Labor Day Weekend Race Report

This time last year I was over trained and injured and not that motivated to run 100 miles on September 19th. Not to be repeated, I started to  taper down my running miles for Run Rabbit Run, 1.5 weeks ago.  I am approaching the taper like I approach an Ironman Taper, my peak weeks are week 4 and 5. I hit 100 miles both weeks with plenty of altitude training and included some "speed" and "tempo" runs. I use those terms loosely since I am not that fast right now.

I often refer to Joe Friel philosophy, "When tapering you're losing "fatigue" in order to gain "form." You're not gaining fitness, although it will feel like you are."  Now, 2 weeks out, time to cut the junk and maintain some form and intensity.

This past Labor Day weekend I focused on form and intensity at the Inaugural Black Squirrel Half Marathon on Saturday and Colorado Run 5k on Monday.  My legs felt strong both days. I finished 6th in my age group Saturday beating my goal time by 3 minutes. I won my age group and masters division at the 5k on Monday (all the fast girls stayed home). Below are 2 photos from the start of each event.

The Best Regimen for College Fitness

The Best Regimen for College Fitness

Clean Eating Challenge Guidelines

These rules are simple enough to be easy to follow, yet firm enough to guarantee success as long as you want to succeed!  Once you've decided to commit to the challenge you MUST take action in order to reach your goals.

1  Commit to the first 2 weeks before deciding if you need to modify the rules or diet. This new eating plan will mean significant changes in the amount of refined carbohydrates and sugars that you eat. This shift in energy use by your body can cause fatigue, headaches and a foggy feeling. Unless you already have a clean diet, it's almost a guarantee you'll feel tired and foggy the first 2-5 days. You MUST decide ahead of time that you will push through this phase because the rewards are so great. The rewards are worth it so decide and commit to succeed.

2  You must eat 90% of your daily calories from the GREENLIGHT list. At first you will have to track this 90% closely to make sure you are getting 90% of your calories from this list. The tracking will seem tedious at first, but after a couple days you will know how to prepare your meals and snacks staying within the guidelines.

3  You may eat 10% of your daily calories from the YELLOWLIGHT list. These foods are fine in moderation, so carefully measure these foods and STOP at 10%. If your daily calorie goal is 2000 calories, then you'd limit yourself to just 200 calories from this group. Remember, you don't HAVE to eat from this list, but you may. Just be sure you track this 10% closely.

4  All foods in the REDLIGHT list are OFF LIMITS for the duration of this challenge. Now I know that we are not perfect, I certainly am not. If you eat from this list during the challenge, it needs to be a conscious decision and an exception to your daily habits! And you MUST fess up in the challenge group!!!  It's OK...just get it out of your system...we will still love you. :)

5  Drink your Shakeology every day! You must be on Shakeology HD (autoship) with me as your coach. Drinking your Shakeology every day is the best way to add fiber, antioxidants, probiotics and greens along with protein & carbs from plant sources! Shakeology is a clean, easy, quick, inexpensive meal that is very versatile. You can drink it first thing in the morning, pre workout, post workout or as a between meal snack.

6   Be active in the facebook challenge group. Make quick daily posts, "like" others comments, and in general get involved with the others in the group. We are all there to help and motivate each other and keep each other accountable. The ones who are most active in the group are typically the most successful. And don't be afraid to reach out when you are struggling.

7  Plan to Succeed!! Follow the Five Getting Started Tips to give yourself the best chance for success.

5 Things to Do Before Your Clean Eating Challenge Starts

5 Things to Do Before Your Clean Eating Challenge Starts

Doing these 5 things will help you succeed in your Clean Eating Challenge.

1  Set a realistic goal and TELL someone about it. You don't have to tell the whole world, but tell some one you trust outside of the challenge group. Letting others know your goal makes it more real to you and improves your chance of success.

2  Clear your kitchen and pantry of any REDLIGHT foods! Don't even let there be a temptation. If you live with someone else, or even a whole family, make sure that they understand what you are doing and if possible, get rid of ALL the forbidden foods in the house. If this is not possible, designate a small cupboard or pantry area for those REDLIGHT foods that other people in your family will still eat. When the family sees your results, everyone will be ready to ditch the bad stuff.

3  Get your SPOUSE or SIGNIFICANT OTHER on board. This is vital. Even if your spouse or significant other is not interested in following the challenge with you, they will most certainly want to support you in your effort to become healthier. You may be surprised with how much they will go out of their way if they KNOW what you are trying to achieve. But they won't know unless you tell them.

4  Take photos and measurements in the week before you start. You are about to start a great journey and you can't go back and take them again later! You'll be really glad you have these in the future, even if you don't want to look at them now or show them to anyone.

5  Plan your meals ahead of time, especially dinners which tend to be more involved. Keep things simple if you like or go ahead and let your inner gourmet cook shine...just plan ahead. Here is a blog post that describes how I plan my dinners in just 20 minutes a week.


Ready to get involved?
Step 1:  Read the main Clean Eating Challenge page here to get up to speed if you haven't read it yet.
Step 2:  Review the Clean Eating Challenge Guidelines and make sure you are ready to commit.

In order to participate in the Clean Eating Challenge group, simply click HERE (click JOIN and then FREE MEMBERSHIP) to sign up as a t2coaching client. Next, send an email to wendy@t2coaching.com and let me know you want to participate in the Challenge. You will receive an email with final instructions for being added to the group and getting your Shakeology ordered.

DECIDE. COMMIT. SUCCEED.

Clean Eating Challenge Group Guidelines

Clean Eating Challenge

What is the CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE?

I will be facilitating a monthly CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE. This is a group made up of individuals that are willing to COMMIT to 28 days of eating healthy, clean, whole foods 90% of the time. This means VERY VERY small amounts of packaged or processed food, junk food, white flour, white rice, soda, sugar, candy, fried foods, alcohol, etc. This is much harder than it sounds. This will take a BIG commitment and a complete change in mindset and habits for most people.

In the CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE you will learn to start thinking of food as a catalyst to fuel your body and catapult you into optimal levels of health.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS CHALLENGE?

-Anyone who has issues with inflammation, skin conditions, stomach problems, digestive issues, and other problems that are exacerbated by inflammatory, artificial, and chemical foods.

-An athlete looking to lean down for your next race or learn better ways to fuel for your training and racing.

-Anyone interested in experimenting with plant based nutrition to improve  overall health, immune system, and insulin response.

-Anyone who is overweight and want to gain control over your eating habits with or without an exercise plan. 

** CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE GUIDELINES**

To participate in the Challenge you must commit to:

1  Eating whole healthy foods 90% of the time. See the CHALLENGE GUIDELINES for details about how we determine what you can eat.

2  Drinking Shakeology on a daily basis - requires that you purchase Shakeology on HD (monthly autoship from me). There is a 30 day Money Back Guarantee if you are not completely impressed by this product!

3  Posting daily accountability in a private facebook group viewable only by members of the Challenge.

4  FINISHING! This isn’t about starting, it is about finishing!

** Read the 5 Things to do before starting your challenge **

In order to participate in the CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE GROUP, simply click  HERE to sign up as a client with me (click JOIN and then FREE MEMBERSHIP). Once you have done that, send me an email at: wendy@t2coaching.com and let me know you want to participate in the Challenge. You will receive an email to secure your spot and with final instructions on being added to the group and getting your Shakeology ordered.

How Does Clean Eating Challenge Work

How does the Clean Eating Challenge Work?

In the Clean Eating Challenge, you won’t find CRAZY talk like “eat whatever you want and still lose weight”. There is nothing to sprinkle on your food. There is nothing to wrap around your body to reduce fat. There are no hormones to inject into your body. There isn’t even any calorie restriction. THERE IS NO MAGIC FORMULA!! In fact, we don’t even restrict entire food groups like “animal products” or “grains”.

The Clean Eating Challenge simply gives you easy to follow guidelines that allow you to make CHOICES. The system helps you to make whole food choices instead of processed food choices and the results are incredible…without feeling hungry, eliminating food groups, or restricting calories!


Here is how the system works:

Step 1:

Simply choose foods based on the 90/10 Nutrition Ladder (Developed by Ryan Chapman). The ladder consists of three easy to use lists. 90% of your daily calorie intake should come from the GREENLIGHT list, 10% of your calories can come from the YELLOWLIGHT, and nothing should come from the REDLIGHT list during the challenge.

Step 2:

Use Shakeology as a convenient and healthy GREENLIGHT option once a day to make sure you get all your vitamins and minerals and superior nutrition without having to count macronutrients or vitamin percentages. It can be used to replace a meal or snack.

Step 3:

Use the support of your free coach and facebook challenge group to keep you going through the 28 day challenge period. With the support of the group and your coach, the nutrition and convenience of Shakeology, and the easy to use Nutrition Ladder, you will have all the tools you need for success!  

Will it be easy? No. But, very few things worth doing are easy.

Redlight-Yellowlight-Greenlight- Clean Eating Challenge