I forget a lot. Let me rephrase that, I get started down the rabbit hole of sweet tooth goodness, and forget there are healthy snacks that suffice my sweet tooth just fine. It’s been a down the rabbit hole kind of six months. Today I …
When I asked Bryan what his favorite motivational quote was, he gave me this, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails,” by Mark Twain. Check out Bryan’s story for more inspiration!
It’s no secret, I’m a lover of the sunny months. I have learned to find joy in the snowy winter weather though. Snowboarding and snowshoeing are ranked in my top favorite activities. Now if we could just get a little more snow this year, I’d be a happy girl. Being active in the cold can be tricky, so I’m sharing a few tips to hopefully help you get outside and enjoy the winter weather too.
Avoid overdressing
You should be a little cold for the first few minutes of exercising outside. Dressing too warm can result in becoming overly sweaty and then causing a chill when you decide to remove layers.
Dress in layers
Layers are important for helping regulate your body temperature when it’s cold outside. When you go from being stationary to moving on the trail, or on the track, you’re likely going to feel uncomfortable depending on what you’ve decided to wear.
If it’s freezing out, I typically wear a pair of thermals that is a moisture wicking material to help keep my core warm and dry. On top of that, I’ll wear my pants and a sweat shirt, even a coat. My point with all of this is, if I get too hot, I can peel off layers. If I get too cold, I can put them back on. The goal is to aim not to be sweaty. Sweat=Cold
Protect your head
Almost 40% of your body heat is lost through your head. Wearing a hat helps hold your heat in, thus keeping you warm.
Protect your hands and feet
Almost 30% of your body heat escapes through your hands and feet! Do you see what I’m getting at here? Even an inexpensive pair of gloves can help keep you cozy. I hate having cold hands.
Stay hydrated
You may not be sweating, but you are breathing out moisture. The cold air seems to chap my lips in the first few minutes. Make sure to drink water before, during, and after exercise.
Do not stay in wet clothes
If you happen to get rained on, or just sweat like me, strip down as soon as you can and get dry clothing on. In September, I hiked the Timberline Trail and on the last day, it rained all the way back to my car. I am so thankful that I kept a pair of clean and dry clothes to change into because I was freezing. Not only does it help your body, but it helped my mind knowing I was drying off and getting warm. Hypothermia is definitely not your friend.
Remember sunscreen
It may not look sunny out, but the sun is there. Snow is like a mirror for it, I learned my lesson on that last year. I had to rock an awful goggle sunburn for way too long. We all want to keep our youthful beauty, so protect that skin.
Take it easy when its frigid
The colder it is, the colder your muscles are. Be sure to warm up, to help reduce the risk of pulling a muscle.
Run into the wind
I know this sounds awful, but trust me. It’s better to run back with the wind. Running out against the wind will wear you out, but imagine running back when you’re already worn out and fighting the wind. Also, running back with the wind helps to reduce any chill you might feel running into it, there’s something about the wind blowing on your face that just seems to cool ya right down.
Pay attention to temperature and wind chill
If the temperature is below 0°F or the wind chill is below -20°F, it’s okay to hit the treadmill instead. Exercise is already stressing your body, placing it in extreme temperatures is a little much. Not saying it’s impossible to do, but it’s good to keep balance with stress. What are you benefiting from by being out in that extreme temperature?
Get out there and start moving. Don’t want to go it alone? Find a local group who’s into getting outside. Start with your local Hiker Babes Chapter. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Fresh air is just what the doctor ordered for helping keep the winter blues away!
Cold weather isn’t my favorite, but soup is. So, I’ll take this cozy recipe and enjoy that I can eat it without sweating.
You always hear, write what you know. Share about you. Well, every year when the season changes, I start to feel depression kicking in. Living in the PNW, I hear about this pretty often, the sunny months are not nearly long enough. I’m writing this …
You know what I love about finding my place in the fitness community? There are SO MANY inspiring people to follow. Everyone has their own story to tell, everyone’s journey is different, but at the same time similar. We all have to start where we are, and move forward from there. Seeing people overcome trials, and push through to new found freedoms, lights my soul on fire.
I’ve decided that I want to be able to share that with you, to help inspire you to keep moving towards the healthiest version of yourself also. That’s what this is, and I hope that you look forward to more of these interviews.
I met Lisa through Spartan Race. I’ve gotten the privilege of seeing her grow for the last few years. It’s funny, we both had our first Spartan Race at the same race in 2014 and didn’t know it until this interview. I love seeing the smile on her face through every obstacle, it’s contagious!
How was your life before becoming active?
Life before finding Obstacle Course Racing was lack luster for me. I was searching for something and didn’t know it. I have always struggled with not only my mental health, as I was diagnosed as a teen with bi-polar disorder, but my weight as well. Between the series of up’s and downs of depression, and out of control weight issues, my self confidence was always on the low end of the spectrum. Then I added to the mix a few relationships that turned bad, and to be frank, rather abusive in the forms of mental and verbal abuse. One of those relationships was during the start of my journey into OCRs ( Obstacle Course Racing). So bottom line, before I became active, I started learning about myself and what I felt like was true self worth. I felt as though I didn’t matter much, and I was just going through the motions of life as I had a little one to take care of.
What made you want to become more active?
Something flipped in my head when my daughter was starting school. I wanted to be able to keep up with her. I checked out Roller Derby first, and I freaking loved it! Skating and the physicality of Roller Derby was inedible let alone the friends I made on the team. But the drawback was the time commitment. There was a change happening in me. I was gaining confidence, and bonus points—I lost weight! It would be a few more years before I found OCRs. It was the winter of 2013 when a good friend from high school convinced me to sign up for Warrior Dash that coming summer. I was going through a transition in life so I said sure. Well a couple months later I got a wild hair and started signing up for a bunch of ” fun” runs and signed up for a Spartan Race in that mix. Little did I know, that was going to be my defining moment.
“This sport changed my life in more ways than I can imagine.”
How did becoming more active impact your life?
When I did the 2014 Pac West Sprint, which is now the Portland Sprint, my life changed, and I was hooked on OCRs. I found my place. I found a sport that pushed the hell out of me physically and emotionally, and I could do it with a team. I had a glimmer of hope to one day do on my own. That was the moment that I wanted to become more active. I started getting out and hiking more, walking more, and joining gyms (yeah I have bounced back and forth to a few). It’s been five years now since I started, and I am down around 60-70lbs.
Did seeing other people and their adventures have an impact on you?
I started to follow other OCR athletes and through that it took me down a rabbit hole of other athletes and fitness pages on Instagram and Facebook. I am in Spartan groups and the likes. They keep me going as a daily reminder that even when I have an off day, week, month(s), I can always pick back up and start over. I have gained and lost weight on this journey. I did my first Spartan Beast, which was the Montana founders Beast in 2015, weighing my heaviest in the last five years. I still finished that race, but oh man did it put things into perspective for me. It still took me three more years before I really got on the wagon.
Do you feel like you’ve gotten to where you want to be with your fitness? Or do you feel like you can still grow and do better?
I am not where I want to be due to injuries, and I had a set back of a car accident, but I keep going. I stay active and know that it takes time to get to where I want to be. There are ups and downs in being active, and in fitness nothing happens over night. There is no miracle pill. I struggle to stay motivated and keep going. I have days where I wonder why in the hell I do this. I don’t know if I will ever stand on a podium, but then I have weekends like this last Portland Sprint where I got to be with my team and be apart of a friend’s daughter’s first Spartan race. That reminded my why I still race. It’s about being in the open heats and helping people, and cheering on the ones who you see are struggling and letting them know that they can do it. It’s crossing that finish line and remembering that it might have been a crappy day, month or year, but you just did something so amazing.
What was your biggest struggle in getting active? Now that you’re active, is it easy? Or does it still take effort?
When I found myself on the dirt and mud covered race courses, I realized I am more than my weight, my depression, or my past. I am an incredible human being with strength and some incredible friends and family that I have met due to OCRs and becoming active. I have learned that pushing myself physically is an incredible feeling. I still have a long ways to go in fitness, and being active is a long and constant road. I don’t think that it’s something that you just get to a point and say ” yep I am finished”. I think you have to make a constant effort to stay moving and going so that when we are all in our 90’s we can still be out there doing the things that we love. It is a struggle but I make an effort to get out there and do something.
What’s next for Lisa?
Her next big goal is the SISU24PNW next year. I had to look up what that was, and WOW, check out the video below. She’s also after an Ultra Beast Belt Buckle.
What an amazing story! Such an inspiration too. Lisa’s had all sorts of obstacles in life to push though, just like you and me, but she’s still pushing.
I want to say thank you again for sharing your story Lisa, I can’t wait to watch your continued growth! If you’d love to share your story with others, please send an email to Darcisfitkick@gmail.com or shoot me a message on Facebook or Instagram.
I should probably start sharing healthier recipes with you guys, like salad bowls, or other things of that nature. I can’t help myself though, I love finding vegan options for the foods I love. Initially when I transitioned to vegan, I was a little scared …
Last year’s fires put a damper on my plans for hiking the John Muir Trail and also hiking up Half Dome. I had never actually heard of Half Dome until I signed up to hike the JMT. After hearing about how epically scary it is, …
Wanna know what one of my favorite snacks was growing up? Other than a Snickers bar, the big one??? Nacho Cheese Doritos, dipped in nacho cheese and sour cream. Phew, it feels good to get that off my chest. Lol. I think it’s funny that people get surprised when I eat junk food, I’ve always had a killer sweet tooth. In recent years I decided to make the choice to eat better, and only have the junk sometimes, instead of every day. I literally had a Snickers and a bag of Chili Cheese Fritos every day of my senior year in high school. I know that my body feels better when I eat better foods, and I really don’t like feeling like crud. I’m definitely not perfect with my eating habits, sometimes I go on binges, but I’m always trying to do better. That’s all I hope for everyone. One small thing at a time.
Nacho “cheese” is still one of my most favorite things. I make nachos twice a month because I love it so much. Usually, I’ll skip the chips and make it on a bed of some sort of foo foo salad mix. I usually make a double batch of this because my kids love it also, and is amazing as leftovers. It’s really good over steamed broccoli too. There are quite a few ingredients, but the process is easy. I love how well my Vitamix blends up the cashews without needing to soak them. You should definitely rinse off your raw cashews though, they be dirty!! With all the health benefits in the different ingredients, I don’t feel guilty about making the extra sauce.
Have fun with your Nacho “Cheese” Sauce. If you’re making nachos, try adding new veggies. Worst case scenario, you don’t love them, and the nacho cheese covers it!
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Sometimes I like to leave a little bit of the tomatoes out of the blender. I'll add them in to the sauce pan when I'm letting it thicken to give it a bit of a chunky texture.
I’ve only been backpacking since last year. BUT, I feel like after spending 21 days with my backpack, I have a little bit of trail cred… I definitely learned about things I don’t want to live without during the summer heat. Speaking of summer, we …