Subscribe to my website over on the sidebar (–>) to be e-mailed as soon as a blog post is published! This is a free service by the way. I know, its fancy.
Love to you!
Sara
Friday Athlete of the Week series!
Posted by: curvyfitness on: July 21, 2011
The Athlete of the Week series was created to spotlight the amazing people around us who are not only moms, dads, workers and friends but they are superstar athletes as well. Being an athlete does not always mean that they are Olympic level in their sport. It doesn’t even mean that they compete, or that they would beat anyone else if they tried. It means that they have made a commitment to their health by staying active and changing their lifestyle to do so. They inspire me every day, and I hope they inspire you as well.
Every Friday, look for a new installment and a new athlete spotlight. If you’d like to be featured, just email me at curvyandfit@gmail.com!
Athletes of the Week:
July 22: Lance Holter
July 29: ?
76 Ways to Get Moving!
Posted by: curvyfitness on: July 18, 2011
Takin’ it easy
Posted by: curvyfitness on: July 4, 2011
by Sara Jelley, Fort Collins Personal Trainer
You can’t run a marathon by running 15 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Well, maybe someone out there can. Nobody I know.
The best thing we can teach ourselves as athletes (and yes, you are an athlete, even if you don’t feel like it yet) is to listen to our bodies. Train when your body can handle it and rest when it needs to rest. The ‘step by step’ method works not only for putting together a model airplane, but also for getting your body in shape. Your body doesn’t change easily, as evidenced by so many people in this country who change their diets but don’t lose weight because they don’t exercise, OR those other people who exercise like maniacs but don’t change their diets. Its not an easy transition. However, as long as your heart is in the right place and your plan is a smart one, things will change.
So take it easy. If you’re just starting out, don’t run for 15 minutes one day and the next day take it up to 45. Even if you’re a highly trained athlete, you can’t take large leaps in your training. Your body will freak out. Believe me. Training for an endurance race in less than 3 months will challenge anybody’s patience. However, if you do too much too soon, your risk for injury skyrockets.
Adding on 5-10 minutes to your workout every week is the most efficient way to train your muscles and your mind. After 15 minute runs one week, your body will probably be ok with 20-25 minute runs the next week. Then you can take it up to 25-30. Pretty soon, in two months, you’re running for an hour! And you thought that 10k was impossible!
Today I had my clients doing pushups. Now, I hate pushups just as much as the next girl. I always do them on my knees and always feel weak. But by using the pyramid method I use for cardio and endurance in the pool and applying it to strength training we were all able to do more than we thought we could. Traditionally pyramid strength training in the weight room would mean increasing the weight every set, while decreasing the reps. But because we were doing bodyweight exercises with an endurance goal, I opted to start with lower reps and get higher. We started with 1 pushup. Then 1 minute rest. Then 2 pushups. Then 1 minute rest. All the way up to 10. After doing the math, we realized we had just done 55 pushups! At the beginning was only “Oh man, pushups. I hate pushups. I feel so weak.” At the end, the conclusion was: “I’ve never done this many pushups in my life! I CAN do pushups!”
I could say a lot of things to myself before I work out, like “I can’t”, “I’m tired”, “I’m weak”, or “I don’t have time”.
I could tell myself I’m not worth the 30 minute workout every day.
I could tell myself its too hard and only people with a certain body type should be running marathons and doing pushups.
But I would be lying to myself.
Listen to your body, not your mind. Because your mind says some pretty messed up stuff a lot of the time.
Also, listen to the wise words of The Eagles. Please, please, please! Because your trainer says so. Take it Easy.
The One that Got Away
Posted by: curvyfitness on: May 26, 2011
Remember “The One that Got Away”?
Was it unrequited love?
Was it someone else’s crush, unrealized by you?
Was it young love? Puppy love? Was it an actual puppy you couldn’t take home?
Was it a dream or a fantasy you never got to play out?
A goal, a race, a yoga pose?
Tell me about it, stud.
I have more fantasies than the average human. I daydream constantly, and I mean like every 5 minutes I’m building up a scenario in my mind. About marrying that really nice produce clerk at the grocery store. About owning my own hot spring hotel in Japan one day. About becoming a doctor or hot air balloonist or a magician. Or even just a faster swimmer. Better cook. Better writer. Guitar goddess. Having 6-pack abs. Climbing Mount Everest. Bike-camping from Colorado to Panama.
I sometimes tell myself that the problem with having all these dreams is that I’ve chased a lot of different paths, tried a lot of different things but I’m still not really good at any of them. I’m simply mediocre at a whole lot of things. This is not a good feeling. “Mediocre” is not a happy word.
My recent journey, including break-ups, career changes and let-downs, has been that of serious self-confidence work. Becoming a personal trainer, you have to know what your client is going through to really break through when they say they can’t lose the weight, run the mile, lift the weight. Whatever goal they had that was the “One that Got Away’. I do know. I’ve been there. It sucks. But in a week or two, I promise, it won’t matter.
The way to the end of the yellow brick road is not only working hard at that one activity. Sure, running a long distances every day will help you finish a marathon. But it might not. There are always other things than training involved in success. There is a point for distance athletes called “The Wall”. You hit that wall, you ain’t finishing the race. At least quickly. You run out of fuel and your body says “Hello? Can’t you see there’s a wall here? I got nothing. You’re on your own.”
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon
It’s the same thing with your mind. The wall gets another brick every time you say “I can’t”, “I’m not that good”, “I’m just mediocre”, “This’ll just be another thing I can’t do well”. You know the thing about excuses? They condone failure, and by doing so lead to certain failure. Once you hit the wall mentally, you’ve convinced yourself of your own mediocrity and there is very little chance of success. You’re probably always thinking about the “One that Got Away”, whether it got away a long time ago or you’re on the verge of letting it get away right now. Here are some ways to get back your soul and reach your goal. Have you said something like this?
“Wow, that run was hard today. I must be getting worse.”
Step 1: Stop everything. Tell yourself “That’s a damn lie!” Go all Pink Floyd on it and “Tear down the wall!” You just had a long run yesterday and you’re fatigued. You were gardening this morning and your quads are reminding you. You have two kids and you were playing with them in the park yesterday. These are simply some reasons that your run may have been harder today. However: these are NOT excuses not to run. These are what you remind yourself of when you’re sore from the extra hard workout.
These are what you reward yourself for.It doesn’t mean you’re getting worse. When you get worse, you probably haven’t been running. If you need help starting back up, that’s when you ask for help! I’d suggest you talk to a trainer, a life coach or your dad. I’m learning that asking for help is one of the most valuable things you can ever do for yourself.
Step 2: Celebrate your successes. If you made it through that swim practice you wanted to get through without drowning or if you touched your toes for the first time in months, celebration is the key to happiness. Happiness won’t come at the finish line of that race and it won’t come when the scale says that magic number you’ve been dreaming of. It just won’t. Not until you’re happy with the little successes along the way.
If you celebrate touching your toes now, putting your palms on the floor will seem like you’ve died and gone to heaven. But if you think “Sure, I can touch my toes but I still have 20 pounds to lose”, that magic number will get further and further away and it won’t be as fulfilling. You’ll already be thinking about the next goal, the one you still haven’t reached. Celebrate small successes will pre-empt that mental “wall” and make your whole journey easier, however long.
Celebrate with something wonderful, but not with a cake. Give your body the relaxation it craves. Do something or go somewhere that makes you feel happy and at peace.
Step 3: Pick a new goal. Find a new “One”. As in love, people are not meant always meant to stay together forever. Having a goal is great but if it is unattainable or if chasing it is making you frustrated and miserable, get someone to play the best friend role and say “Maybe its time to move on.” Maybe you weren’t meant to climb Mt. Everest. Maybe you should take up piloting and fly over it instead.
Follow your heart and lift yourself up to a place where you can succeed. The forces of the universe will tell you when you’re on the wrong path or chasing after someone or something that is not coming back to you. There will always be the “One that Got Away”. Your job is to accept that and find happiness on your current path.
You are SO much more than mediocre.
Hello world!
Posted by: curvyfitness on: April 18, 2011
“Hello world!” … is a very appropriate title for my first post. This is the first day of the rest of my life, so to speak. I am finally getting out of the service industry and into life doing what I want to do: helping people feel good! I want to be a healer and an inspiring force, a motivator and a caring force. I got this certification in order to do all of this… I want to use my experiences in my own health journey to motivate others to push through the obstacles between themselves and their goals in order to have joy, satisfaction and a sense of success. I want my clients to have a friend on their journey, a friend who won’t be disappointed or judgmental or competitive with them. I will be the voice of reason when their conscience is saying they won’t succeed and the hand to high-five when they do something amazing at every session. If you would like to succeed, or just need a workout buddy, give me a call!
Sara Jelley (roll over to find out more about me!)
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