If you celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., then I hope it is filled with nice memories with family and friends.
If the holidays are tricky for you, I wish you big hugs and some quiet time.
If you don’t celebrate it, I wish you a yummy meal with family and friends this week just because.
Here is some more food for thought from the book I am reading:
“ I began to realize that my results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed.”
“Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”
“When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level.”
This is such a good book!
**Keep eyes peeled for a quick holiday gift guide for your fitness self or buddy or family on Friday.
Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings to you today and always!
Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,
🙂 Laura
I am a volunteer coach for Girls on the Run.
My group is comprised of 3rd-5th graders who are hilarious and make me smile every Tuesday.
When you are in GOTR, you pick an adjective that starts with the first letter of your first name that you think describes you.
This is how you are henceforth known in the organization.
In my case, I chose “Laughing Laura”. 🙂
Some of the kids came up with funny names for themselves:
Capable Cece, Just Josie, and Zippy Zoe for instance.
When I ran the marathon, I joined “Team Milk” as they were sponsoring women marathon runners and also donating to Girls on the Run as an underserved population.
They had a lovely “Recovery Lounge” in Lincoln Center after the marathon where they served chocolate milk, had snacks, new socks, a DJ, and massages. They also offered Uber credits to get ladies home safe.
I had never had an ‘after race plan’ like this, and it was fantastic.
Therefore, I would highly recommend a plan for after your race. Do you have warm dry clothes to change into? Do you have a snack to snack on, or a place to go? How are you going to get there?
These are things I didn’t think about for previous races. I was so focused on getting ready, I didn’t think about after.
Thank you to the people of Team Milk ( and if you are scheduled to run the Denver Marathon they are sponsoring women in that race!) for making my marathon at “mile 27” so relaxing.
Do you have a philanthropy you support?
Do you volunteer?
If you don’t and need to smile, try hanging out with my friends Zippy Zoe and Capable Cece.
You will get more than you give, every time.
Happy Hump Day to you!
Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,
🙂 Laura
Happy Veteran’s Day tomorrow and thank you for your service to this country and others.
I am especially grateful for my dad, who was in the Army, my grandfather who was in the Air Force, and my 2 step nephews who served in the Marines and Navy.
So I ran the NYC marathon last weekend.
A friend of mine has a daughter who is going through a rough time. She textured me a screenshot of a text her daughter sent her which said:
“If you ever need your faith restored in humanity, go watch the NYC marathon.”
“Why?” texted her mother back.
“Strangers supporting strangers! Runners write their names on their shirts and the entire pathway is lined with people yelling your name.”
And then this:
“I cried it was really crazy to see.”
So how did a 4” piece of duct tape save my life?
Exactly that.
We were pretty sure it was going to be cold in the morning- and indeed it was 42 degrees at 6am when we arrived at Staten Island.
We had picked out matching outfits, but had gone back and forth on the top.
Long sleeves? Tank top with arm sleeves? Just a tank?
In the end, we layered the tank under the long sleeved shirt.
Thank goodness!
I embroidered our names riding on the train to NYC on the long sleeve shirts, but by the time we were ready to get running at 10:20, it was close to 60ish degrees and sunny.
I didn’t embroider our names on the tank tops as it was a 2 hour project that I didn’t find time for.
We knew that a fun part of the race was random spectators yelling your name, but how to get our names on the tank quickly?
Enter the silver tape and Sharpie.
I had no idea how important that little piece of duct tape became.
I wrote in my Instagram post that I love how NYC pronounces my name:
“GO LAAW-RAH! YOU GOT THIS, GIRL!”
Over and over and over and over and over and over.
It was as though the crowd came out to cheer just for me!
It was ELECTRIFYING. It was ENERGIZING. It was so FUN. It made my smile LIGHT UP!
If my head was down, less cheers.
Head up, smile and wave to the crowd: electricity.
I was channeling the penguins in Madagascar, “Smile and wave, boys, smile and wave.”
That’s your first race tip: put your name on your shirt/jacket/sweatshirt/hat/arm/forehead.
Anywhere!
It will pay dividends!
Here’s to balance, strength, and unbelievable-name-on-my-shirt happiness, and Happy Veteran’s Day,
🙂 Laura
Happy National Dunce Day!
There’s a word you don’t often hear used anymore: dunce.
I take it to mean, ‘I shouldn’t have been such a dummy.’
Or, I know better, and I still didn’t do the thing I should have to make me feel better.
In this case, as I was training for the NYC marathon, I was just skating by with all of my recovery things.
I didn’t roll frequently, I only stretched via yoga once a week, barely any fascia blasting, loaned out my lazy girl cupping thing, and relied heavily on cold showers, soccer, and my infrared sauna.
Skated.
Guess what: my knees were starting to hurt in my long runs. That is soooo annoying!!
And alarming.
Big lesson (again!) that a client of mine serendipitously reminded me.
She had a great quote that brought me back to reality, and that deep thought is in today’s video.
Duh!
I guess we ALL have things to learn (and re-learn and learn again!) as we go out and do fun fitness adventures.
Got it: big volume of training, big volume of recovery work…I have to do all the things I listed above.
Not some of them, all of them.
Don’t beat yourself up with the Dunce Cap in the corner.
Everyone learns by repetition. Especially me!
Here’s to balance, strength, and non-dunce happiness!
🙂 Laura
The other day I went out for upside down dinner with my friends Alex and Shellee.
Alex wanted to have dessert with us and then eat dinner with her family afterwards.
I have been on a very high protein diet and didn’t know what dessert first would feel like, but I was willing to give it a try. (All things in moderation- I’m not a saint!)
I could feel the sugar enter my bloodstream and hopped up from the table to bust out my table- side squats.
November is Diabetes Awareness Month and with big holiday meals coming up, I wanted to make sure you know how to do two things simultaneously:
Keep your blood sugar from spiking and ….horrifying your friends (or family!) in public.
A client of mine named Sara is a specially diabetes trained nurse, and she verified this fact for me:
The best way to keep your blood sugar from spiking is to go for a brisk 20 minute walk
immediately after a meal, or do 50 air squats.
So, in the restaurant, up I hop to bust out table-side squats so that my blood sugar won’t go through the roof.
I caught it on video to prove it.
The guy to my left looks like he just doesn’t know what to think! 🙂
These two are used to my antics, and hopped up to join me at the very end.
You just can’t take me anywhere!
Here’s to stable blood sugar balance, strength, and happiness,
🙂 Laura
Happy Book Lovers Day!
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend James Nestor’s Breath.
Why?
Well, you can take my word for it and just learn to breathe in and out all through your nose to get your core strong or to take pressure off of your upper traps so your neck isn’t sore and tight or to get the most oxygen per breath….
But there is so much more:
The story about the lady who breathed her way out of scoliosis.
The professional bicyclists who swore off breathing with their mouth after road testing it with nose breathing.
The way it makes your walking and running and hiking more efficient and quieter.
The way it can help maintain the space in your mouth so you don’t snore.
How it can increase your lifespan by decreasing your sleep apnea.
The personal 10 day experiment he & a friend undertook under the close supervision of a Stanford rhinologist.
And on and on.
The book is chock full of so many interesting stories … there are way too many to list here.
If you need a good healthy read for the upcoming holidays, this should be on your list.
The video above is me reading about mouth breathing causing dehydration and why that can really mess with you.
Watch it, read it, get the information, and pass it on!
I read this on a vacation to Costa Rica and immediately came home and bought two copies and gave them away, asking for them back so I could give them away again.
It is good stuff!!
P.S. Wish me luck as I tackle the New York City marathon with my friend Margaret Floyd Barry this weekend! It looks to be a really fun race and we have a 10:20am start time.
Happy FriYAY!
Here’s to balance, strength, and happiness,
Laura 🙂
Feliz Día de los Muertos! Happy Day of the Dead!
Have you made an ofrenda for your family? An altar, with food, candles, flowers, and photos of those who have passed on?
Do you put trails of marigolds to your door so your ancestors can find their way to your home?
I found out about all of these traditions from taking Spanish and watching the amazing Pixar animated movie Coco.
I found out about all of these traditions from taking Spanish and watching the amazing Pixar animated movie Coco.
If you haven’t seen it, you should.
I think it is such a lovely way to talk about death and think of your ancestors ‘coming to visit’ once a year. That way, they are always with you and you’re always surrounded by them.
I find it has remarkable parallel cultural traditions with Chinese feng shui.
In some variations of feng shui you are to make sure you have photos of all of your ancestors hanging in your home so that they feel welcome.
However, what staves off death and is your best anti aging strategy?
Moving.
Movement.
Using your muscles.
Remember, your brain does not register the passage of time. Instead, it notices if you use your muscles or not.
If you don’t use your muscles, you invite slow decline…and if you do use your muscles, you invite vitality.
All systems go: Invite vitality!
No video today, just a fun photo from Día de los Muertos in our neighborhood restaurant Tamale Boy.
MOVE!
Here’s to vital balance, vital strength, and vital happiness,
🙂 Laura
Happy Halloween (tomorrow!)
I think some people think that when you start (or restart for the zillionth time) an exercise program, that you might not like it.
It’s to be endured.
That just comes with the territory: the not liking part.
After all, if you liked it, you wouldn’t probably have to be starting (again).
You would have stuck with it.
I am here to tell you that having fun and liking your exercise or movement is proving to almost be the most important part of the equation.
Why does it matter?
Well, because of the cortisol factor.
Cortisol is that substance that is released when you are under stress, good and bad.
It is famous for packing on belly fat and signaling to your body that you are in fight, flight, or freeze mode.
If you like your exercise or movement, it makes all the difference as it can help keep that substance at bay.
Here’s your goal as we start to think about wrapping up the end of the year:
Joyful movement.
What are you doing that you like that keeps you moving?
-AND-
Can you do more of that?
Are there other things that you want to be doing that you can’t because of injury or a concern?
Don’t forget that I can help you with that!
Hoping to announce the limited edition of my group training program as soon as the tech glitches work themselves out to help if you need it.
**Joyful movement**
That’s the goal.
Happy Halloween from our chocolate kiss Nova!
Here’s to balance, strength, and joyful happy Halloween happiness,
🙂 Laura
Happy National Tell a Story Day!
Here’s one of my favorites recently…maybe you’ve seen the 10 sec video on Instagram or YouTube?
Apparently it struck a chord with Instagram followers, anyway…it’s at 100,000+ views.
What’s the story? Well, here you go:
“My IT bands hurt,” said my 80 year old neighbor a couple of months ago.
I often see her in the morning walking her dog Thomas.
“Have you tried walking sideways to help it?” I asked.
I looked down at her knees which were looking like eggbeaters on land. Totally collapsed inwards.
“No!” she said, “How do you do it?”
I showed her, and got a report a few weeks later that her IT band pain had gone.
It’s now been a couple months, and I was delighted to see her take it up a notch with the hopping!
That was allllll her, not me!
We never had a formal workout- this was just a casual conversation one day while out walking the dogs.
Got IT Band pain? You need glutes to take pressure off the band, and walking sideways is one way to get those muscles working.
If you think you’re too old to get your body to change and get out of pain, talk to my neighbor.
She’ll say it isn’t so.
Send this to someone who needs help with their IT band.
There is always hope!
….
Just remember, there is ALWAYS hope.
Happy FriYAY!
Here’s to ageless balance, ageless strength, and ageless happiness,
🙂 Laura
Happy World Opera Day!
If you’d like to belt out some big songs, sing in the shower, or hum along with your favorite singer, you are going to need one big ingredient:
Oxygen.
Let’s remember that there are three levels of breathing: mouth and nose, lungs, and with your diaphragm.
The deepest and most oxygenating is the diaphragm.
Consider it a superpower to be able to tap into that deepest level of breathing.
You can bet your local opera singer taps into this superpower, but it isn’t just reserved for them: you can easily too.
I spend a little longer explaining why and how in the video above, but trust me, it is a game changer.
You get core muscles to engage, lots of oxygen to work with, and more energy to zip around!
The technique can take some getting used to, but as I tell my clients, why would you do planks when you can get your core workout with every breath you take?
Don’t believe me? Ask the current fastest woman in the world: Sha’Carri Richardson.
Watch her running video closely and in particular her face. How does she breathe?
If it’s good enough for Sha’Carri and good enough for opera singers, it’s definitely good enough for you.
It will be like everything else…definitely takes a little practice to get used to.
Here’s to balance, strength, and superpower breathing happiness,
🙂 Laura
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