embrace change – Ali Goes The Distance

Happy New Year!

I’ve been reflecting on 2017 for the past few days and have some pretty awesome accomplishments, memories, adventures, and people in my life. Alongside those amazing things, I’ve had some tough moments along the way too. Ya gotta take the good times with bad (or meh) moments right? A lot of lessons learned and struggles along the way too but I wouldn’t change those either. I focus on what has changed me for the better.

This year I can tell is gonna be a huge growth year for me. I’m super scared but excited! I enter this year with some hesitation honestly. But I know keeping good vibes in the front, the people that care and support me nearby, and a focus on the end goals, I will f***ing SHINE 😀

Ready to tackle:

Turning 25. A solid year. Also a quarter century old. Ha! I feel this gonna be a good point in my life to really invent myself outside of this runner girl-fitness junkie type persona I have. I will always be me, but with a few other goals, intentions, responsibilities, and [more] mature mindset.

Graduating with my Masters in Exercise and Nutrition Science this May from The University of Tampa. This is probably the most scary. I’m leaving the schooling world for good. No more being a student in a classroom. I love learning and believe you’re never too old to learn something. This time around though, it won’t involve being in a classroom or needing textbooks. I see the light and am ready to start the next part of my life! It has taken me two years to complete this program. I took this whole grad school thing slow because I truly wanted to leave knowing I had a direction after graduation. I had two internships. One was less then what I had hoped the other was the opposite and was completely full-filling. I have met more friends in the program and have become close with so many then I would have ever expected! Grad school is a completely different experience then undergrad. Extremely difficult academically but OH SO worth it among all the other things I have learned and gained.

Starting the process of making a career change to become a teacher. If someone said that I would look into becoming a high school health teacher I would have laughed. I thought it was a silly idea. With my experiences in Special Olympics being a health and wellness instructor, it has completely been a game changer for me. Sharing my passion of health and fitness with students is something I believe is so important to long term health and something I get excited thinking about. No other opportunity has given a sense of excitement like Special Olympics does or this idea of becoming a teacher. I’ve found that finding that “spark” means SO MUCH. This is a spark I’ve been looking for and think as of now, I may have found it.

Less group fitness and personal training. I’ve had this gig for the past two years now. I like it and it’s definintely a great fit for me while in school, but I see this part of my life stepping back a little this year. With becoming a teacher, I won’t have time to teach noon or mid morning group classes. Although I’ll have time to train some clients either still early or late in the day, I’m not sure if I’ll want to prioritize my time that for that if I have to grade homework or papers. Depending on my schedule, I may keep some clients that have been consistent with me because I enjoy working with them and seeing them progress in their fitness goals. I train facetime for some, so that could be an option I work more with versus in person training. I’ve also considered writing more training programs for people that they complete on their own and going about it that way. Hmmm…many options to consider! Whatever the case, I know I’ll always be ready to play the role as personal trainer or group instructor. Knowing me, I’ll probably have at least one class or client on my schedule whereever I am!

Balanced eating habits without binging, restrictions, guilt, or shame. This is one is odd to share in a sense because I don’t really talk about this much and am still working on. I definintely experienced some disordered eating this past year. Not good. I still remained healthy for the most part (I was never diagnosed with an eating disorder!) but I had habits that crept in and out and affected my thoughts on food and exercise. I did gain some weight and felt overall blah at points too. Sadly, I would punish and restrict myself because of this and deemed certain foods bad and good. Next thing I knew, I was binging on all the “bad foods” and it all became a vicious cycle. I knew this was something to change. Luckily this did NOT affect my health and only lasted a short time. Listening to podcasts, talking with my mom, logging my food, and journaling have been key components on some habits I’ve changed. I’ve created healthier habits that took time–about six months worth of work. My head is in a much better place now. I eat whatever I want. All mindfully. With *minimal binges and restrictions (hardest part still). Compared to how I was living the first part of 2017, this is completely different. I have good and bad days, but have SO MUCH control and a healthier mindset then how I started off 2017.

Saying YES to more often. One thing I learned about myself this year, is that I hold myself back. I tend to go with the flow and not make too much noise about anything. I said ‘no’ to fun things because I was afraid I wasn’t good enough or that it would deviate from my goals. I need to start LIVING life and have fun too. My balance wasn’t bad but needed some adjusting. Time to keep getting out of my comfort zone! I think this is something that is always a work in progress. Planning for more days of YES and less days of “I’m afraid and unsure.” 😉

I was crazy productive this past week, but took a step back with some goals surrounding my career and training. Changes both good, and I’ll say it this way, uncomfortable. I’ve had stressful week to say the least. I remind myself that everything happens for a reason and to use them as life lessons. Running has been the one consistent thing that I can count on each time I get in a funk. Its my release, my me-time and because of my hectic week, has been something I can count on to de-stress! Everyone needs some time to get away regardless if its running/fitness at all!

Anyways, after listening closer to my body for past week of training, I’m learning what it means to dial-back intensity and take it a notch down below beast mode. I’m the type of person to push hard and intense, while creating a sweat fest that leaves me accomplished and tired. Marathon training is not like that. It took me a few weeks into the training to learn that you can’t run six miles or “hard” and expect to be right back the next day for another hard workout. Nope, and my body told me promptly that training like that was not okay (check out my post on listening to your body and rest).

This past weekend, I ran ten miles for my long run. I was nervous because I still felt tight but knew I did have to get in a run and see how I feel. I made a deal with myself to GO SLOWER and take my time. It took serious convincing, but I did it! I always go too fast the first few miles no matter the distance. I used this mistake as an opportunity to learn to go SLOW and see how it feels. I did more of a jog and kept an eye on my garmin to consciously go a minute or so slower then my race pace time. SUCCESS again! I felt great the whole time and didn’t feel like I was killing myself. I simply took down the intensity of the run. I also was listening to some good, slower paced music like Sam Smith who is great to listen to on long steady runs.

Through this week, I learned its OK to stop and look around to see what you can do differently or improve on. This goes for both life experiences and training. Either write down your thoughts and lay them out in front of you (bought a journal this week just for this reason), get someone’s opinion, or do some research to explore options and perspectives. Most importantly, enjoy the change of pace and EMBRACE the opportunity to rethink!